Easy DIY Handmade Peg Doll Family Christmas Ornaments

Do you enjoy making handmade ornaments with your kids? Every year the boys and I make at least one new ornament for our Christmas tree. Today I'm sharing a super cute peg doll ornament that the boys made with me last weekend. Even though 2020 has been difficult, I'm hopeful that we'll also remember these sweet family moments too.

How to Make a DIY Peg Doll Family Christmas Ornament (with kids!)

(I think my littlest perfectly captured how we all feel about 2020...)

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.

Easy Pop-Up Christmas Snowman Card

Hi friends! We are busy here preparing for Thanksgiving. It will look different this year, but our family is trying to make the best of it. If you're looking for easy winter crafts to do with the kids, I'm popping in to share this cute pop-up Christmas Snowman card.

Isn't he adorable?

How to Make a DIY Pop-Up Paper Snowman Card for Kids

Creepy Moving Eye Portrait Craft

We love a good cardboard craft! (In fact, I even wrote a series of cardboard craft books a few years back!) So of course, we had to make a Halloween-themed cardboard craft. :) Have you ever seen those spooky portraits? You know, the ones where the eyes seem to follow you wherever you go? Well, here's an easy way to make some creepy moving eye portraits with the kids. You just need a cereal box and a few other materials to make this cute and easy Halloween craft!

How to Make Creepy Moving Eye Cardboard Portraits with kids!

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.

Easy DIY 3D Pop-Up Halloween Cards (Pumpkin, Monsters, and Haunted house!)

Today we're sharing another easy to make Halloween craft! The crafting bug bit me this week and the kids and I have been making tons and tons of pop-up card crafts. These Halloween pop-up cards are the perfect easy craft to do with kids of all ages. Let's get folding and cutting!

How to Make Easy DIY Pop-Up Halloween Cards

Easy Pop-up Minecraft Creeper and Pig Craft for kids

Here's a simple and quick Minecraft craft for all the kids who love the video game! We're making pop-up Minecraft creepers and pigs!

How to Make a Pop-up Minecraft Paper craft with kids

Easy Origami Witch Craft

 It's time for another easy and cute Halloween craft! Today we're folding these adorable origami witches. So grab your origami paper and let's get crafting! This kid-friendly paper craft is just perfect for fall.

How to fold an Easy Origami Witch for Halloween!

Giant Paper Bag Frankenstein Preschool Craft

Even though it doesn't feel like fall here in California, my preschooler and I are already starting to do our fall crafts. We have a ton of large grocery sized bags and plastic bags lying around, so we made our very own grumpy GIANT paper bag Frankenstein from everyday materials. Isn't he adorable? Keep on reading to see how we did it. 

Let's Make A Giant Paper Bag Frankenstein 

(A Fun Halloween Preschool Craft)

Ha! I love his grumpy face. Doesn't that just perfectly describe Halloween 2020?!?

How to Make a Sculpey Clay Fairy Door

Do your kids love fairy crafts? My preschooler loves the idea of tiny magical people. And since we always have Sculpey clay lying around, I made him a very small clay fairy door. Isn't it sweet? It's now sitting at the base of our stairs and I love the idea of opening it to visit another tiny enchanted world!

How to Make a Sculpey Clay Fairy Door

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.

3D Perler Bead Minecraft Creeper Craft

We LOVE playing Minecraft and making Minecraft crafts! Last week, we folded these easy origami Minecraft origami pigs and origami creepers. This week, we're combining our love of gaming with our love for a good Perler bead craft. Yup! Today we're making our very own Minecraft Perler Bead Creepers!

3D Perler Bead Minecraft Creepers

How to Fold Origami Minecraft Pigs

A couple of days ago, I shared these super easy Minecraft Origami Creepers. After posting, a friend asked me if I had any more Minecraft crafts.... and I came up with these pigs!

