Printable Weather Board Game

What's the weather looking like where you are?  It's been raining pretty hard over here, so we've been stuck at indoors quite a bit.  (But we don't mind at all because we desperately need the rain!  Boo, drought.)  Inspired by our rainy weather, today I'm sharing this fun and easy printable weather-themed board game with y'all.  Just print it out, color it in, and play it with your kiddos!

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The Artful Year and Melted Crayon Friendship Rocks

Chuck doesn't always enjoy making things with me.  (What? Yup.)  A lot of days he would just rather that we read books or race airplanes together.   And I'm really trying harder to let go and follow his lead.  But I love crafting.  So I keep putting out those invitations in hopes that he'll join me.  And on those special occasions when he's interested and involved in a craft... boy oh boy... those days are really magic.

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We recently received a copy of Jean Van't Hul's The Artful Year to review.  Jean is an artist, mom of 2, and author of the amazing kids' art blog Artful Parent.  (She's also the author of another great kids' art book The Artful Parent. ) 

In her newest book, Jean shares a whopping 175 family-friendly crafts, and recipes!  The photos are dreamy and beautiful; the crafts span through all the seasons and holidays of the year; and the recipes look really, really yummy.  I love this book.  But those things aren't what I love the most about her book.

What I love the most about the book is her voice.  In the beginning she shares this beautiful quote-

"We need to be more intentional than ever as we carve out quality time together, celebrate in meaningful ways, build traditions and memories and create stronger families.  It's not about doing more.  It's about making choices, fostering creativity, and building family connection."  

Wow.  That just hit so close to home.  I don't want to just make things with Chuck.  Things eventually break down, get lost, or tossed away.  I want to foster creativity.  I want to build our relationship.  I want to make lasting memories.

Ok.  This was a super long intro, I know. But I just had to get that all out there.  Because it really is a beautiful, beautiful book.

Here's the craft that we chose to try out first from the book:

Melted Crayon Friendship Rocks

Cellophane Stained Glass Windows

Who's up for a little color?  Anyone? Anyone? Everything's looking pretty grey here, so Chuck and I made some cellophane stained glass windows.  I cut up pieces of cellophane and then we stuck them to our windows using a mixture of dish soap and water.   

Ahh, don't these hearts just brighten your day?

Keep reading to see how we did this activity...

How to Make Clapper Trapper Toys

Hi friends! How are you doing? I have a small cold, my husband is working from home, and the boys are *thankfully* still happy to be home. If you're like me and looking for easy and affordable ways to encourage creativity and fun, then you're going to love today's post.

We're making cardboard clapper trappers! These nifty homemade toys transform potential energy into kinetic energy and by making loud snapping sounds when released.

How to Make Clapper Trapper Toys

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made at no cost to you. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Giant Dia De Los Muertos Skulls

Do you celebrate the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos)?  We don't, but I enjoy introducing bits of different holidays to my kids.  Recently I made some giant Dia De Los Muertos Skulls with preschoolers.  They had so much fun with this easy-to-set-up activity,  I thought I'd share it here today.

Giant Dia De Los Muertos Skulls

(A perfect preschool art project for fall!)

This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small portion off of any purchases made through the links at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for the grocery money!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

How to Make Best Friend Clay Necklaces

Did you own a best friend necklace as a kid?  One of my friends recently bought a pair for her daughter and best friend.  (They were groovy mood ones.  Girls' jewelry has definitely gotten cuter since I was a kid.)  I was so inspired by the cute necklaces that my son and I made our own clay friendship necklaces.  Aren't they fun?

(And even though these were made for friends, this would be a great gift to make for Mother's Day or Valentine's Day too!)

Easy and Fun BFF Clay Heart Necklaces

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of change when you purchase items through the links.  Thank you for your support and the grocery money! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Adorable Woven Cardboard Llamas

Are you looking for an easy weaving project to try with the kids? Well, look no further! Today's llama weaving craft is such an easy and cute way to introduce the art of weaving to kids. Plus, you won't need any special materials to try it out.

Are you ready? Let's get weaving!

How to Weave and Adorable Llama (with kids!)

Mathy Mother's Day Jewelry

Mother's Day is coming up!  So of course, fun kid-made gifts have been on my mind!  Last week we made these darling egg carton flower pins.  I thought they would go great with some lovely kid-made jewelry.  But of course, there had to be a twist!  (A math twist that is!)

