Crafts For Kidlets

When I ran a daycare in my home, the kids loved to be outside in the summer.  If it rained all day, things could get pretty tense in the house. Thankfully, I had a few tried and true projects to turn to.  One of my favorites was a big dispenser of white butcher paper.

There’s a big of an investment to get started, the dispensers are made of heavy steel and can be costly (this one is $35, I think that’s a great price: 24 Inch paper cutter).  A big roll of paper can run you $20 or more too, but I promise – it lasts a long time and is well worth it.

Pull off a big sheet for each child or a huge sheet for everyone to share.

Ask the kids to laydown on their sheet and trace their outline, then let them color in their clothes, face and hair.

It’s great for making ‘Happy Birthday’ banners too.

There is a less expensive (maybe even free) option – if you have a newspaper printer in your area – is to go to the printer and ask for their end runs.  They often have up to 100 feet of newsprint paper left on the roll – not enough to print an edition on – but enough for your kids to have a blast with.  Some printers offer them for sale for $5 or $10 – others give them away just for the asking.

Children love to have their very own luggage and you can make them something fabulous.  Just start with a simple black suitcase, the kind that can be pulled on wheels.

I made these adorable decorated suitcases for grandchildren and a niece for sleep-overs at my house.

You can decorate any suitcase with your child’s favorite character or theme. I used the double sided adhesive sheets to add fabric names and trim the suitcase. This is outlined with dimensional fabric paint.

The suitcase is “lined” with character fabric which I applied using a hot glue gun.

I added a “jewel” to each suitcase for the girls which is just a fancy button, with the shank cut off and glued on sparingly with Gorilla Glue. You can use buttons, applique’s or whatever.

The Hello Kitty suitcase was decorated with a studded Hello Kitty cut off of a T-shirt purchased at Goodwill. The zippers are the fun part! Just find key chains with jewels, characters or whatever and attach them to the zippers.

My little ones are so proud of their little suitcases!

I even did this for my grandsons. Their suitcases are made in a cowboy theme using Michael Miller “yippee cowboy” print. I made a lasso with fabric paint and put their names in it. They are trimmed with suede fringe. Very cute!

This Weeks Linky Love:

1. The first one is Craft Club which shows little craft tutorials in video form. The hosts are George and Megan and together they share how to make various crafts. This week they are making ‘Card Dudes’ which can easily be made into ornaments for tree. An alternative idea might also be to get the decorative playing card sets i.e. eggs, snow, fairies, and use them at a holiday or birthday party.
2. This next blog called LaJolla Mom blog gives 4 different ways to make finger paints. [kool aid finger paint, flour and water, corn syrup finger paint, and corn start finger paint] Try using one of these recipes when decorating handmade decorations for the holiday tree.
3. Making food crafts with children is also really fun around the holiday season especially this Peppermint Popcorn craft from Make it do Blog. This is a simple craft and is perfect for all ages. Make it Do is a blog that offers a number of craft ideas that emphasizes doing with what you have.
4. The last site I would like to introduce to you I found via a friend on Facebook last year. It’s called Creative Jewish Mom and she has some of the greatest ideas. She features Winter crafts, Recycle crafts, Kids crafts and more. Here is a simple coffee filter snow flake craft you can do with the kids this season.

Supplies:

• Wooden Peg Dolls
• Yarn
• Acorn Caps (crochet caps)
• Glue

How to Make:

1. glue the lower part of the wooden peg
2. wrap yarn around until it covers the lower part
3. glue a piece of string or yarn to the top of the cap. You can also just use a nail and hammer to make a hole in the top of the acorn cap making sure to knot the string or yarn inside the cap so it doesn’t slip out.
4. glue cap (acorn or crochet) to the top of the head
5. hang on your tree

This Advent season we made our own candles. We picked up a bees wax candle kit at a local store for 50% off.

The process is simple. You place Bees Wax on the table, place the wick on the edge of the wax and then carefully start to roll your candle. It is helpful to remember to roll tightly as this helps the candle burn longer.

These are our first candles. They don’t look all that fancy but I’m proud of them. They burned nicely as well.

Homemade Serenity’s Blog has a really nice tutorial of the process. She even shares pictures of her wee one making the candles which goes to show this is a very Kidlet friendly craft. Note: There is music on the site when you enter but you can easily turn it off on the right column.