Simple Heart Decal Wall

Last weekend I kinda went bonkers and made myself a heart accent wall.  

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DIY Toy Launcher!

With the nights still being quite long, we often find ourselves stuck inside twiddling our thumbs... and going kinda bonkers.  :)  So one day we took matters into our own hands, and our family worked together to tinker and turn a long, narrow box into a DIY Toy Launcher!

DIY Cardboard Toy Launcher

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It's really amazing how many moving types of toys you can make from with rubber bands!  The stretchiness of the rubber bands provides ample opportunities for fun STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) activities and crafts.  (For example, we've made this DIY Rocket Launcher, this DIY Paper Slingshot, and this Cardboard car... that uses potential and kinetic energy to MOVE using rubber bands!)  

The Snowy Day Shadow box

Howdy, friends!  Today the Creative Preschool Collaborators and I are sharing 5 fun Winter-themed preschool activities and crafts!  So be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the post for other great ideas!

The Snowy Day Shadow Box  

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Ezra Jack Keats' book, The Snowy Day, has always been a favorite of mine.   His illustrations are simple, charming, colorful, and graphic.  He really captures the magic of a winter snowfall.  Plus, I love that he supports multiculturalism and made his main character a young black boy.  So when I found out that this week's theme was Winter, I was excited to read this book with Chuck and combine it with a craft.  

Valentine, you set my heart aflutter

Last week I shared about our new fascination with butterflies.  (You can read about it and see our fluttering butterfly kid craft here.)  My mind was still on butterflies when I came up with this idea for a DIY butterfly notebook.  

You can easily make this butterfly notebook from items lying around your home.  Plus, it would be a nice handmade gift to give someone for Valentine's Day too.  (It even fits into our 10 funny pun-y Valentine's Day craft series!)

Funny Pun-y Valentine's Day Craft 2:  "You set my Heart aflutter" Butterfly Notebooks!

You can see my first funny, pun-y craft here (Craft 1: "You Rock My World" Rocks).

 

Rubber Glove Finger Puppets

Ever find yourself wanting to do a quick craft with the kids that's different, easy to set up, and encourages creativity?

I think about that question all the time when I think up ideas for kids' crafts.  I know that parents and teachers want to keep their kids entertained, but they also want them to use their minds too.   And that's why I love these rubber glove finger puppets.  You just need 3 materials and bam!  Now you have instant mini canvases for creativity and endless opportunities for storytelling and fun.

Rubber Glove Finger Puppets

To make these gloves, check out my tutorial for rubber glove fingers today on MollyMoo!

Happy making friends!

Let's keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

  

Valentine, You ROCK MY WORLD!

Even though our Christmas tree is still up (I know, I know, I haven't the heart to take it down), my mind is currently on Valentine's Day and all the lovely crafts that go along with that.  Last year we made adorable heart shaped glasses and DIY Coffee and Candy Gifts.  This year I'm challenging myself to think of 10 easy funny, pun-y crafts that say Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's my 1st attempt!

Funny Pun-y Valentine's Day 1:  

"Valentine, You Rock My World" Rocks 

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New Year's Party Horn Photo Props!

Oof.  I just realized that I never put up a happy New Year post on the blog!  Thank you, dear reader, for stopping by this year.  I hope you always leave entertained, smiling, and itching to  make something with the kids!

Here's a craft that I made to ring in 2015- Party Horn Photo Props! 

New Year's Party Horn Photo Props

Loud noises?  Funny faces?  These are seriously hilarious and would be super fun to make with the young'uns (and the young at heart!)  

Come on.  Tell me that isn't funny?

You can get the full tutorial on DIY Candy!

Happy making, friends!

Let's keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  Or, sign up for the newsletter in the pink bar at the top of the site. 

Fluttering Butterfly Craft!

Hello friends!  Today I wanted to share this really neat fluttering butterfly craft that I recently did with Chuck.  We cut out, painted, and folded butterflies that flutter when you move them!  (We also made some lovely butterfly notebooks too!)  The whole process entertained Chuck for quite awhile, so I thought other kids might like it too!

                                             Fluttering Butterfly Craft

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I know it's winter, and most people are doing winter crafts with their kids, but honestly, I just haven't had the heart to do so.  Our weather is right now in the 60s which is totally bizarre to me.  I'm used to cold, wet, or snowy winters.... not cool, sunny ones.  It's very weird ... but I'm thankful for the sun and warmth!

This butterfly craft was inspired by our local butterfly grove.  Nearby our home is a plot of land where monarch butterflies migrate to during the winter.   How neat is that?  Last week we hiked up to the butterfly grove and saw thousands of butterflies, clumped together in tree branches.  It was a pretty amazing sight.  (And I WISH I could have taken photos of them, but they were just too high up to get a decent shot.)  One of the other children at the park found a dead butterfly on the ground and showed everyone.  Chuck really wanted to find one of his own, but we never did.  So I came up with this craft so that he could have his very own fluttering butterfly.

Looking for kids' butterfly books?

This would definitely be a great craft to go along with any of these great butterfly books!

• Hungry Catterpillar
• My Oh My- A butterfly
• Butterfly and Moth 
• Gideon's Dream 
• From Caterpillar to Butterfly  

Snake puppets!

Looking for a fun snake craft?   Yup.  Chuck still digs snakes.  Now, we've made our fair share of snake crafts around here...  (Check out our twisty snake sculpture, moveable cardboard snake, and bubble snakes!)  But today I thought I'd just share a really easy snake puppet that I recently made for him!

