Kid Crafts Magazine » Games

Create a Fishing Pond

Chris — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:35:07 +0000

This project actually came about several years ago.Â My son (who was about four at the time) had a fishing pole set with a magnet at the end of the fishing line to “catch” four plastic fish.Â As you might imagine, it got kind of boring to catch the same four fish all the time.

… So we made a bunch of fish out of pipe cleaners to supplement the four we already had.Â It was easy to make a lot of fish using pipe cleaners.Â Simply cross the two ends of a pipe cleaner and then twist it into a fish shape with a tail.

In order to make the game even more fun, we created a large pond in the living room on a rainy day.Â We layed out pieces of blue construction paper on the floor in a somewhat circular shape, then outlined the pond with long pieces of scrap yarn.Â This kind of defined the edge of the pond so we wouldn’t fall in while fishing.

Lastly, we grabbed a bucket from the sandbox to put our fish when we caught them.

It was a great way to “go fishing” on a rainy day.Â It’s also an activity that my son still vividly remembers after several years.

You could make your own fishing poles by using a cardboard tube from wrapping paper. Use a piece of yarn or string for the fishing line and tie it to one end of the tube. Then tie a magnet to the other end of the line (a refrigerator magnet would work well if there is a way to tie it on the fishing pole).

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Create a Fishing Pond

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Valentine’s Day Heart Man and A Secret

Chris — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:29:15 +0000

We absolutely LOVE making the Valentine’s Day Heart Man! No matter how many times we make them, or how old the kids get, they still giggle and laugh when we make them.

We usually make these every year, so you’d think that I’d have a picture of one around here somewhere… but I can’t find one.

I do have a complete template and construction page for the Valentine’s Day Heart Man though… Enjoy!

In addition, I found this heart slider puzzle on the site and I’d forgotten about it.Â Older kids might get a kick out of it:

http://www.kidcraftsmagazine.com/2006/valentine-heart-slider-puzzle.html

I also have a secret…

Believe it or not, I actually live a “double life” in my online business.Â Many of you already know that I’ve been doing children’s crafts online for many years, but what you may not know is that I’m also an Internet Business Consultant operating online under the pen name Arvada Yates.

As Arvada (which I fully disclose is a pen name), I help people start their own successful online businesses, provide tons of marketing and business tutorials, and give advice to online business owners.

So why am I telling you all this?

A number of people who found me through my children’s craft sites have recently contacted me for business advice, and the word is starting to get out.Â Basically, I wanted to tell you about “the rest of my business” before you found out yourself.

I didn’t want you to think that I was being dishonest.

You see, my children’s craft sites are like my babies.Â They are where I started online and I have a great deal of loyalty to them and to all the people who I’ve met through them… You!

I’m a mom first and foremost and I’ve really enjoyed meeting so many other parents, grandparents, and caregivers.Â My craft sites aren’t really business… they’re personal!

I guess I’m writing this all in the spirit of full-disclosure because I believe in being completely honest.Â So if you’d like to know more about my “other identity,” you can subscribe to my online business newsletter Answers eMagazine or visit the links below:

Nothing has changed…Â I just wanted you to know and I hope you understand.

Best Wishes,

Chris Yates

P.S.

Only four days until Valentine’s Day (where did the time go?) and I’ve got lots of great Valentine’s Day ideas lined up for this week!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Valentine’s Day Heart Man and A Secret

Have You Seen These Great Christmas Printables?

Chris — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:05:37 +0000

I absolutely LOVE these Christmas printables!

Why?

Because they’re fun AND educational! My daughter found these over the weekend and the kids have been busily occupied ever since. They’ve been racing to see who could finish some of the Christmas mazes first, playing the printable games, and even doing Christmas math as if it’s just playtime!

I love it when I can trick them into doing math, writing activities, word puzzles, problem solving, and other educational activities and they don’t even realize it because they’re having too much fun!

The really great part is that the kids think they’re pulling a fast one on Mom because it’s too much fun to be educational!

The other thing I like about these Christmas printables is that there’s something for everyone here… from my oldest child to my youngest, everyone is happily occupied in holiday spirit.

Okay, enough raving… just go on over and take a look for yourself!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Have You Seen These Great Christmas Printables?

Making Math Fun

Chris — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:01:33 +0000

As a lot of you already know, I began homeschooling my children this year. In fact, we actually started playing around with some things this summer (before the regular school year starts) to try to figure out exactly where the kids were at academically and emotionally.

It didn’t take very long to figure out where their real weak spots were… Math.

The funny thing is that they’re all actually pretty good at math – they just hate sitting down and doing the work… and nobody does their best learning when they’ve decided that they hate the subject.

So I started getting creative…

That’s when I really started going out and looking for games and activities that would help them learn the concepts that they needed to learn while making it really fun for them… but I quickly ran into a huge obstacle.

Price.

Have you seen how much those math games cost? I actually spent $30 for one award winning board game that would help the kids learn to add, subtract, and make change. It’s a great game that I highly recommend, but it’s $30!!!

You can’t afford too many games like that, no matter how great they are, to help your children learn math concepts, gain confidence, and become more proficient in math.

So then I started looking at free resources.

Most of what I found was more full of advertising than good learning and practice. In fact, most of what I found wasn’t really that good or kept my children’s attention anyway. Most of it was junk.

Then I happened upon a great resource.

It’s called Making Math More Fun, and it’s a collection of printable math games. Well, I took a chance and purchased it for my kids last week and guess what?

They have absolutely loved every activity that we’ve done from the collection so far!!!

My son has gone from telling that he “absolutely hates math” to asking me every day if we can play a math game. I was absolutely amazed!

The other thing is that all three of my kids can do these activities even though their ages and abilities are different. There are some things that appeal to my youngest, some that work well for my oldest, and other things that they can all do together… without me having to sit right there and walk them through every step for the whole game (My favorite part… they can play independently sometimes!)

Okay… at the risk of sounding like a commercial I’m going to stop telling you how great this math game collection is.

After all, I don’t even know for sure how many of you out there are in the same boat as I am — either homeschooling kids who don’t enjoy math or even just looking for math supplements for your kids.

But if you’re looking for some easy to use, fun, inexpensive, and educational math games for your kids, than I can highly recommend the Making Math More Fun game collection.

In the meantime, if you know of some other great math resources to make math more fun for kids, then I hope you let me know!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Making Math Fun