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!

2 DIY Cardboard Fourth of July Hats!

Fourth of July is in a couple of days.  Now if you're like me, you probably just realized that fact just this week.  (Oh wait... am I the only one is in a perpetual time warp and constantly forgets what day it is?)  This year we plan on seeing fireworks with Chuck and I thought it would be fun to whip up some cute Fourth of July Cardboard Hats for us to wear.  Can you believe that these 2 hats were made from cereal boxes, toilet paper rolls, and corrugated cardboard?

2 Easy DIY Fourth of July Hats!

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Cardboard and Pom Pom Soccer Game

Are you watching the World Cup?  Hubby's been keeping track of the games, but Chuck and I haven't been paying too much attention to the scores.  However, because it's soccer season, I still felt inspired to make something soccer-related.  So that's why I crafted this mini cardboard and pom pom soccer game for us to play.

Cardboard and Pom Pom Soccer Game

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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

Create Abstract Art with Kids

Chuck and I enjoy painting... well... just about anything.  Give this kid a brush and paint and he's good to go.  I love making art with the little guy and that's why I'm always on the look out for new ways to paint.  That's why this easy abstract painting tutorial on the awesome blog Create Art with Mel really appealed to me.  You simply use a common household item to create interesting abstract art.  Care to guess what the item is?   

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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!

DIY Easter Bunny Bean Bag Toss

Tomorrow the theme is bunnies at our library toddler group.  We're going to make paper bag bunnies and play a bunny game too.  Since I already had this lovely large piece of cardboard, I made a really simple Cardboard Easter Bunny Bean Bag Toss game.... complete with... wait for it... carrot bean bags.  

DIY Easter Bunny Bean Bag Toss

Ack.  Too adorable.  Too adorable!  (Btw, is it strange that I swoon over large pieces of cardboard?)   Hrmm... anyway... hopefully the kids will have fun playing tomorrow.  But even if they don't, I'm just going to lug this guy home and prop him up against my wall.   His cheesy grin is just too cute. 

Keep reading to see photos of how I made it...

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!

Cardboard Space Shuttle Craft (template included)

A couple of weeks ago we visited our nearby Science Center and Chuck fell in love with a small space shuttle toy.  Of course, the wheels in my head began whirring and I knew that we could easily transform a  paper towel roll into our very own rocket ship.  So after a couple days of planning, cutting, and painting, we are now the proud owners of two cardboard roll space shuttles:

Cardboard Space Shuttle Craft

Want a ride to the moon on your very own cardboard roll space shuttle?  Then keep reading to see how we made them (template included)!

Leprechaun Hat Headband DIY

I'm not Irish. (Surprise!)  But I appreciate St. Patrick's Day because it gives me the opportunity to wear green and cute Leprechaun gear.  So today's craft is a DIY Leprechaun hat headband that was made from... wait for it.... toilet paper rolls and cereal boxes!   

Yup!  Today we're making our very own Leprechaun hat!

Keep reading to see how we made this little Leprechaun hat headband!

Cereal Box Fireman's Hat (Template included)

Currently Chuck loves pretending to be a fireman.  He tells me that random things are on fire and then sprays them with an imaginary hose to put the fire out.  To help encourage his play, we recently made this fireman's hat out of an old cereal box.

(Of course, we had to make a fireman's hat for his best friend Piggy too!)

Got a pretend firefighter in your family too? Curious to see how a cereal box turned into a fireman's hat? Keep reading to see how we did it!

Two Heart themed Valentine's Crafts- Heart Glasses and Painted Heart Rocks

Note:  This post is sponsored by Plaid, but the opinions are 100% mine.

Did you know that the heart is my favorite shape?  (Is it weird that I have a favorite shape?)  I know that triangles and hexagons are super trendy right now, but I'm an old-fashioned romantic.  Hearts will always have a special place in my... well heart.  (Tee hee hee.)  So when Plaid sent me a box of Apple Barrel Craft Paint to create a Valentine's Day School Craft, I knew that it had to be heart related. 


So I came up with these Cereal box Heart Glasses and Heart Painted Rocks.  Both crafts are super colorful and fun to make.   

Cereal box Heart Glasses

Keep reading to see directions and template!

Two Bird Feeder Crafts: Toilet Paper Roll Feeders and Ice Feeders

Earlier this week my posts focused on sending some lovin' to the special people in your life (Click here, here and here.)  Well, that's all well and good.  But what about sending love to others?  How about the birds?  With the freezing cold weather outside, our feathered friends are bound to need some loving too.  So why not try out these two bird feeder crafts?  Chuck and I made some toilet paper roll bird feeders and some heart shaped ice feeders.  Both were really easy to make and currently dangling on a tree outside our building.

Here's an up-close shot of our Toilet Paper Roll Feeder:

To see how I made the toilet paper roll feeders and ice feeders, keep reading!

Make a Cardboard Bridge for Trains and Cars

We bought an Ikea train set awhile back and Chuck loves it.  The only problem is that our poor Thomas train is too big and doesn't fit under the train set's tunnel.  So I poked through my trusty cardboard stash and made him a cardboard mountain bridge.  

Cardboard Bridge for Trains and Cars

Aha!  Problem solved.

Now all the trains can fit underneath the mountain while his cars drive over the train track.  Yay! 

Wanna make a bridge too?  Well then keep on reading! 

Make Toilet Roll Airplanes (template included)

Make Toilet Paper Roll Airplanes

Initially, I titled this post "Bad Mamas make toilet roll airplanes" because I wanted to admit something to you.

I'm a baaaad mama.

Yup, you read that right.  I'm a bad mama... a really bad mama...  why?  Well, the other day we were playing around with Chuck and we started humming different songs for him to guess.  At first we hummed his favorite song ("Life is a Highway" from the movie Cars) and he guessed it!  Intrigued, we kept humming other songs from Cars 1, Cars 2, and Planes (his faves.)  He couldn't name the songs specifically, but he could identify the movie that each song came from. 

And then I started humming "ABC" to him, thinking that it would be a breeze for him to guess.   I got through the entire song and then my son... my dear, sweet, transportation-loving child, looked up at me and said "Me no know mama."

What?! "Me no know?"  He knows songs from movie soundtracks... but can't recognize ABC?  We sing ABC to him at least twice a day when we brush his teeth.  Oof.  Double oof.

I guess we're not as entertaining as talking vehicles...

So... this reeeeeeaaaaally long intro was just my way of saying that my son loves cars, planes, trucks, trains... erm... basically anything that moves.  So I thought I'd try to foster his love with a toilet paper airplane craft.  These planes were inspired by the characters Dusty Crophopper and Skipper from the movie "Planes."  

(This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support.)

Keep reading to see how we made these planes ( plane template included!)...