I came across this craft online and thought it was absolutely adorable!

It comes to us from Family Corner and uses cardboard, clothespins, black felt, paint, glue, and macaroni.

You can get the complete instructions at Family Circle…

Enjoy!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Macaroni Sheep

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Take a look at the craft project that we did this morning.  These woven paper plate flowers are pretty easy for younger kids, but will also appeal to older kids because they can use their creativity to make them really awesome!

This is an ideal craft if you have a large group and a big space to fill… the weaving can be pretty time-consuming if the kids weave it tightly.

What You’ll Need:

• Paper plate
• Several yards of yarn
• Scissors
• Straw
• Tape
• Stapler

What To Do:

1.  Cut a small circle (about the size of a dime) in the center of the paper plate.  (We did this by folding the plate in half and then half again and then cutting the point.)

2.  Cut an even number of petals around the outside edge of the plate.  Take a look at the picture below if you need help.

3.  Cut a long piece of yarn (a couple of feet) and tape one end to the back of the plate.  Push the other end of the yarn through the center of the plate and wrap it around the outside of the plate to make spokes.

You need an odd number of spokes on your flower.

4.  Cut a contrasting piece of yarn a couple of feet long.  Tie one end of the yarn to one of the spokes on the back of the plate.

Push the other end of the yarn through the center of the plate and start weaving the yarn through the spokes of the flower to make the center of your flower.

When you’re ready to change colors, simply tie the new color to the end of the old color and keep weaving.

5.  When you’ve woven as much of your flower as you want, simply tie it off and tuck the end under the edge of your weaving.

6.  Staple a straw to the plate (under the weaving if possible) to make the stem.

That’s it!  Easy to make but takes some time to weave.

Variations:

• Wrap the straw with paper and add leaves to make it look more like a stem.
• Use a colored paper plate to add even more dimension to your flower.
• Try to mimic flowers found in your area with your yarn choices… a daisy would be really easy to make for example.
• Older kids can add variation to their weaving by using knots, twists, or double weaving.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Woven Paper Plate Flowers

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This is a very simple Mother’s Day card to make that is guaranteed to get a big smile from Mom.  My daughter brought a card similar to this one home when she was two and I still keep it in my scrapbook.

In fact, I liked it so much that I made a template for it!

You’ll Need:

• 2 sheets of construction paper
• a pencil
• glue stick
• scissors.

What to Do:

1.  Trace each of the child’s hands onto one of the sheets of construction paper.

2.  Cut out the hands.

3.  Fold the second sheet of construction paper in half like a card.  On the outside of the card write, “Guess How Much I Love You…”

4.  Glue each of the hands to the inside of the card so that they are facing out.

5.  Between the hands write, “I Love You This Much!”  Happy Mother’s Day!

Here’s the template for the card so all you have to do is cut out the hands, print out both sides of the template, color and put together.

These are really cute when they’re done!

Send me a picture when you make it and I’ll post it here for others!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Mothers Day Card – Guess How Much I Love You?

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These are really cute and inexpensive to make… especially since they’re made from recycled materials.

You can get the full instructions here, but the basic idea is to use magazine paper to create the flowers.  Flower and gardening catalogs work really well!

To make the flowers, fold pieces of paper from magazines like you would to make a paper snowflake and then cut the edges of the folded paper to make flower shapes. (you don’t need to cut the center of the paper)

Once you’ve done that, stack the flower shapes on top of each other to make a flower and use a paper fastener (brad) to make the middle of the flower.

This project also makes a stem by rolling up a sheet of magazine paper into a tube and then securing the flower to the tube with the brad.

I think that using the brad might be a little difficult for younger kids, but you could easily glue the flower parts onto a piece of construction paper to make a pretty picture.

Or you could use the brad to secure the flowers to a sheet of construction paper or a paper plate to make a pinwheel type of project.

No matter how you choose to do it, these can be a really fun and pretty Spring craft for kids of all ages!  You might even be able to use this basic idea to make a Mother’s Day craft!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Glossy Paper Flower Craft

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What would Easter be without at least one toilet paper tube craft? This one is really easy… I’ve even included templates for the bunny parts to make it super simple.

What You’ll Need:

• Toilet Paper Tube
• White Construction Paper
• Pink Construction Paper
• 2 Wiggle Eyes
• Cottonball
• Black Marker
• Glue
• Scissors

What to Do:

1. Cover the toilet paper tube with white construction paper.

2. Cut the outer ears, paws, and front legs out of white construction paper. Cut the inner ears out of pink construction paper.

3. Assemble the bunny by looking at the picture above and glue on all the bunny parts shown.

4. Glue on the wiggle eyes. Cut a small triangle out of pink construction paper and glue it on for a nose. Draw on the buck teeth, cheeks, and whiskers.

5. Glue on his cottonball tail.

It doesn’t get any easier!

Bunny Parts Template

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Tissue Tube Easter Bunny

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1. Farm Crafts For Fall
2. Paper Bag Leprechaun Puppet
3. Looking for a Shamrock Template?

I think this is a really cute Wee Leprechaun St. Patrick’s Day craft using toilet tissue tubes, craft foam and pipe cleaners.

You could also do this one with construction paper instead of foam… especially if you want to make it easier for younger kids and more cost effective. I also think you could maybe use something else for the beard… like paper spirals or tissue paper maybe?

The end result of this craft looks so sophisticated that even older kids will enjoy making it!  There’s even a video to show you how to make it!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Wee Leprechaun St. Patrick’s Day Craft

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When it gets this close to Spring, it’s hard to beat those Winter blues with the kids.  It’s often too cold to play outside and they’re getting cabin fever… at least that’s the way it is at my house.

So I thought I’d post some sunshine craft ideas to help beat those Winter blues…

Enjoy!

