Toilet Roll Biplane Airplanes Craft

Although Chuck isn't always so keen to craft with me (sad, I know,) he fortunately loves making cardboard toys with me.  (Yay!)  Currently he loves planes.  But since we've already crafted toilet roll planes, toilet roll helicopters, and cardboard roll space shuttles... I was at a loss as to what we could make together next.  One day he suggested that we make a biplane together.  So we went with his suggestion and did this toilet roll biplane craft!

Toilet Roll Biplane Craft

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I think he looks a little like Leadbottom from the movie Planes, don't you?

Check out how we made this simple plane from recycled materials below!

Toilet Roll Pumpkins and Skulls

It's no secret that I LOVE toilet paper roll crafts.  I think I probably have about a dozen toilet roll crafts on the blog.  Yurp.  One of my friends recently commented, "Wow. You go through a lot of toilet paper."  Double yup.  We do.  We do.  (TMI?)  So anyway... eh hem... the toilet roll craft list is about to going to grow again!  Tada!  Here are my Halloween inspired toilet roll crafts!  

Toilet Roll Halloween Crafts

So we have some toilet roll pumpkins.....

and ...

Black Cat Duck Tape Containers

Last Friday we hosted a grill out for some of hubby's work colleagues.  To make our place a bit more Halloween-y I turned some old cans into these cute black cat containers using duct tape!

Black Cat Duck Tape Containers

Aren't they cute?  If you want to decorate containers of your own, head on over to DIY Candy for the full tutorial!

Here are some other fun Halloween Crafts!

• DIY No Sew Lightening McQueen Costume
• DIY Fake Sleeve Tattoo
• DIY Tulle Halloween Mask

Let's Keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!


Have a wonderful weekend!

Glow in the dark Kids Jellyfish Costume

Recently I received several containers of Tulip Glow Paint to try out.  As you know, I LOVE making costumes for Chuck. (Remember the spider costume, Lightening McQueen Costume, and Mr. Potato head costume?  Yup.  Good times.)  So I was excited to somehow incorporate the glow in the dark paint into a costume idea.  Chuck really loves sea creatures right now, so I made him this easy, NO SEW jellyfish costume.

Oh yeah.  And it glows!

DIY Kids Jellyfish Costume (that glows!)

Adorable right? Just wait till you see it glowing.  It really looks like a jellyfish is sitting on top of his head!

Here's how I made it!

Halloween Sensory Activity- Let's Dig out Bones!

I'm a crafter by nature.  I like painting, gluing, and drawing.  Messy sensory activities just don't come naturally for me.  But since Halloween celebrates slimy, icky, things.... I figured we should do a sensory activity.   So tada!  Today's blog post is all about this Halloween Bone Dig Sensory Activity!

Halloween Bone Dig Sensory Activity

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I watch the tv show Bones, so I definitely channeled Dr. Brennon and her squints while setting up the activity.  Usually Chuck doesn't like getting his hands dirty, but for some reason he LOVED digging out the "bones" and squishing the "blood" around.

Ok!  Let's get started!

DIY Pizza Gift Box

Ha ha!  I bet you saw the words pizza and gift box and thought... what is Leslie up to this time?  Is she wrapping things in used pizza boxes?  Eeeeh no.  (Although, I would probably wrap things in new boxes.... ooh, good idea... wait.. focus, focus!)  Here's what today's post is going to be about:

DIY Pizza Gift Box

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Isn't it cute?  Chuck took an extra long nap this weekend so I had time to try out a cool craft inspired by one found in this book.  It's a small gift box that looks like a pizza!  Now you can make your very own unique packaging to match your cool gift.  And bonus- it's made from a used envelope. Yessirree my crafty friend,  this craft has it all. It's cute and good for the environment too.

Let's get started!

Recycled Pumpkin Sun Catcher Craft

Tis the season for Halloween crafting, fa-la-la-... Oh wait.  Wrong song.  Well, you get the point. The season for Halloween crafting has begun!  Last year we made of ton of Halloween crafts (see bottom of post for links).  This year we've folded an origami black cat and made a cardboard pumpkin with a changeable face.   Today we're going to make another recycled Halloween craft.  This time we made these milk jug pumpkin sun catchers!

DIY Milk Jug Pumpkin Sun Catchers

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I really liked this craft because the pumpkins were SO easy to make with my 3 year old.  And we didn't have to spend a ton of time on prep or a ton of money for materials.  (That's a definite win win in my book.)  Ok!  Let's get making!