Let's Make Mathy Mother's Day Jewelry!  

Crayon Hugger Cards

This past week Chuck attended his friends' (twin boys) birthday party.   I was all set to have him cards for them.... but then we totally ran out of time.  (Does that ever happen to you?  It happens to me all. the. time.)  So the morning of the party, I came up with this really, really, REALLY easy set of birthday cards for the two boys.

Inspired by Lia Griffith's super cute Valentine's Candy Huggers (which by the way, you should totally check out because she includes free templates for them), I doodled up some crayon hugger cards.

Melted Crayon Hugger Cards

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Aren't they adorable?  Here's the super quick tutorial showing how we made them!

Pot o'sushi

Happy St. Patrick's  Day!  

According to Irish legends, leprechauns store treasures at the end of rainbows.  If I were a leprechaun I would store sushi at the end of my rainbow.

I miss eating sushi and I've tried curbing my cravings with homemade attempts, but they never satisfy.

 Sad pseudo sushi

Once the baby pops out, I'm going to (1) hug baby and (2) eat a piece of sashimi.

Will my hospital will serve meals like this?

Chirashi image taken from here

3 Ingredient Slime (Borax free!)

Today's craft is going to be a super easy 3 ingredient slime recipe.  I originally found this slime recipe on fellow Rockin Arts Mom  Blog Me Mom 's site.  (She's amazing and her site has tons of other great slime recipes and crafts...so definitely check it out!)  I had to post this recipe here because it's AMAZING!  Erm... just how amazing?  Well, this past week I made 12 batches of slime.  12 batches!  I know, crazy right?  But that's just a testament to how cool this homemade slime recipe is, and how super duper easy it is to make. 

Homemade 3 Ingredient (Borax free) Slime 

 

Yup.  This stuff kept kids aged 2 - 30 something (erm... ok... me) entertained.  And here are the 4 reasons why it's super AWESOME.

1.  It's Borax free.  No scary chemicals lurking here.
2.  It's "edible."  (You could eat it... although I really wouldn't... unless you want to be "regular.") 
3.  You only need 3 ingredients to make it.
4.  You can make it in the microwave.

Excited?  Now let's get started!

Make a Colorful Paper Garland

For some reason Spring seems to bring in parties galore.  Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, boy, oh boy, it seems like every week we're celebrating something new.  Is it that way for you too?  Spring is definitely a happy season for us.  So with that in mind, I came up with this super simple paper garland that you and the kids can easily whip up within minutes!  Tape them up and then poof, instant party!

We're currently digging rainbow crafts over here, so of course I had to make one of every color!

Colorful Paper Garland

Kids Map Art- Creating with kids!

If you're looking for an easy art project to do with your kids, this is it.  I love finding cheap treasures from the thrift store and using them to make art with my family.  Here's our most recent project- a painted wooden map.

DIY- Rainbow rice krispies

Rice krispy treats are my new favorite dessert.  They're perfect for satisfying my sweet tooth, super easy to make, and they're wheat/soy/nut free!  Score!

This Sunday our church held it's monthly potluck and of course, I really wanted to bring them.  Since I already brought them to the previous month's potluck (I told you they were my favorite dessert), I figured I should probably shnazz them up.   That's when I thought to make some St. Patrick's day themed rice krispy treats.  Oooh.      

To make them, I tweaked the basic rice krispy recipe.  After melting the marshmallows, I divided the goo into 6 different containers.  Then, I quickly added food coloring into each of the containers (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.)  Hubby quickly followed behind and stirred the food coloring into the melted marshmallows while I added rice krispies into the mixture.

It was crazy.  I felt like Lucy, rushing to eat the chocolates off the conveyer belt.  Hubby was mixing, I was mixing, rice krispies were falling onto the floor, the marshmallows were hardening a little too quickly, and in the midst of it all we actually broke a spoon.

As each color finished, I quickly scooped the sticky mixture into one of four mini bread loaf pans that I previously buttered.  I added color on top of color and then got these:    

Ooooh.  Here I am slicing a colorful ricey log.

Rainbows for everyone!  (Note:  Pot of  gold not included.)

Looking back, I probably should have just made one color first, then made one layer of colorful rice krispies, and then moved onto each of the following colors.  The layers would have been neater and things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand.  Oh well, there's always next time!

