Flower and Star Clay Ring Bowls

Have you ever worked with clay?  I'm a clay novice and I always get slightly nervous thinking that we need a kiln.  But I was totally wrong! There are lots of great, affordable air dry clay options out there.  Since my son loves play dough, working with clay has been a really great activity for us to do together.  With Mother's Day right around the corner, here are some super easy DIY flower and starry night clay ring bowls that you can whip up with your children!

DIY Flower and Starry Night Clay Ring Bowls

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Make Bubble Prints! (from 101 Kids Activities)

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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!

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!

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Chinese New Year Paper Chain Dragons (Printable included!)

Looking for an easy Chinese New Year Craft that you can make with kids of all ages?  Try making these paper chain dragons.  Can't draw?  Don't worry!  Download the free printable below and you'll be making tons of dancing paper dragons in no time!

How to Make Chinese New Year Paper Chain Dragons

Pi Day Activity- Make Pi Art!

Happy Pi Day everyone!  I remember thinking this holiday was really cool when I was younger.  We let out our inner nerds, drank soda, and ate a pizza pie in class.  Earlier this week I whetted your mathy appetite when I shared how I turned Pi into wearable art.  My super easy and colorful Pi Day Bracelets were made by stringing different colored beads according to the digits in Pi.  Today I'm celebrating Pi Day with two colorful and geometric pieces of Pi Day Inspired Artwork.

 "Easy As Pi" Artwork!

And if you have younger preschool aged children, check out my 5 easy ways to celebrate Pi Day with Preschoolers!


Now let's celebrate your inner nerd and create some fun artwork to brighten up your wall.  Let's get started!

Colorful "Stamp and Paint" Heart Art

Ever try out a project, expecting one thing and then getting something completely different?  That’s what happened with a recent art adventure.  I loved this stained glass art with toilet paper rolls and never had a chance to try it out.  It seemed so easy.  Stamp, wait, then paint!  Boom.  Easy and colorful kid art!  Well, my preschooler and I've started making Valentine's Day Crafts and made a Valentine’s day version….with unexpected results! 

Colorful “Stamp and Paint” Heart Art

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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

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!

DIY Paper Chain Christmas Village

Last week I saw stores with Christmas villages already set up and ready to go.  Anyone else love seeing these tiny scenes on display?  There's something magical about seeing things in the miniature.  Today I'm sharing a fun Christmas Craft that you can do with the kids this holiday season.   Make your very own Paper Chain Christmas villages!

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Candy Mosaic Art with Kids

Do you still have leftover Halloween candy?  Eeek. We do.  This week's Creative Preschooler theme is food!  With Chuck's current aversion to painting, I thought it would be fun to use our excess candy and make art with it!  So we made ourselves some lovely, colorful candy mosaic art!

Make Candy Mosaic Art with Kids!

It's always special to make art with non-traditional materials.  Some of my favorite food-art projects include our colored salt art, tortilla art,  gumdrop flowers, cornstarch sidewalk paint, and homemade watercolor paints!

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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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!

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Easy, Giant DIY Scratchboard Art!

Have you ever tried making scratch art  (affiliate links)?   It's seriously addictive.  We recently bought a set of scratch art boards from our local toy store and had a BLAST doodling, tracing, and scratching.  So after we used up all our boards....I got thinking.  Why use tiny scratch boards...... when GIANT SCRATCH BOARDS could do?

(Muah Ha ha.  Insert crazy, crafter laughter here.)

Super Easy, Giant, Homemade Scratchboards!

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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

Fizzy and Fun Ice Painting

Are you looking for fun process oriented art activities for kids?  As a craft lover, I'm definitely biased.  I tend to pin images of kids crafts.  I can't help it.  There are always cute smiles and googly eyes on everything.  (Happy sigh.)  Yup.  That's my happy place.

But lately, I worry that I'm boxing Chuck in too much.  He isn't always keen to make crafts with me. So I'm trying to let him just explore art materials more... without stressing about what the end product will look like.  (It's hard...but I think it's an important process for both of us.)

Today I'm joining with 34 other kid bloggers to share some fun, process oriented art activities that children will enjoy!  It's a series all about fun and messy exploration.  So check the bottom of the post for a link to all 35 ideas!

Here's my process oriented activity that Chuck and I recently completed together:

Fizzy and Fun Ice Painting 

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Make "quill pens" out of straws (and dye paper with coffee and tea)

When we visited Williamsburg a couple of weeks ago (click here or here to see photos), hubby and I purchased a quill pen to try out.  After writing with it for a bit, we were inspired to make our own crapty "quills pens" out of straws and use food coloring as ink.

To make our straw "quill" pens, we sampled several different types of straws:  a bubble tea straw, a normal straw, and a stirrer.  We cut the tips at an angle to mimic the quill pen.

I also used coffee and tea to age some watercolor paper.  To do this, I let the paper sit in cooled black tea (or coffee) for a couple of minutes.

Then, we set the paper out to dry on some pieces of paper towel.

Here are the results of our paper dying.  Left- Original paper,  Middle- Tea dyed,   Right- Coffee dyed
As you can see, coffee made our paper quite brown.

And how did our  homemade "quills" work out?  Check them out below.  I first used all four writing instruments to write in print and then to write in cursive.

Top line- Written with a real quill
Second line- Written with bubble tea straw
Third line- Written with normal straw
Fourth line- Written with a stirrer  (Eek!  Please excuse my scary monster handwriting.  It was really hard to get the ink to flow out.)

 Happy crapting!    

Fall Forest Paper Chains

So... apparently, I have a paper chain obsession. I know, I know. I just posted these sweet Halloween paper chains earlier...but I had to share this adorable bear and fox version too. They're SOOOO cute and such a perfect fall craft to do with the kiddos.

So if you're looking for an adorable and easy fall craft, THIS IS IT.

Let's make some...

Fall Forrest Paper Chains!

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...)

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Cute Mandarin Pig Craft (For Chinese New Year!)

Hosting a Chinese New Year event and looking for a super cute Chinese New Year Craft that also doubles as decor?  This is it!  Halos Mandarins recently reached out and challenged me to make a craft using their fruit.  Well, these adorable mandarin pigs definitely fit the bill.  These sweet pigs are a yummy and cute way to celebrate the Year of the Pig.

(Many thanks to Halos for sending me craft supplies and boxes of yummy mandarins!)

Super Sweet Mandarin Pigs for Chinese New Year!

How to Make Paper Dragons (Easy Free Printable Model included)

Do you love dragons and dragon crafts? One of my most popular posts is this paper plate dragon craft and today I'm sharing a similar dragon model for those who don't have paper plates handy. These paper dragons are super easy to make and fun to decorate. Enjoy!

How to Make Paper Dragons (FREE printable included)

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