Paper Plate Sun

1.  Cut triangle wedges out of the edge of a large paper plate and go all the way around the plate.  These will be the sun’s rays.

2.  Paint the back side of a paper plate yellow and let dry completely.

3.  Glue on wiggle eyes (or draw them) and draw nose and mouth with black marker.

These are cute and they give kids some great cutting practice!

Handprint Sun

Have the child dip their hands in yellow paint and stamp them onto a large piece of paper.

The idea is to stamp the hands so that they form a circle with the fingers facing out and the palms overlapping.  Take a look at the picture above for clarification.

Kids seem to love anything where they get to put their hands in paint!  This is a great sunshine craft to beat the Winter blues!

Edible Sunshine Craft

I think it’s fun to do edible crafts once in awhile… my kids love this one!

1.  Use food coloring to tint cream cheese yellow.

2.  Spread the yellow cream cheese on half of an english muffin.

3.  Use skinny pretzel sticks to make sun beams.

4.  Eat the sun and enjoy!

You could also do this with some kind of yellow jam… we’ve tried orange marmalade before.  It’s not as yellow, but a good substitute for children who don’t like cream cheese.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Sunshine Crafts To Beat Winter Blues

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This cute little necklace is always a big hit with younger children. My own little ham, who was two when I took this picture, wouldn’t hardly taken it off after she made it… Except when she ate dinner.  She liked it so much that she didn’t want to get any food on it. If that’s not an endorsement from a two year old, then I don’t know what is!

What You’ll Need:

• Foam heart shapes (cut them out yourself or puchase pre-cut hearts)
• Drinking straws (2 or 3)
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Hole punch

What to Do:

1. Punch a hole in the middle of each heart. Once you have your hearts ready, cut the drinking straws into one inch lengths. The straw pieces and the hearts will be the “beads” of your necklace.

Note: If you’re cutting our your own foam hearts, you’ll need a bunch of them measuring about 1-2 inches across. If you’re buying them, don’t get the ones with the adhesive backing. A tub of hearts is inexpensive and you can pick them up at your local craft store.

2. Cut a piece of yarn long enough to make a necklace for your child that will easily go over their head. Put a loose knot is one end to keep the “beads” from falling off.

Note: If you child is very young, wrap a piece of tape around the other end of the yarn to make it easier to thread the beads on the yarn. Kids who are a little older will have no problem.

3. Thread the hearts and pieces of straw onto the yarn in an alternating fashion… one heart, one straw, one heart, etc. until you’ve put as many beads on your necklace as you want.

4. To tie off the necklace so that the knot won’t come out, put both ends together and loop them into a knot. Don’t forget to un-tie the loose know from step 2 and cut off the tape on the end if you used it.

That’s it!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Valentine Necklace Craft

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Now that we’re in February, I guess it’s time to start posting Valentine’s Day crafts… I can’t believe how fast the time is flying by!

These little stuffed Valentine hearts are a great project for children of all ages, including scouts and elementary classrooms because you can choose to make them as simple or as complex as you want.  Plus they are REALLY inexpensive to make.  You may have seen this one here before, but they’re such a great craft that I had to post it again… Did I mention that they’re just plain fun too?!?

What You’ll Need:

• Lunch sized paper bag
• Newspaper
• Red acrylic paint
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Paint brush

What to Do:

1. Cut out two identical hearts from the paper bag.

The way we did it was to cut the bottom of the bag off, and then cut down one side to make a large sheet. Then we cut the paper in half, put the two halves together and folded them in half. This way we could cut two identical hearts at the same time by cutting a half heart on the fold.

2. Put the two hearts together and staple all the way around them, leaving a three inch (more or less) space open on one side. This will make a little pocket.

The staples should line up close together about a quarter of an inch from the edge of the paper. This doesn’t have to be exact, but it looks better when it’s pretty uniform.

3. Crumple up pieces of newspaper and put them through the hole you left in the staples. Do this until the heart is as stuffed as you want it to be. When you’re satisfied, staple the hole closed.

4. Paint both sides of your stuffed heart with red acrylic paint. You may want to paint one side, let it dry, then paint the other to make it less messy.

Variations:

There are a lot of things you can do to this basic craft to make it more pretty or useful…

• Write a love note on it and present it to your special Valentine.
• Dip your hand in white paint and stamp your handprint on the heart.
• Decorate the heart with other objects like buttons, beads, glitter, gems, paper, etc.
• Staple in a piece of yarn when you’re joining the two hearts to make a hanger.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Stuffed Valentine Hearts Craft

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1. Valentine Stuffed Hearts and A COLD Kentucky Week
2. Tissue Tube Penguin
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These little mittens are a lot of fun to make and very adaptable for children of all ages. You can make them look as elaborate or as simple as you like, and they also serve as a nice little winter keepsake craft. Best of all, you probably already have all the materials available!

What You’ll Need:

• An old file folder or pieces of thin cardboard
• White glue
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• pencil
• Scrap yarn

What to Do:

1. Trace around your hand with your fingers together and your thumb sticking out onto an old file folder. This is your basic mitten. Cut it out and do the same thing for the other hand to make a set of mittens.

2. Punch a hole in the top of each mitten so you’ll be able to hang it when complete.

3. Spread some white glue on each of the mittens. A popsicle stick works well for this, but you can also just use your finger.

4. Use the scrap yarn to create pattern on your mitten. The idea is to cover the entire surface of the mitten and to make it look like a real knitted mitten. Let the glue dry when your pattern is done, then put a piece of yarn through both holes punched in step two to make a hanger.

Don’t Forget…

Don’t forget to write your child’s name and the date on the back of the mittens. You’ll look back at it in years to come and wonder if your child’s hands were ever really that small.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Hanging Mittens Craft

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