One of my favorite activities to do on an almost-sunny day like today is to go for a photo safari. In the age of digital cameras it is great to take an older one, empty the memory card, load the batteries, and hand it to a child. The pictures are often not exactly what we would embrace as artistic, but sometimes seeing the world through the eyes of a child can only be done through photos. To keep your camera as safe as possible, be sure to go over a few of the rules for using a camera. This should include using an arm strap that can be tightened around your child's wrist. Also, show the child where it is okay to touch and where to not touch showing them how to wrap their hands around the camera. I have found they often find it difficult to find the button to push while looking through the camera so practicing this would be great.
We often give the kids a purpose to their photos. One day we went out looking for items that looked like letters. When we were done we created an inexpensive photo book with their picture on one page any my middle child wrote the letter on the other page while my oldest wrote a word that started with that letter. Another day we went geocaching and found landmarks to take photos of as we travelled. Flowers can make great subjects along with insects, words, and pets.
Take some great props with you, too. Maybe a scarf could add a pop of color or play a game of hide-and-go-seek. Bubbles are really fun to use to capture a moment. When I was younger I heard of a goose statue being "goose-napped" from someone's front yard then slowly the family received pictures of the goose from different areas of the world. You could use this idea in a slightly more legal way and take an action figure or Barbie doll our for an adventure around your every day world.
A child's confidence will soar when you step back and allow them to take the pictures. Even if the pictures are blurry or miss the shot it is not hard to see how much fun this can be for your child and how much they can grow from a photo safari!
Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Yarn Ornaments
This craft is great and easy for children of all ages. Create a glue mixture using 1/4 cup of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan. Stir until the mixture is smooth then heat the mixture over medium heat until it is thick and translucent. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool to the touch. This mixture can be stored in the fridge for a week. If it gets too gelatinous, then stir in 1/4 cup of hot water.
Cut yarn into pieces of about a foot long. Use a cookie cutter to create a desired shape or you can free form it but cookie cutters are great ideas for smaller children. Put the cookie cutter down on the shiny side of parchment paper. Have your child coat a piece of yarn in the cornstarch glue so it is coated. Run the yarn through their thumb and forefinger to remove excess glue and then place the yarn inside the cookie cutter. Repeat this process until the cookie cutter has a thin layer of yarn throughout the entire shape. Clean hands then come back and push the yarn flat.
Gently remove the cookie cutter (this is probably best for an adult to help small children with) and allow the yarn ornament at least a day to dry completely. If you need to speed up the drying process you can place the parchment paper and ornaments directly into the oven set on "warm" for an hour or two.
You can use these for many different occassions. Use red, white and pink yarn and a heart-shaped cookie cutter for Valentine's Day. Green yarn with a christmas tree cookie cutter can be used for Christmas. This can also be used for mother's day, birthdays, or even general decoration.
Cut yarn into pieces of about a foot long. Use a cookie cutter to create a desired shape or you can free form it but cookie cutters are great ideas for smaller children. Put the cookie cutter down on the shiny side of parchment paper. Have your child coat a piece of yarn in the cornstarch glue so it is coated. Run the yarn through their thumb and forefinger to remove excess glue and then place the yarn inside the cookie cutter. Repeat this process until the cookie cutter has a thin layer of yarn throughout the entire shape. Clean hands then come back and push the yarn flat.
Gently remove the cookie cutter (this is probably best for an adult to help small children with) and allow the yarn ornament at least a day to dry completely. If you need to speed up the drying process you can place the parchment paper and ornaments directly into the oven set on "warm" for an hour or two.
You can use these for many different occassions. Use red, white and pink yarn and a heart-shaped cookie cutter for Valentine's Day. Green yarn with a christmas tree cookie cutter can be used for Christmas. This can also be used for mother's day, birthdays, or even general decoration.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Paper Weaving
This is a great craft for kids and it is totally affordable. You can use many different types of paper or even fabric. Paper bags work great but so does construction paper. If there is a theme or holiday around the corner you can paint the paper using colors that bring the theme or holiday into your craft. When using paint, you can add a little bit of water to the paint so when it dries it doesn't tend to flake and it spreads easier.
