MOPS Spa Crafts

I am getting ready to graduate from MOPS :( but I decided that I would share our last craft project for the year. I thought it would be nice for the moms to be able to make some spa themed goodies to take home with them and, hopefully, relax a little bit later. I presented several options to our steering team and they wanted do to them all. So, we made rice socks, sugar scrubs, and bath bombs.  

I have also done some of these crafts with tween girls so these are all simple projects that work well for a girls' night, youth group, girl scouts, birthday party, craft club, etc.  Here are the details on each of them...

Rice Sock

These are really nice to warm up and wrap around your neck to relieve tension. I microwave mine for about a minute, but my microwave is super old so yours may be different. You can also store them in the freezer for boo-boos.

I got socks at the Dollar Tree (2 pair for $1) and small elastic hair ties. Then, I fumbled around in the grocery store with gigantic, 20lb bags of rice. It took about 2 cups of rice per sock.

At the craft tables, we had measuring cups (the glass ones with the pouring spout) to measure the rice and mix in essential oils if desired (we had people bring their own). One person held the sock open while the other poured the rice into the sock. Then, we tied them shut with the hair elastics. However, some people were concerned about the hair ties melting or not holding up over time so they just tied a knot in the end of the sock. That made it faster, easier, and smarter!

Sugar Scrubs

I made these a really, really long time ago and they make nice little gifts. They work really well for getting dirt out of your skin if you are gardening or have kids who play in the mud.

I got 10-packs of little containers at the Dollar Tree. Then, I got sugar and dish soap at the grocery store. We used Dawn Olay Hand Renewal dish soap in blueberry something and the store brand in pomegranate. (I have since found that Target has their generic even cheaper! Click HERE to see it.) It is just the stuff that smells pretty and is supposed to be good for your hands.

For these containers, we used 3 Tablespoons of sugar mixed with 1 Tablespoon of dish soap and stirred with a popsicle stick. (As long as you keep the 3:1 ratio it works.)

Bath Bombs

An April craft meeting meant it was great timing to get plastic Easter eggs as bath bomb molds. I got ours at Walmart and I have noticed that they are smaller then my older plastic eggs. I think the plastic egg industry is slowly shrinking them on us. I got the remaining ingredients at a bulk foods store, except the citric acid which I ordered from Amazon.

This station was really messy, so I am glad that we kept it in the kitchen. To prepare, I had measuring cups set out with each ingredient, bowls for mixing, and sandwich bags to hold the plastic eggs (in case they popped open later). I also melted the coconut oil and kept it warm in a bowl sat on top of a pot of warm water.

We used a basic recipe and the moms were encouraged to bring oils to add to them. Each recipe made 5-6 eggs.

1/2 cup baking soda 1/4 cup corn starch 1/4 cup epsom salt 1/4 cup citric acid 3-4 teaspoons melted coconut oil 1-2 teaspoons water essential oils

The dry ingredients were mixed together and then the wet ingredients were added. It should be the consistency of a wet sand and start to stick together when you squeeze it. If it was too dry, more water or oil was added. Then, we pressed everything together into the egg. The egg halves had to be overflowing a bit. When the two sides were pressed together, the excess fell out. This made sure the eggs were full with no air bubbles.

It was a lot of work to gather all of the supplies for a large group, but the craft went pretty well. They seemed to be simple enough for everyone to easily make. If someone did not want to make all of them, they did not have to do it.

You can see some of the other MOPS crafts we did by clicking on the pictures below...

One Fish Two Fish Busy Bag

I had another cute busy bag idea and it only took 5 minutes to make, so I went with it. I know my daughter needs some work on her numbers so One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish was a pretty obvious choice. I just cut red and blue fish out of card stock, stacking a couple pieces together to cut a bunch at once. The red ones are marked with numerals and the blue ones have a corresponding number of dots.

I like creating busy bags that have a variety of ways to learn. We worked on sorting by color, creating patterns, recognizing and ordering numerals, matching numerals to the correct number of dots, and counting out fish to match the number.

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Game

Red Fish Blue Fish Patterns Activity

One Fish Two Fish Numbers Activity

red fish blue fish counting activity

Number Matching Dr. Seuss Game

It is pretty simple but I can get a lot of out it. I showed her how to start the simpler tasks and then it gave me a few minutes to work while she completed the sorting or pattern. She needs more help with recognizing numerals so we did that together. Then we worked on her numbers a few other ways.

If you want to pin it for later...

One Fish Two Fish Preschool Busy Bag

Also, here is the activity we did earlier this week:

Cat in the Hat Name Practice Activity

Kindergarten registration is quickly approaching. I am not ready. My summer baby is not completely prepared academically, either. Oh, I think she will be fine and I don't expect as much out of her because she is younger than the other kids. Still, I am feeling like a failure for not doing a better job of preparing her. I mean, it is the new standard for preschoolers to be enrolled in music, gymnastics, karate, ballet, swimming, art, yoga, and intermediate accounting classes. And speak 3 languages. Mine just stays home with me and makes messes.

I am probably wrong, but I am not pushing her too hard. I want her to play and have fun at home while she still can. Without making messes, of course.

Her name only has 3 different letters in it, though. Seriously. I think we could work on that.

Side note: We once considered the name Dominique but I pictured trying to teach a 4yo to write that and scrapped it from the list. #lazyparenting

Also, I haven't made any new busy bags for awhile. They usually keep her occupied so that she makes less messes. Double win.

Since Read Across America Day is coming up and I appreciate a good Dr. Seuss book, it gave me a starting point for some new busy bag ideas. This one is just strips of card stock with letters written on in Sharpie. On the back sides, I did a dotted version, then laminated the strips with packaging tape to make them dry-erase marker friendly. I even made an extra set for my nephew 'cause I am awesome like that and had extra paper strips.

If y0u want to pin it for later...

Here are some more busy bags I have made if you are looking for more ideas:

Use plastic eggs for a simple busy bag or learning center activity matching upper and lower case alphabet letters!