Let Kids Create

Colorful glue suncatchers

2013-05-02T13:31:00.001-06:00

My kids have been begging me for a long time to do this project again. We did it the first time to make some Halloween decorations, but this time it was a little more of an open-ended project. To make glue suncatchers, all you need is: School glue Food coloring to tint the glue Wax paper, plastic wrap, or cellophane (make sure all wrinkles are smoothed out) A cookie sheet, so that

Spring Tulip Paintings

2013-04-24T22:48:00.000-06:00

It was my turn this past week to host the weekly playgroup that my 4-year-old Mina participates in. Spring flowers are finally in bloom, so it was the perfect chance to try out this clever art project I saw on Blog Me Mom. I quickly showed the kids how I could get some paint on the back of my fork and stamp it onto my paper to make a tulip shape. I handed them each a fork and a paintbrush

Painted washer necklaces

2013-03-28T22:45:00.000-06:00

This post is way overdue since my girls made these necklaces back in December to give to their friends as gifts. But these spunky necklaces would make a great gift any time of the year, and also make a great rainy day activity. I came across this idea in Family Fun magazine and instantly knew my girls would not only love to make these, but I also loved how inexpensive these would be to

Owl Valentine Mailbox

2013-02-08T11:33:00.001-07:00

This is the first year my oldest daughter (in the 3rd grade) has had the chance to make her own Valentine's box to take to school for their Valentine exchange. In past years, the class has simply decorated a bag in class for Valentines. We went to Pinterest for some inspiration and found this cute owl pinata which Lou fell in love with. It was so easy to convert this idea to make her

Decoupage pumpkins

2012-10-09T21:35:00.000-06:00

It was Sunday afternoon and I really needed a little peace and quiet. This was the perfect little project to keep my three girls quietly engaged as they created these colorful pumpkin decorations. This project can easily be done with real pumpkins of any size (which I had done a few years ago). The only problem with real pumpkins is that you have to eventually throw them out. Who wants to

Spelling tree

2012-10-02T23:08:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I saw this fabulous idea over at No Time for Flashcards and wanted to use it for the play group I was hosting. Unfortunately, my group of 3 and 4 year olds didn't want to spend much time on this activity...but when my 3rd grader came home from school she had other plans for the tree. Lou had plans to use the tree to practice her spelling words. I quickly made up some

Apple trees: using rice and pasta

2012-09-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

Since my two older girls have started school again, Mina's old playschool group is back together. This week I hosted and the kids made these apple trees to go along with our theme. In preparation for this project, I made sure I had enough colored rice and pasta by dying it this way. This time I used rubbing alcohol instead of vinegar and had similar results. To do this project

Homemade puff paint - an experiment

2012-08-29T00:24:00.000-06:00

Way back in May, I posted about my girls' experience with our homemade egg yolk paints. Another type of homemade paint we were able to test out over the summer was this recipe for homemade puff paint. I used a muffin tin to separate the colors, putting in each cup: 1/4 cup flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. salt Then I added water to the desired consistency, and also mixed in

Egg yolk painting: Jungle prints

2012-05-15T22:46:00.000-06:00

I finally got my hands on a fantastic art book for kids - I found Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Kim Solga from the library and brought it home. The pages are full of art ideas for kids inspired by famous artists. I plan on doing quite a few of these projects this summer and was able to complete one with Maisy and Mina (ages 5 and 3) this afternoon. This art

Fun with a cardboard box

2012-05-08T23:15:00.000-06:00

What can a child do with an empty box? The possibilities are endless. Back in the fall my girls used shoeboxes to make homes for their collection of pocket sized dolls, but their larger dolls were left homeless. My girls had been eyeing the growing collection of larger boxes in the basement (due to my love of online shopping). So they set out on another Sunday afternoon to make not only

"Handy" handmade coasters

2012-05-01T22:34:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year to show our teachers how much we appreciate them. Last year, my two oldest daughters and I found this handmade gift idea in Family Fun magazine and worked on these hand-shaped coasters to give to their teachers. To make them I traced my daughter's handprint onto a sheet of cardstock and cut it out for a template. We traced four handprints from each girl onto a piece

Making a treasure box

2012-04-24T21:28:00.000-06:00

My girls love their accessories and Maisy (age 5) has been begging to make a jewelry box. To make these jewelry (or treasure) boxes we used: an old kid-sized shoe box several toilet paper tubes (we used 6) paint glue Maisy and Mina (age 3) started by painting their boxes to their liking. I love the portrait Maisy painted on the top of her box of me and the 3 girls.