Snake Puppets! 

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Make a set of Shark Teeth!

Lately Chuck's wanted to make cardboard toys that move and do things!  That's fine with me, because I really enjoyed making moveable snakes, rocket launchers, paper slingshots, and climbing cardboard circus men with him.  Currently he's OBSESSED with sharks.  So I came up with this quick and easy egg carton shark craft.

  Make a set of Sharp Shark* Teeth!

(*or alligator... or crocodile... or dinosaur... etc.. etc..)

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Lego Snowflakes

Do you enjoy cutting snowflakes from paper?  Do you like Lego?   Then I've got a treat for you! Combining both, I recently figured out how to cut out Lego snowflakes!

DIY Lego Snowflakes!

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Hubby and I both grew up loving Lego toys. Chuck loves his cars and train Duplo sets.  And every year I find myself cutting all sorts of paper snowflakes to decorate our windows.  So this year, I was inspired by this neat Batman snowflake design to create two cute and easy-to- cut Lego Snowflakes.  

DIY Star Washer Ornaments

Enjoy making things?  Looking for a fun gift to give a DIY-loving friend?  

How about these Star Washer Ornaments!

These lovely hardware ornaments are super easy to make and will look great on the Christmas tree too!  You can check out my full tutorial on DIY Candy today!

And here are 3 other easy DIY Ornaments!

• Felt and Milk Jug Ornaments
• Hand and Feet Salt Dough Ornaments
• Perler Bead Snowflake Ornaments

Let's keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  Or, just sign up for the weekly newsletter in the pink bar at the top of the site.

Happy making, friends!

DIY Toy Car Ornaments

We have a TON of toy cars, trains, and trucks over here.  (Chuck's kinda got a thing for transportation toys.)  And lots of them have open windows.  I was staring at them the other day and realized... wouldn't they make fun (and cheap) ornaments?

DIY Car Ornaments

Perler Bead Garland

The Perler Bead holiday crafting continues!  A couple of days ago I shared how to make these super easy Perler Bead Snowflake ornaments.  Today I'm over at DIYCandy sharing this quirky and unique Perler Bead Holiday Garland!

Perler Bead Holiday Garland

You just need 2 materials:  Perler Beads and Zip ties!

(And if you like the adorable Christmas trees in the photo, you can find the tutorial for mini Christmas trees here.)

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, friends!  We're going black Friday shopping today with family!  Wish us luck!

Let's keep in Contact!

Like this idea?  You can always find other fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  Or, just sign up for the weekly newsletter in the pink bar at the top of the site.

Happy making, friends!

Candy Mosaic Art with Kids

Do you still have leftover Halloween candy?  Eeek. We do.  This week's Creative Preschooler theme is food!  With Chuck's current aversion to painting, I thought it would be fun to use our excess candy and make art with it!  So we made ourselves some lovely, colorful candy mosaic art!

Make Candy Mosaic Art with Kids!

It's always special to make art with non-traditional materials.  Some of my favorite food-art projects include our colored salt art, tortilla art,  gumdrop flowers, cornstarch sidewalk paint, and homemade watercolor paints!

Colored Salt Fun! (A Review of 150+ Screen-Free Activities Book!)

Looking for a different way to make art and have fun with the kids?  How about making your own colored salt?

Fun with Colored Salt!

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Make Mini Christmas Trees (For free!)

Here's a super easy way to decorate your home for the holidays! 

Make a bunch of mini Christmas trees!

(Bonus- All the materials are free!)

DIY Colorful Shoelaces!

Lately I've been thinking about super simple Christmas gifts that kids could make for their friends.  Last year Chuck used Sharpies to make his own Sharpie Tie-Dye Shirt.  This time I thought I'd have a turn using Sharpies to turn plain white shoelaces into cute and colorful shoelaces!

DIY Colorful Shoe laces

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This was a super fun project with colorful and unique results!

Let's get started!

Easy Christmas Tree Advent Calendar

Christmas crafts? Christmas crafts?  Ok, I haven't completely gone bonkers... it's just that the stores have started putting out their Christmas things... so I wanted to join in on the fun.  Last year I had a lot of fun Christmas crafting (remember the village made from Plaster of Paris?)  This year I fell in love with all of the beautiful colors of paint swatches from Home Depot... so I took a bunch home (shhhh, don't tell anyone) and made a bunch of cute paper Christmas trees with Chuck.

Then I wasn't sure what to do with our little army of trees.  At first I was going to turn them into a garland of some sort, but then realized that they would make for a really simple and modern take on a DIY Christmas Advent Calendar!

Easy Christmas Tree Advent Calendar!

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2-Ingredient Puffy Paint Fall Leaves

Sometimes I have to pinch myself to remind myself that it's fall.  (I'm just not used to warm temperatures at this time of year.)  Chuck and I enjoyed doing fall crafts back in Jersey, so I thought we should try doing some fall crafts here too... even though it doesn't quite feel fall yet...

During a nature walk, we counted quite a few red trees outside.  Boy, was I surprised!  So we drew inspiration from them and made these two-ingredient Homemade Puffy Paint Fall Leaves!

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Awhile back we had some success making gluten free homemade puffy paint.  But I was feeling kind of lazy and didn't have all the right materials on hand.  Luckily, we found a super easy recipe for puffy paint on several blogs, and tried it out.

I'll bet you could easily make this puffy paint today.  You probably have all the ingredients already at home.