DIY Cardboard Cash Register

Does your child love going to the grocery store? 

 Does his/her face light up at the prospect of pressing buttons?  

Then today's craft is perfect for you!

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Awhile back I was looking around at getting a cash registertoy for Chuck.  He loves watching the cashier scan our groceries, so it was a perfect toy to encourage imaginary play at home.  After looking around online I then got to wondering.  Could I make my own toy?  And that's how this craft was born.

This DIY cardboard cash register has pressable buttons, a sliding money drawer, a faux credit card scanner, and a changeable money display!  Yup.  Cool right?  It's just right for little hands who love to push, press, pick, and pull.  It's also a great way for kids to practice their math skills too!

Interest piqued?  You can see the full tutorial on Handmade Charlotte!

Happy making. :)  

DIY Climbing Cardboard Circus Men Toys

I love making interactive toys for Chuck. There's something immensely gratifying about creating something that's beautiful, functional, and fun.... out of recyclable items!  Recently I made these two cardboard climbing circus men toys for Chuck.  You pull on the strings and the men race to the top.

Cardboard Climbing Circus Strong Men Toys

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Hee hee.  Do you dig their leotards, chest hair, and handlebar mustache?  Yup.  These manly men exude quite a bit of style, don't you think?

Ok.  Let's get making!

Homemade Finger painted Starry Night

I love Van Gogh's artwork.  The colors, the movement, the textures... wow, wow, wow.  How does someone even do that?  Yowzers.  Gosh, did he make the world so much more beautiful with his art.  *Happy sigh*  Ok, ok... I'm back.  Let's get to today's post!  Chuck and I have explored great artwork in the past by making collages inspired by Matisse and super easy abstract artwork.  So I thought it was high time we tried our hand at making some artwork inspired by Van Gogh.   Except that instead of using real paints... we used some homemade finger paints!  

Collaborative Art Project:  Finger Painted Starry Night!

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For months now I kept seeing Kidzaw Master Art Kits pop up everywhere.  (Have you heard of them?  They're kits that provide kids with all the materials necessary to make artwork inspired the great artists.)  I saw great results with older children and toyed with the idea of buying one to try out.  But Chuck's only 2 and I'll be honest, his affinity for arts and crafts varies daily.  Yurp.  So I came up with this cheaper alternative.  The finger paint is super easy to make and you could adapt the design to recreate any of Van Gogh's artwork.

So let's begin!

DIY Cardboard Rocket Launcher Toy

Apparently we've reached the stage where Chuck likes pretending to shoot things... and people.  (Ack.  Is this common?  I'm assuming so... )  So I thought it would be fun to somehow make a toy that would actually shoot things, like a catapult or a slingshot.  We always seem to have cardboard rolls lying around, so I built this cardboard roll rocket launcher toy.  Then, we had a BLAST playing with it!

Get it?  Rocket launcher?  Blast? Like blast off?   Hee hee hee... wah wah wah.

DIY Cardboard Roll Rocket Launcher Toy

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This rocket launcher toy uses rubber bands and cardboard rolls to shoot aluminum foil balls.  It's so powerful that we can actually shoot a ball across our (small) patio... whoa, right?  Since the balls are made from aluminum foil, they don't hurt. So you could create several launchers, shoot each other, and then not worry about anyone getting hurt.  Excellent, right?

Keep on reading to build your own rocket launcher and see other cool DIY toys that you can make and play with your little one.

Make Egg Carton Bugs

I love a good egg carton craft.  We don't eat eggs too often here, so whenever we finish a carton, I'm always super stoked to make something with it.  Today's Egg Carton Insect Craft came about because ants have been on our minds a lot lately.  For some reason there seem to be ants EVERYWHERE in our new home.  Eeek.  Plus, we recently watched "Honey I shrunk the kids" and Chuck loved Anty the giant ant.   So that's why we had to make ourselves some egg carton bugs!

Let's Make Egg Carton Insects!

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Building Cardboard Bridges (Kid Engineering!)

Ever wonder why corrugated boxes are so strong?  Since we've started unpacking, I'm surprised by how well our boxes held up.  Even after being shipped across the country, our stuff is intact and our boxes still look good.  Wow!  Those folded bits really make corrugated cardboard strong!  This thought inspired me to try building some simple cardboard bridges with Chuck.  This way we could see for ourselves how folds made cardboard stronger.