Special thanks to hubby for being a good sous chef.


To see my Academy Awards rice krispy treats, click here.
To see my Peep rice krispy treat, click here

Kids Paint Watercolor Geodes

Love staring at geodes?  Do agates make your heart pitter patter?  We recently attended a rock and crystal themed birthday party (cool idea, right?) and we had fun "painting" these super simple "watercolor" geodes for our birthday card. 

Wait a moment.  Why am I putting everything in quotations?  Well, keep reading to find out! (Spoiler alert- No watercolors were used!)

Let's "Paint*" Geode cards with Kids

(*No fancy watercolors needed for this fun kid craft!)

  Note:  This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small bit of change when you purchase items through the links.  Thank you for your support and the grocery money! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Egg Carton Owls (and Owl Picture Books!)

We've been eating a TON of eggs lately... which means that we now have material for another egg carton craft!  (Yay, woot, woot.  Or should I say... hoot hoot?)  Today I'm sharing this super easy egg carton owl craft that I recently made with my preschooler.  It's a great spring craft that doesn't require any special materials and is super easy to set up!

Hoot hoot!  Let's Make some Egg Carton Owls!

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7 Preschool Egg Activities

Easter is just a couple of days away. (Gosh. Time has flown by so quickly!)  If you're looking for some easy Easter-themed activities, then this post is for you! Today I'm sharing 7 easy and fun egg activities that are perfect for preschoolers (and really, kids of all ages!) So check on the links below for some egg-cellent egg ideas!

7 Preschool Egg Activities 

• Tin Foil Easter Egg Art | I Heart Crafty Things
• Easy Easter Egg Paper Collage | A Little Pinch of Perfect
• Easter Egg Sequencing Task | School Time Snippets
• Beginning Sounds Easter Egg Alphabet Hunt | Artsy Momma
• Easter Egg Creative Drawing Ideas for Kids | Handmade Kids Art
• Easy Easter Egg Prints 
• Cracked Rainbow Dinosaur Eggs

Happy making, friends!

Hyper Colorful Painted Paper Plate Flowers!

Lately I've been enamored with paper plate crafts.  We always have a ton of cheap, white paper plates lying around and they're the perfect canvas.  A couple of days ago my son was sick and we stayed home all day.  Fortunately, we kept ourselves busy with Lego, lots of book reading, and two paper plate crafts.  We had such fun painting, I thought I'd share our crafts here.  Here's our first paper plate craft-

Hyper Colorful Painted Paper Plate Flowers

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So what do you think?  I'm in LOVE with how these flowers turned out.  Really, really, gorgeous.  And, (even better), they're really easy to make and paint too!  

Dancing Paper Slinkie Dragons (Free Printable included!)

Happy Chinese New Year!  How will you be celebrating the new year?  Tomorrow I'm going to celebrate in my son's class by giving out red envelopes, reading a fun storybook about the animals of the Zodiac The Great Race, and making these super cool Dancing Paper Slinkie Dragons!

Do these dragons look familiar to you?  Well, I used the same face, legs, and tail from my paper chain dragons and the results came out pretty cool!

How to Make Dancing Paper Slinkie Dragons

This post contains affiliate links.  This means I make a small portion off of any purchases made through the links at no additional cost to you.  Thank you for the grocery money!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

DIY Astro Turf Rug

So... what are your thoughts on astro turf?  Hate it?  Love it?  I think it's really fun and provides a super affordable way to cover a lot of space for a small price.  You're probably asking why I have a sudden interest in the green stuff.  Well, after living in apartments for most of my adult life, hubby and I finally have a place that has a .... wait for it.... small outdoor patio.  Woo hoo!  Chuck was so excited to see our tiny "backyard" that he literally ran around the area for about half an hour when we first moved in.  The space is really a blessing and I love that we can just open the door and enjoy some private outdoor space whenever we want to.  And that brings me to today's craft post- our backyard DIY Astro Turf Rug.

DIY Astro Turf Rug

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We don't wear shoes inside the house, so it's a hassle for Chuck to have to put on and take off his shoes every time he wants to quickly pop outside.  So we made this super easy astro turf rug to act as a very large door mat.   We love it so much because it's a cute area where Chuck can play or go barefoot without tracking too much dirt into the house.