Crafts for Kids Archives - Page 6 of 9

3D Paper Pumpkins #fall #crafts

October 2, 2013 by Melissa

Creating crafts for the holidays is always fun. Giving kids creative opportunities to decorate and personalize anything they can get their hands on. Halloween and Fall is one our favorite times of the year to decorate. Black cats, bats, pumpkins, witches, ghosts and SO MUCH MORE can be used to highlight the season.
These paper pumpkins can stick around the house till Thanksgiving and they are easy to make using just 2 supplies, glue and paper. Embellishments can be added but definitely aren’t necessary.

Supplies
6-8 paper shapes cut from cardstock or heavy weight paper per pumpkin
school glue

Getting the right paper shapes took some time to figure out. Circles seem like the best option but when put together it didn’t work well. Trimming off a small clean edge will make them stand up straight or you can build a little base like I did out of scrap paper.

Shae traced bowls, fridge magnets and punched heart shapes on a variety of scrapbook paper and cardstock. I prefer heavy paper because too much glue will make lightweight paper curl and bend easily. And when there are kids there is always too much glue.

To start your pumpkin fold each shape in half. Using school glue attach the outside half of one shape to the outside half of another shape. Make sure they are lined up evenly.

Continue until all the pieces are glued together and you have an accordion looking piece. Now add your pumpkin stem to the middle with a touch of glue. This could be a piece of pipe cleaner, a strip of curled paper, a leaf shape or anything else that comes to mind.

Now it’s time to close up your 3D shape. With a little bending and twisting arrange your pumpkin so the paper is evenly spaced. Set aside to let dry until you find its final display spot.

Mini Food in Clay #kidsinthekitchen

August 22, 2013 by Melissa

A few months back I worked on a Girls Night Out with ACMoore were I made a Quilled Roses Mini Wreath and a Decorated Notebook. We left that night with a bag full of swag that included some fun kid friendly stuff. This Klutz Make Clay Charms kit. I’ve been holding onto it for just the right time and this week was it. It was an electronics free day; no tv, no video games, no iPods, no tablets.

We did crafts, played games and worked on making mini food items with sculpting clay. The clay itself wasn’t the special part, the book with the directions on how to make mini cupcakes, s’mores, popsicles and burgers was the best part. It was so detailed that Shae and Shaun was able to construct these adorable little pieces with very little help from me.

Anything miniature is so cute but when you pair up a loaded burger and fries together it’s hard not to giggle a little.

Did you have fun in the “kitchen” this week? Did you try a new food or a new kid friendly restaurant? Did your littlest ones use their snacks to count to 10? We invite you to share your experiences, photos, stories or recipes that include your #kidsinthekitchen.

Come join me and my co-hosts, Paula at Frosted Fingers and Sara at Sensibly Sara, each week linking up a post, new or old, that feature the theme Kids in the Kitchen. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you are doing it together, enjoying it and learning something along the way.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog? Share an instagram photo or Facebook update.

Fruit Painted Rocks #craft #kidsinthekitchen

July 25, 2013 by Melissa

Don’t we all have pretty bowls and vases on our kitchen table filled with fruit, flowers and other lovely centerpieces. On our tables I have a bowl of fresh produce and on the other table I have a tray filled with junk. I’m talking about coupons, sunglasses, notebooks, beads and business cards. It’s the catchall for the room.

I gave Sabreena and Shae a task to make something pretty for the table. They hunted under our deck for very specific shaped river rocks and made a this bowl of fruit.

The first thing they had to do was wash all the dirt off of the rocks and set them aside to dry. A couple minutes in the sun is all it took.

The girls brought out all of the acrylic paints plus some kid friendly washable poster paints, tons of brushes like these ones and protection for my table. They wrote down lists of all the fruits and veggies they thought they could paint and started mixing colors.

Shae went for her favorite fruits first, strawberries and blueberries. Sabreena went for more elaborate designs like corn an squash. Hours and hours went by and they were still sitting there painting rocks to resemble something completely new and beautiful.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog? Share an instagram photo or Facebook update.

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Circus Clown Flip Book #kids #activity

July 18, 2013 by Melissa

Coming up with new activities and crafts for the kids and I to enjoy is one of my favorite things to so. I’m working on a Summer Camp at Home series over on Gummylump.com’s blog and assigned myself Under the Big Top theme. I knew I’d have a lot of fun coming up with things with this theme. You see we love the circus. We love the ring master, the acrobats, the elephant parade and especially the clowns. The clowns are our favorite by far. We’ve had the opportunity over the years to interact with them up close and personal and we are always amazed at their intricate costumes and make-up.