How to Fold Origami Minecraft Pigs

How to Fold Origami Minecraft Creepers (Easy and less than 5 minute craft)

Looking for an easy and cute Minecraft craft? Why not try folding creepers? Kids of all ages will enjoy making this easy origami project.

How to Fold Origami Minecraft Creepers

(in less than 5 minutes!)

Easy DIY Tie-Dye T-shirt Macrame Plant Holders... with kids!

It's summer! Which means it's time for succulent crafts and tie dye crafts! Today's activity is perfect for this time of year. Everybody is tie-dyeing. Everybody is reminiscing about nostalgic summer camp crafts. And everybody is going bonkers planting. (And who doesn't love succulents?) So grab an old tie-dyed t-shirt, a cute potted plant, and let's make this adorable DIY macrame plant holder for yourself... or give it to a friend!

How to make Easy Tie-dyed T-shirt Macrame Plant holders

(A fun summer craft for kids, tweens, teens, and adults too!)

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.

Our 15+ Favorite Wordless Picture Books

Hi everyone! Happy belated July 4th! How are you all doing? Are your libraries open yet? Ours is open for pick-up service only and I'm super thankful for that! (We missed the library!!!!)

I do find it hard, however, to find and reserve books for my boys online because usually we just browse the kids' section and choose books that speak to us. And now that's just not possible during the pandemic.

In case you're like that too, I thought I'd share today some of our favorite wordless picture books. Why wordless books? Well, I've found these types of books are great for encouraging kids and parents to create stories together.

Our 15+ Favorite Wordless Picture Books

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.

Easy Styrofoam and Marker Printmaking with Kids

Do you have styrofoam and markers? Looking for an easy and affordable way to create a “wow” art experience for the kids? Have you tried styrofoam and marker printmaking? We love doing printing activities together and ever since I saw Shelly's IG post sharing how to make prints without printing ink, I was excited to try the activity with my kids too. 

Here’s how we made prints with everyday items around the house.

How to Make Styrofoam and Marker Prints with Kids at Home

Sidewalk Chalk Obstacle Course Ideas

Hi friends! How are you doing during the Quarantine? Are you looking for ways to get the kids out of the house? My boys miss seeing their friends, so we found a fun way to entertain ourselves (and possibly the other kids in the neighborhood too!) Last week, we pulled out our trusty sidewalk chalk and designed an easy chalk obstacle course. The boys enjoyed thinking up different activities to include, so I'm sharing it here today! This would be a super fun artsy outdoor activity for kids of all ages.

How to Design an Easy Sidewalk Chalk Obstacle Course with Kids

Painting Cute Rock Strawberries

Last weekend the boys and I went to the beach and collected some lovely rocks. We love doing rock crafts, so we brought them home and painted them. The boys painted their own designs and I painted these adorable strawberry rocks!

How to Paint Rock Strawberries

How to grow Chia Egg Heads

Spring is here and while we're all still stuck at home, I've been trying to fill our days with easy spring crafts and activities. That's how we ended up growing our very own chia egg heads... in just one week!

How to Grow Chia Egg Heads with Kids

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!)

Underwater Ocean Search and Find Preschool Craft and Activity

Does your child love the ocean? One of my preschooler's favorite places is our local sea center. Today I'm sharing a fun ocean themed craft that also doubles as a game!  It was inspired by this amazing FB video by kidzwiz. This activity involves doodling sea creatures and then going on an underwater adventure to find them all!  Ready to go on a crafty sea adventure?

Ocean Search and Find Craft and Activity!

(Perfect for Preschoolers)

Easy Fairy Paper Quilling with Kids (Printable included!)

It's Spring! And I felt like I needed a cute fairy craft in my life. So I tried my hand at making these sweet quilled fairies. This was my first time quilling and you know what? It was surprisingly easy to roll up paper strips into shapes. Who knew? If you're interested in trying out new paper crafts and you have an elementary-aged kid who looooooves all things fairy, then this is your post!

