Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summer. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Make a Woven CD Dream Catcher

While I love paper craft projects, lately I've been trying to branch out with new materials and new techniques.  I've posted a couple of weaving crafts on this site before and was itching to try some more.   Today I'm going to share a fun cd weaving project.  It took a little while to weave each cd, but I think it was worth it because the results are just so beautiful.  (Plus, isn't everyone always trying to figure out new ways to get rid of cds?)

Woven CD Dream Catcher Craft

Woven CD Dream Catcher- Great Kids art and craft projects
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Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Make a Pirate Toilet Roll Craft With Your Mateys!

Toilet roll crafts, ah we've done so many toilet roll crafts over the years.  They're simple, fun, and there are oh so many options!  For last month's MollyMoo Contribution, I made these adorable cardboard roll mermaid and hula girls.  This month I'm mixing it up... with a cute Pirate and Parrot Toilet Roll Pair.  Arrrgh!  So head on over to MollyMoo's, me hearties, and you'll find the full tutorial there!

Toilet Roll Pirate and Parrot

Easy Toilet Roll Pirate and Parrot craft!

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find  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.)

Happy making, friends!

Monday, June 1, 2015

3 Totoro Crafts

Have you seen the movie Totoro?  We recently checked it out from the library and have already watched it a dozen times!  Totoro is a large, furry forest spirit who helps two sisters adjust to their new home.  My  preschool son loves it because there are no bad guys, the sisters have a really sweet relationship, and Totoro is extremely cute.  So today I'm  sharing 3 Totoro crafts in honor of this great Miyazaki anime!


3 Easy Totoro Kids Crafts  

3 Easy Totoro Crafts to make with kids- paper plate purse, lacing card, and toilet paper roll Totoros
This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Friday, May 29, 2015

Squirt Squirt Ocean Art!

If there's anything in the world that will brighten up a preschooler's day.... it's water play.  Water is seriously magical.  Give a kid a bucket of water, a pool, a water gun, or a hose...  and bam!  Laughter and good times are bound to be in your future!

Today 4 other creative preschool bloggers and I are sharing some really easy and engaging water activities.  You can find the entire list at the bottom of this post!

In our home, we've really loved making Ocean Crafts and rainy day process art. So I thought it would be fun to combine the two with this fun Ocean Process Art Activity!  We got a chance to use a whole bunch of art materials (including water guns) to create some ocean-inspired artwork.

Squirt, Squirt Ocean Process Art!



Squirt Squirt Ocean Art- Fun process Art activity for kids that involves spray guns and water!
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Thursday, May 21, 2015

Easy Spin Art With Kids (No machine required!)

Looking for an art activity that's sure to entertain kids of all ages?  Then salad spinner spin art is just the activity for you!  My husband, son, and I spent hours having fun making some colorful psychedelic artwork!


Easy Salad Spinner Spin Art!


How to Make Salad Spinner Spin Art- Without the machine!


Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Toilet Roll Mermaid and Hula Girl

We've done dozens of toilet paper roll crafts over here, but this one seriously takes the cake for cutest yet.  Tada!

Toilet Roll Mermaid and her best gal pal, Hula Girl

toilet roll mermaid and hula girl craft- super fun summer crafts for kids

You can check out the full tutorial for these two super cute toilet roll crafts over at MollyMoo Crafts!


Let's Keep In Contact!


You can always find  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.)

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Glue Suncatchers

Awhile back I made this lovely apple faux stained glass using black glue as the "lead" and tinted clear glue (affiliate link) to paint colorful panels.  Ever since making that craft, I kept wondering if there was a way to adapt it for preschoolers.  So I came up with this super easy kids glue sun catcher activity.   It takes only 2 ingredients to make the "paint" and you probably already have all the materials on hand!

Super Easy Glue Sun catcher Art with Kids  


how to make glue sun catchers with preschoolers

Friday, March 6, 2015

10 Ocean Crafts and Activities

This week's Creative Preschool Collaborator's theme is Oceans and Fish!  I was excited to tackle the theme because Chuck LOVES going to the beach and playing in the ocean.   So keep reading for some ocean themed storybook ideas, 10 preschool ocean crafts/activities, AND 4 other kid blogger's creative Ocean themed activities!

10 Ocean Crafts and Activties

10 Ocean themed Activities for Preschool kids and a list of ocean-themed storybook ideas
This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Rock Tic-Tac-Toe Game

Ah, oil pastels.  After seeing that they could be used to decorate pumpkins, I thought they would be perfect for creating a cute and colorful rock tic-tac-toe game.

Rock Tic-Tac-Toe Game

rock tic-tac-toe game


Thursday, February 26, 2015

Shark Binoculars

We are in LOVE with shark crafts over here.   Love, love, love them.

So when I was sent a bunch of free craft materials from Horizon Group awhile back, I knew what we had to use them to make.... Shark toilet roll binoculars!