Coming up with this Circus Clown Flip Book was a group effort. I found this body template online that would work for just about any character or theme. Sabreena drew most of the clowns and I put the book together for Shae.

Materials Needed:

small spiral book, I used a 1/2 size address book from the dollar store
body template print outs
markers, crayons, colored pencils
glue
scissors & paper cutter
decorations for front cover (optional)

Assembly Instructions:

Start by printing out however many body templates you want. Making sure they line up to each other trim down so they fit onto your notebook. Using a glue stick and working quickly adhere each drawing onto a notebook sheet. Be sure to cover the entire page with glue, not just the borders.

After each page is done, close the notebook and place something heavy on top to make sure pages are stuck and flat. This only takes an hour or so.

When your glued pages have dried take a pair of sharp scissors and cut down each dotted line, cutting your bodies into thirds.

As your child leafs through the characters they can mix and match their clothes, hats, faces and even shoes. I added a string/stick to each clown so that each one has something different in their hand like a butterfly, umbrella, balloon or pinwheel. I decorated the cover because it said Address and Telephone Book. I will get around to doing a better job but for now it works.

Our flip book has 15 total clowns for now but I’m going to work on adding more costumed clowns such as a police officer, puppy, sun bather and more. This book is going to evolve over then next couple of weeks.

What other characters can you think of putting together?

Find my Circus Peanut Compound Word activity over at Gummylump Blog along with other fun Summer Camp at Home activities.

American Flag Luminaries #kids #craft

July 1, 2013 by Melissa

4th of July is coming up and in our home that means, time spent in the pool, bbqing with friends and family and of course fireworks. On clear night we can stay home and see some the fireworks shows in the town a few miles away and then the show put on by the University.

Shae and I made these patriotic luminaries to light up the night while enjoying the show right from our deck.

Supplies
paper bags, white or brown will work
kid friendly paint
paint brushes
sand or rocks
battery operated tealight or glow sticks
knife or sharpened pencil

Prep your space to protect against paint stains. I use washable paint so I didn’t worry to much about it. Also make sure you start painting on the correct side of the bag. Don’t paint on the flap that sits on the table

Directions
Using a spare paper bag or plate or palate pour out enough paint for your flag or other design you prefer.

Starting with blue paint your square background then proceed with your red and white stripes. I wasn’t going for accuracy with the order or number of stripes. This was a freeform activity.

Let the blue thoroughly dry before adding stars. Again, didn’t go for accuracy in the number of stars.

After the white stars dried I used a pen knife to poke some holes to let the light shine through. I filled the bottom of the bag with about a handful if river rocks and placed a glowstick inside. The rocks help keep the bag in place while the winds blow.

While working on this activity I read little tidbits of information about how our flag became what it is today and what the stars and stripes actually mean.

One of my favorite books is The Flag We Love by Pam Muñoz Ryan.

It’s written for children but offers so much information about the heritage and history of the United States of America in small doses that kids can absorb. This book has been floating around our family since our 17yo was little.

How are you celebrating the 4th of July this year?

Homemade Rock Candy #FAIL #KidsintheKitchen

June 13, 2013 by Melissa

I was never a great student in science. I mean I did enjoy it but it didn’t always make total sense to me. Maybe that’s why I completely botched our homemade Rock Candy experience.

Shae wasn’t too sure what rock candy was until I showed her a picture of it online. I asked if she wasn’t to make some and she was excited. I figured this was something she was going to be able to see results over a few days making it really fun and interactive. I was wrong wrong wrong.

Shae was a great help with the stove work. She poured the water and sugar and helped stir but when it came to pouring I was in charge.

The gorgeous blue color reminded me of the Caribbean Sea and I thought we would have some pretty Rock Candy to eat afterwards.

Something happened. The day after pouring it into the jar there was NOTHING to see.

According to everything I read I was supposed to reboil and add sugar, so I did. I knew from the looks of the mixture after the reboil and sugar addition it wasn’t going to turn out well. I was right. Within an hour it had turned into a solid block of sugar with skewer sticking out of it.

Oh well.. Shae had fun helping to make it and had a few laughs when it didn’t turn out so well.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog? Share an instagram photo or Facebook update instead.

Popsicle Stick People #kids #craft #KidsintheKitchen

June 6, 2013 by Melissa

Craft staples in our house include glitter glue, scrapbook paper, buttons of all shapes and sizes and paints. You can also always find popsicle sticks in our house too. We’ve built houses and frames and made shapes using velcro with popsicle sticks in the past.