Spring Quilled Paper Fairies 

(Printable included!)

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.

Easy Origami Pokemon: Pikachu, Charmander, and Squirtle

Another day... another origami craft!  Years ago, I designed this super easy origami Pikachu for my preschooler to fold. Well, our love for all things Pokemon has only grown. Pokemon books. Pokemon toys. Pokemon clothes. Pokemon the TV show. Pokemon the movie. Pokemon Go... ooof. So today I'm sharing these super nifty Pokemon Origami Crafts. I'll show you how to fold a simple Charmander, Squirtle, and Pikachu too!

How to Fold Easy Origami Pokemon: Pikachu, Charmander, and Squirtle! 

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made.  Thank you for your support!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Easy and Cute Origami Paper Dolls

Today I'm sharing the most adorable and easy origami craft project with you. It's cute. (Or should I say kawaii?) It's simple to make. And it's fun to decorate! Ta-da! Grab the kids because we're folding these super sweet origami paper dolls!

How to Fold Sweet and Simple Origami Paper Dolls with Kids

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made.  Thank you for your support!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

How to Draw Cute Bunny Tessellations: An Easter Math Activity

Is anyone else surprised that Easter is just around the corner? Today I'm sharing an Easter Craft that also doubles as a Math activity. (I love it when art and math mix together, don't you?) Today we're drawing these adorable bunny tessellations.

How to Draw Cute Bunny Tessellations:

Easy and Lovely Paper Strip Birds

Lately, I've been thinking of that Emily Dickinson quote, "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all." 

These past weeks, I've felt moments of sadness, cabin fever, fear, joy, frustration, and also hope. (Oftentimes, all in the same day!) One of the good things about staying home is that the boys and I get a chance to craft and play more. It's nice having more relaxed schedules.  

Inspired by Emily Dickinson and Embossing Bird's gorgeous IG feed, the kids and I took some strips of paper and folded them into a lovely flock of colorful birds. Here's how we made these cute crafts!

How to Make Super Easy Paper Strip Birds

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 Magnetic Garage Murals

Hi friends! I just wanted to stop by quickly and share this really easy art activity that got the boys and me out of the house.

We're really trying to keep our spirits uplifted here and one of the ways that we do that (and remain sane during these difficult times) is to go outside. I saw this really neat IG post showing a family decorating their garage door with magnetic toys and it was like a lightning bolt hit me right in the head and heart.

Bright colors? Removable decorations? Process art? Outdoor time? Yes. Yes. Yes. And YES! So I'm sharing this really easy activity with you today.

Giant Magnetic Garage Mural!

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.

Tape Resist Chalk Hearts

Hi friends! I'm currently writing to you from... my home! We've only been socially isolating for about a week and I've been scrambling to find easy and fun art and craft ideas for the kids. Well, I saw all these lovely tape resist driveway art projects on IG, I had to try it out with my boys too. The results were so pretty and the process was so therapeutic.

Tape Resist Chalk Hearts

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.

How to Make An Adorable Paperback Book Hedgehog

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that this is probably the cutest animal book craft you'll see today. If you like hedgehogs and you don't mind tearing apart a book or two... this craft is for you! Read on to see how I made this adorable paperback book hedgehog!

Easy Paperback Book Hedgehog Craft

Cupcake Liner Dumpling Craft (and our 10+ favorite Asian Food Picture Books!)

A couple of weeks ago, our family celebrated New Year (and made a ton of Chinese New Year Crafts.) Even though the celebrations are over, I've still been in the mood to eat lots of yummy Asian food. The boys and I recently tried making dumplings (using this super easy recipe). Today I thought it would be fun to put together a fun list of Asian food inspired picture books + share a cute cupcake liner dumpling craft. Enjoy!

10+ Awesome Asian Food Inspired Picture Books AND a Cupcake Liner Dumpling Craft

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.

Rain, Flower, and Tree Paper Pull Crafts for Spring!