You will want several panels of paper (it really depends on how many strips of paper you need and how many varieties of paper patterns you want to use). Pick one paper that will be used as the base. fold this panel into half and mark a line one inch from the edge of the unfolded side. Make slits from the folded side to the line on the unfolded side at one inch intervals.
Take the other papers to be used and cut one inch strips (make sure you cut the paper so the strips are long enough to fit from side-to-side on the base paper).
Weave the strips of paper through the slits in the base. Using a glue stick or tape, secure the ends of the strips to the base.
Enjoy your beautiful cloth-like craft!
You will want several panels of paper (it really depends on how many strips of paper you need and how many varieties of paper patterns you want to use). Pick one paper that will be used as the base. fold this panel into half and mark a line one inch from the edge of the unfolded side. Make slits from the folded side to the line on the unfolded side at one inch intervals.
Take the other papers to be used and cut one inch strips (make sure you cut the paper so the strips are long enough to fit from side-to-side on the base paper).
Weave the strips of paper through the slits in the base. Using a glue stick or tape, secure the ends of the strips to the base.
Enjoy your beautiful cloth-like craft!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Finger Alphabets
This is a great way to get your children to practice writing their letters. Set up a cookie sheet or pan with edges (shorter edges are good but you don't want a flat cookie sheet unless you have a really awesome vacuum) by placing a thin layer of cornmeal on the bottom of the pan. Show your children how they can use their fingers to make letters or pictures, then roll up their sleeves and let them go! If you want to try other materials such as flour, sand, or rice you can do so but cornmeal is a cheap option that works really well.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Painting Easel
I have always wanted to buy an art easel for my kids but it takes up too much space, there's a huge waste of paper, and the paint makes a mess all over the house when the little one is not supervised. I think I have stumbled across a solution: use a window, door, or other glass pane. Using washable paint, this will be easily cleaned. It can be set up outside (if you are really brave you can use your own back door!). The only expense becomes the paint and brushes which you can purchase nice jars for paint at Lakeshore Learning or Learning Palace and it will help keep the paint a little more contained.
While visiting a children's museum in Seattle I saw this idea in use and I immediately thought of going to ReStore and finding a used window at an affordable price. It would be easy to add a base of some sort (depending on the base you find. Also, a picture frame might work if you hung an old frame on your fence your children could use that to paint. The frames would have to be weatherized but there are stains or sprays that make that really easy.
While visiting a children's museum in Seattle I saw this idea in use and I immediately thought of going to ReStore and finding a used window at an affordable price. It would be easy to add a base of some sort (depending on the base you find. Also, a picture frame might work if you hung an old frame on your fence your children could use that to paint. The frames would have to be weatherized but there are stains or sprays that make that really easy.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Supply Storage
We live in a small house and I have tried to be pretty inventive on storing things so that our stuff is easily used but also not super cluttered. I have by no means mastered this skill but I am slowly working on improving the systems in our home.
Craft supplies have been difficult to store because my youngest likes to color on everything with any type of pen or paint she can find. I don't know how she does it but there always seems to be some sort of writing utensil that she finds!! This means I don't want to keep the craft supplies accessible to the kids all the time but I do want them to be usable. Also, I have a hard time with the idea that sometimes we don't get them all picked up before we move to the next craft adventure. With all of this in mind, I decided that keeping craft supplies out of reach of the kids was the best idea for our family.
While our house is small, one thing we do have is storage above our kitchen cabinets. I just found great baskets at Michael's on sale. These baskets are fun and cute but also very practical because each basket has a small chalkboard on the front. They come in different sizes and are easy to use with handles. This is a very practical use of space above our cabinets and it will help us keep our craft, play dough, and other less used supplies in good condition.
Craft supplies have been difficult to store because my youngest likes to color on everything with any type of pen or paint she can find. I don't know how she does it but there always seems to be some sort of writing utensil that she finds!! This means I don't want to keep the craft supplies accessible to the kids all the time but I do want them to be usable. Also, I have a hard time with the idea that sometimes we don't get them all picked up before we move to the next craft adventure. With all of this in mind, I decided that keeping craft supplies out of reach of the kids was the best idea for our family.
