Thursday, July 10, 2014

4 Easy Bell Crafts for Kids

Right now we're in the middle of packing.  Not going to lie, our apartment is looking like it's inhabited by crazy people.  So my posts for the next month will probably be fewer and the crafts will be much simpler.  This brings me to today's topic:  crafting with bells.   I love the sound of jingle bells.  They remind me of Christmas, the cold, and reindeer.  I know it's July and Christmas is miles away... but you can craft with jingle bells all year round?  Right? Right! Here's how we've crafted with jingle bells:

4 Super Easy Bell Crafts for Kids

4 easy bell crafts for kids

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1.  Make a Paper Plate Tambourine!


Make a paper plate and jingle bell tambourine


I love tambourines because they're easy and fun to play.  This one was made from two paper plates.  I decorated one using Sharpie marker and then added colors with watercolors.  Then, I placed both paper plates on top of each other and punched a hole through both.  Then, I used pipe cleaners to string the jingle bells on.

And that's it.  Now grab your DIY instrument and give it a shake!

make a paper plate and jingle bell tambourine


(And if you liked this paper plate craft, check out these cool paper plate crafts here.)

2 and 3.  Make Musical Sticks and Socks!


make jingle sticks and add bells to socks


Chuck still loves picking up sticks.  So I thought it would be fun to take some yarn (or you could also use pipe cleaners) to wrap jingle bells onto a stick to make a musical stick!  Then, I also sewed on bells to some socks to create some musical socks.

By far the musical socks were his favorites of all of these jingle bell crafts.  He wore them all morning... and then he pulled off the bells.  Oh well!  We had fun while they lasted.

4.  Make Musical Art!


make musical art, add bells to paint brushes and hear sounds while you paint


I pinned this idea from No Time for Flash Card's  Painting with Sound post and knew that I had to try it out.  The idea of combining art, movement, and music really appealed to me.  So again, I used some yarn (or you could also use pipe cleaners) to wrap jingle bells around two paint brushes.  Then, we blasted some music (in our case, the theme song from Planes) and went to work.

Chuck really enjoyed dabbing the brushes quickly to hear the sounds!

boy painting with paint brushes and bells


And there you have it.  4 really easy ways that kids can craft with bells.  Now if you're interested in other other ways you can craft with bells,  fellow Rockin' Art Mom Buggy and Buddy has a list of 14 great kids' bell crafts!

And if you're interested in other DIY Musical Instruments, check out the links below!

Happy Jingling!