This week we made Popsicle Stick People using markers, tape and ribbon. I used Pinterest to show Shae for ideas but what she came with was all her own.

I found that using ultra fine tip Sharpies worked best for small details like eyes and hair ribbons.
Shae used washi tape and other similar products to dress her dolls and even used ribbon as trim.

She really wanted to make sneakers for her doll’s feet but the sticks were too thing. I might have to look into tongue depressor size sticks next time.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog? Share an instagram photo or Facebook update.

Making Homemade Play Dough #kidsinthekitchen

May 24, 2013 by Melissa

I’ve been seeing them for years; different colors, scented, mixed with herbs and flowers. I’m talking about Homemade play dough. I consider myself pretty crafty but this isn’t something ever attempted on my own. I was always intimidated. This week after seeing a couple more gorgeous activities and simple recipes I knew we had to give it a try.

I used the simplest recipe I could find.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup cool water

I added the flour and salt to a bowl and let Shae add the water and mix mix mix. It took her about 10 minutes to get everything incorporated enough to turn out onto the table. She played and rolled and kneaded, creating different shapes and designs. She ended with a strawberry and star. The next step is to bake them and paint them.

Playing with play dough is a great way to let little hands explore. It’s a fantastic medium for endless ideas like jewelry, ornaments, figurines and more. Trust me this process was simple, the cleanup of the table afterwards was way more work.

preparing healthy snacks
having a tea party
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog? Share an instagram photo or Facebook update.

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Making a Forever Flower #kidsinthekitchen

May 16, 2013 by Melissa

By now hopefully you realize that #kidsinthekitchen is about more than just letting the kids mix cookie dough or slice strawberries. In our home the kitchen in the backdrop for just about anything we have going on. Homework is done there, conversations about our schedule are discussed there, we eat meals as a family there and ofcourse we prep those meals there. The kitchen is also the place where we educate, create and play. Crafts and activities are HUGE in our home. They aren’t always blogged about but there is usually something happening each day.

This week we are playing with our food again. Colored Rice is an incredibly popular medium to stimulate sensory awareness, work on color recognition and work on fine and gross motor skills. In our house we play with it because it’s pretty and fun to run our fingers through it.

While sitting at the kitchen island this week Shae was admiring the flowers Sabreena gave me for Mother’s Day. Each day I sort through them, throw away the dead ones, change the water and re arrange them. Shae then decided she wanted to make me flower that would last forever. This is when the colored rice comes in.

We pulled out a piece of heavy cardstock, school glue, colored rice, popsicle stick, markers a couple fabric leaves from previously dismantle fabric flowers. I drew out flower shape on the card stock and let her create my flower.

The trick to getting a nice layer of rice is to go heavy on the glue. Shae used a paintbrush to fill each petal with lots of glue and then over poured the rice so it would stick in every nook and cranny.

The clean up was simple, rice is easy to sweep up. This needs to dry overnight at the very least.

working on a craft
playing pretend restaurant
counting skills with m&ms
pouring from measuring cups
discovering a local restaurant that your kids love
creating new family friendly recipes

Don’t have a blog? Share an instagram photo or Facebook update.

Kids in the Kitchen with LookWhatMomFound…and Dad too!

I can’t wait to see the fun you worked on this week.

Sea Shell Crab #kids #craft

May 15, 2013 by Melissa

Our visit to Ocean City, MD a few weeks ago produced more than just fun memories: we came home with a bucket full of seashells of all different sizes, shapes and colors.

These shells have been taking up residence in the garage waiting for a craft or activity to utilize them. Found One!

Supplies

3 red pipe cleaners
2 small black beads or buttons
1 large scallop or clam shell, cleaned and dried
glue (we used school glue and Quik grip adhesive)
red poster or acrylic paint & paint brush

Prep your work space to protect against paint and glue

Start with painting your shells. A trick for getting the snail shells completely covered in paint without getting paint all over your hands is to take one of your pipe cleaners cut it in half then fold each piece in half. Insert the folded end into your shell. This acts as a holder to and the crab legs you’ll later glue to the body shell.

Once your shells are painted and drying take the remaining 2 pipe cleaners and cut them into equal fourths. Crabs have 8 legs.

When your shells are dried proceed with gluing the legs and claws to the underside of your scallop/clam shell. This may take another round of drying time depending on the type of adhesive you use.

Once your legs and claws are set go ahead and flip your crab over glue on your eyes. Beads, buttons, googly eyes or tiny painted shells would work here too.

You crab now deserves a special place in your home.

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