Category: crafts

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crafts Decor Gifts Holiday Winter

Easy DIY Snowman Christmas Tree Ornament for Kids Are Great for Gifting

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There is nothing more special than a homemade Christmas tree ornament, especially when the ornaments are made by kids. A few years ago, my dad said that he wanted Christmas tree ornaments made by all of his grandkids, so these are the ones the kids made for him! The DIY snowman handprint ornament was a hit because not only did Papa love his handmade gifts, the kids also loved making them!

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How to Make a DIY Snowman Handprint Ornament

Materials:

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Directions:

For the jar lids, I used lids of spaghetti and Alfredo sauce jars and painted them red with acrylic paint. I had to do several coats of red paint to cover up the words on the lids completely because I didn’t want to see anything through the paint.

Once the lids were completely covered and dried, I used white paint on the kids’ hands to make the snowmen. I painted their fingers (3 fingers for Sylas and Peyton, 4 fingers for Josie and Liam) to create the snowmen. I also painted the top of their palm to make a snowy hill underneath the snowmen.

Peyton’s hands were too big for this (he was 10-years-old), so I had him do the top half of his fingers and use a paintbrush to create the snowy hill. Once the white paint dried completely, I added the scarves with green paint, hats, eyes, buttons, and mouths with a black sharpie and the noses with orange paint. Peyton did his own, but I did this part for the babies.

Once everything is dried and ready to go, you will spray one coat of clear spray paint over the front and back of the ornament. This ensures that the paint doesn’t flake off.

Finally, you will use a hot glue gun to glue the string or ribbon in a loop at the top of the ornament. Make sure you put the glue on the back so that it is hidden from sight.

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Final Thoughts On DIY Snowman Handprint Ornaments

I love the finished product SO MUCH that I wanted to keep them for myself. My dad loved them, and the kids really enjoyed making them and giving them as a gift.

I’d love to see the Christmas crafts you’ve done or are planning to do with your kiddos this season!! Please share them in the comments. 🙂

Categories
Craft crafts Sensory Play Toddler and Preschool Age Fun

Foil Printed Fall Art For Kids

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*This post was originally written for my old blog, and was dated September 28, 2017. It was one of my favorite posts and we have done this exact craft or one very similar each year since. Foil printed fall art for kids quickly became a favorite in our house. If you like this one, come back in December for a foil printed winter craft!*

Chris took the little boys with him to Peyton’s football practice tonight, so Josie and I had a little one on one time. I literally never get alone time with JoJo so the minute the guys were out the door, Josie and I got started on our mommy-daughter time.

We painted first, which she was pretty excited about. She isn’t a HUGE fan of painting, but she is a huge fan of making a mess and gets excited when she sees me get it all out. The goal of our artwork tonight was to create fall artwork using foil as our “brush”.

Fall Art For Kids – a Simple Fall Craft

I gave Josie a small sheet of foil and told her to crumple it up. It was a fun sensory part of our craft and she loved it. I let her crumple mine up, too.

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I quickly painted the tree trunk before I let her begin painting. She’s a bit too little to paint her own trunk and I wanted her to sort of understand where to put her painted “leaves”.

Once the trunk was painted, I showed her how to create the leaves and let her go to town. She loved it and had so much fun with this one.

foil printed fall art

When we were done painting, we baked some cookies. I used my go-to cookie recipe that I’ve been using for years (click here to try it yourself!). Josie really likes dumping the ingredients in the bowl and eating the chocolate chips when mama’s not looking.

The guys were excited that we surprised them with cookies, and Josie & I had a blast bonding. It was such a good night.

I’d love to see some of your guys’ fall art creations! Share them in the comments so we can try them, too!

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Categories
Big Kid Big kid fun Classroom crafts Family Activities Sensory Play

Dyed Rice Layers of the Earth 3D Project

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Peyton (our 11 year old) loves school projects where he gets to use his creativity. In 4th grade, he had to create a 3D animal and he chose a paper mache diamondback rattlesnake, which turned out SO cool. This time, he had to create a 3D model of the layers of the earth (6th-grade science) and he chose to use dyed rice in a mason jar.

How to Make the Layers of the Earth with Colored Rice

What you need:

  • 2 cups of white rice
  • 2.5 teaspoons of white vinegar
  • Food coloring (yellow, orange, red, green, brown)
  • 16 oz. mason jar
  • Ziploc bags (any size) – one bag per color
  • Paper towel — *You’ll be mad if you don’t check out this AMAZING deal I found on paper towel!!*
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This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.

How to Make it:

  1. Divide 2 cups of uncooked rice into 5 parts. The parts should be divided based on the sizes of each layer of the earth… some will be smaller than others.
  2. Add each of the 5 parts into individual Ziploc bags and add 1/2 teaspoon of white vinegar to each.
  3. Then, begin adding the food coloring to each bag. The amount of food coloring you use will depend on how you want the colors to look.
  4. Dump each color out onto a dry paper towel, keeping all colors separate.
  5. Allow the dyed rice to dry for one hour.
  6. Pour the dyed rice into a 16 oz. mason jar, beginning with the innermost layer of the earth. In Peyton’s case, this was the inner core, which he made yellow and poured into the bottom of the jar.
  7. Pour each additional layer on top of that one, working from the inside layers to the outside layers. The outermost layers will be at the top of your jar.
  8. Put the lid on, and your layers of the earth project is complete!

