We’ve been really into duct tape at our house lately!  First it was velcro duct tape bracelets, and now Aidan and I have moved on to duct tape wallets.  There are a lot of tutorials out there for duct tape wallets, but I thought I would go ahead and share ours since summer break is on the horizon!  Both the bracelets and the wallets would make great summer crafts for either boys or girls.

For our wallets, we used a tutorial from Crafty Nest.

We were so excited to find Superman, Mario, and Angry Birds duct tape at Target!  By the way, Walmart has more selection of duct tape, and their prices are lower for the plain colors – $3.37 at our store!  The prices were the same for the character duct tape ($5.99), at least at our location.  Amazon has Angry Birds for $5.50 (Amazon Affiliate link), so that’s another option.  Also, I will say that the Superman duct tape (made by Scotch) was not the same quality as Duck brand tape.  I won’t buy Scotch again.

These wallets would be a great project for age 8+ with help, depending on the child.  Aidan (9.5) made one mostly on his own, but it was a little tricky to get the tape straight.  He wasn’t frustrated, though, and thought it was a great project.  He has been showing off his wallet to everyone!

 To make the wallets, you will need:

• Duct tape
• Scissors
• A ruler
• A utility knife
• A cutting board, or thick cardboard to cut on
• A library card or credit card for sizing

Step 1:  Build the main body of the wallet.

First, tear off 4 strips of duct tape that are 9 inches long.  Layer them sticky side up with 1/2 inch of overlap between each piece.

 Then, tear off 4 more strips the same length.  Stick these to the sheet you just made, but start about 1/2 inch down from the top.  That way, you will stagger the overlapping sections and not make the duct tape too thick to fold.

I chose to use a print for the outside of the wallet and a solid for the inside to save a little money.

Fold the edges over.  Then, use your utility knife to trim both ends of the sheet.  Your finished width should be 8.5 inches, and it should be about 6 inches tall.

Step 2:  Make one large credit card pocket

Tear off two 5 inch strips and layer them.  Then, stick two more 5 inch strips to the back and fold over the edges following the same procedure as the main body of the wallet.  Trim the edges with the utility knife and ruler so that this pocket measures 4 inches wide.

Step 3:  Make two smaller credit card pockets.

Tear off two 9 inch strips of duct tape, and stick them back-to-back.  Cut this piece into two pieces that are each 4 inches wide.

Tear a strip of duct tape in half lengthwise to make trim for the top of these pockets.  Fold the trim over the top of the pockets and trim off the extra.

Step 4:  Assemble the pockets

Lay the three pockets on top of each other, with the largest pocket on the bottom.  The middle pocket won’t go all the way down to the bottom, and that’s okay.

Use a strip of tape torn in half lengthwise to attach them.

Use your credit card or library card to make sure that you have enough room in the pockets!  You will probably need to have more of the tape hanging over onto the other side – it won’t be divided evenly.

Step 5:  Assemble the wallet

Lay out your main fabric with the side UP that you want to be on the OUTSIDE of the wallet.

Attach the credit card pockets to the upper right with a 9 inch strip of duct tape torn in half lengthwise.

Then, fold the wallet in half and secure the ends with strips of tape that have been torn in half lengthwise.  Trim off the extra.

Add a final strip of tape across the bottom of the wallet, and you’re done!

You can also add a clear window for a driver’s license or ID.  We didn’t do that since these wallets are for young kids, but check out this post at Crafty Nest for details on how to add the ID window.  This post also has more detailed instructions if you need more clarity.

At first, the wallets just want to stay open, but ours flattened out quickly after some time in a back pocket.

I can’t decide which is my favorite – the Angry Birds one or the Mario one.  We also made a camo one with red trim, but that one didn’t make it into the photos.  They are all so fun!  Duct tape crafting is addicting, I’m telling ya!

Be sure to check out my duct tape Pinterest board – For the Love of Duct Tape – for more duct tape crafting ideas!!

The post How to Make a Duct Tape Wallet appeared first on Frugal Fun For Boys.

Gresham is 6, and finishing first grade.  His handwriting was so neat when he was learning to form the letters, but now that we are past learning how to write the alphabet and he can spell quite a few words, his writing has gotten faster and messier.  He is also less interested in writing.  I found this to be true for Aidan at this age too, so maybe it’s a stage?

We are working on doing a good job even if it’s not something you want to do, but at the same time, it helps to find some real-life reasons for writing.  It’s motivating to know that someone is going to need to be able to figure out what you wrote!

