Celebrate National Twins Day

Did you know that August 5 is celebrated as National Twins Day? More generally, the first weekend of the month of August is Twins Days, which is a festival held in Twinsburg, Ohio, each year to celebrate twins of all types. The event has taken place since 1976 and routinely attracts up to 2,000 pairs of twins. (Dressing alike is, apparently heavily encouraged but not required.)

If you want to celebrate twins at home or at school, check out some books about twins! This collection was gathered by Twin Mom and More, and includes a nice collection of picture books for twins and about twins. These would be great to give at a baby shower for a twin mom, if you happen to know one of those.

Maybe you’ll want to learn some fun facts about twins as well. About 3 percent of births are twins. Identical twins develop from a single egg and share all of the same DNA, while fraternal twins develop from two separate eggs, so they do not share all their DNA. Twins are more likely to be born premature, and they’re also more likely to be left handed (22 percent of twins compared to 10 percent of single babies are left handed).

I couldn’t find a lot in the way of activities for Twin Day, but of course lots of matching games would be appropriate. Childhood 101 and Activity Mom both have good collections of printable matching games if you don’t already have a collection of your own.

You could also practice doubling numbers or dividing things in half. Stories by Storie has some great ideas for games, songs and other activities for learning about doubling numbers that would be fun for your very own twin day.

Add in a little throwback TV and introduce your kids to “Rugrats” while you eat your Twin Pops and your twins day will be complete!

[Image by 1035352 from Pixabay]

Last month I shared a collection of beach crafts that used items from the beach like seashells and sand. This month’s collection is all about beach animals and things you might see at the beach that don’t require beachy materials to make. In fact you’ve probably got what you need to make most of these beach crafts in your house already.

How about paper plates? With a paper plate you can make this cute watercolor seashell from The Educator’s Spin on It, or an adorable seagull like this one from Glued to My Crafts.

Add some white beans and you can make paper plate sand dollars like Crafts by Amanda. Or use a paper plate as a frame for a sweet beach scene like this crab and turtle one from Artsy Craftsy Mom, which includes a downloadable template and instructions to make it super easy.

Or grab a paper plate and some bubble wrap to make a jellyfish like this one from Happy Toddler Playtime. If you have paper bowls instead of plates, you can also make a jellyfish from one of those, like Natural Beach Living did.

Use your stash of craft sticks and googly eyes to make crabs, fish, sharks and more with this craft idea from The Keeper of the Cheerios.

I love this little crab made with a cardboard tube from Hunny I’m Home. With this same idea I’ll bet you could make lots of different creatures.

Grab some construction paper to make the loopy tentacles on this watercolor jellyfish from Craftsy Hacks. Or make a stained glass jellyfish like this one from Life Anchored.

Make easy puffy paint to make these fun fluffy starfish from I Heart Crafty Things, or use cupcake liners to make cute little crabs (also from I Heart Crafty Things).

Turn an old pool noodle into some super cute fish with this tutorial from Happy Toddler Playtime.

And if you’ve got some leftover yarn lying around, make pompoms and turn them into turtles like these from Craftsy Hacks. (And check out my post on different ways to make pompoms if you need a refresher!)

Have you read?

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