While our house is small, one thing we do have is storage above our kitchen cabinets. I just found great baskets at Michael's on sale. These baskets are fun and cute but also very practical because each basket has a small chalkboard on the front. They come in different sizes and are easy to use with handles. This is a very practical use of space above our cabinets and it will help us keep our craft, play dough, and other less used supplies in good condition.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Paper Dresses
One of my favorite parenting magazine is Disney's Family Fun. They offer all sorts of great advice and share a lot of advice from other parents. This month, one mom wrote in and shared and idea that I love because I have a princess who refuses to wear anything that isn't a dress.
The idea is simple: take a large piece of white paper, fold it over and trace your child's outline. Cut the pieces out for your child then let them decorate. Use paint, markers, curling ribbon, stickers or anything else you (or your child) desire. When the dress is decorated, use a hole punch along the sides of the dress and string the two pieces together with yarn or curling ribbon. The dress is now ready for your child to wear.
This can be done with two pieces of large colored cardstock found at Dollar Tree stores or you can purchase a roll of butcher paper at IKEA or we found one a few years back at Albertsons.
The thing I love about this is it would be a great play date or birthday party idea. If you had a few helpers you could pre-cut the paper and have a few helpers oversee decorating while all of the girls made dresses and maybe even crowns for a tea party birthday.
The idea is simple: take a large piece of white paper, fold it over and trace your child's outline. Cut the pieces out for your child then let them decorate. Use paint, markers, curling ribbon, stickers or anything else you (or your child) desire. When the dress is decorated, use a hole punch along the sides of the dress and string the two pieces together with yarn or curling ribbon. The dress is now ready for your child to wear.
This can be done with two pieces of large colored cardstock found at Dollar Tree stores or you can purchase a roll of butcher paper at IKEA or we found one a few years back at Albertsons.
The thing I love about this is it would be a great play date or birthday party idea. If you had a few helpers you could pre-cut the paper and have a few helpers oversee decorating while all of the girls made dresses and maybe even crowns for a tea party birthday.
Monday, March 29, 2010
SCRAP as only Portland can!
This weekend we found a great little treasure in Portland...SCRAP. SCRAP stands for School & Community Reuse Action Project. It is a non-profit that collects clean, reuseable materials and organizes them in their shop for resale. You can come in and join a workshop where you work in their space or you can just shop.
The stuff they have is pretty amazing. There are tons of fabric scraps, yarn, half-used bottles of paint, glitter, and glue, velcro pieces, magnets, greeting cards, and electronic components. My favorite was actually a box of photos that people had taken of celebrities and athletes autographing stuff. No joke! You could buy a picture some random person took of a random famous person signing their name. If you wanted more than just one, you could have a whole box full! This is why I love Portland!!!
My kids had a great time. I gave them each $2 and they spent 2 hours pouring over the items trying to make a great purchasing decision. They grabbed things then found other things. They put stuff back and went back for more. In the end, we paid about $8 and I found stuff for my entire high school class to use to make hoover crafts and my kids each ended up with about 3 "creations" worth of stuff. We were all very satisfied and spent the rest of the afternoon inventing at the kitchen table.
SCRAP is located at the corner of MLK and Scranton in NE Portland. Their phone number is 503-294-0769 and they are open daily from 11 am until 6 pm. There are all sorts of events and functions offered there ranging from adult-only events to kids summer camps. Check out SCRAP's website for more details.
The stuff they have is pretty amazing. There are tons of fabric scraps, yarn, half-used bottles of paint, glitter, and glue, velcro pieces, magnets, greeting cards, and electronic components. My favorite was actually a box of photos that people had taken of celebrities and athletes autographing stuff. No joke! You could buy a picture some random person took of a random famous person signing their name. If you wanted more than just one, you could have a whole box full! This is why I love Portland!!!
My kids had a great time. I gave them each $2 and they spent 2 hours pouring over the items trying to make a great purchasing decision. They grabbed things then found other things. They put stuff back and went back for more. In the end, we paid about $8 and I found stuff for my entire high school class to use to make hoover crafts and my kids each ended up with about 3 "creations" worth of stuff. We were all very satisfied and spent the rest of the afternoon inventing at the kitchen table.
