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!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Preschool Ninja Crafts and Books

Does your child love ninjas?  My preschooler loves them!  They're sneaky, stealthy, and carry cool weapons.  If you have a ninja-loving kid too, here's a great list of ninja crafts and books that are perfect for preschoolers!  We've got paper plate crafts, finger print crafts, toilet roll crafts, paper bag crafts, puppets, and even an easy costume idea!

Preschool Ninja Crafts and Books

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Free Printable New Year's Crown

If you're looking for the EASIEST New Years Craft ever, then today's post is for you.  Why not make your very own New Years Crowns with the kiddos?  I've got two great ideas for you- one that's a little more artsy and one that's a print out and color in (for free!)

Make (or Print out)  New Year's Crowns

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Easy Snowflake Craft For New Years

2016 is coming up!  If you're looking for a fun New Years Craft to do with the kids, check out this New Years Snowflake!

2016 New Years Snowflake Craft

Yup.  We've made cut star snowflakes, giant painted snowflakes, snowman snowflakes, and lego snowflakes.  Now let's throw a 2016 inspired one in the mix as well!

You can get my patterns to cut out these two New Years snowflakes on DIY Candy!

And if you're looking for other cute New Years Crafts to do with the kids, check out the links below!

• Photo Prop Party Blowers
• New Years Pipe Cleaner Crowns

Happy making, friends!

How to Cut Star Snowflakes

Merry Christmas, friends!

 If you're looking for an easy Christmas Craft, here are two designs for cutting your very own star inspired snowflakes with the kiddos!

How to Cut Star Snowflakes!

Free Christmas Stained Glass Coloring Sheet Printable

As Christmas approaches, I find myself doing more and more Christmas Crafts.   Are you feeling the same way?  Lately I've been trying to come up with easy, affordable, and creative ways to craft and make art with the kiddos.  This beautiful stained glass craft fits the bill and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser for kids of all ages.  You can design your own stained glass, or use my free printable coloring sheet!

Christmas Stained Glass Craft 

(With Free Printable Coloring Sheet)!

GIANT, Gorgeous Painted Snowflakes

I have 3 words for you:  GIANT COLORFUL SNOWFLAKES.  A dream?  Nope!  These gorgeous snowflakes are simple to make and a great way to showcase your child's artwork too!

Giant and Gorgeous Painted Snowflakes

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Make a T-Shirt Ninja Mask! (And our 10 top Ninja Books)

Does your child totally dig ninjas?   Then this post is perfect for you!  We love making easy, homemade costumes and today's is my favorite idea so far.  Here's a super quick way to make a t-shirt ninja mask!  All you need is a t-shirt and a minute.  That's it!  No sewing or gluing required!

Super Quick and Easy T-Shirt Ninja Mask!

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

How to Cut Snowman Snowflakes (2 ways!)

Ah, winter time.  Hot chocolate.  Cold weather.  Early nights.  Stir crazy kids?  Hrmm.  Just me? Well, whether you find yourself in that situation (or not) here's a fun winter craft that will help lift everyone's spirits!

Today we're making snowman snowflakes!

2 Ways to Make Snowman Snowflakes!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

3D Paper Plate Christmas Trees!

If your kid (1) loves Christmas crafts and (2) painting.... then these Paper plate Christmas Trees are the craft for you! They're so easy to make and provide the perfect "canvas" for little kids to express their creativity and holiday spirit!

3D Paper Plate Christmas Trees

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

3D Paper Tube Christmas Wreath

Do you have a wreath hanging up in your home?  No?  Well hold off on buying one, because you can easily craft one with the kiddos!  Today's Christmas Craft is seriously adorable and SUPER EASY to make.  Really!   And here's an added bonus- you probably have most of the materials at home already!

Paper Tube Christmas Wreath!  

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Easy Twig String Art Ornaments

Our tree is finally up!  And since I love me some  Christmas crafts, my son and I recently whipped up these lovely (and easy) string art twig ornaments!  

Easy Twig String Art Ornaments

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Milk Jug Santa Claus Craft

Got a milk jug lying around?  Well don't throw that baby out!  Instead, use it to make a recycled Christmas Craft!  My preschooler and I recently turned ours into this cute

Milk Jug Santa Claus!

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Vibrant Chalk and Crayon Splash Art

I'm always on the hunt for easy and unique art projects to try out with kids.  And today's project pretty much fits the bill!  Children usesidewalk chalk, crayons, and a splash of ink to create vibrantly colored, glowing artwork!

Vibrant Chalk and Crayon Splash Art!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Glittery and Gorgeous Fall Leaf Process Art

Today's fall art idea is simple, beautiful, and fun to make!  Tada! We're adding to our growing list of fall crafts with these glittery and gorgeous fall leaves!  

