These days I’m so busy with work, I don’t have much time for my much loved little creative projects (sewing, baking, drawing). But I love looking at craft and cooking blogs instead! Joel Henriques is a Portland-based artist who has two little kids and does the most amazing craft projects with them. Just have a look at his blog — these yo-yo balls are so sweet, and this design-tree-toy is to die for! Or this doll house…
If you have a printer at home you can print these cool designs for your kids to colour (just click on the picture to go to the original post for the download). I really love them!
Another fabulous interactive colouring book just begging to be illustrated! They seem to be popping up everywhere these days and with good reason too. Created by talented Melbournian Nicole Mandile, in the first of her My Picture Storybooks series, The Magical Milky Way’s Super Galactic Zoo kept my rambunctious 4-year-old son in check on a long-haul airplane flight recently. So naturally I am a big fan. He was totally engrossed in creating, drawing and pasting away, each page providing the perfect canvas for his masterpiece. It helps that he has a complete fascination with all things galaxy-related.
The book is created using uncoated paper, a great surface to sketch on and is staple bound so the pages open flat. It is printed in Australia on 100% recycled paper. It isn’t too long or too short — just perfect to capture their little attention spans.
Available through weheartbooks for local and international shipment.
I sat down to talk to my 3-year-old son about Valentine’s Day this weekend. I’m big on grabbing any opportunity for a celebration, and a day that celebrates love — I’m in! So I explained that Valentine’s Day is the day when you tell the people that you love that they are special to you and one way to do that is to send them a card. We then decided to create a list of people he loved — it was long! So we had a LOT of cards to make. Luckily I had a relatively easy idea up my sleeve that even a 3-year-old boy could get into for long enough to make quite a few.
The idea is to cut out hearts and butterflies from coloured paper (using the old trick of folding the paper in half first to get symmetrical shapes) and let the kids decorate in any which way they choose.
Crayons, glitter pens and stick-on-jewels were our embellishments of choice (but seriously anything works here). These will make the inside of the cards. For the outside of the card write up some typical valentine’s slogans, I used the alphabet stamps from Impress Stamps that Courtney wrote about and that I love! But this can be done on a printer or hand-written by your child if they are old enough.
Our slogans tied into the decoration inside — so “you set my heart all a flutter” has the butterfly inside and there were a few jewel and gem references.
Then stick the decorated heart or butterfly inside so the centre crease of the card matches up with that of the decoration. NB: Let the glue dry with the card open — if it is closed the decoration might move slightly and then the card might not open properly.
These were a last minute improvisation the day before our fairy tea-party. Two days before the party I suddenly realised the Fairy Queen did not have a wand – OH NO! I had a quick look online but no one could guarantee delivery because we’ve had 2cm of snow here in South London (to be fair some places in the UK have had a lot more but still everything grinds to a halt).
So I used the ends of some blossom branches I had bought as decoration (I know, blossom in January???). I folded some coloured corrugated card in half (the corrugated part is important to give some elasticity to stretch round the stem), and then I drew a star on the back. I cut these out together so I had 2 identical stars and then stuck them around the twig using PVA glue — this bit was a bit tricky to get the stars lined up and to apply pressure for a few moments so they stuck in place. I was so pleased with the result that I ended up making a whole bunch so all the fairies could have one!
My kids are a bit too young to be able to do this kind of cutting and sticking, but it’s a really fun thing to make with older kids. And you can give the younger ones the task of finding wand-like twigs in the garden or park!
I can’t believe my daughter has just turned one — time has flown. Now I know a one-year-old might not appreciate a proper birthday party, but I can’t resist one. And in the spirit of being ‘girly’ there was nothing for it but a fairy tea-party, to be more specific The Toadstool Tea (for those of you unfamiliar with fairy-lore, The Toadstool Tea is a secret party for all the fairies, elves and imps to celebrate the Fairy Queen’s birthday. It takes place under the thicket deep in the middle of the forest (according to Mo)).
Toadstools, it turns out, are not only a really great theme for a party but also rather fashionable. In my month or so of preparation I saw them everywhere (I couldn’t resist adding a cute Toadstool money box from Cath Kidston (stores only) and this adorable Shinzi Katoh print to her presents). Toadstools also make for a fun theme because they are easy to draw and craft. Here are some other toadstool ideas…
I made felt toadstools for the invitations (super easy) and Fimo toadstools for decoration (super, super easy and fun — haven’t Fimo’d for years!)
