What kinds of crafts do you do with your kids?
I have a 3 year old who LOVES doing crafts and a 15 month old who loves eating crayons and playdough. :lol
I am limited on what my 15 m/o can do so he usually paints, colors with crayons, plays with playdough....but that's about it in the craft department.
My 3 year old spends hours a day painting, coloring, playing with playdough, making various crafts. Today we made some coffee filter flowers, yesterday we made clothes pin caterpillars. We've made mobiles made out of paper plates, masks, musical instruments, etc.
Today the reason we made the flowers is because he knows it's valentines day and he told me he wanted to go to the store to buy grandma six flowers. We can't afford six flowers from the grocery store so I asked him if he wanted to make grandma six flowers and he was so excited. They'll mean more anyways and they won't die :)
Anyways, what kind of crafts do you do. I'm always looking for new ideas!!!
^_^:
has tons and tons of craft suggestions. You can also sign up for her free email. My dd is still a little too young and not that interested in this stuff, so I haven't tried any of her suggestions, but they sure look good to me!
^_^:
Wow, it sounds like you're very creative! I was going to respond with my wonderfully inspired ideas like painting, playdough, and chalk, but it sounds like you've got that covered. :lol My DS is only 27 months and so far hasn't been all that into crafting beyond the basic activities I just described, but I'll be checking out the link that Shanana posted and checking this thread for more ideas!
^_^:
My fav craft book (and I've read a lot of them!)
^_^:
my kids like glitter and glue sticks. lots and lots of glitter LOL
^_^:
:lurk:
^_^:
today we are unwrapping all the messed up crayons(think HUGE box) and melting them down into 2 big crayons in the oven:D All the colors mixed. I have one in the freezer now to cool, and one in the oven still.
Ds loves it because he likes to destroy crayons. DD likes the challenge.
^_^:
lots and lots of glitter LOL :lol My ds is the same way about glitter! And there are levels of glitter, the most preferred being the "pinching glitter" (loose glitter, so named because he pinches it to pick it up) and then there is the lesser "brush glitter" (a gluey glitter glaze, applied with a paintbrush. It is not as much mess, and thus deemed not as much fun. We only use the "brush glitter" at grandmas, so she doesn't have to sweep tons of glitter off of the floor :lol )
Some crafts we've done lately are: soymilk carton birdhouses, bean votive candle holders (mix some dried beans with glue, put the mixture in an oiled earth balance container w/a votive stuck in the middle, let dry, and unmold), snow "ice cream" (CLEAN snow :lol , stirred together with some soy nog and sweetener... then eaten quickly! He loved that one), bird treats (pinecones spread w/nut butter, then sprinkled w/bird seed. We have lots of hungry birds- and squirrels! around here), paper fans (you know, where you fold a piece of paper accordion style, and pinch together the bottom... so simple, but my 3 yr old was very proud to fold one all by himself, he showed it off all day), animal puppets made of little brown paper lunch bags (we made cats, he cut the triangle ears :) ), lots of painting, and drawing with pastels...
^_^:
Puppets! Because then you can still type one handed. :wink :lol
Actually, right now, since it's winter, we made our colored ice candle holders.
You fill a large bowl with water, add food coloring, then put a canned food in the middle. Put it outside. After it freezes, run cool water over the middle of the can until it's loose enough to remove, then dump out excess water.
Put outside to refreeze, then put candle in the middle and Voila! Pretty ice candles outside!
They also love making forts out of the couch cushions and sheet. :lol
^_^:
cutting, cutting and more cutting. DD love scissors so any colourful junk mail is pounced on with glee and "my need scissors mummy"
She's also keen on sticing, painting, printing using various things around the house, playdough. Markers are OK but she's not so keen on crayons. I like recycling materals so any blank paper is hole punched and tied together for a notepad. We have a box with bits of wrapping paper fabric scraps etc.
Mostly I just keep the materials on hand and see what she comes up with but a couple of websites I like are
^_^:
today we are unwrapping all the messed up crayons(think HUGE box) and melting them down into 2 big crayons in the oven:D All the colors mixed. I have one in the freezer now to cool, and one in the oven still. Forgive me for the stupid question, but how do you keep the 'mix' in a crayon shape? I vaguely remember doing this as a kid but I think if I tried it with dd I would end up with a big colored blob on a piece of my ovenware :lol .
My girl is just about 20 months and we still can't really do many artsy things since she'll still try to eat crayons sometimes (and probably paint). I just got her an easel though ($5 at the thrift store :wink ) and I'd love to be able to have a fun messy afternoon. I guess I need to go to the edible crafts page :lol .
^_^:
:lurk:
^_^:
Um, I didn't? :lol
I put waxed paper down in some of my small corningware dishes, and just baked at like 300 degrees. Then, after they were melted, it went right in the freezer. Until it was set. Then, we broke it up into peices.