Making a worm farm

2012-04-18T00:08:00.001-06:00

What better to do on a rainy day than go on a worm hunt? My girls are loving these slimy little creatures lately so we found a way that we could keep a few as "pets" for a while. To make your own worm farm you need just a few basic things:an empty 2 liter bottle (or something similar in size) small rocks sand dirt worms black construction paper Start by cutting off the top of your bottle (

Coffee filter butterflies {play group}

2012-04-10T22:59:00.001-06:00

Spring has arrived and it was my turn again to host the play group for some of the 3 year olds in the neighborhood. What better theme than butterflies? We started off with the butterfly craft first- which everyone really could have done for the entire two hours. They loved it that much. I know this is a pretty common craft, but it's always new to someone. I gave each child one coffee

Starchy yarn Easter eggs

2012-04-03T22:34:00.001-06:00

It's spring break around here and on Maisy's first day off from school she badly wanted to make Easter decorations. I happened to have the right things on hand to make these starchy yarn "eggs": yarn or string small balloons (I blew up a few water balloons) flour and water mixture for the starch I started out by cutting the yarn into manageable pieces (about 18 inches long). I mixed about 2

Toilet paper painting- Making flowers

2012-03-27T22:56:00.004-06:00

Spring has arrived and boy do we have spring fever at our house. We haven't done a ton of crafts lately, but I wanted my girls to make something for their grandma for her birthday. I resorted to my Usborne Book of Papercraft and found this fun project I had never noticed before. We tried it two different ways. To do this craft you will need: toilet paper tempera paint in several colors or

Wonderful "worm" paintings

2012-03-20T23:30:00.002-06:00

It has been so warm this last week that we have been able to get out into the garden and do a little weeding. Maisy (age 5) loves to help any way she can, and she was thrilled that she came across an earthworm while helping me out. She was so tickled by the little fella that when we went to the library the other day we looked for a book about earthworms and came across this one. It was a fun

Writing a story

2012-03-06T22:37:00.000-07:00

Maisy is at the age that she wants to start writing books. She is learning to read and is so excited about writing and making up her own stories. I love the simple story lines she and her sister come up with. What I think I love even more is that Lou and Maisy wanted to work together in writing their stories. When Maisy writes, she tends to leave out all vowels so it's a little tough for me

Cat in the Hat Paper Bag Puppet

2012-02-29T08:56:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post to share what my seven-year-old daughter has been working on. Her book report assignment this month for school is to create a paper bag puppet of your favorite Dr. Seuss character. She chose The Cat in the Hat {obviously}. If I had had more than one paper bag around this place we would have definitely done more, but this is what we have now. I hope to do more soon so we can

Dr. Seuss play group

2012-02-28T22:10:00.002-07:00

This past Monday was my turn to host another play group for some 3 year olds in the neighborhood. Since Dr. Seuss's birthday is coming up, I decided to try and build a theme around that. I had set up a road mat and cars for them to play with as they arrived, but not one child wanted anything to do with it. And no one was about to sit down to read a story. While the group was running a few

Tips to build your art and craft supplies {on a budget}

2012-02-20T22:58:00.001-07:00

One of my main goals as a blogger is to help others think outside of the box and be more creative. As long as I can remember, I have always tried to repurpose things or make do with what I had. So when I was asked the other day what supplies I would suggest to have on hand, my first thought was to just look around. I hate to spend a bunch of money on supplies when kids art really is mostly

Finger painting with shaving cream

2012-02-14T22:11:00.003-07:00

Pin It Last week we did some experimenting with paper bags when we decided to take the Creative Challenge over at TinkerLab. Before we made our paper bag purses, we actually tried using the paper bag as a canvas for some fingerpainting. Can you believe we have never fingerpainted in our home? Well, except once when Lou was 2 (she's nearly 8 now!) . That was enough for me. I was a bit too

Valentine shortbread cookies and blog hop

2012-02-07T09:25:00.001-07:00

What is a Valentine's holiday without baking and decorating cookies? The other day at the library we came across this fun cookbook for kids. It is fully illustrated and the recipes can be altered to your liking. The first thing we decided to make were the shortbread cookies. What's fun about it is that it gives a totally hands-on way of making the cookies. Now, I have to admit that I

Monday Madness 19

2012-02-06T00:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the amazing link-ups last week. There were some incredibly unique posts I want to share with you in case you didn't see them from the link party. Egg carton painting from ArtClubBlog What a beautiful way to create 3-D art. Rockin' tangerine owl from Bleak 2 Unique. This is a MUST see tutorial, go check it out! Fingerprint dove from Busy Kids = Happy Mom Is this not one

Paper bag purse

2012-02-05T22:20:00.004-07:00

Pin It A few weeks ago, we heard of the Creative Challenge given by Tinkerlab. The material for this challenge was to be paper bags. I had a few paper grocery bags stashed away for who-knows-what and they were perfect for the challenge. We tried a couple different things with them, but I am deciding to share this one with you today. It was difficult while brainstorming to get away from the