Category: Kids Crafts

This makes
beautiful gift wrap! Just choose the right colors for the right season.
Red & green for Christmas, pastel for spring or Easter. The
possibilities are endless!

My
children and I made this instead of purchasing gift wrap! It was easy
and fun! You can use this for any occasion. Color
coordinating bows finish the job.

You will need to
have plenty of paper towels on hand for cleaning up. Spread lots of
newspaper down and wear old clothes. Also have water for cleaning
brushes, etc

Materials:

• acrylic or
  tempera paints
• 
  Cheap paintbrush – about 1/2′ wide. The 5 yr old used a toothbrush.
• 
  Small containers to put paint in. Egg cartons, clean yogurt
  containers, etc.
• Paper to paint. We have used the brown craft paper, newsprint (free
  from the newspaper), or butcher paper.

Directions:

Pour a small
amount of paint into your container. Add a little water to thin it
down some. Stir it well. Do this for as many colors as you want to
use.

Cut pieces of
paper whatever size you want. Dip your brush into the paint Hold the
brush above the paper and tap the brush with your other hand sharply
so the paint spatters onto the paper. Little ones using a paint brush
can flick their thumb across the brush. Continue this with ONE color
until you have as much on as you like.

You can add more
color layers but make sure your first layer is completely dry! 

NOTE:

You can also
sponge paint your paper for another neat affect!

Capture a snowflake and keep it!

Through this activity you can not only look at the
beauty of individual snowflakes but keep one of you own! A fun winter activity
for kids of all ages.

Materials:

• a large piece of glass – An 8 x 10 picture frame works
  well.
• can of hairspray
• magnifying glass
• snow

Directions:

You need to watch the weather for when it is going to
snow because both the glass and the hair spray need to be chilled. Placing both
in your freezer for about an hour before you are going to catch your snowflakes
works well.

When the snow is falling, take your glass and hairspray
outside. Hold the can about 10 inches from the glass and spray with a quick
sweeping motion. Spray from side to side once, then up and down. Use very little
spray. Only spray for a second or two.

Collect some snowflakes on the sprayed glass.

Take the glass indoors and let dry for 15 to 20
minutes. Check out your results with a magnifying glass. You should be able to
see ice crystals.

A wonderful
sensory project for kids. Great jungle or African unit study go along.

You’ll need:

• Heavy cardboard tube
• Caps for the end or duct tape
• Seeds, pebbles, dried rice or other filler
• Pretty paper to cover

Directions:

• Decorate your
  tube.
• Seal off one
  end.
• Add handfuls of your filler material. Seal off the other end.
• Try different
  thing inside and different size tubes. Turn up and down slowly.

This is a
simple craft even little ones can do.

This is a
wonderful sensory craft. Young children love the sound and sensations
this makes. This is a great go along for a jungle or African unit study.

This is a fun wintertime craft to do with your kids. We used this technique to make our own Christmas Cards.
It can also be used for thank you notes, for all those gifts your kids received.
Simple enough for the youngest, yet
something even the older ones can do!

Materials:

• heavy paper, like cardstock
• 
  
  crayons
• 
  
  white tempera paint, thinned a little

Instructions:

• Have your children draw a winter scene on their paper. 
• Color the picture fairly heavily. 
• 
  Now brush the white tempera paper over the scene. The crayon will show through and it will look like a snowy winter day! 
• 
  You could sprinkle glitter on before the paint dries for extra sparkle!

Materials:

Black construction paper

A glow-in-the-dark marker

Stick-on glow-in-the-dark stars (optional)

Directions:

Check picture below to see what the Big Dipper looks like.

Copy the shape onto your construction paper. Mark each of the major stars
with the glowing marker, or stick a star on them.

Trace a thin line connecting each of your points.

The end product should look like this:

“Cane”deer
-Rudolph never looked so good!
by Belinda
Mooney

My kids make these
every year for Christmas. As soon as they spot the candy canes out in the stores
they start asking when we can get started on this years batch. We hang these on
the tree and put them on packages. They even sell them from door to door to make
their own Christmas money. Last year they earned $5.00!

These
are nice for allowing guests to take one from your tree and take it home to
theirs. Our Scouts group has made these. They are simple and quick and very
inexpensive.

CANDY
CANE
REINDEER

You will need:

1 candy cane
1 pipe cleaner ( brown or colors to match your candy cane, we use red and green)
2 small wiggly eyes
1 tiny pompom for the nose (we use red)

First cut your pipe
cleaner in half. Now lay the two halves side by side in front of you on the
table. Slide one down a little so that when you grasp it in the middle you have
a long and short end on either side.

Now wrap the pipe
cleaner around the hook part of the candy cane and twist together on top. Bend
the pipe cleaners into antler shapes.

Glue you eyes on just
below the antlers. ( I recommend craft or tacky glue, it holds instantly and
they don’t fall off.)

Glue your nose on the
tip of the candy cane!

You can also tie small
ribbons with jingle bells on. We also use the multi-colored candy canes as well
as the flavored ones and make antlers to match!!

This
project is a wonderful way to teach the blending of colors. The results
can be beautiful, yet this is simple enough for the smallest of hands. Perfect as a Spring craft idea.

Materials Needed:

• Wooden Clothes Pins
• 
  Round Coffee Filters
• 
  Black Acrylic Paint
• 
  Watercolor Paints
• 
  Black Pipe Cleaner
• Magnetic Strip (optional)

Instructions:

• 
  Paint your clothespins black first.
• Fold the pipe cleaners into V shapes
  the size you want your antenna to be, cut and glue to the clothes pins
  at the flat end. 
• Take the coffee filters and spray them with water till
  they lay flat but aren’t drenched (it should only take a few short
  sprays, use warm water. Now, dab the watercolors on the wet
  coffee filters, it will run and smear but that’s ok . You can also use
  markers for this. 
• When you are happy with your design on one, repeat
  this process with another coffee filter. 
• Put the wet filters in a safe
  place to dry.
• When they are dry gather up the coffee filter
  in the middle, trying to keep the outside edges flat, and clip it into
  the clothespin. 
• Spread the wings out and you are done.

For fridge magnets:
 
Put a strip of magnet on the underside of
clothespin and stick them on the fridge.

This is a wonderfully simple craft for kids to do
and would be great in a group setting especially as it doesn’t require a lot of
help.

Jingle Bell Napkin Rings

What you need:

6-inch red pipe cleaner for each ring
Nine jingle bells for each ring
Nine red craft beads for each ring

What you do:

String the beads and the jingle bells onto the pipe cleaner, alternating
between the two. When they are all on the pipe cleaner, twist the two ends of
the pipe cleaner together to form a ring. You can make your napkin rings all the
same or make lots of different ones. Try using different color beads and jingle
bells of different size. You might even want to buy a package of pretty
Christmas napkins and match your pipe cleaner and bead colors to the napkins you
choose.

This Article was reprinted by kind permission of Kathy Ross. Please visit her site.