Layers of the Earth Used in this Project

  • Yellow: bottom layer, inner core
  • Orange: 2nd from the bottom, outer core
  • Red: 3rd from the bottom, lower mantle
  • Green: 4th from the bottom, upper mantle
  • Brown: top layer, crust

Tips:

*Fill the mason jar ALL the way to the top with rice. This prevents the rice from moving around and mixing together. You’ll want to keep your colors separate, as those represent the layers of the earth.

*Distribute the rice to 5 bags before dying any. Determine which bag of rice will be making up which layer, and write it on the outside of the bag. This way, your largest layer (the upper mantel in Peyton’s case) has the most rice in the bag and it doesn’t get mixed up with a different layer.

*—->This<—- pack of food coloring is the exact one I bought for this project. It contains all the colors Peyton needed plus some additional colors, too.

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Other Ideas for Layers of the Earth 3D Project

His original idea was to use 5 different colors of glitter, which I thought would have looked super cool. He changed his mind and decided on the rice model instead, however.

Some other ideas include:

  • Styrofoam ball
  • Play-doh or clay
  • Colored sand
  • Glitter
  • Cake

Final Thoughts on Layers of the Earth 3D Project

I’m always so excited when Peyton is assigned a school project. He is SO creative and has so much fun with them.

What project would you create if you were to make a 3D model symbolizing the layers of the earth? Tell me about it in the comments!

Categories
Craft crafts Free Activities Holiday Toddler and Preschool Age Fun

4 Simple Fall Handprint Crafts For Kids

**I originally wrote this Fall Handprint Crafts post for my old blog, which I do not post to anymore. I decided to move it over here when I realized it was still being shared.**

Years ago, I worked as an infant/toddler teacher. I taught one-year-old toddlers, which was so much fun. Between my classroom of Wonderful One’s and my own babies at home, I did lots of simple crafts that could be used as keepsakes for years to come.

Handprint crafts are always my favorite because, let’s face it, what parent doesn’t want to see their tiny toddler’s handprint when that tiny toddler grows to become a not-so-tiny child, teen, adult, etc.? I know that my little’s won’t be little for long, and I want every memory possible of how little they once were.

Without further ado, here are a few of my favorite simple handprint crafts for fall.

Simple Fall Handprint Crafts

1. Frankenstein handprint craft

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For this cute little Frankenstein, you’ll just paint 4 of the child’s fingers black (do not pain the thumb), and the rest of the hand (not the thumb) green. Then, place their hands flat on the paper. Once the paint is dry, use a sharpie or other black marker to draw the face and the lines.

2. Handprint pumpkin with fingerprint stem

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For this fall handprint craft, you will paint your little one’s hand orange and place it flat on a white piece of paper. Then, paint their pointer finger green and place that flat on the same sheet of white paper. While you wait for the paint to dry, cut an orange pumpkin shape and a green stem shape out of construction paper.

Once the paint is dry, you’ll cut around the handprint and around the fingerprint. Have your little one help you glue the handprint to the pumpkin shape and the fingerprint stem to the green paper, and then glue the stem to the pumpkin.

3. Handprint leaves

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I love, love, love this one!! You’ll paint the child’s hand 3 separate times, once for a yellow handprint, one for red, and once for orange. You’ll put all 3 handprints on the same page, wait for them to dry, and then draw “stems” through the handprint leaves.

Check out my post about this craft here —-> Fall Crafts for Kids – Handprint Leaves – Mom Wife Wine

4. Handprint spider

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This one was so much fun and the kids really loved it. You’ll paint your child’s hand black (excluding the thumb) and put it flat on the paper but sideways. Then, you’ll do the same with the other hand, overlapping the palms of the hand. Once the paint is dry, add a white smile and googly eyes. You can even add a spider web to the craft, too.

Side Notes on Fall HandPrint Crafts

*If you don’t know what kind of paint to use, here is the link to what I use!

*Always remember to write the child’s name and the date somewhere on the craft (this could be on the back).

***This post contains affiliate links. It costs you nothing extra, but I may receive a small commission.***

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Final Thoughts on Simple Fall Handprint Crafts

You could really turn any Halloween or fall-themed idea into a fall handprint craft of some kind. You just have to be creative and use your imagination (or Pinterest, of course).

What do you think? Which ones are your favorite? Leave a comment and let me know!

Do you love fall as much as I do?

Check out my free fall bucket list printable!

Categories
Big Kid crafts Kindergarten Age

Easy Toilet Paper Roll Race Car Craft For Kids

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We love to do crafts, and, on a whim, decided we wanted to use our surplus of toilet paper rolls. The race car craft for kids was perfect for my boys, and they were able to do most of it theirselves. We used supplies we had on hand, so it was a perfect last-minute idea.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Make Race Car Craft For Kids

Materials:

Race Car Craft

Directions:

  • Paint the toilet paper rolls whatever color you want your car to be.
  • while the paint dries, draw circles on the white and black paper to make the tires. The white circles should be a little smaller.
  • Glue the smaller white circles onto the larger black circles.
  • Use a marker to put a black dot in the middle of the tires.
  • The seat is the only part I had to help with. Use a knife to create a hole big enough to get the scissors into the middle of the toiler paper rolls. Then, use scissors to cut a half oval, pulling the attached flap up to make the back of the seat.
  • Paint the seat back (it was inside the roll before so didn’t get painted in the first step).
  • Add decals to the car with markers and paper to create designs, numbers, or anything else.
  • Once all the paint is dry, glue the tires and decals to the car.
Race Car Craft For Kids

Recap: Race Car Craft For Kids

It really was that simple!! The boys loved how they turned out and were so excited to show them off. They did most of it with very minimal help from me, which is my favorite. Do your kiddos like cars? If so, try this activity and share the final result with me. I’d love to see it!