If you wanted the shape, you would need to use a mold, which I didn't have at the time.
Forgive me for the stupid question, but how do you keep the 'mix' in a crayon shape? I vaguely remember doing this as a kid but I think if I tried it with dd I would end up with a big colored blob on a piece of my ovenware :lol .
My girl is just about 20 months and we still can't really do many artsy things since she'll still try to eat crayons sometimes (and probably paint). I just got her an easel though ($5 at the thrift store :wink ) and I'd love to be able to have a fun messy afternoon. I guess I need to go to the edible crafts page :lol .
^_^:
my son also loves the crayons that are also water color when used with a wet brush.....He likes to do texture stuff,
^_^:
If you have an old pot, you can melt the crayons in there and then while it is still melting you put a string in their and take it out it cools quickly then dip again. Dry, dip, dry, dip. It comes out like a fat crayon. You just want to make sure when you dip you keep getting more and more on the tip. SO that the front(tip) of the crayon when done will be the part without the string. The string is on the back and I just cut off the excess.
^_^:
Another thing ds is into lately is collage. I just give him a bunch of random stuff (pom poms, feathers, stickers, bits of wrapping paper, playing cards from old decks, etc) and he cuts it all up and glues it on construction paper. He loves to glue! (almost as much as he loves glitter :lol )
We've made "scratch boards" (where you completely color a piece of paper in a rainbow of colors, then completely color over it in black. Then you "draw" on your black paper with a toothpick, to see the rainbow design beneath). Hope that made sense... That one keeps him occupied for a long time :)
We've made crowns shaped out of twisted/crumpled aluminum foil, painted flat beach stones for paper weight gifts, paper lanterns for Chinese New Year...
We seem to be accumulating a bucket full of broken crayons, I'm going to have to be making one of those rainbow crayons soon. Nice idea!
^_^:
Before dd could use scissors I would cut out pieces of craft foam and let her glue them together or on paper.
She likes to draw in "books" made from stapled paper, folded in half.
Instead of sand art, try salt art. I take a shirt box and pour in salt and let dd color it by rubbing with colored chalk (we use up the small bits of sidewalk chalk this way). Then layer in old jars.
We also love glitter glue! And watercolors.
We made our own memory game once, with index cards.
This weekend dd came up with the idea of having a "band" and went around filling up all the tupperware with coins, shells, etc.
More Topical:
I am limited on what my 15 m/o can do so he usually paints, colors with crayons, plays with playdough....but that's about it in the craft department.
My 3 year old spends hours a day painting, coloring, playing with playdough, making various crafts. Today we made some coffee filter flowers, yesterday we made clothes pin caterpillars. We've made mobiles made out of paper plates, masks, musical instruments, etc.
Today the reason we made the flowers is because he knows it's valentines day and he told me he wanted to go to the store to buy grandma six flowers. We can't afford six flowers from the grocery store so I asked him if he wanted to make grandma six flowers and he was so excited. They'll mean more anyways and they won't die :)
Anyways, what kind of crafts do you do. I'm always looking for new ideas!!!
^_^:
has tons and tons of craft suggestions. You can also sign up for her free email. My dd is still a little too young and not that interested in this stuff, so I haven't tried any of her suggestions, but they sure look good to me!
^_^:
Wow, it sounds like you're very creative! I was going to respond with my wonderfully inspired ideas like painting, playdough, and chalk, but it sounds like you've got that covered. :lol My DS is only 27 months and so far hasn't been all that into crafting beyond the basic activities I just described, but I'll be checking out the link that Shanana posted and checking this thread for more ideas!
^_^:
My fav craft book (and I've read a lot of them!)
^_^:
my kids like glitter and glue sticks. lots and lots of glitter LOL
^_^:
:lurk:
^_^:
today we are unwrapping all the messed up crayons(think HUGE box) and melting them down into 2 big crayons in the oven:D All the colors mixed. I have one in the freezer now to cool, and one in the oven still.
Ds loves it because he likes to destroy crayons. DD likes the challenge.
^_^:
lots and lots of glitter LOL :lol My ds is the same way about glitter! And there are levels of glitter, the most preferred being the "pinching glitter" (loose glitter, so named because he pinches it to pick it up) and then there is the lesser "brush glitter" (a gluey glitter glaze, applied with a paintbrush. It is not as much mess, and thus deemed not as much fun. We only use the "brush glitter" at grandmas, so she doesn't have to sweep tons of glitter off of the floor :lol )
Some crafts we've done lately are: soymilk carton birdhouses, bean votive candle holders (mix some dried beans with glue, put the mixture in an oiled earth balance container w/a votive stuck in the middle, let dry, and unmold), snow "ice cream" (CLEAN snow :lol , stirred together with some soy nog and sweetener... then eaten quickly! He loved that one), bird treats (pinecones spread w/nut butter, then sprinkled w/bird seed. We have lots of hungry birds- and squirrels! around here), paper fans (you know, where you fold a piece of paper accordion style, and pinch together the bottom... so simple, but my 3 yr old was very proud to fold one all by himself, he showed it off all day), animal puppets made of little brown paper lunch bags (we made cats, he cut the triangle ears :) ), lots of painting, and drawing with pastels...