8 Real-Life Ways to Get Kids Writing:

1.  Make a sign for a lemonade stand.  We have done this several times over the years!  During our neighborhood garage sales, I have often let the boys sell bottled water and sodas.  They make signs on posterboard that tell what drink options are for sale and what the prices are.  Summer is a fun time to do this.  And, you can fit in math practice as well as writing as they count the coins that come in!  We subtract the money that we spent on the drinks from the boys’ earnings (usually just the money for the drinks they actually sold if they would come out negative otherwise) so it’s a good lesson in business and finance principles too!

2.  Make a menu for a pretend restaurant.  Have your child come up with a name for a pretend restaurant and create a menu with food choices and prices, etc.  Then set up a table with play food and dishes and have fun playing restaurant!  You can provide a pad for writing down orders to encourage more writing.

3.  Write letters.  In our age of e-mail, letter writing is becoming a lost art!  Write and mail letters to family or friends.  Making cards with pictures or drawings might make letter writing more fun.  In the fall, we made cards with crayon leaf rubbings.  Those were fun to make and send!

4.  Write a story, and turn it into a book with a cover and illustrations.  Gresham recently wrote a story about two dragons.  After we edited his story, he carefully re-copied each page and drew pictures.  The finished product was really great, and I think that the thought of the end product helped motivate him to do his best work.  We made our book with construction paper, but you can also purchase blank hardcover books to write in (Amazon affiliate link).  These are so fun, and they make kids feel like real authors!

5.  Write a story using photos for the pictures.  Use toys to create a story by setting up some scenes and photographing them.  Then, print out the photos, and have your child write a story to go with the pictures.  For an example, check out the story we did using Aidan’s favorite bear.  We have also created a story using toy elephants in our flower beds.  We had two adult elephants and three babies, and the story was about the elephant family going on a walk and one of the babies getting lost.  So fun, and those kinds of projects are the ones you can save forever!

6.  Grocery list.  Give your child a clipboard and paper and have them write a grocery list.  I have done this both by dictating or by having the child copy the list.  Have them write down 8 or so items, and then they can take the list to the store and shop for those items.  Bring a pencil so that they can cross things off as they go.  This has the added benefit of encouraging better behavior at the grocery store.  As I write this, I’m wondering why I don’t do this more often?

7.  Write a play to act out.  We haven’t done this yet, but it’s on our list for this summer!

8.  Make a museum.  Before I had kids, I taught science to groups of homeschoolers.  We had a blast putting together “museums” made up of all of the children’s projects!   They always put extra effort into their projects because they knew that they were going to get to show them off.  It would be a lot of fun to do a nature museum with shells and rocks collected from a trip or visits to the park.  Kids can research their rocks, etc. to see what type they are and create signs and posters that give information about their specimens.

What ideas do you have to getting kids to write?

The post Eight Real-Life Ways to Get Kids Writing appeared first on Frugal Fun For Boys.

It’s enough to make a mom crazy!

Unfortunately, I don’t have a magic cure for sibling fighting to offer you.  But I do want to share something that we did this week to help make God’s Word applicable to all of our lives, even mom, because sometimes I respond to their rudeness with more rudeness and impatience!

First, though, let me say that when it comes to conflict, there are two areas to address.  The first is to deal with the situation from a practical standpoint.  We need to manage our kids’ behavior.  This may involve sending children to separate locations for a while or removing toys that have become a continual problem.  But it shouldn’t stop there, because the second area that we need to address is the heart!  As moms, we can’t change our children’s hearts – that is the work of the Lord.  But we must be diligent to present the Bible to them in appealing ways that show how much we value what God has to say.  There are many verses that deal with conflict, so you can keep it fresh even though this issue will come up over and over and over!

Here’s what we did this week:

We have been focusing on Proverbs 12:18, which says, “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

Isn’t God so amazing to give us words that little boys can relate to?  What a word picture!  It’s easy to see how an uncontrolled tongue has the same result as sword thrusts.  In Scripture, we often see the principle of putting off something, and putting on something instead.  It’s not enough to say, “Stop being rude.”  We need to replace rude with words that bring healing!

Principle:  If you have said something rude to one of your siblings, you need to add words of healing by speaking kindly or doing something to serve that sibling.

This idea came to me while I was out to eat with all four boys, and one of them spilled a drink.  It was an accident, but a brother spouted off an ugly comment without thinking.  I asked that brother to get out of his chair and say to the one who had spilled, “Here let me help you clean that up.”  It took 3 tries to say it with the words that I had asked him to use, and with a kind spirit, but he did it!  And then I asked him to get paper towels and serve his brother by cleaning up the mess.  It was amazing to see how that act of service (even though it began as unwilling service) softened the attitudes of all of the boys.