SCRAP is located at the corner of MLK and Scranton in NE Portland. Their phone number is 503-294-0769 and they are open daily from 11 am until 6 pm. There are all sorts of events and functions offered there ranging from adult-only events to kids summer camps. Check out SCRAP's website for more details.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Origami
Today I was looking for something that would be a fun adventure for me and my kids but something that would keep us at home. My son is learning about birds in his first grade class so we decided to try and learn how to make an origami hummingbird. Online we found some websites that were really good but I had a hard time following some of the instructions.
After one failed attempt at the hummingbird we packed in the car and headed to the library where we found a shelf full of origami and paper airplane books. I was really impressed with the books and the pictures in the books. My first grader was able to follow some of the instructions for the basic folds and he figured out a pinwheel on his own. The other two needed help but loved decorating the finished paper products. I have a whole bunch of 12x12 inch paper left over from some long-lost scrap-booking projects so we used those and the kids had a wonderful time. We never made it to the hummingbird but a dog, two cats, a flower, many paper airplanes and many snowflakes later I think we managed to spend about 2 hours around the kitchen table.
Some of the books I really liked were Easy Origami by Didier Boursin and Totally Cool Origami Animals by Ann Kristen Krier. We also found Paper Airplanes: Models to build and fly by Emery J. Kelly to be a lot of fun (although I think I'm going to be finding crashed airplanes in my house for years to come now!!).
Overall, I think this was great because the cost was nominal with borrowed books and left over paper. We had a great evening and rediscovered the kitchen table in time for dinner!
After one failed attempt at the hummingbird we packed in the car and headed to the library where we found a shelf full of origami and paper airplane books. I was really impressed with the books and the pictures in the books. My first grader was able to follow some of the instructions for the basic folds and he figured out a pinwheel on his own. The other two needed help but loved decorating the finished paper products. I have a whole bunch of 12x12 inch paper left over from some long-lost scrap-booking projects so we used those and the kids had a wonderful time. We never made it to the hummingbird but a dog, two cats, a flower, many paper airplanes and many snowflakes later I think we managed to spend about 2 hours around the kitchen table.
Some of the books I really liked were Easy Origami by Didier Boursin and Totally Cool Origami Animals by Ann Kristen Krier. We also found Paper Airplanes: Models to build and fly by Emery J. Kelly to be a lot of fun (although I think I'm going to be finding crashed airplanes in my house for years to come now!!).
Overall, I think this was great because the cost was nominal with borrowed books and left over paper. We had a great evening and rediscovered the kitchen table in time for dinner!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Cinnamon & Applesauce Ornaments
This is a great and simple recipe that I have used before very successfully and it makes some really fun and great-smelling ornaments.
In a large bowl mix together equal parts applesauce and cinnamon. If you want to make them a little more durable you can add about 1 tablespoon of white school glue for every cup of applesauce. Mix these together until you have a ball of dough. place a piece of wax paper on the table and put the ball of dough on top. Mush the dough out with your fingers to spread it out. Place another piece of wax paper on top and use a rolling pin to finish evening out the dough and making it smooth. Roll it until it's about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
Use cookie cutters or your own design for cutting out shapes. If you are going to use these as ornaments be sure to poke a hole in the top to string a ribbon through. A pencil does a good job of making a neat hole.
To make these ornaments hard place them on a cookie sheet and you can either bake these for about 3 hours at 150 degrees or you can let them air dry overnight. Use a nice ribbon or string to tie through the hole to finish off this ornament.
In a large bowl mix together equal parts applesauce and cinnamon. If you want to make them a little more durable you can add about 1 tablespoon of white school glue for every cup of applesauce. Mix these together until you have a ball of dough. place a piece of wax paper on the table and put the ball of dough on top. Mush the dough out with your fingers to spread it out. Place another piece of wax paper on top and use a rolling pin to finish evening out the dough and making it smooth. Roll it until it's about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
Use cookie cutters or your own design for cutting out shapes. If you are going to use these as ornaments be sure to poke a hole in the top to string a ribbon through. A pencil does a good job of making a neat hole.
To make these ornaments hard place them on a cookie sheet and you can either bake these for about 3 hours at 150 degrees or you can let them air dry overnight. Use a nice ribbon or string to tie through the hole to finish off this ornament.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Perfect Play Dough
There are a lot of play dough recipes online but this one we tried this weekend and it worked great. I had never used oil in it before and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. This recipe came from familyfun.go.com and I provided a link to their page below.
