DIY TV Activity for Kids

I am super excited to show you another project we did with Styrofoam (keep reading till the end to watch my daughter on THE NEWS).

If you follow my blog, you know that we always make our learning activities and our fun toys from up-cycled materials.

Actually, I am a well known "collector" around my neighborhood of cardboard and styrofoam packing boxes (and other stuff).  So when one day, on our walk, I spotted a huge styrofoam piece 2 blocks away from my house, I didn't hesitate to turn around and drag it back to our crafting room. I knew instantly what we will do with it.   It was very easy to make our DIY TV

• we colored the styrofoam with water colors. Wrote the name on top. My daughter really liked SofiTube.
• after it was dry, we glued some plastic bottle caps as TV buttons for ON/OFF, VOLUME and CHANNELS to make it look more real.

Jump to:

• Now when TV is ready, prepare for the fun TV activity
• There are countless ideas and variations with this TV activity
• Why I love this TV activity
• We had so much fun
• We truly enjoy our new 3D TV that will never get more LIVE than that.
• More crafts and activities with recycled materials:

Now when TV is ready, prepare for the fun TV activity

1. Help your child come up with some topics to talk "on TV" by discussing some popular subjects. Here is what we discussed:

• Winter Olympics
• Weather
• Healthy Food for children

2. While deciding on the topics, introduce some new words to increase child's vocabulary.  Here is what we learned:

• 'on air'
• news flash
• TV anchor
• reporter
• interview

3. After talking things through and getting the child "in the mood", let him just say and do whatever they want. You will be amazed, on the things you will hear. This leads to the next step: you will want to record the news for sure.

4. Set your camera ready, preferably on the tripod. Hide the camera and eave the room if the child is shy.

There are countless ideas and variations with this TV activity

 If you have multiple children they can take interviews, be guests on the talk show or take turns as anchors. They can act the commercials and even have concerts. Whatever pops in their mind.

Why I love this TV activity

• It's very good for children who tend to be shy in front of public, especially if they have to talk.

• It really helps a child to improve their speaking skills including new vocabulary. I saw in front of my eyes how my daughter got better and better with each "news".
• kids will practice delivering their opinion and thoughts in longer sentences.
• it is a great way for kids to tell about their day.
• It will drag your kids AWAY from TV.

We had so much fun

We don't own a TV, so it was a real treat for the kids to play with our DIY TV. My daughter dressed up and fixed her hair for different shows.

She has been playing TV NEWS for few weeks now. With us watching or all by herself with her own audience (you know, the puppets and other soft friends).

We truly enjoy our new 3D TV that will never get more LIVE than that.

I hope you do too.

This post was inspired by a series about crafting with recycled materials - Project: Recycle and Create. This month is Styrofoam.

More crafts and activities with recycled materials:

• Homemade skis
• 3D Love Building
• Olympic Puzzle for Toddlers
• Friendship Activity - Life size dollfriend
• Egg carton caterpillar that turns into a butterfly
• Styrofoam camera