We made a chart to help us see how this concept should look day to day.  Here are some examples:

Thrusts of a sword:  ”I can build a better Lego fort than that!”

Tongue of the wise:  ”That’s a cool fort!  You did a good job!”

Thrusts of a sword:  ”Give me that!  You can’t use it because it’s mine!”

Tongue of the wise:  Say nothing and allow the other person to enjoy the toy (unless, of course, they are too young for it or are breaking it).  Sometimes, the tongue of the wise is silent!

Thrusts of a sword:  ”Stop it, you dummy!”

Tongue of the wise:  ”Please don’t hit me with that.” (And then going to mom for help if the hitting continues, rather than getting angry.)

Satan would love for us to believe that those sassy comments we want to say will make us feel better, but it’s a lie.  The tongue of the wise truly does bring healing!  We put a few entries on our chart, and then we have thought of more as the week has gone on and ugly words have presented themselves.  Focusing on replacing the rude with words that are kind has made a definite difference at our house.  I have no doubt, however,  that we’ll be back in a cycle of fighting before long at all, and then we’ll be back in the Scripture again!

For more on sibling conflict:

Biblical Boyhood:  Brothers as Friends

Sibling Squabbles and the Kindness Car (another idea for encouraging service)

Dealing with Tattling

Sibling Fighting – Selfish desires as the root

The post Dealing with Sibling Fighting and Rudeness appeared first on Frugal Fun For Boys.

A water scope allows you to see more clearly into the murky waters of a pond or stream.  We are very fortunate to have a creek behind our house, and the boys LOVE to go back there and catch minnows and frogs.  I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to see more clearly into the murky water (since there are snakes!  eeek!), but we decided to give it a try!

To make one, you will need:

• An empty plastic container.  We used a Powerade bottle, but a large yogurt container would work better.
• A rubber band
• Plastic wrap
• A utility knife

Cut the bottom off of whatever container you’re using.  This will be the window into the water.  Since we were using a bottle, we cut the top off too.

Then, cover the bottom end with plastic wrap.  Fasten it on with a rubber band.  You want the plastic wrap to go up pretty high on the container, because water will leak in if the container is submerged above the rubber band.

Then you’re ready to explore!

The water scope eliminates glare on the surface of the water, and you can get a much better look at what is down there!  It’s hard to tell because of all the glare in this picture, but the water scope really did work well.

Thankfully we didn’t see any snakes!  But the older boys went back to the creek later in the afternoon and saw two, so I might not be making any more trips down there.

For more outdoor fun:

Learn how to make plaster casts of animal tracks – we got some great raccoon prints!

Take art supplies outdoors and draw things that you see in nature!

Use contact paper to make a nature collage – aren’t these pretty?

Preserve real spider webs – with paint and black paper.

The post Make a Water Scope for Viewing Pond Life appeared first on Frugal Fun For Boys.

The chain stays together as long as you hold down the end that you are building onto.  Release the end and…

There is a video of our chain reaction in action at the end of the post!

The post on Mom Trusted said that the chain was pretty easy to build.  We found that it was actually kind of tricky to get started.  I didn’t want to be defeated by this silly project, so I was determined to get it right!  We put it aside for awhile, and when we came back to it, Aidan and I figured out the chain right away.  Getting started is the hard part – once you master than, the chain is not so bad.

Here’s how to build one:

We found that wide craft sticks work better than the skinny sticks.

Step 1:  Arrange 4 craft sticks into this pattern.  Make them look exactly like this.

Step 2:  Add another stick to the top to secure the end.  This stick must go diagonally across to hold down the ends of the top horizontal stick and the right vertical stick.  If it won’t hold them both down, slide those two sticks out farther until they are successfully held down by the stick you added.

This next photo also shows the first chain stick added.

 Step 3:  Build the chain by adding craft sticks, one at a time to each side.  Each stick should go over one stick, and under one stick.

If a video would help, you can check out the post at Mom Trusted.  They have a great instructional video posted as well as a video of some kids who built a chain reaction with 1,000 sticks!  That one is totally worth watching.

Our longest chain so far was only about 200 sticks.  We must get to the store and buy more sticks!

I would recommend this project for ages 8 and up, depending on the kid.  Aidan is 9, turning 10 in July, and he was able to figure out the process.  If you’re willing to do the building yourself, any age would love watching it explode!  You can be the coolest mom on the block this summer with this project!

And now, here’s a video of our largest chain in action:

If you liked this idea, be sure to “like” the Frugal Fun for Boys Facebook page!  I’ll be sharing screen-free summer ideas for keeping kids busy every day starting after Memorial Day.