Last week I shared this really cute St. Patrick's Day rainbow paper pull craft on the blog. Since everyone seemed to enjoy that craft so much, I made these similarly adorable spring-themed paper pull crafts. So you can pull some animals into a tree, raindrops from a cloud, or animals on and off of flowers. Doodle your own images, or like last time, just print and use my doodles.

Let's make Cloud, Flower, and Tree Paper Pull Crafts with Kids!

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Paper Pull Craft (Free Printable included)

If you like St. Patrick's Day crafts or rainbow crafts, then today's post is for you! We're making these adorable Rainbow and leprechaun paper pull crafts. Kids can color the images, cut them out, and then make these fun moving crafts just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick's Day Rainbow and Leprechaun Paper Pull Craft

(Free printable included!)

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Free Printable Friendship Bracelet Valentines

Ok, this is my final Valentine's Day craft. I promise!

I'm popping in one more time to share these really easy printable friendship bracelet Valentine's Day Cards. Do you have a printer? White paper? A hole puncher? Scissors? Ruler? Embroidery floss? Clipboard?

Well then, you've got all the materials needed to make these really easy homemade Valentine's Day cards!

Free Printable Homemade Friendship Bracelet Valentines

Super Easy Pokemon Valentine's Day Cards (Free Printable!)

Two posts in a week? I know. Kinda bonkers, huh? But I just had to share these super easy Pokemon-themed Valentine's Day cards that my youngest and I made together. He absolutely LOOOOVES Pokemon and was so excited to make these for all of his friends at preschool!

Super Easy Pokemon Valentine's Day Cards

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Origami Bears and Conversation Hearts

Origami bears? Origami conversation hearts? Honestly, I wasn't sure what to call today's Valentine's craft.  But I had to share this adorable origami project because it's such an easy and cute one that's perfect for elementary-aged kids!

How to Fold Origami Bears and Conversation Hearts

Gorgeous Painted Paper Lanterns for Chinese New Year

Hi friends! Today I'm sharing what could be my favorite Chinese New Year Craft ever. I know. It sounds like an exaggeration. But have you ever seen homemade paper lanterns that look like these?  Aren't they gorgeous? And guess what? You don't need a template. They're super easy to make. AND they involve some fun origami folding (also easy too, I promise!)

How to Make Painted Paper Lanterns with Kids 

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Invitation to Create: Watercolor Rats

Hi everyone! Just stopping in to share another super easy kids Chinese New Year Art and Craft Activity! Last week we made these adorable Rat Paper Cuttings. Today we're going to celebrate the Lunar New Year with these easy Watercolor rats!

Inviting Kids to Create: Watercolor Rats

Easy Lunar New year Rat Paper Cutting Craft

The rat is 2020's Chinese New Year animal. Today I'm sharing a fun paper cutting craft that celebrates the rat. This project is enough that elementary kids can enjoy the art of paper cutting while also celebrating traditional Chinese culture and the New Year. (I also particularly love today's craft because it's cute AND combines my affinity for making Chinese New Year crafts,  trying out different origami and kirigami crafts, and cutting fun designer snowflakes!)

How to Make A Rat Paper Cutting... with kids!

Super Simple and Cute Jingle Bell Necklace Craft

Today my preschooler came home with this adorable jingle bell necklace and I had to share it here! Isn't this the cutest kids' Christmas craft? He was so proud of his necklace that he gave it to me to wear. :)

Let's make a Jingle Bell Necklace!

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Beaded Pipe Cleaner Snowflakes... with Messages!

Just stopping in to share these super quick beaded pipe cleaner snowflakes that we made with a bunch of kids this past weekend. I know, I know, there are already a ton of posts out there sharing a nearly identical craft... but ours came out so cute, I had to share them! (Besides, who doesn't enjoy looking through a good homemade ornament post?)

