Kid Crafts Magazine Daily

We think this will be a great addition for those people who would like to see craft ideas for children on a more regular basis. We'll try to do something on a daily basis (except holidays and weekends), but don't be too upset if we don't have a children's activity or craft on every single day... we're only human after all!

September 8, 2005 10:29 - Creepy Crawly Crafts at Kid Crafts Magazine

The latest edition of Kid Crafts Magazine is out. This week it's all about bugs, bug crafts, and bug activities.

This issue will tell you how to make Squished Bugs, Grass Hats, Flutterbys, a Bug Catcher, and more. The bugs will soon be gone, so we have to get in these buggy crafts now before Fall arrives!

Click here to see the bug crafts.

September 9, 2005 10:18 - Sandy Ant Hills

This is a really quick and easy crafts for Little Kids and it goes along with the Creepy Crawly Crafts issue we did this week!

Spread glue out all over a piece of construction paper, then sprinkle sand into the glue. Let that dry completely. Glue raisins onto the paper to make the ants.

You can use the opportunity to talk to your kids about how ants make tunnels and live in the ground to make this a real learning and reinforcement craft project for kids.

September 13, 2005 14:11 - How Much Have I Grown?

This is a project that you can start at the beginning of the school year and finish at the end. It's a great 'last week of school' finisher and makes a nice memory gift for parents. I got the idea from a project that I did in Girl Scouts when I was a kid. Lay each child down on big sheets of butcher paper and trace around them with a marker. Then let the kids decorate themselves with markers, crayons, etc. They can draw on the clothes they're wearing that day, special things they like, etc. Then you write the child's answers to a few questions inside each child's outline. You could ask questions like what's your favorite part of school, favorite food, television show, etc. Make sure you keep a list of the original questions. These kid outlines could be part of 'parent's night' decorations and then will give the teacher a chance to talk to each child individually at the beginning of the school year in a non-threatening atmosphere. When you're done with the tracings, roll them all up together and put them away for safekeeping instead of sending them home.

During the last week of the school year, you would repeat the tracing process right on top of the previous drawings with a different color marker to see how much the kids have all grown. You can also ask the same questions again (or different ones) and put the new answers on the outside of the tracings (or in between them if the kids have really grown). It's fun to compare the before and after answers to the questions. You could also include a before and after snapshot if you wanted.

September 14, 2005 12:20 - Latest Newsletter Is Out

This is just a quick notice to let you know that the latest edition of Kid Crafts Magazine is available. This week's newsletter is dedicated to circus crafts for both Little Kids and older kids too. Some of the projects this week include a paper plate elephant with printable ears and trunk, Clown Shoes made from shoe boxes, safety pin bead patterns, and a great page of folded paper animals. I'm sure you'll find a great project you can use!

September 15, 2005 08:14 - Tropical Paper Plate Bird

Paint the back side of a paper plate any color you want and let dry. Cut feather shapes out of various colors of construction paper. Cut a circle out of black construction paper for an eye and an orange triangle for a beak. Fold the paper plate in half and staple on the edge opposite the fold. Put the triangle in the fold of the plate on one edge and staple in place to make the beak. Glue on eye. Glue on construction paper feather shapes where the wings should be. Cut a few strips of tissue paper, streamers, etc. to make the tail. They should be a variety of lengths and about 1-2 inches wide. Gather them up at one end and put them in the fold of the plate opposite the beak and staple in place.

September 19, 2005 10:52 - Every Kid Will Love This Monkey Mask Craft

I can't imagine a child who wouldn't love to make this Monkey Mask -- grownups will love it too because it's quick and easy to make. Take a look:

Print out one of the mask templates (color mask or black and white). Color the mask (if using black and white) and cut out around the monkey head. A parent should do the eyes because it is a little difficult for children. To make it a mask, simply glue a craft stick onto one side of the mask or staple an elastic string to both sides so that child can wear it hands free. It's great fun!

September 22, 2005 15:24 - Pumpkin Crafts Everywhere!

This week's edition of Kid Crafts Magazine is out and it's all about pumpkin crafts. Fall is officially upon us, so it seems like a good time to do a pumpkin crafts theme for our magazine. My kids are already begging for pumpkins, especially since we are now seeing them everywhere we go.

Doing a few pumpkin crafts projects is a nice substitute for buying them this early in the season... especially since it's still so warm in my little part of the world.

Happy Crafting!

September 27, 2005 11:11 - Coffee Filter Fall Leaves

Cut leaf shapes out of basket type coffee filters. Fill an ice cube tray with water and then put a few drops of food coloring in each of the sections (orange, red, yellow, and brown). Make each section a different color. Flatten out the coffee filter leaf onto newspaper to keep your table from getting stained.

Use a eyedropper to make designs on the coffee filter using the colors in the ice cube tray. Each color will spread and run into the other colors. This is a lot of fun for the kids (and the grownups) and makes a good lesson for what happens when you mix colors. Let the filters dry completely and then use them for great fall decorations. This craft provided courtesy of Free Kid Crafts.

September 30, 2005 10:27 - Halloween Ghost Necklace Craft

We're working on the latest edition of Kid Crafts Magazine and finding great Halloween crafts to share with our subscribers and we found this fun Ghost Necklace craft for Halloween.

This halloween craft project idea actually appears on one of our other websites, where the idea for this project came from a mail order catalog where they sell craft kits. After we saw the picture of the craft, we decided that we could make our own. It is really easy, especially if you use the template we created for you! This is just a sneak peak of what's coming next week in the first of two Halloween magazine issues!