Three Crosses Silhouette Easter Craft

What a beautiful craft to celebrate Easter!  I saw a picture of this craft on Pinterest but never found a link. The idea: the silhouette of three crosses against a sunset.

I had the kids paint in yellow, orange, red, and purple, using a sponge to brush the paints across the plate.  

I folded a piece of black construction paper in half, then cut out the crosses.  After the paint dried, we stapled the crosses to the plates.  

Some more examples from the kids:

Rockin' Robin: A Spring Craft

I'm always looking for fun kids' crafts that honor the time of year.  Found this "Rockin' Robin" (so named because of how you can "rock" your robin!) here.

All it takes: a circle cutout of stiff cardstock, tail feathers and an orange beak, some googly eyes, and tissue paper scraps.

Here's a closeup of our tail feathers:

Fold the circle in half.  Attach the tail feathers, eyes, and beak with glue.  Crumple up tissue paper and add them to the robin's breast.  I used traditional-ish robin colors, but any colors can be used.

Time to rock your robin!

Coffee Filter Turkeys

With it being Thanksgiving week, the kids and I have been working on a plethora of turkey crafts. These coffee filter turkeys turned out quite beautifully!  And all three of mine--at ages 7, 4, and 2--had fun with them.  All you need is coffee filters, markers, a spray bottle with water, construction paper, and googly eyes.  Kids can color the coffee filters with markers.  Then, holding the filter over a sink, spray with the water bottle, rotating a little so that the colors run together (you may want to wear rubber gloves for this part; it can get messy!).  Set aside the filter to dry.  Cut a turkey shape out of brown paper, and a nose out of orange paper.  Glue everything down and have the kids draw a waddle with red marker.  Once the filter is dry, you can glue that, too.  These are absolute works of art!

Paper Bag Scarecrow Craft

I love the kids' crafts where you can use what you have on hand.  I try to keep certain supplies on hand for just such crafts.  I had the opportunity to help watch a group of kiddos the other morning and needed a good fall craft for them.  Pinterest led me to this post and the Paper Bag Scarecrow, and, as it turned out, I had everything I needed in my supply.  They turned out adorable, and it was the perfect craft for a small group of kids to complete in about half an hour.

Supplies needed: paper bags, construction paper, raffia, googly eyes, crumpled-up newspaper (I used shredded paper from the shredder), markers, scissors, scissors, and glue.

Directions: crumple up newspaper and stuff the bag, leaving a few inches at the top.  Fold the top over a couple times and staple.  Lay some raffia across the top and staple that down as well.  The more imperfect, the better, in my opinion!  From there, the kids can glue down googly eyes and design the rest of the face: nose, cheeks, and mouth.  We drew the mouths in as if it was a row of stitches... or "railroad tracks," as we told the kids.  And they can design a hat as well.

I love how one kid used a googly eye for the nose, and how another wanted a trick-or-treat bag for his scarecrow.  Kids are the BEST artists.

Shower Curtain Playmat

A couple weeks ago, we had a week filled with rain... totally abnormal for this part of the country.  Reminded me of being in the northwest again.  I welcome the gray, drizzly days.  And I think people around here like a day or two of rain, but after a week, most of 'em were sick of it!  We needed a rainy-day activity.  I'd seen this idea for a shower curtain playmat here and had a couple extra white shower curtain liners in a closet just waiting for an opportunity.  We pushed aside the dining room table, laid out the shower curtain, grabbed a black Sharpie, and drew away...

I let my two bigger kids draw the lines in the middle of the streets.

Gotta have a church...

We started coloring with markers, before I realized that the ink would make a mess.

Jack spent his time drawing a monster truck racing course around the town.

Crazy dancing girls...

Jumping Cups Activity

We always need craft ideas for our summer get-togethers in playgroup.  Here's an activity we found: jumping cups! 

All you need: plastic cups, scissors, rubber bands, tape, and a print-out of a rocket (or anything else that can jump or fly). I didn't print mine on cardstock, but next time I will.  It could also be laminated. 

Directions: Color the picture and cut out.  Cut four small slits, evenly spaced, around the rim of the cup.  Snip a rubber band in half.  Knot the ends of each rubber band and place in the slits so it makes a cross in the inside of the cup.  Place a bit of tape on the inside of the cup where each rubber band is knotted, to help hold it in place.  This will be your cup that you place on top of another.  Glue or tape the picture on the top cup.  Place another cup underneath.  Push down the top cup and let it spring loose.  And there you have it... jumping cups!

Coffee Filter Butterfly Craft

Another fun summer afternoon activity!  This idea is from this blog post.   

Supplies needed:
coffee filters
markers
spray bottles filled with water
clothespins
pipecleaners
googly eyes

Step 1: Color the coffee filters with markers.  Spray with a little water (not too much) so the colors run together a little.  Let dry. 

Step 2: Scrunch the middle of the filter and add a clothespin.  Hot-glue on some googly eyes.  Cut a pipecleaner in half and twist it into an antenna shape.  You can hot-glue that into place, too, although we haven't yet.  Kate added little mouths with markers. 