Glittery and Gorgeous Fall Leaf Process Art

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

3 Easy Preschool Robot Art Ideas

Does your child love robots?  My preschooler loves them!  We regularly speak in robot voice and robot dance around the house. So today I'm adding to our growing list of Preschool crafts and activities with these 3 easy robot art ideas!

3 Easy Preschool Robot Art Ideas

Mini Painted Sponge Christmas Trees

Can you believe that it's already mid November?   Time sure flies by quickly!  Even though it's not yet Thanksgiving, my son's already asked me to put up the Christmas tree and make Christmas Crafts.

Well, we still haven't put up the tree, but we have been crafting more together at night.  Recently, we turned a bunch of old makeup sponges into mini Christmas trees.  I know, they're not as beautiful as the real thing... but for now, they'll do!

Mini Sponge Christmas Trees

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Easy Washi Tape Thanksgiving Banner

This colorful and beautiful Thanksgiving Banner is easy to make and will look beautiful hanging up this holiday season!  And guess what?  It's made from everyday materials like washi tape, paint chips, straws, and popsicle sticks!

Easy Washi Tape Thanksgiving Banner

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Colorful Paper Plate Birds (And our favorite bird books!)

Today I'm sharing another beautiful and easy paper plate craft.   These paper plate birds are simply gorgeous.  They are also a great art and craft project to make with kids of all ages!

Paper Plate Bird Craft

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Recycled Hibernating Bear Craft! (And our favorite Bear books!)

Does your child love learning about nature?  With the recent cooler weather we've been turning to more fall crafts and winter crafts.  Recently we talked about bears and hibernation.  (For some reason my preschooler was amused by the idea of an animal sleeping through the winter.  As a tired, pregnant mom... the idea of sleeping for a long time really appealed to me!)

Today I'm sharing this easy Recycled Hibernating Bear Craft!  It's a great way to teach kids about their natural world using some creative arts and crafts fun!

Recycled Hibernating Bear Craft

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Paper Plate Dia De Los Muertos Skulls

Happy Dia De Los Muertos! This year my preschooler and I celebrated this beautiful holiday with two crafts.  A couple of weeks ago we made sugar skull artwork from sugar cubes.  Recently we made these super easy Paper Plate Dia De Los Muertos Skulls!

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

7 Adorable Paper Plate Crafts

Do you love making paper plate crafts with kids?  Well friend, then today's post is for you.  Today I'm sharing a great collection of 7 adorable paper plate crafts, guaranteed to bring smiles to everyone's faces!

7 Adorable Paper Plate Crafts

  

No-Carve Hardware Pumpkins

If you're not keen on carving a pumpkin this year, dig around the 'ol toolbox and try out this easy no-carve idea instead!

No-Carve Hardware Pumpkins!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Easy and Colorful Paper Plate Snakes

Sometimes the easy and classic preschool crafts are the best.  Today I'm sharing a super easy paper plate craft for all reptile-loving kids.  We're crafting some beautiful paper plate snakes!

Watercolor Paper Plate Snakes

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Spooky Monster Family Portraits

Today's art project is literally the easiest Halloween art activity ever.   (Really!) Continuing with our month long theme of Halloween Crafts,  I recently gave my son a fun art prompt- to draw a family portrait... with a twist!

Rawr!  Spooky Monster Family Portraits!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Sparkly and Lacy Yarn Spider Webs

Looking for an unusual Halloween Craft that'll please kids of all ages?  My son and I recently made this sparkly and lacy yarn spider web craft together.  The results were really, really beautiful and the process was really unique!

Sparkly and Lacy Yarn Spider Webs

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Make Sugar Cube Sugar Skull Art with Kids!

Looking for a fun Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Craft to do with the kids?  How about this sugar skull process art activity?  Different, everyday materials are combined to create a piece of unique and lovely artwork!

Sugar Cube Sugar Skull Art

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Sparkly and Googly Eyed No-Carve Pumpkins

Are you feeling the Fall vibes?  Ready to do some easy pumpkin crafts?  If your little guy or gal isn't quite ready for carving pumpkins, then today's no-carve pumpkin option is for you!  Check out these sparkly and googly eyed no-carve pumpkins!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

6 Fun Fall Preschool Corn Activities

We love fall crafts!  Pumpkins, corn, Halloween, apples, lovely leaves, cooler weather- ahhh I love it all.   If you're looking for a simple way to incorporate some fall vibes into your preschoolers' life, check out this awesome collection of 6 fun fall corn activities!

There are science ideas, artsy ideas, mathy ideas, and even free printables too!

• STEAM Candy Corn Pop Art | Handmade Kids Art

• Preschool Corn Counting Activity with Printable | I Heart Crafty Things
• Cardboard Rainmakers | Pink Stripey Socks
• Candy Corn Pizza Craft | Artsy Momma
• Printable Candy Corn Bingo Game | School Time Snippets
• Corn vs. Popcorn Science for Kids (with Printable Graph) | A Little Pinch of Perfect

Have a great weekend, friends!