Or follow me on Pinterest - I have boards for crafts, kids activities, and more!

The post Build a Chain Reaction with Popsicle or Craft Sticks appeared first on Frugal Fun For Boys.

There are many moments like these, all throughout our day!

In honor of Mother’s Day, I present to you a photo essay entitled Mom vs. The Boys.  How I do things, and how they do them.  For example, how many trips should it take to get these baking items out of the pantry?  For me, it’s two.

For Aidan, it’s one.  Well, one, plus the time it takes to pick everything up off the floor!  (This applies to laundry too!  And when you carry a stack that large, it’s impossible to get the clothes all in the drawer and have the drawer actually close.)

For me, cleaning up is something that must be done.  And done and done and done.  So why make it take longer than it needs to?

Here’s how I clean up the game room:

… And here’s how the boys clean up the game room:

Why be in a hurry to put away all of your favorite things?  Then you can’t see them anymore!  Besides, “clean” is relative, and this is clean enough in their book!

To me, however, there are some things in life that deserve attention to detail.  Vacuuming is one of those things.  I don’t like visible dirt and junk on the carpet.  It’s worth it to move a few things if I need to.

Aidan, however, does not share this sentiment.

Then there’s dishes.  We dirty a LOT of dishes!  Somehow, adding a fourth boy seems to have multiplied our dish usage!  Here’s how I rinse dishes:

And here’s how Aidan rinses them:

(Don’t worry.  He doesn’t rinse them that way anymore.  So if you come to our house for a meal, there’s no need to be concerned!)

Speaking of dishes and food, let’s talk about choosing an appropriate portion of food.  Here’s how I pour a bowl of cereal:

And here’s how the boys pour a bowl of cereal:

Fashion is another area in which our lifestyles differ.  There are several issues here.  Matching.  Dressing appropriately for the weather. On Sundays, the boys pretty much wear khaki pants, a polo shirt, and church shoes.  The rules have been a little more loose for Owen because I can’t find a pair of khaki pants that will stay up on his tiny waist.

Here’s how I dress Owen for church:

… But sometimes he gets dressed before I have a chance to get out his clothes for him, and he ends up looking like this:

If I had a dollar for every time he has told me that he wants to wear his sports shorts, I’d be very wealthy!  It’s not just on Sundays – he asks to wear them when it’s 40 degrees out, when we’re on our way to take professional photos, etc.  He loves that pair of shorts, and has recently taken to tucking in his shirts with them.  But just in the front, because that’s all he can manage to tuck!

But it’s not all bad.  Because the boys have reminded me that sometimes it’s better to choose the fun way than the practical way.  We can’t always choose the fun way to get into the van, especially when we’re running late to an appointment.

But we can stop our school day to examine a toad in the backyard…

Or read an extra book before bed.  Or maybe be not quite so frustrated about choosing the path that goes through the rain puddle instead of the path that keeps one’s shoes dry.

Life is pretty exciting with all these boys, but I am so glad that God has allowed me to be their mother!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Disclaimer:  While based very much upon the truth, all photos were staged and comparisons were exaggerated for the sake of this silly Mother’s Day post.

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If you’re new to Frugal Fun for Boys, Lego Fun Friday is a twice-a-month feature.  Each time, we present a building challenge, provide a blog linky for sharing your Lego posts, and announce a new building challenge for the next Lego Fun Friday.  If your kids participate in the building challenge, but you don’t have a blog (or don’t blog about Legos), feel free to share photos of their creations on the Frugal Fun for Boys Facebook page.

The Lego building challenge for this week was to build a board game out of Legos!

The boys had a great time building their games!  We own the Lego Minotaurus game, so that gave them a basic idea to work from.  Well, they were way more into it than I thought they would be, and their games turned into epic adventures with amazingly complex rules!  If I’d made them write down the rules, it would have taken volumes of paper.  Both boys used the die from Minotaurus.  It has the numbers 4, 5, and 6, and then the other sides are green, gray, and black.  They said things like, “First you travel down this path, then you have to roll green to get a sword.  Then you have to land on the black square so that you can jump over the wall and fight the two bad guys.  Then you have to roll for a different weapon…”  It was really funny!

This is Gresham’s game (age 6).  His game is called Dragon Castle.

The object of the game was to conquer the enemy castle without getting killed by the dragon.  If you rolled a green, however, it would earn you an extra life!

His most creative feature was vines that you had to chop down by rolling black on the die.  Then the vines would close back up again and the next person would have to roll black to get past them.

This is Aidan’s game (age 9).  His game is called Rescue.

