What could be better than sweet, creamy ice cream on a hot summer day? How about making your own homemade ice cream in a bag! Kids of all ages will love making and shaking their own individual summer treat to eat!

What You’ll Need to Make Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

You’ll need to have pint and quart size freezer bags – one of each per person. Be sure to have plenty of ice cubes and rock salt. For the ice cream, you’ll need milk, sugar and vanilla. That’s it!

How to Mix It Up

In the pint size freezer bag add ½ cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and ¼ teaspoon of vanilla. Seal the bag. Make sure it is sealed well (you wouldn’t want any salt to ruin the flavor of your ice cream)! Fill the quart size bag half full with ice cubes then add 6 tablespoons of rock salt. Now the fun begins! Shake it! Shake the bag for 5-10 minutes or until your ice cream becomes firm.

Eating Your Ice Cream

When your ice cream is firm, take the pint size bag out of the quart size bag. Rinse it off with cold water to remove all the salt. You can dump your ice cream into a bowl or eat it right out of the bag! Add cookie crumbs, sprinkles, or other toppings to spice it up! Enjoy!

Heart Attacking is a group Valentine activity that will surely bring thrills. It’s an exciting way to spread a little love and joy on this sweet holiday!

What You’ll Need

Heart Attacking is simple. You will need several pieces of colored paper, scissors, and tape. That’s it. How much easier can things get!

How to Go Heart Attacking

As a group, cut out several large hearts. You can write messages or draw pictures on them if you like. Print (PDF) or make a sign that says “You’ve Just Been Heart Attacked.” Once the hearts are all ready, your group needs to decide a home you can heart attack. Think of someone who may be lonely or may need a little extra love. When it’s dark, drive to the selected home. Using tape, place the hearts and sign all around the front door! Be sure to be sneaky and quiet so you won’t be caught! If you want to be extra nice, you could leave a plate of cookies or a box of chocolates. When you are finished, ring the doorbell and split as fast as you can!

Heart attacking will make you happy and bring happiness to others! It’s an exciting way to share Valentine love!

Heart Attacking Sign

What You Need to Make the Valentines

You’ll need several sheets of red cardstock or a large red poster board, plastic sheets (you can find these at home improvement stores or page protectors work well too), yarn, tape, scissors, a hole punch, and most importantly, small candies to fill the heart!

How to Make the Homemade Valentines

First, print and cut out the Homemade Valentine Heart Pattern (PDF). Trace the heart pattern on your cardstock and plastic sheet. Cut out the shapes and lay them on top of each other. Punch holes around the heart about ¼ of an inch in from the edge and about ½ inch apart. Cut a piece of yarn about a yard long. Wrap tape around one end of the yarn to make it easier to sew with. Starting at the top of the heart, thread the yarn through the punched holes, wrapping around and going to the next hole. Be sure to leave about 5 inches of yarn at the top of the heart to tie a bow with. Continue sewing around heart. Once you have sewn about ¾ around the heart, stop and fill it with candy. Sew remaining holes up and tie a bow at the top!

Your Valentine is now complete! You can write a note on the back or give this sweet treat just the way it is!

Downloads:

Homemade Valentine Heart Pattern (PDF)

Valentines is the perfect day to let those you care about know you love them. This is a great opportunity for children to show appreciation for their friends and family. Kids will love expressing their feelings with conversation heart love letters.

What You Need To Make Conversation Heart Love Letters

Besides paper, pencils, crayons, or markers, and a little bit of glue, the obvious material is conversation hearts! You can find these inexpensive candies at just about any store during this holiday season. You can use the large or small candy hearts; either works fine.

Creating the Love Letters

Kids can sort through the conversation hearts to find phrases or words to use in their letters.  Add hearts that say “I HOPE,” “I LOVE YOU,” “SWEET TALK,” and other phrases to create sentences. Try to use as many candies as possible to express meaning in your letter, and for those words that just need to be written, use pens or markers to fill in the blanks. Use liquid glue to attach the candies on paper to complete sentences. Once the letter has been completed, allow it to dry. Friends and family will feel loved and valued when they receive this “sweet” and creative Valentine.

Christmas Music Wind Chimes will be a favorite holiday tradition for years to come! With the right tools, these magical chimes are simple and inexpensive to make, and bring an exciting element to any group gathering or party!

What You’ll Need to Make the Pipe Wind Chimes

You’ll need two 10-foot lengths of ½ inch galvanized conduit pipe. You can find these at most hardware stores. A hacksaw for cutting metal, a drill, and a vice are necessary tools for this project. You’ll also need string to dangle the chimes from, a permanent marker, and spoons or large nails.

How to Make the Pipe Wind Chimes

Cut the pipes to exact measurements (1/8” off will change the pitch) which you can find in the Chimes Measurements and Instructions PDF. Drill hole for string 1 to 1 ½ inches from the top. It works best to put the pipe in a vice to make the sawing and drilling steadier. Number the pipes accordingly at the top with the permanent marker.