Easy and Spooky Shrunken Apple Heads!

Do Halloween crafts rock your world?  Yes!?  Awesome.  They totally rock mine too.  Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year.  Costumes, magic, candy, gross things, spooky things—I love it all!

Tomorrow is the first day of October and I’m trying to squeeze in as many Halloween crafts as I can before the month is over.   Today I’m sharing a really neat Halloween activity that also doubles as a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) activity too.  We’re making shrunken apple heads! 

Super Easy and Spooky Shrunken Apple Heads

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

(Ha! My husband was weirded out my this little guy, but I think he’s just adorable.  Look at that toothy grin!)

Paint Chip Color Wheel Inspired Fall Wreaths

Ready for another easy fall craft? Today we're combining my love for color, paint chip crafts, and fall leaves.  We're making Color Wheel Inspired Fall Wreaths!   

This post contains affiliate links.  Thanks for your support!

I took an art class last semester and had a lot of fun learning about color theory using the color wheel.  Since we've been learning about fall and the changing leaves, my son and I made this fall wreath together. 

Gorgeous Accordion Fold Fall Paper Leaf Banner

Today we're continuing with the theme of easy fall crafts.  Couple of days ago I shared this really beautiful Sewn Leaf Art project that I made with my preschooler.  Today I just wanted to share this gorgeous folded paper leaf banner.

I came up with the idea after reading some fall-themed books with my son.   Seeing all the beautiful colored leaves in the books made me miss the fall leaves back on the East coast.  And then it hit me- why not make our own?  Bring a bit of fall to our forever-summer state.   And so, my son and I got to making and painting together.  The results came out so beautiful that he insisted we hang the banner up in his room to spruce it up.

Make Beautiful Leaf Sewing Art with Kids

Are you looking for an easy fall craft that doesn't require colorful leaves?  I know this may seem like a strange question to you.  But we just don't get those beautiful red, yellow, and orange leaves over here in California!  And I miss them so much.

So for those of you who'd like to do a leaf project with the kids... today's leaf sewing art is for you!

Make Beautiful Leaf Sewing Art With kids! 

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

Easiest cardboard Rainmakers ever!

Recently my son and I have been talking a lot about the weather.  We're currently in the middle of a horrible drought in Southern California so we desperately need rain.  Since we always have a ton of cardboard rolls lying around (which we LUUURVE using for cardboard roll crafts), we recently made a rainmaker together.  Set-up was simple and it was a snap to put it together.

Here's how we did it!

Shake! Shake!  Make Your Own Rainmaker with Kids!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Make Monster Sculptures with kids!

Looking for a fun Halloween activity for preschoolers?  

Why not set up a monster-making factory in your dining room?  Yup.  This fun art and craft activity is a great way for kids to be creative and gear up for the upcoming holidays.  (Hooray Halloween!  Woo-hoo!)

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Living in Southern California, I have a tough time appreciating seasons.  I mean, we’re still in the 70s-80s here.  The leaves are green…. I'm still wearing shorts and sandals.  It just doesn’t quite feel like fall.  So this monster-making activity really helped us get into the fall spirit.

Avengers Paper Plate Masks

One of the neatest things about being a mom is seeing my son bond with my husband.  Right now they both share a love for all things Lego and Super Hero.  While I enjoy Lego, I'm not a big super hero fan.  But I still tried to incorporate it into our crafting time as well.  Here are some Avengers Paper Plate Masks that we recently made together!

Let's Make Paper Plate Super Hero Masks!     

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Colorful Fairytale Cardboard Castles

The castle and dragon craze continues at our house!  Last week we made some lovely paper plate dragons.  Did you check them out?  Then, we painted some castles that were built from scraps of paper and cardboard.  This was a perfect play date craft because the castles were easy to assemble and both the kids (and moms) had fun painting them!

Cardboard Roll Castles

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

DIY Halloween Treat Containers

The other day I was cleaning out our old sand toys... when the thought hit me.  Hey!  These buckets would make great Trick-or-treat containers!

(Funny when inspiration strikes, right?)

How to Make Colorful and fun paper plate dragons! (And our 10+ Favorite Dragon Books)

Have you seen our paper plate dragons?    My preschooler is currently on a dragon kick and we've been reading dragon books, watching dragon movies, and making dragon crafts... of course!

If you have a dragon lover at home, then you'll love this craft too.  I've even included a template so that you can easily make these paper plate dragons with your little ones too!  

Let's get making!

Make these Colorful and fun paper plate dragons!

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

7 Tips for Taking Preschoolers to the Art Museum

Ever take your children to the art museum?  A couple weeks ago my friend and I brought our 3 preschool boys to our local art museum.  Can I admit something to you?  I was kinda  SUPER nervous about how it would go.  Three active boys walking around a building of beautiful, priceless, breakable artwork?  What could go wrong?  (Ha!)