^_^:
Puppets! Because then you can still type one handed. :wink :lol
Actually, right now, since it's winter, we made our colored ice candle holders.
You fill a large bowl with water, add food coloring, then put a canned food in the middle. Put it outside. After it freezes, run cool water over the middle of the can until it's loose enough to remove, then dump out excess water.
Put outside to refreeze, then put candle in the middle and Voila! Pretty ice candles outside!
They also love making forts out of the couch cushions and sheet. :lol
^_^:
cutting, cutting and more cutting. DD love scissors so any colourful junk mail is pounced on with glee and "my need scissors mummy"
She's also keen on sticing, painting, printing using various things around the house, playdough. Markers are OK but she's not so keen on crayons. I like recycling materals so any blank paper is hole punched and tied together for a notepad. We have a box with bits of wrapping paper fabric scraps etc.
Mostly I just keep the materials on hand and see what she comes up with but a couple of websites I like are
^_^:
today we are unwrapping all the messed up crayons(think HUGE box) and melting them down into 2 big crayons in the oven:D All the colors mixed. I have one in the freezer now to cool, and one in the oven still. Forgive me for the stupid question, but how do you keep the 'mix' in a crayon shape? I vaguely remember doing this as a kid but I think if I tried it with dd I would end up with a big colored blob on a piece of my ovenware :lol .
My girl is just about 20 months and we still can't really do many artsy things since she'll still try to eat crayons sometimes (and probably paint). I just got her an easel though ($5 at the thrift store :wink ) and I'd love to be able to have a fun messy afternoon. I guess I need to go to the edible crafts page :lol .
^_^:
:lurk:
^_^:
Um, I didn't? :lol
I put waxed paper down in some of my small corningware dishes, and just baked at like 300 degrees. Then, after they were melted, it went right in the freezer. Until it was set. Then, we broke it up into peices.
If you wanted the shape, you would need to use a mold, which I didn't have at the time.
Forgive me for the stupid question, but how do you keep the 'mix' in a crayon shape? I vaguely remember doing this as a kid but I think if I tried it with dd I would end up with a big colored blob on a piece of my ovenware :lol .
My girl is just about 20 months and we still can't really do many artsy things since she'll still try to eat crayons sometimes (and probably paint). I just got her an easel though ($5 at the thrift store :wink ) and I'd love to be able to have a fun messy afternoon. I guess I need to go to the edible crafts page :lol .
^_^:
my son also loves the crayons that are also water color when used with a wet brush.....He likes to do texture stuff,
^_^:
If you have an old pot, you can melt the crayons in there and then while it is still melting you put a string in their and take it out it cools quickly then dip again. Dry, dip, dry, dip. It comes out like a fat crayon. You just want to make sure when you dip you keep getting more and more on the tip. SO that the front(tip) of the crayon when done will be the part without the string. The string is on the back and I just cut off the excess.
^_^:
Another thing ds is into lately is collage. I just give him a bunch of random stuff (pom poms, feathers, stickers, bits of wrapping paper, playing cards from old decks, etc) and he cuts it all up and glues it on construction paper. He loves to glue! (almost as much as he loves glitter :lol )
We've made "scratch boards" (where you completely color a piece of paper in a rainbow of colors, then completely color over it in black. Then you "draw" on your black paper with a toothpick, to see the rainbow design beneath). Hope that made sense... That one keeps him occupied for a long time :)
We've made crowns shaped out of twisted/crumpled aluminum foil, painted flat beach stones for paper weight gifts, paper lanterns for Chinese New Year...
We seem to be accumulating a bucket full of broken crayons, I'm going to have to be making one of those rainbow crayons soon. Nice idea!
^_^:
Before dd could use scissors I would cut out pieces of craft foam and let her glue them together or on paper.
She likes to draw in "books" made from stapled paper, folded in half.
Instead of sand art, try salt art. I take a shirt box and pour in salt and let dd color it by rubbing with colored chalk (we use up the small bits of sidewalk chalk this way). Then layer in old jars.
We also love glitter glue! And watercolors.
We made our own memory game once, with index cards.
This weekend dd came up with the idea of having a "band" and went around filling up all the tupperware with coins, shells, etc.
More Topical: