holiday party craft auditions: Christmas tree tube

Welcome to classroom party craft audition TWO!  (Go here for audition ONE.)

I'm pretty sure I have the best readers ever (I know every blogger feels that way . . . but I really do!) because you left some amazing comments about the yarn ornaments.  I really appreciated your honest feedback and suggestions.  Since I'm new . . . and slightly inept . . . to planning crafts for a group of 24 five and six year olds, I REALLY need help!  

As I side note, I realize these crafts don't really need step-by-step explanations and directions, but I give them so that you can read what the process is and give me your feedback about whether you think it's too hard, too easy or just right . . . hey, I sound like Goldilocks! 

Also, I checked with the teacher and all the kids do celebrate Christmas, so most of these crafts use traditional Christmas symbols.

So . . . just as a recap, I would like to have a couple different craft stations with the following themes:
1) Eat It - something food related for them to decorate/make and eat right there
2) Keep It  - a craft for them to keep for themselves or their home
3) Give It - a craft for them to giveaway to a neighbor or friend

I think Eat It will be a cookies decorating station.  So I need a Keep It and a Give It craft. 

And here's number two:

Christmas Tree Tubes

Audition #2

Here’s what you need:

~Big triangle cut out of colorful cardstock

~White yarn cut into a long piece

~foam star sticker

~small paper roll

~a third of a paper roll bent into the shape of a square

~candy or crayons or other fillers for the tube

~glue

Here’s what you do:

1) Peel the backing of the foam star sticker.  Place at top of tree.  Make a zigzag with the glue from the top to the bottom of the tree.  And place the yarn over the top of the glue like garland.

2)  Glue the tree onto the paper roll leaving about 1/3 or 1/4 of the paper roll sticking out of the bottom as the tree trunk.

3)  Stick the square-shaped paper roll into the bottom of the tube. 

4) Fill tube with candy or crayons.

Done!

I like this audition better than the yarn ornaments, but I'm not completely sold on it.  Too easy?  Too hard? 

Weigh in!  What do you think?

Craft on!

This post is sponsored by Arise Shine Design!  Check this shop out for unique jewelry gifts.

holiday party craft auditions: yarn ornaments

This past September I entered into the world of kindergarten as my oldest daughter started school. I also volunteered to help with classroom parties. After the panic set because crafting with my own kids is way different than crafting with 24 kids, I started brainstorming easy craft ideas for each party theme. Thankfully, the teacher (who rocks, by the way) hasn't asked me to do very much . . . I wonder if she's skeptical that I can actually handle the job.  I would be skeptical if I was her looking at me.  (I'm pretty sure that didn't make sense to anyone but me!)

Okay . . . Let me get to the point.

I'm in the process of auditioning crafts for the holiday party on December 23.  I would like to have a couple different craft stations with the following themes:
1) Eat It - something food related for them to decorate/make and eat right there
2) Keep It  - a craft for them to keep for themselves or their home
3) Give It - a craft for them to giveaway to a neighbor or friend

I'm going to show off one possible kids' craft a day this week.  Will you help me decide which one you think would be best for a kindergarten classroom of squirrel-like 5 and 6 year olds?

Let the auditions begin!

Yarn Candy Cane or Wreath Ornament

Audition #1

Here’s what you need:
~Small cardboard wreath cutouts and candy cane cutouts
~White yarn cut into long pieces
~Red yarn cut into long pieces
~Tape

Here’s what you do:
1) Help child tape a piece of white yarn to the back of the cutout of their choice.

2) Show child how to wrap yarn around the cutout. My daughter was able to wrap the yarn easily around the candy cane, but she needed a bit more instruction to wrap the yarn around the wreath cutout.

3) Completely wrap the cardboard cutout in white yarn. When it’s fully covered help child tuck the end of the yarn underneath yarn wrappings on the backside of the cutout.

4) The red yarn is than wrapped around the cutout in the same pattern that an actual candy cane or peppermint mint would be. Help the child by securing the beginning and end of the red yarn.

5) Slip a long piece of yarn through a loop of the yarn on the top of the ornament and tie another pat the top for hanging.

Done!

I'm not too thrilled with this audition!  I think it's kind of boring for kindergartners and may require too much supervision.

Weigh in!  What do you think?

Craft on!

This post is sponsored by Arise Shine Design!  Check this shop out for unique jewelry gifts.

sunday kids' craft: pumpkins, squash and gourds . . . oh my!

We live a few miles from the most glorious fall distraction ever . . . Pumpkinland.  Pumpkinland is our version of Disneyland.  (My kids don't know YET that Disneyland even exists.  Beware to anyone who tells them . . . I'm joking . . . sort of.) 

Pumpkinland has what you might expect . . . pumpkins, gourds, ornamental corn, etc.  But it has so much more:
  ~a huge corn maze
  ~a little kids' corn maze
  ~play structures . . . every Little Tikes playset and playhouse created
  ~a petting zoo with goats and mountain goats, lambs, llamas, geese, ducks, chickens, baby chicks, roosters, rabbits, puppies, kitties 
  ~pony rides for kids
  ~campfire area 
  ~hay bale playground . . . Who knew that hay bales could be so fun?!
  ~a ton of those picture-taking cutouts that you put your head into and you are suddenly a pumpkin, scarecrow, cat, etc.  
  -candy, cookies, hot chocolate, etc

We try to go there a few times every fall, and my two year old spends the entire time playing on the Little Tikes stuff . . . the same stuff she plays on at home or our friends' houses.  She could care less about the pony rides and the rabbits.  In fact, yesterday she took up residence in the little fireplace cottage and started refusing entrance to any other child who tried to get in.  It wasn't pretty!

Anyway . . . I got horribly off track . . . the point is that we also bring home pumpkins (and a few other odds and ends) when we go to Pumpkinland.  

  
And then we transform them (along with the squash) into faces or other works of art using permanent makers (we like to live on the edge. 

MummySquash is clearly my favorite.  She started out with a cute pink hat, However, with a few strips of white muslin, we transformed her into a cute mummy. 

Grandma and the girls also used stickers and glitter glue to work on these.

Craft on!

sunday kids' craft: buttons of fun!

What is small, round, colorful and has the ability to occupy a child's attention for at least an hour?  A button . . . well, actually lots and lots of buttons.  If you haven't invested in one of those $4.00 bucket of buttons from your local craft supply store, then you are missing out.  Hundreds of buttons equals loads of entertainment and education.

Here are some of our favorite button activities.  (Remember buttons are small, so this activity is not appropriate for very young children.  And if you have children of any age who have a tendency to put things in their mouths or up their noses - I'm guessing at least one person reading this has been to the emergency room for a nose extraction ;), very close supervision is necessary.) 

1)  Counting and sorting - Practice counting and sorting by grouping buttons by number in color.  See how high your little ones can count.

2)  Biggest and smallest - Practice size recognition and early math skills by finding the biggest buttons in the bunch and then the smallest buttons in the bunch. 

3)  Count the color - Pick one color and count all the buttons of that color.  We have 42 black buttons in our bucket of buttons, and my five year old was so proud when she counted all of them.

4) Color identification - Perfect for two and three year olds who are learning their colors, but my five year old still likes this as well when I use more complex color names like salmon rather than pink.   

5) Button pictures - Create button art using the variety of colors and button shapes.  The best part?  The buttons can all go back in the bucket to be reused. 

Simple, easy, educational and cheap . . . can't get much better than that.

Craft on!

I may link to some of these great parties.  Go check them out by clicking on the blog name below or visiting my "I like to party" page.

Weekend - a little lovely, Craft Envy, Under the Table and Dreaming, Be Different Act Normal, A Vision to Remember, 504 Main - Tickled Pink, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello, I heart naptime

Monday - Keeping it Simple, Craft-O-Maniac, The Girl Creative, The Trendy Treehouse, CRAFT, Making the World Cuter, Mad in Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Between Naps on the Porch, Tools Are For Women,  It's So Very Cheri, Skip to My Lou, Sew Can DO

Tuesday - All Thingz Related, Sugar Bee, New Nostalgia, Creative Itch, Lucky Star Lane, Hope Studios, These Creative Juices, My Delicious Ambiguity, Today's Creative Blog-Get Your Craft On!

Wednesday - It's So Very Cheri, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Cricket Design, Trendy Treehouse, Tea Rose Home, Someday Crafts, My Backyard Eden, Sew Much Ado, Night Owl Crafting

Thursday -  Fireflies and Jellybeans, Life As Lori, House of Hepworths, Somewhat Simple, Seven Thirty Three, The Train to Crazy, PonyTails and FishScales, Black Kat's Design

Friday - The Sabby Nest, A Little Knick Knack, Fingerprints on the Fridge, It's Fun to Craft!, It's a Hodgepodge Life, Kojo Designs, Amy Lou Who, A Few of My Favorite Things, Simply Sweet Home, Frou Frou Decor, Remodelaholic

sunday kids' craft: recycling old cards into kids' art

It's been a few weeks since I shared a Sunday kids' craft.  We've been crafting, but mostly with ordinary things . . .

like this

and this

and this

and this

Sometimes it's the simple things . . . crayons, foam stickers, paint markers, glue, scissors . . . that are the most fun.

That last picture is one of my favorite simple kids' crafts . . . cards recycled into art. 

Do you keep the cards that you are given for birthdays, anniversaries, Easter, Thanksgiving, etc?  If you don't, you are missing out on a simple and entertaining craft supply.  When we receive cards in our family, I simply cut off the front of the card or cut out any graphics on the inside or back.  Then I tuck these cut-outs into a craft container.  Here's a quick glance at my messy collection:

But this messy container becomes a source of super kid creativity as the girls pick through the cards choosing the ones that will become pictures like this:

My daughter told me that this is a picture of me giving her gifts on her birthday.  (She did an incredible job cutting out those gifts.  And I love how she cut out the solid colored card paper for the pants, shirt and dress which is complete with a contrasting pocket . . . she's a budding designer.  I'm a little surprised that she left me bald.  Maybe she thinks I would look really good bald.) 

And we are holding hands too . . . so cute!

I asked her why she was frowning.  She said, "I forgot how to draw a smile for a second, so I'm just smiling upside down."  I guess that's what a frown is . . . just an upside down smile waiting to be turned right side up! 

So start filing away those cards and your child might just be a budding recycled card artist.

Craft on!

I may link this idea to some of these great parties.

sunday kids' craft - picture frame magnets

I'm in the process of transforming my fridge.  No, not the inside which could use an entirely different kind of transformation - like a good tossing out and scrubbing session.  I don't even want to think about what's in there and how long it's been in there.  I'm focusing on the outside because the clutter of random magnets and constant coloring pages is driving this gal nuts.  This project probably should have taken me minutes - throw away random magnets and weed down the 20 or so coloring pages (I'm not exaggerating!) to four tops - but instead it's taken me two months.  And I'm still not done!  Talk about procrastination!

You might remember my can lid magnets from the beginning of June and the share-the-love magnet clips that my kids and I did a few weeks ago. 

Well, to declutter and to make our random magnet collection more eye-catching, we did another magnet transformation for our kids' craft this week.  This one pairs pictures we had on our fridge and an old Quiznos magnet and turns the pair into beautiful picture frame magnets that can now keep up a coloring page or two.   

What you need:
-craft foam
-do-a-dot markers (a genius' gift to crafting with kids)
-a craft knife/sharp blade
-hot glue or super glue
-a pretty picture
-a pencil

What you do:
1)  Put your picture in the center of the craft foam and trace around lightly with a pencil.  Don't cut out the center, but tell child that whatever is inside the rectangle will be cut out and used for a magnet and whatever is outside the rectangle will be the magnet picture frame.

2)  Let child paint patterns with do-a-dots or markers.  The foam soaks in the the paint a bit to make a lovely soft muted effect.  Let dry.  (You can see that my daughter didn't want to paint inside the rectangle.  I tried over and over again explaining that the inside would become a magnet too, but just couldn't convince her to paint inside the rectangle.  Too funny!)

3)  Adult only - use craft knife to cut center rectangle out.

4)  Glue or tape picture to the opposite side of frame so that the pic shows through the rectangle like a picture frame.

5)  Cut up old magnet into at least three pieces.  Glue two onto the back of the foam picture frame and one onto the back of the rectangle.

6)  Done! 

I'm going to use the one with the picture of my oldest daughter's face to hang her school papers on the fridge when school starts.  (Aaack . . . I can't believe I have a child old enough to be in kindergarten.  Wasn't she just a cute cuddly baby?)

I think these would also make a great grandparent gift or teacher gift!  I'm putting it on the list!

Craft on!

I may link this to some of these great parties!

sunday kids' craft: paintin' with puddin'

It's hot!  Not warm . . . HOT!  This isn't a new flash for most of the country, but I'm a heat wimp!  We live in a high-humidity area, so when the temp outside is 93 degrees, it feels more like 103 degrees.  It's the kind of hot that makes it hard to breath.  It's the kind of hot that makes me not want to put even a toe outside the door.  It's the kind of hot that's hot!  My kids, of course, are not heat wimps.  To them hot weather is an excuse to run in the sprinkler, go to the pool, splash in water buckets on the back porch.  

As I watched the weather report on Friday evening, I began formulating my plan to avoid going outside all weekend.  I knew I would have to bring out my best and brightest ideas to distract my children.  So . . . while they were snug in their beds, I began plotting at 10:15 on Friday evening.  Yes, I'm a devious mother! 

Unfortunately, the first full coherent sentence out of my oldest daughter's mouth on Saturday morning was, "Can we go to the pool today?"  She didn't even give me a chance.  She's THAT good!  Thankfully, it was only 7:30 AM, so I could easily deflect the question with, "The pool isn't open yet."  Then I quickly distracted her with the lure of breakfast.  At 9 AM while we were making forts out of the couch cushions, the dreaded question surfaced again, "Mommy, can we go to the pool today?" 

"The pool isn't open yet, but let's put on our swimsuits, lay out these fort blankets on the floor and pretend we are in the pool," I said in a really high-pitched voice hoping they would think that was exciting. 

Guess what?  They did!  We played in the "pool" - floaties, pool toys, life vests and all - for almost two hours.  Incredible! 

And when I could tell that their interest in our very dry blanket pool was growing thin, I had this little activity up my sleeve . . . paintin' with puddin' . . . and we did it in swimsuits to make it seem even more fun!  (Why does everything seem more fun to kids if they are wearing the swimsuits?)

The next time you are either avoiding the heat outside in the middle of summer or the cold outside in the middle of winter, pull out your almost-past-due-pudding that you know you won't use before it expires and start painting!

What you need:
-pudding in various colors
-milk
-leak-proof container, bowl and whisk
-wax paper
-tape
-paint brushes

What you do:
1) Make each color of pudding separately according to package directions but use 1/4 cup less milk than directed.  We only had two different colors.  We made one color with the quick-shake method in a leak-proof container.  My oldest daughter LOVED shaking that pudding.  We made the other color with the stir method because my youngest wanted to stir not shake.

2)  Let pudding set for about 5 minutes.

3)  While it's setting, put large sheets of wax paper on work surface and tape them down.

4)  Pour pudding into little bowls and begin finger painting or painting with a brush.  We finger painted first on one sheet and then put down a new sheet for painting with brushes.  Starting with finger painting helps them get the need to touch, squish and taste the pudding out of the way.

5)  When the paintings dry, the colors become even brighter and more vibrant.  (A word of advice . . . don't keep these around for more than a day in the summer unless you want to host an ant party in your house.)

Enjoy a wonderfully fun and messy (what else would you expect from me) activity that will keep you out of the sun on a day hot enough to fry eggs on the sidewalk . . .literally. 

Craft on!