Making Music with the Pipe Chimes

Make a large poster with the numbers for the songs, which you can find in our Chimes Songs PDF. You’ll need one person for each pipe number in the song, and one person to conduct. The conductor points to the numbers on the poster with a long stick and keeps the pace and syncopation. Each person plays their pipe when their number is touched by ringing the pipe with a spoon or large nail hitting the pipes in the center.

At a party or while you carol, enjoy hearing favorite carols come to life, as the group plays your Christmas Music Pipe Wind Chimes!

Downloads (Get Adobe Reader)

Chimes Instructions and Measurements (PDF)

Chimes Songs (PDF)

What is Christmas without some sort of countdown craft in anticipation for the exciting holiday? Here are instructions for a tasty and decorative Christmas countdown craft!

What You’ll Need for the Christmas Countdown

This simple and easy countdown requires a few materials. Gather together plastic wrap (you’ll need about 5-6 feet depending on how many days your countdown is), ribbon, scissors, and the best part – some small yummy treats! Use whatever tickles your tongue! Candy kisses or small gingerbread cookies work well! You’ll need one treat for each day of the countdown.

How to Put the Christmas Countdown Together

Lay your plastic wrap on a long flat surface. Place each treat about three inches apart down the middle of the plastic wrap. Fold each side of the plastic over the treats, and then tie the ribbons between each candy. It should look like a long chain of candy garland!

Hang your countdown in a prominent place, and each day before Christmas cut off a piece of candy! If there are multiple children counting down, take turns each day! Enjoy a sweet month waiting for Christmas with this fun activity!

This Christmas, let kids create their own wrapping paper to wrap gifts in!

What You’ll Need to Make Wrapping Paper

You can use large strips of white, red, or green butcher paper, or you can also use newspaper. You’ll need various colors of tempera paint, and some cheap rectangular sponges.

Making the Wrapping Paper

Use scissors to cut various shapes out of the sponges like Christmas trees, ornaments, gingerbread men, snowmen… Let younger children draw a shape with a marker on the sponge and you can help them cut it out. Lay out the large sheets of paper on a smooth flat surface. Pour the paint into a wide shallow dish or a paper plate works well too. Have the kids dip the sponges in the paint and gently stamp it onto the paper. Not much paint is needed. You may want to demonstrate first.
See the wrapping paper come to life with the vibrant colors as children enjoy stamping with their Christmas shapes!

Thanksgiving is a fun time to make butter with kids. It not only teaches them what butter is made of and how it is made, but it also helps children realize that the pilgrims didn’t have the convenience of grocery stores! Their food was all self produced!

The Butter-Making Necessities

To make a small amount of butter, you will need a few things. The key ingredient is heavy cream. You will need to pour this into a clean container with a tight-fitting lid. A clear plastic container is a great option so you can see how your butter is coming along, and if it is dropped, it won’t break!

Let the Shaking Begin!

For the butter to form, the cream must be shaken constantly for about 20 minutes. This is a great activity for a group. Take turns passing the jar around in a circle. While the group shakes, you can sing songs or chant poems! Make it fun. Create some of your own songs or poems if you’re feeling inventive!

When the butter has formed into a glob, pour out the buttermilk. You can add a little salt to your butter, form it into a shape, and most importantly give it a taste test! Have fun making this simple and yummy recipe!  And be sure to save some homemade butter for your Thanksgiving dinner!

It’s apple season, and what could be more fun for kids than making and eating their own homemade applesauce! This quick and easy recipe is a great way to use this seasonal fruit and makes a healthy and yummy after school snack.

• 4 apples peeled, cored, and quartered
• water
• sugar
• red hots (secret ingredient)

Place your apples in a saucepan and cover with water. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until apples are mushy. Remove from heat and mash with a fork or potato masher to desired chunkiness. Add sugar to taste, and for extra fun and flavor throw in a few of the secret ingredient—red hot candies!

Wizards, Witches, and Goblins, oh my! This simple Halloween game will liven up any party. It’s easy to explain, easy to play, and sure to bring loads of excitement and fun!

Rules for this Halloween Game

What do you need for the game? Nothing but people and masking tape for the floor! This active game works best with large groups in a big open space! You’ll need at least 8 people. Make two long lines with tape that run parallel to each other about 5 feet apart. Put these in the center of the room. This is the creative part! Together come up with signs to represent a wizard, witch, and goblin. These are generally made with hand motions, and facial expressions- the crazier the better! You may even choose to use sound effects!

Now, divide the people into two teams. Each team quietly huddles together to decide whether they want to be wizards, witches, or goblins. Once a decision has been made they line up on the tape facing the opposite team lined up on the other tape. On the count of three each team shows their choice. The next step requires a little brain work, so just remember this: wizards chase witches, witches chase goblins, and goblins chase wizards. For example if Team A chooses to be witches, and Team B chooses to be wizards, then Team B would chase Team A. Once the teams figure out who is chasing who (it only takes seconds), the team being chased runs away to their designated safety (this could be another taped line) while the team chasing tries to tag the other team’s members. If a player has been tagged before reaching safety, they then belong to the other team. The teams then re-huddle and make their choice for the next round!