How to Make Beaded Pipe Cleaner Snowflakes 

(with messages)

Christmas Pin Prick Angel Art

Christmas is just around the corner and if you're looking for a different and unique Christmas Art and Craft Project to try out with the kids, I highly recommend this Pin Prick Art. It's simple and super engrossing for young artists!

How to Make Pin Prick Art with Kids

Op-Art Christmas Ornaments

Last week we made some Optical Illusion Christmas ornaments for the tree. The results were so groovy that I had to share them here!

Making Op-Art Ornaments with Kids

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Artsy Thanksgiving Banner Craft

Thanksgiving is almost here! Are you looking for an easy, last-minute Thanksgiving Craft that you can do with the kids? I don't know about you, but my life currently feels like it's moving at 100 miles per hour. This year Thanksgiving kind of popped up unexpectantly and I only had time to make this "Thanks" banner with my boys. I love the way this project turned out, so I thought I'd share the process here!

Artsy "Thanks" Banner for Thanksgiving

Our 15 Favorite Graphic Novels!

We love reading graphic novels. My preschooler enjoys looking at the pictures and following the fast-paced story. My 3rd grader really loves the storylines. If you're looking for some great graphic novels to read with the kids, check out our list of...

15 Awesome Graphic Novels!

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made. Thank you for your support! For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Also, all photos were taken from Amazon!

How to Make Rainbow Bread

We've got a thing for rainbow crafts and foods over here... so when we were invited to a sweet friend's rainbow-themed birthday party, the kids and I jumped at the opportunity to bake some rainbow bread!

Let's Bake Rainbow Bread with kids!

This post contains affiliate links. This means I make a tiny bit of grocery money from each purchase made.  Thank you for your support!  For my full disclosure policy, click here.

Yarn Pinecone Owl Craft (And 8 Awesome Owl Books!)

Are you fully embracing fall and all types of Fall Crafts? It doesn't get very cold over here in California, but chilly mornings and nights do make it feel more fall-ish. A couple of weeks ago I saw these super cute yarn pinecone owls over on  Squiggle Dot and Squeeze's IG feed and was inspired.

So today I'm sharing our adorable pinecone owls. They're sweet and wooly and the perfect cozy craft for fall!  You also probably have all the materials needed right at home. (And in case you're looking for some fun owl books, I've also included a list of our favorite owl books down below too!)

How to Make Cozy Pinecone Owls with kids

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

DIY Clip-In Hair Wraps for Kids

I've been doing a lot of DIY hair wraps. With Halloween coming up, a lot of little girls seem to want their hair wrapped up in Halloween colors. Recently, I've been toying around with the idea of making removable hair wraps. This way, kids could make a whole bunch of clip-in hair wraps and easily swap them out for different holidays or outfits.

Today I'm sharing my solution with you- Tada! These DIY clip-in wraps are simple to make and easy to swap out. Now your kids can change up their wraps whenever they want!

DIY Clip-In Removable Hair Wraps

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

Halloween Skull and Ghost Soap Carvings

Looking for a super unique Halloween or Dia de los Muertos craft?  A couple of weeks ago, we tried our hand at designing, carving, and floating Ivory Soap Boats. It was so fun and easy. Ivory soap is the perfect medium for beginning carvers because it is airy and soft. (It's also relatively inexpensive! Bonus!)

Today's sugar skulls and ghosts are a bit more detailed than boats, but the results are so cute. I definitely recommend trying out this soap carving activity with kids of all ages. They are sure to have fun.

How to Carve Skulls and Ghosts from soap!

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

How to make necklaces and bracelets with kids

Ever try making jewelry with kids?  We've dabbled a bit, but honestly, I've always been kind of overwhelmed by beading. It's one thing to string on some pony beads, but we've never tried adding on clasps or *gasp* crimping anything. The crafty folks at Dragonfly Designs sent me one of their DIY jewelry making kits to review... and let me tell you, the kids and I HAD A BLAST! (And we finally learned how to make real jewelry!)

How to Make Jewelry with Kids!