Easy Kid Engineering:  Let's Cardboard Build bridges!

(Does folding paper make it stronger?)

Make Toilet Roll Glasses!

Toilet roll crafts are some of my favorite ones to make.  (You can check out our extensive toilet roll craft gallery here.)  Right now we're still living out of our suitcases, so good ol' tp rolls are also some of the few craft items that I still have on hand.  Recently I saw Krokotak's toilet roll sunglasses tutorial and I knew that I really wanted to make my own version.  I've had pineapples and rainbows on my mind lately, so naturally they found their way into this adorable craft.

Toilet Roll Glasses

DIY Magnetic Transportation Map Game

Our epic move still looms overhead.  The movers are coming next week and then we fly off to California a week after that.  I keep trying to explain what's happening to Chuck, but I'm not sure he gets it yet.  So I came up with this easy craft and activity to help him out.  It's a DIY Magnetic Transportation Map Activity where you move different types of transportation across county using magnets!

DIY Magnetic Transportation Map Game

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Chuck really enjoyed helping me to color in the map and different types of transportation using watercolors.  He also REALLY enjoyed moving everything around using magnets.  It was a bit of trial and error to put this toy together, but at the end we came up with a craft that's easy to make, fun to use, and *hopefully* helpful for Chuck.

Let's get making!

DIY Cardboard Cactus Construction Set

Full crafty admission:  Yesterday I was taking Chuck to the park and saw a lovely clean box in the back of our building.  Not sure how this happened, but suddenly I found myself mumbling, "It's mine, my precious, my own" repeatedly until Chuck reminded me that he wanted to go play.  Then, of course, I snapped out of my gollum state.  But you can bet your sweet Aunt Petunia that when we came back home, I grabbed that box and skedaddled back to our apartment.  Why?  Well, I wanted to make a Cardboard Cactus Construction Set, of course.  Why? (You might ask again.)  Well, because cardboard is cool and cacti are cool... which makes this cardboard construction set cool to the uber cool power.

DIY Cardboard Cactus Construction Set

Toilet Roll Helicopter Craft

Chuck loves his vehicles.  Thus far we've built a toilet roll airplane, a cardboard roll space shuttle,  a shampoo bottle boat, styrofoam gliders, and a tin can car.  (Wow.  That's a lot of transportation crafts!) Since we live near the river, helicopters fly over our building on a daily basis.  So we recently added this toilet roll helicopter to our collection of recycled transportation crafts.   (Can you tell that he's modeled after Harold the Helicopter from Thomas?)

Toilet Roll Helicopter Craft 

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6 Fun Flower Activities for Kids

I've had flowers on my mind lately.  But can you blame me?  Spring is here and the world is bursting with color!  Plus, Mother's day is coming up and I imagine mothers all over receiving flowers as gifts.  So that's why I put together this list of 6 fun flower activities that you can do with your kids.   You can turn flowers into works of art, use them to decorate stationary, or place them in a sensory bin!  Let's get started!

6 Fun Flower Activities 

Build a toy car that moves

I love painting things with Chuck, but sometimes I yearn to make things that actually move or do things.  So when a mommy friend suggested that we build cardboard toy cars that actually move, wowzers, I had to say yes.  She found the directions in an old kids' science book (that I don't remember the name of... sorry).  And that's how we spent an awesome play date with five kids- eating pizza and then building and racing some cardboard racing cars. 

Kid Science: Let's Build a Car that Moves!

Today's craft is awesome for 2 reasons:

1.  The cars really move.  Really.  You just twist the tin can and then let go.  Bam.  The rubber bands store the potential energy and then once released, they turn the can... and your car moves by itself!

2.  You don't need any expensive materials.  In fact, you probably have most of the items already at home.  

Have I whet your appetite enough?  Ok.  Let's build! Vroooom!

Toilet Paper Roll Flowers and Cacti

I've said it once, and I'll say it again.  I've got a black, black thumb.  And this saddens me because deep down, my heart is really green.  I love looking at plants, I love eating plants, and goodness one year I was even a tree for Halloween!  But I'm a plant killer.  So this makes today's toilet paper roll craft perfect for me.  These cardboard roll plants are pretty to look at, and impossible to kill.

Make Toilet Paper Roll Flowers and Cacti

Yup.  Aren't they pretty?  If you're interested in making yourself some everlasting recyclable plants, keep on reading!