The fairies ate Toadstool Cupcakes (vanilla cupcakes with bright red vanilla icing from the very brilliant Primrose Bakery Cupcake Cookbook decorated with white chocolate drops) and each got a Toadstool cookie in their goody-bag, made using this recipe and this Toadstool cutter. I did also make Toadstools using quail’s eggs and half a tomato perched on top, dotted with mayo but Mums and Dads seemed to go for these rather than kids.
We had a lovely day and who wouldn’t with their house all a flutter with 1 – 3 year-old girls and boys all dressed up as fairies and elves?
We got a touch of snow here in Seattle last week, but sadly not enough to make a snowman… So we stayed inside and made paper snowmen instead! This snowman garland is a wintery version of the bunting idea Emilie wrote about last summer — where everyone in the family decorates their own piece.
Each of us decorated at least one snowman and then we strung them all up on a string. My kids LOVED this project (my 4-year-old made 5 snowmen, giving them each a different facial expression)! It’s a fun way to get the whole family involved and it’s funny to see all the different creations.
To make your own snowman garland you can print a few copies of this snowman template (we used a heavier card stock paper) and then cut them out and decorate as you wish. Punch holes in the sides of the snowmen, and string them up! It’s super cute!
Thankfully my 6-year-old niece and God-daughter, Helene, is into all things crafty. Therefore she is my outlet for all the exciting ‘make & do’ gifts I find and fall in love with, as my own children are a bit too young for most of them. As she is German (and my Deutsche is not too great) I really enjoy sitting down with her to draw, paint or make something. Last week she showed me how to make these colourful Christmas stars — she had made loads in different sizes and colours and they looked fantastic on the window in their kitchen.
They are really easy to make and actually look really stylish cluttered together on a window. To make them you need two (or more) sheets of coloured transparent paper, cut into the same sized squares. And here’s how to make them…
Firstly you need to create various folds on the squares — fold the sides to meet both horizontal and vertical then create diagonal folds by folding corner to corner. Then you need to fold each side into the centre fold. Eight folds in all — I have drawn out a guide to help you (excuse my handwriting!). Then you need to make four cuts one from the edge of each centre fold to the point when the other fold crosses it. Now at each corner fold the edge of the paper to meet the fold in the centre of the corner to create four points. (Are you following me or have I said the word ‘fold’ too many times?)
Repeat this with a second sheet of the same sized paper (this looks nice if in a contrasting color or the same colour) then dab a bit of glue, in the centre, on the back of the first paper and stick down the second one at an angle so you have an 8-point star. Remember to have both the smooth sides facing out together. You can obviously do this with more sheets of paper to create a 12-point or even 16-point star. Sellotape them to a window in a cluster.
My kids and I are with my family in Seattle for the holidays and we’re busy preparing everything for Christmas (my boys insisted that my parents wait for them to decorate the Christmas tree)! While going through all the old ornaments, we discovered these darling clothespin reindeer ornaments that my siblings and I made when we were little. I think they’re so cute — both on the tree (you just clip them onto a tree branch), and also as a present-topper to add a little bit of festive cheer to gifts.
We decided to make a new ‘generation’ of clothespin reindeer, and it turned out to be a pretty easy project once we got all the necessary craft pieces. (Can I just say that American craft stores are so impressive. I was like a kid in a candy shop in our local Michaels!)
Here’s what you need to make your own reindeer:
-Non-roll clothespins (2 for each reindeer)
-Paint (brown and white)
-Paintbrush
-super glue
-googly eyes (small)
-red pom-poms (small)
-thin green ribbon
-little bells (optional)
Paint the bottom clothespin brown (for the body) and paint the top clothespin half brown for the face and half white for the antlers (see photo). Glue the clothespins together as shown in photo above. Glue the googly eyes and red pom-pom onto the reindeer’s face.
Loop a green ribbon into a little bell and tie a bow. Glue the bow to the clothespin, just below the reindeer’s chin.
It’s such a great thing to do art projects with kids. They really enjoy it, and it’s so fantastic to see them explore their creative skills. My 4-year-old is especially fond of craft projects, and she’s getting really good at them too!
Sometimes, though, I admit that my life is a bit too hectic to plan around complex art projects. I always have the best intentions, but I just end up without the right materials, without a great idea, or simply without the time to plan the whole thing. And this is exactly why Eye Can Art is SUCH a great idea!
Every Eye Can Art kit is completely developed by professional art teachers and provides everything you need for a fantastic and original art project (including scissors!). There are currently four art projects in the range, and there’s enough material in every box to repeat the project multiple times.
My daughter invited her neighbour the other day to road test one of the kits, and within an hour they finished the two self portraits pictured (and two more prints), and, with my guidance, were able to do all the steps needed by themselves! The instruction booklet was very easy to understand, and also gives very useful background information to the children, in our case what print-making exactly means, and examples by professional artists who use the same techniques in their work.