Pre-mom years, I loved  visiting art museums with my husband.  But once I had Chuck... I put aside those visits because of my fears.  But oh, how I love looking at beautiful things.... and oh, how I love making art and crafts with my son.  Now that he's a bit older I figured it was time to give it a try.  So I asked for suggestions on FB... and we bravely visited the art museum with our 3 very active and curious kids.

Guess what?

It went pretty well!  We had fun and the art stayed unharmed!  Huzzah!  So here's a post detailing 7 things that we did to make our art museum experience more enjoyable (and educational) for the kiddos.

7 Tips for Taking Preschoolers to the Art Museum

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!

(Hey! Who's that boy in the photo?  Not Chuck. It's one of our friends!)

Two ways to Make Confetti (And Celebrate Fiesta!)

Have you ever made confetti before?  I've seen bags of it in the stores, but never made my own.  Recently my son and I walked with our church in our town's parade.  It was a really fun Children's parade celebrating our town's Mexican, Spanish, American Indian, and early history.

I really wanted Chuck to have something to throw in the parade.  (Because let's face it, allowing a preschooler to throw colorful things at people = SUPER kid fun.)  So the night before the parade, my husband and I made two HUMONGOUS BAGS of confetti for kids to throw.  And guess what?  We made it in less than half an hour.  That's right.  We became confetti-making machines!  Here's how we did it!

Let's Make Confetti!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Let's Make Some Confetti Bookmarks!

Ready for the start of the school year?  Today I'm over at DIY Candy sharing how I made these super fun confetti bookmarks to help kids celebrate their love of reading and the new school year!

Gorgeous Fluttering Paper Plate Butterflies

Last week I shared these beautiful hyper colorful painted paper plate flowers. Since y'all seemed to enjoy them so much, today I'm continuing with the paper plate craft theme and sharing these lovely paper plate butterflies as well!

Gorgeous Fluttering Paper Plate Butterflies!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

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

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

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!  

Let's Make Easy Wire Wrapped Nature Pendants!

How has your summer been going so far?  We've been spending a ton of time outdoors, running around, playing in the water, and digging in the sand.  For what?  Treasures!  So far we've found lovely bits of blue and green sea glass, shells, and funny shaped rocks.  We've placed some of our treasures on display at home and turned others into these easy-to-make, wire wrapped nature pendants. 

Let's Make Wire Wrapped Nature Pendants!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Aren't they lovely?  We love doing nature crafts, like making melted crayon friendship rocks, weaving with flowers, building birds nests, and constructing play dough and rock houses.  Today's wire wrapped pendants are a too difficult for the preschool crowd, but adults and older children can easily wrap pendants for younger ones!  

Make Tricycle Circle Artwork with Kids!

When I set up today's preschool art activity, my husband thought I was crazy.   Really.  He thought I finally inhaled too many craft paint fumes, fell off my rocker, and floated away to la-la land.

To be fair to him, it really WAS a giant art activity.  But I was still surprised by his reaction because he's already seen me do messy activities  (like making jello brains), slimey activities, and fairly large scale art activities (like this GIANT DIY scratch board).... so really, in the grand scheme of things, what's the big deal with making....

GIANT TRICYCLE ARTWORK!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support!

Make Colorful Watercolor Peg Doll and Beaded Necklaces

I recently purchased a box of Liquid Watercolors (affiliate link) to try out.  I'd seen so many beautiful projects by other fellow Rockin' Art Moms  that we just had to try them out too.

And guess what?  These paints totally lived up to the hype.

Here's why liquid watercolor rock- The colors are beautiful and vibrant.  These watercolor paints are also SO MUCH EASIER to use than the typical pan watercolors.  My preschooler doesn't typically enjoy painting with me because he struggles with getting enough color on his paint brush.  I think he really enjoyed today's project because it was easy and the colors came out looking fabulous!

So here's our first liquid watercolor project- Tada!  We used our liquid watercolors to dye some wooden beads and peg dolls to make these lovely, family necklaces!

Let's Make Colorful Watercolor-Dyed Peg Doll Necklaces!

 

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

Easy Kirigami Fish Craft

Howdy! For those of you living above the equator-- how's summer so far?  I'm slowly recovering from illness (hooray!)  Our days are packed with swim classes, trips to the library, play dates, and night time walks.  Is it just me, or is summer just as busy as the rest of the school year?

Lately, I honestly haven't had the time (or energy) to craft.  (Do you ever feel that way too?)  Well, in case you wanted a quick, summer craft to do with the kids, I'm sharing this easy kirigami fish craft today!  I've always enjoyed paper cutting and folding crafts, so I thought this was a really great way for young children to get creative with scissors and paper too!

Let's make some Kirigami Fish!