Miss Maggie demonstrating the flight of the butterfly

Recycled Materials Robot Craft

I'm always looking for good craft ideas for a hot summer afternoon.  Yesterday, Jack wanted to make a robot.  Hmm... of course, I turned to Pinterest.  We scrolled through hundreds of ideas before I compiled a few.  All we needed was cardboard from a box in the recycling pile, foil, a hot glue gun, a Sharpie, googly eyes, and different-colored craft foam.  I also offered him pop can tabs and milk jug lids, but he didn't use them.
First step: cut out cardboard in the shape of a body, head, arms, and legs. Cover them with foil and tape the back.  Hot glue the pieces into place. 

Second step: decorate however you want! 

DIY Watercolor Paints

How awesome is it that you can make your own watercolor paints at home, using just a few simple ingredients (vinegar, baking soda, cornstarch, corn syrup, and food coloring) that you probably already have on hand?  We had to get a couple extra ice cube trays so each kid could have his/her own tray, but we've been able to use these several times now, so it's definitely worth it.  I found complete directions at this site.
 

What can I say?  My kids are natural artists!  :-)

Glue & Salt Painting

I'm always looking for a good hot summer afternoon craft project to keep these kids busy.  This one was a bit messy, but the kids still had fun, and their creations look pretty.  All you need is white glue, salt, and a little bit of water with food coloring in it (which we used medicine cups for).  Draw a picture with the glue and sprinkle salt to cover.  Dip a paintbrush in the colored water and touch the tip of the brush to the glue.  The color spreads nicely.  Kate, age 4, had to have help with her glue and salt, but Jack did most of the project on his own. 

Kate's sun

Mothers' Day Bouquets (Using Pool Noodles!)

Kate came home from Sunday School last Saturday with a bouquet of pool noodle flowers for me, and I thought it would be the perfect little gift to replicate for the kids' grandmas for Mothers' Day!  Here's how to do it:

Slice off chunks from your pool noodles, about one inch wide.

Using a serrated knife, cut five notches around the sides of the noodle.  Don't cut too deep.

Our stack of flowers. 

Stick a green pipecleaner through each flower and tape leaves
on the stems.  And you're finished!

Superhero Training Camp

This past week was spring break for LCPS, and as always, I needed something for my kids to do.  My friends with the Las Cruces Playgroup and I put together a three-day camp.  And not just any camp, but a Superhero Training Camp!  With about 18 kids participating, we split them up into two groups (big kids and little kids) and then had moms (and at least a couple dads) walk them through different stations: obstacle course, a "skills training" activity, craft, and snack.  Super fun for our super kids.  Jack and Kate had their capes already from an AWANA superhero night last fall.  I found a quick tutorial for that here.  Seriously, I whipped up a last-minute one for Maggie in about half an hour. 

Back detail on the cape of "Super K"

Miss Maggie would NOT stand still for a good cape pic.  Ergh.

We set up the obstacle course every day so the kids could supposedly improve on their time each day.  It included:

Kicking a soccer ball around some cones

Crawling through several tunnels

Tossing a frisbee into a hula hoop

Climbing up a rock wall to save a baby at the top, then bringing the baby down the slide. Wheee!  I just love this picture of Miss Maggie.

Of course, wind wreaked havoc on our tunnel set-up.  And kids will be kids.

 

Every day, we planned a "skill-building activity" that would strengthen kids and give them the tools they needed to become a true superhero.  Day 1's activity was knocking over a wall (made with shoeboxes wrapped in butcher paper). 

And each day we had a craft that would help the kids pull their superhero identity together.  Day 1's craft was a mask.  I found a tutorial here and just simplified the craft a bit for our day camp by just using one layer of felt.  Although, as it turned out, the mask wasn't so durable, so in the future, following the tutorial would probably be a good idea.  The kids decorated them with buttons and little baubles and puffy paint (in some cases, waaaay too much puffy paint!). 

Kate's mask; I sewed the elastic on later

Our activity for Day 2 was throwing green ping-pong balls (which were supposed to represent Kryptonite) from one bucket into another. 

And Day 2's craft was super cool wrist cuffs.  Tutorial found here.  We had every mom bring a toilet paper roll, which we just cut into a cuff size and covered with felt (and, again, more buttons and baubles and puffy paint).  Then, we punched two holes on each of the cuff's ends and threaded some elastic string through to tie it up.

Of course, we had snack time every day.  Who can forget that?!?  Here's an actual picture of me with my girls!

Fueling up

Our craft for Day 3 was the BEST: Superhero Control Panels!  You know, so our little heroes would be able to activate their force field, or call their sidekick, or kick into high gear.  I found this tutorial here.  We had each mom bring an empty Jello box.  I spray-painted them and some straws and little styrofoam balls metallic silver.  I used scissors to poke a hole in the balls, then attached them to the straws with a little hot glue.  And then I duct-taped the straw-and-ball "antenna" onto the Jello box. 

A box of  control panels pre-craft time

Here's a better look.

We used adhesive craft foam to decorate them.

Our Day 3 snack mom was super-ambitious and brought all sort of fun (and accessorized!) treats.

Star-shaped Rice Krispies treats with fun labels

Snacks were enjoyed immensely. 

And, with that, our three days of superhero training were over.  We sent each kid home with a certificate (found here) that could be personalized with their real name, superhero name, and special powers.  All in all, the kids had a blast!