The object of Aidan’s game was to rescue a prisoner from the dungeon.  It started out on one platform and then expanded from there!

We’ve had a lot, lot, lot of sibling conflict lately, but the boys really did a great job playing their games together!  They were under strict orders not to change the rules as the game went along, and they stuck to that rule pretty well.

We will definitely be pulling out this idea again this summer when it’s too hot to do anything outside!

Now it’s your turn!  Link up your Lego post, or share photos of your children’s Lego creations on the Frugal Fun for Boys Facebook page.

Because the month of May is so busy, we’ll be taking a break from Lego challenges until June.  We’ll be announcing a new building challenge the first week of June.

The post Lego Fun Friday: Board Game Building Challenge appeared first on Frugal Fun For Boys.

This craft would be perfect for a summer camp activity, or just for a rainy day!  They’re fun for a wide range of ages, and with the velcro, they are easy to put on and take off.

To make them, we stuck two strips of duct tape together back-to-back.  It’s really easy to cut the duct tape when it’s stuck together. For cutting single layers, try wiping the blades of your scissors with a baby wipe first.  I saw that tip on Pinterest, and it works AMAZINGLY well.  No more gummed up scissors and ruined duct tape!  We made all of our armbands a different color on each side, and we were happy to discover that they are automatically reversible!  Fun!

Owen has been into superheroes lately, so he wanted some superhero armbands with buttons on them so that he could activate his laser.  He wore his armbands all day, and kept doing different superhero poses.  He’s at such a fun age!

Aidan had the idea to make an armband with a rocket piece that would velcro on and off.

We added velcro to the armband and to the rocket.  I thought it was a pretty clever idea!  (For the black decorations, we used electrical tape left over from our lightsabers.)

We really like Duck brand duct tape (Amazon affiliate link).  It can be pricey, so it’s a good item to get with a 40% off coupon at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby.  This camo print is the boys’ new favorite.

The velcro we used was in long strips and has a sticky back.  It’s easy to cut to the right length, and then just peel and stick!  Or you can get velcro already cut in dots.

For more fun with duct tape, check out my Pinterest board – “For the Love of Duct Tape”!

The post Duct Tape Craft for Boys – Velcro Arm Bands appeared first on Frugal Fun For Boys.

Anyway, to keep interest going for the younger ones, I did a couple of snake books last week, and then we made salt dough snakes.  All of the boys really like snakes, and I really don’t.  But at least these were harmless!

To make the salt dough, we mixed:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 T oil

The beauty of this activity (provided that your kids like snakes) is that even a preschooler can roll out a snake, and older kids can work on making realistic models of different species.

We baked our snakes for 3 hours at 200 degrees F.  Then I let them sit out overnight before we painted them.

The boys painted their snakes with acrylic paint, and then I sprayed them with a layer of shellac to give them a nice shine.

Aidan made a copperhead snake, and Gresham made a black mamba.  Aidan looked up copperheads on the computer to get the colors right, but Gresham says he has no idea what a black mamba really looks like!  :-)

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All links are Amazon Affiliate links

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out if a price on Amazon is a good deal or not because the original price may be inflated above what Lego or a store like Target would charge.  I made sure to compare prices with original list prices from Lego and not Amazon’s inflated prices for sets that are no longer being produced.

My boys have enjoyed collecting the “planet” sets.  The Naboo Starfighter is on sale for $4.95, which is half off.  This would be great to buy and put away as a special treat for a summer road trip!

Aidan recently purchased the A-Wing Starfighter (set 75003) and he has it displayed on his dresser.  It’s currently $20.00, so $5 off.  I believe that this is a newer set that came out in January, but my Lego expert is not home right now for me to ask!

The Desert Skiff (set 9496) is also on sale for $5 off, making it $19.44.  Aidan bought this set because it came with Jedi Luke!

And did you know that you can buy replacement lightsabers?  The boys saw this and begged me to order, but they’re going to have to spend their own money since they have lost so many of their lightsabers!  For $6.29, you can get 6 lightsabers in three different colors.

The City forest police (set 4440) is a great deal at $61.99!  The list price on this one is $79.99, and that is also the current price on lego.com.

For little builders, the Duplo Bricks and More (set 5507) is on sale for $39.59 (list price $49.99).  This set come with one vehicle, one baseplate, two minifigures, bricks, and windows.

I’m not sure how long these sale prices will last, so be aware that prices can change at any time!

If you’re new to Frugal Fun for Boys, be sure to check out our Lego building challenges!  You can view all of our Lego posts through the tab at the top of the page, or by clicking here.

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