Toilet Roll Shark Binoculars 


Here's a fun take on toilet roll binoculars- turn them into sharks and add some lovely decorative beads!

Aren't they adorable?  They are my favorite shark-themed craft so far!


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Make Sand Dough Sculptures and Ornaments

Whenever we go to the beach and build with sand, I always feel slightly sad knowing that our creations will eventually wash away.  Do you ever feel that way too?  I recently found this great book at the library Kids' Crazy Concoctions (affiliate link) that shared a recipe for making homemade gluten free sand dough!  Yup.  You just need 3 ingredients to whip up a batch of this stuff.  Then, once you're done making your creations, wait over night and they'll dry nice and hard.  Isn't it cool? You can make your very own long-lasting sand dough sculptures and ornaments!

Make Sand Dough Sculptures and Ornaments!

Make sand dough! Great way to bring summer into kid's play
This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Super Easy Cardboard Biplanes

The plane obsession continues over here!  Just when you think we're done with transportation crafts... oh no... we've got another one up our sleeve.

Awhile back Chuck and I made this toilet roll biplane.  But sadly, that plane broke.  Chuck still loves biplanes, so I came up with this super easy practically unbreakable cardboard biplane craft for him to make and then fly.

Super Easy Cardboard Biplane Craft

Super easy cardboard and popsicle stick biplanes
This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!


Sunday, October 19, 2014

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 planestoilet 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

Make Toilet Roll biplanes! Easy and fun kids craft!

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you so much for your support!

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!

Monday, August 18, 2014

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


How to make a cardboard DIY rocket launcher for kids

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


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.


Saturday, July 26, 2014

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


how to make toilet roll glasses



Monday, June 30, 2014

Let's Build Boats! (Engineering with Kids)

Lately we've been reading books on pirates around here.  Arrrrgh maties!  So I thought it would be fun if we tried our hands at building some boats from everyday materials.  (I saw a similar idea from i2camp's Instagram feed and really wanted to try it out.)  This was a fun engineering activity that required very little prep and just used random items from our crafting and recycling bins.

Kids' Engineering:  Let's Build Boats!

Kids Engineering- Let's build boats!
(This post contains affiliate links  Thank you for your support!)


Thursday, June 26, 2014

Make Bubble Prints! (from 101 Kids Activities)

Note this post contains affiliate links.  Thank you so much for your support!

About a month ago, I received a free copy of 101 Kids Activities to review.   It was written by the amazing kid blogger duo Rachel and Holly from Kids Activities Blog.  These ladies are like the queens of kid fun and I was super excited to see what they had in store.  101 and activities?  Wowzers.  

After looking through the book, I can definitely say that it is an awesome go-to resource for anyone who wants to battle kid boredom.  (Which seems to be especially prevalent in the summer... right?)  The activities are super fun and use everyday, affordable materials.  Here's an example of one activity that Chuck and I tried out from the book- bubble prints!    

Make Bubble Prints!

Let's make Bubble Prints with kids


Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Summer Paper Plate Crafts

It just hit me this morning that July 4th is next week.  Next week. Summer is just flying by!  Ahhhh!  So I feel the need to do some summer crafts and that's why I made these super easy paper plate crafts.  I dunno about you, but when I imagine summer, I see outdoor picnics, grill outs, and beach adventures.  These activities usually involve disposable paper plates... which are such a great item to craft with because they're super cheap and super versatile.

Fun Summer Paper Plate Crafts for Kids

Easy Summer Paper Plate Kids' Crafts (Mask, Watermelon + Doughnut Purse)

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

So these are my summer inspired paper plate crafts.  They're super easy to make, colorful, quirky, and just scream SUMMER FUN!


Thursday, June 5, 2014

Homemade Body Paint Recipe (2 ingredients Needed!)

Last week I shared a simple 3-ingredient homemade body paint recipe. While we had fun trying it out, I kept wondering if there was another way to make homemade body paint.  Turns out there is!  I peeked around the internet and found this neat series of body paint recipes.  The author shares a couple recipes that involved using washable white paint (which I kind of felt weird using on my skin...)  and one that involved using two ingredients that I already had on hand.  

2 Ingredient Homemade Body Paint Recipe



how to make homemade body paint


Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Corn Husk Paint Brushes

Last week my sister brought over a bunch of corn.  I roasted them in the oven with their husks on and they were yummy.   But as I cleaned up, I kept wondering if there was anything I could do with the discarded husks.  Last summer I used my husks to make a corn husk doll.  This time I tried my hand at making some corn husk paint brushes, since Chuck has been so keen on painting lately.

Corn Husk Paint Brushes

how to make corn husk paint brushes
(Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  Thanks so much for your support!)

Last time he really enjoyed making abstract art with cardboard.  This time he found it funny to paint with brushes make from food.  Now if you're eating a lot of corn too, your kids might like trying out this activity too!