I’m seriously impressed by these kits and am planning to never be without one again — they’re just so great to have around. And, I also think they make fantastic gifts for birthdays… or for under the Christmas tree!
In the US, Eye Can Art kits are available through the website; for the rest of the world, you can use the Etsy site.
I have to admit that I have totally swiped this idea from my friend Sally. She gave us our holiday gifts this week with the sweetest penguin card attached (see the photo), and I thought it was such a cute idea — so festive but in a really original, playful way.
My boys and I gave it a go yesterday, and it was a really fun project. And super easy too! (BTW — potato stamping is SO easy. I can’t believe I have never done this before!)
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own penguins:
-2 potatoes
-paint and paintbrush
-paper
-stamps (optional)
And here’s a little how-to:
Cut a large potato in half length-wise (for the body of the penguin). Paint it black and stamp it. Let the black paint dry.
Cut another potato in half width-wise to create a smaller circle for the penguin’s belly. Paint it white and stamp it on top of the black circle.
Using a paintbrush, paint the feet and the beak red. Paint the wings black. Paint a white circle for the eye. When the white circle is dry, paint a smaller black circle on top (for the eyeball).
You can add stamps to decorate the card. We used a snowflake stamp to add snow, and we stamped “Happy Holidays” on the back side. Each penguin is different, and all of them are slightly wonky… but SO cute! (Oh, and we also carved out a Christmas tree from the left-over potato, and stamped with that too.)
A very happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers! We hope you are all enjoying time with your families, a cozy day of cooking in the kitchen, and a yummy feast of a meal.
(To make your own handprint turkeys, just paint your little ones’ hands for the turkey’s body. Use their little fingertips for the feet and wattle. Cute!)
I remember making these angels when I was little; they’re so simple and so lovely. You can use them as table decoration (place settings?), or make a little perforation in the back, pull some thread through the hole and hang them in your tree. You can of course also make loads of them to give as gifts. My little girl loves making them — as long as we use tons of glitter!
Here’s the free download of the pattern. When you’re finished decorating, just cut along all the black lines, and tuck the left side of the arc into the right side.
Have fun!
Please tell me if my craft ideas are getting ridiculously simple/boring, and I will try to become a bit more inspiring. It’s just that the simple projects are actually sometimes the most fun, both for you and for the kids. And this one has got to be the most simple one yet. Plus, it’s a lovely way to capture the beauty of the season.
Just head out for a walk in the park and try to collect as many different leaves as possible, opting for the fresher ones, not the crinkly ones. Give your children the task of finding a red one, an orange one, a yellow one, a green one, etc. Try to also find really big ones and really small ones. (We spent a whole two hours searching for the perfect leaves.)
When you get home, spread all the leaves on the table. Mix some paint together to replicate the fall colors. Try to paint the leaves the same color as they are. Press the leaves onto the paper. Try to mix up the different shapes and colors. Then hang your painting in your kitchen and enjoy!
My friend Katja has the good fortune of being married to a Danish guy. Not only does this mean that her kids are going to be very, very tall, it also means that she gets to spend her summers in the lovely Danish countryside in a little thatched cottage on the beach.
The only problem is that even though the summers in Denmark can be beautiful, there is also a lot of rain to be dealt with… so coming up with great craft projects to keep energetic kids distracted is something Katja has become very good at.
This summer she cut up an old sheet into squares and got the whole family – from the 2-year-old to the grandparents – to draw on the squares with fabric markers. They then hung up the panels along a string as bunting. She showed me the results and I loved it! Her mother-in-law is now going to make a quilt out of the panels. A great memento of a great family summer holiday, don’t you think?
Halloween is definitely not an Italian tradition, but in recent years around this time of the year we do see more pumpkins and orange stuff in the grocery stores. Funnily enough the only costumes accepted are spooky ones, which I’m not too sure are very appropriate for children. Nonetheless it’s another occasion to have some fun, so I’ll jump into it too!
Pumpkin carving is still beyond my abilities, but I did make Courtney’s cupcakes, and I’ve decorated the table with these mini clementine Jack-o-Lanterns. I got the idea on Zakka Life, and they are so cute and easy. I must admit I went the easy way and used a permanent black marker, but apparently you can use less “dangerous” ones so that children can easily participate in the activity!
Happy Halloween!
Googly eyes are certainly one of our favorite craft supplies; we use them for everything! Seriously, if you stick a pair of googly eyes on anything it will look like a little creature of some sort. And pipe cleaner is another fun thing we use a lot — it’s easy to bend and form, and easy for the kids to use.