Materials:
2 cups white flour
2 cups water (you can add about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of food coloring or we used water coloring from Michael's craft store)
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cream of tarter
Instructions:
1. Combine all ingredients into a saucepan and cook on medium heat, while stirring constantly, until the mixture holds together which should take about five minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside until the dough is cool enough to touch. This should take about another 5 minutes. Kneed the dough (this can be done on wax-paper) for about 2-3 minutes until it completely cool and has a play dough consistency.
3. When done playing, store in an air-tight container to keep the dough fresh for longer.
Family Fun's Perfect Play Dough Website
Materials:
2 cups white flour
2 cups water (you can add about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of food coloring or we used water coloring from Michael's craft store)
1 cup salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cream of tarter
Instructions:
1. Combine all ingredients into a saucepan and cook on medium heat, while stirring constantly, until the mixture holds together which should take about five minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside until the dough is cool enough to touch. This should take about another 5 minutes. Kneed the dough (this can be done on wax-paper) for about 2-3 minutes until it completely cool and has a play dough consistency.
3. When done playing, store in an air-tight container to keep the dough fresh for longer.
Family Fun's Perfect Play Dough Website
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Cookies as Crafts
This is one we actually did today with my kids and it was great because it gave me just enough time to load the dishwasher while they are making cookies. Sometimes I will make the cookie dough from scratch but I'm not opposed to buying the pre-made dough, either. My preference for this is sugar cookies because my kids like to eat the chocolate chips or other additives out of the cookie dough. I will disinfect the table and the kids' hands by washing well. Then we roll out wax paper while each spot is still wet from the washing (this helps the wax paper stick to the table well).
Give each child a ball of cookie dough (or many depending on how much you want them to have). Let them make shapes. You can guide their shape-making so if they are learning their letters you can have them make cookies in the shape of the letters of their name. If they are working on geometry and shapes, have them make the shape you call out. They can make their favorite animal or make a cookie with handprint in the middle. Younger kids can use cookie cutters.
This is really fun for kids and they seem to really look forward to eating a particular cookie because of its shape. It's also a pretty minimal mess because you just have to throw away the wax paper, wash hands (again), and clean the cookie trays.
Give each child a ball of cookie dough (or many depending on how much you want them to have). Let them make shapes. You can guide their shape-making so if they are learning their letters you can have them make cookies in the shape of the letters of their name. If they are working on geometry and shapes, have them make the shape you call out. They can make their favorite animal or make a cookie with handprint in the middle. Younger kids can use cookie cutters.
This is really fun for kids and they seem to really look forward to eating a particular cookie because of its shape. It's also a pretty minimal mess because you just have to throw away the wax paper, wash hands (again), and clean the cookie trays.
A Quick FYI...
I just thought I would let you know after my little rant about crafts and messes that no more than 3 minutes after I wrote that blog post my almost 2 year old dumped a 4 pound box of salt rocks (left over from one of today's activities) all over my kitchen floor.
All About This Blog
This is a blog we decided to add to our website because Jessy and I have had a lot of experience doing crafts with small children both at home and in preschool and elementary school settings. Sometimes this endeavor can be a little scary because the mess-potential is HUGE! But done right with a little bit of planning and preparation there are a lot of crafts that are great for kids that are babies up through school-aged kids.
Our goal is to encourage moms with small kids to bite the bullet and tackle the mess so they can enjoy doing crafts with their small children. Kids learn quickly and they learn from doing, seeing, and tasting. Try new things so they can experience all of their senses through craft. Children's crafts will never be perfect but there seems to be a great amount of perfection in their imperfection because the creativity and experience are where the perfection comes from.
If you have fun craft ideas or tips please share them with us! We would love to have this grow into a community of moms sharing ideas and experiences.
Our goal is to encourage moms with small kids to bite the bullet and tackle the mess so they can enjoy doing crafts with their small children. Kids learn quickly and they learn from doing, seeing, and tasting. Try new things so they can experience all of their senses through craft. Children's crafts will never be perfect but there seems to be a great amount of perfection in their imperfection because the creativity and experience are where the perfection comes from.
If you have fun craft ideas or tips please share them with us! We would love to have this grow into a community of moms sharing ideas and experiences.
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