So, with two of our favorite supplies and some old egg cartons, we got busy making these little egg carton caterpillars (and bumble bees and spiders)!
This is another one of those simple projects that the kids can really take part in. Here’s what you’ll need:
-egg cartons
-paint and paintbrushes
-pipe cleaner
-googly eyes
-and scissors, of course
Also fun to let the kids play with their ‘creepy crawlies’ when they’re finished and dry!
I remember my mum used to make playdough for me when I was a kid — I LOVED it! When I was old enough I started making the dough myself, and made Christmas and Easter decorations out of it! I remember that I preferred to make plain playdough, without colouring, and paint and lacquer the pieces when it was thoroughly dry.
For our Simple Living theme week I decided to try to make playdough with my kids and it was an instant success! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before — it’s made in less than 5 minutes from cheap ingredients that are always in the cupboard, it’s completely natural and earth-friendly, and what child doesn’t like to have their hands in the dough?
Here’s how to make the dough (my way):
-2 cups of plain flour
-3/4 cup of salt
-3/4 cup of water
-1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
Knead well, add more water if too dry and more flour if too wet. To glue one piece of dough to another it’s best to use a little bit of water. Dry for a couple of days at room temperature to paint and lacquer or keep in a plastic bag for future use… (Just add a bit of water when it gets too dry). Have fun!!
Last fall Esther wrote a really cute post about collecting acorns and chestnuts and turning them into little ‘chestnut chaps’. I thought it was such a cute idea and definitely worth repeating for this theme week. I love the idea of bundling up your family and taking a long walk together to collect nuts and leaves. And making the little men (and animals) is easy — you just poke some wooden skewers or matchsticks into the chestnuts and form them however you wish. A really simple project, perfect for this time of year.
We are getting ready to move. Again. The third time this year. Phew! All I can say is that my kids have been great, and nothing entertains them more than playing with cardboard boxes. On our first move, from Paris to DC, my then 3½-year-old spent hours using rolls of colorful electrical tape to decorate the boxes with her stuff in them. This time around, both my daughters are having loads of fun playing in the boxes — playing peek-a-boo, house, you name it, they play it. It keeps them both entertained, and it doesn’t cost a thing!
For this theme week, I thought I’d do a quick look around the web to see if there were other inspiring projects to do with boxes… here is what I found:
–About.com: Family Crafts articles on how to make a princess castle, a Lego costume, a pizza costume, and more!
– Talkingchild.com: how to make a puzzle, a doll house, and a dragon out of smaller (shoe box sized) boxes.
Now, it might be a bit of a stretch, but if you squint your eyes slightly those creatures pictured on the right look like slippery little jellyfish. Or at least my boys are quite content to think they are! We made them yesterday and it was a really easy and fun project. And of course my boys are loving their new jellyfish ‘toys’.
Here’s what you’ll need:
• Clear plastic sandwich bags
• Tissue paper and/or crepe paper
• Shredded or ripped paper bits
• Ribbon or string
• Adhesive googly eyes (optional)
Rip up some tissue paper or crepe paper and shred some plain white paper (your kids will love this task). Hand the sandwich baggies to your kids (supervised, of course) and let them stuff them about half way full. Obviously you can be inventive with what you put in the baggies. Hang some long strips of crepe paper out of the baggies, and then tie it tightly with some ribbon and/or string. Apply googly eyes. And enjoy your jellyfish!
Esther in Amsterdam
March 16th, 2010
1 comment
Our slogans tied into the decoration inside — so “you set my heart all a flutter” has the butterfly inside and there were a few jewel and gem references.
Thankfully my 6-year-old niece and God-daughter, Helene, is into all things crafty. Therefore she is my outlet for all the exciting ‘make & do’ gifts I find and fall in love with, as my own children are a bit too young for most of them. As she is German (and my Deutsche is not too great) I really enjoy sitting down with her to draw, paint or make something. Last week she showed me how to make these colourful Christmas stars — she had made loads in different sizes and colours and they looked fantastic on the window in their kitchen.
I remember making these angels when I was little; they’re so simple and so lovely. You can use them as table decoration (place settings?), or make a little perforation in the back, pull some thread through the hole and hang them in your tree. You can of course also make loads of them to give as gifts. My little girl loves making them — as long as we use tons of glitter!
Halloween is definitely not an Italian tradition, but in recent years around this time of the year we do see more pumpkins and orange stuff in the grocery stores. Funnily enough the only costumes accepted are spooky ones, which I’m not too sure are very appropriate for children. Nonetheless it’s another occasion to have some fun, so I’ll jump into it too!
