This is a fun way to keep track of the days until Christmas, especially for younger kids.  It’s also a good way to get in a little counting practice if you make them count the days off each day.

But don’t think it’s limited to younger kids — This is a big deal at our house where we make a big production of tearing off the next ring after dinner each night.  The kids absolutely love it!

What You’ll Need:

• The template below printed on yellow construction paper
• Red construction paper
• Green construction paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Crayons (optional)

What to Do:

1.  Cut 13 strips of red construction paper that are about 1 inch wide and 8 inches long. Cut 12 strips of green paper with the same dimensions.

2.  Print out the bell pattern below on yellow construction paper. Color with crayons if desired and cut out. (You could also decorate the bell with glitter, sequins, markers, etc. if you want.)

3.  Roll one of the red strips of paper into a loop and staple it onto the bottom of the bell. Loop a green strip of paper through the red loop to get the chain started. Continue to alternate the red and green strips of paper to make a chain that has 25 links in it.

4.  Hang the bell and chain up in a prominent place and tear off one link at the end of each day until Christmas.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Countdown to Christmas Bell

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There are so many great craft ideas and crafting websites online, especially for Halloween crafts, that I thought I’d post some of the best craft links here.  The only problem is that I found too many to put in one post… so I may have to do this in two parts!

One other quick note:  Little Kid Halloween Crafts will only be available until October 31st, so if you’re planning to get your copy, don’t wait too long!

Enjoy these great Halloween Crafts from around the web!

Halloween Wrapper:  A fun way to had out treats for a party, scouts, or in the classroom.  If you aren’t allowed to use toilet paper tubes in your area, use paper towels and cut them down.  My kids thought these were great!

Halloween Shrunken Apple Heads – It’s not too late to make these scary little shrunken heads out of apples. Simply peel it, cut out a face, and put it in the oven to dry. You can even add hair, eyeballs, etc. to make them really scary and hang them in a tree for the trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. This is a big kid craft.

Footprint Ghost – I’m sure you’ve seen these many times before, but I still think they’re cute and kids love making them!

Halloween Painted Rocks – There are all kinds of spooky Halloween crafts you can make out of rocks.  This page gives you some ideas and you can use them with children of all ages.

Pasta Skeletons – If you can actually find dried pasta in lots of different shapes, then this is a fun craft for just about any age group.

Windsock Ghosts - We made a bunch of these one year and hung them all around the porch.  We actually stapled everything to make it go faster, instead of hot gluing and it worked like a charm.  The kids absolutely went nuts over it!

More Halloween crafts from around the web coming next time, so if you know of a project that I should include, let me know!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Halloween Crafts Around The Web

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I think it always makes it easier for children to learn their letters and the sounds of the alphabet when they get reinforcement from a lot of different activities.  That’s why I thought I would start periodically posting activities specifically designed to help children learn their letters.

We’ll start at the top with the letter “A” and keep adding to the list.

Thumbprint Ants – Draw an ant hill with a marker on a plain sheet of construction paper. Use a black washable stamp pad or black paint and have your child put a thumbprint on the paper (or several thumbprints). Draw on the legs(6), eyes, etc. and then turn them loose to draw in the rest of the ant’s home.

Ant Thumbprint Counting Book – You can also adapt this craft to create “Ant Books” to go along with “The Ants Go Marching” song. Create counting books using one page for each verse of the song. On the first page, make one thumbprint ant. If they are able, have your child write a number one. If not, write a one for them. Continue the pages for as many verses as you want to do, and use the “Ant Book” when you sing the song. This is a great way to get in a little counting practice with your child too.

Macaroni “A” – Use the “A” template here and print it out onto heavy construction paper. Spread glue onto the A and let your child glue different shapes or sizes of macaroni onto the A until it is filled in. You can also have them color the pasta with markers before or after they glue it on.

Of course, you could also use the “A” template and use other media instead of macaroni like tissue paper, beans, buttons, colored sand, etc. or just let them color the letters!

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

3 Easy Letter A Activities

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Can you feel fall coming?  I sure can, and it always reminds me of harvest time, fields of corn, and barns.  So that’s why I decided to put together some farm crafts for you today.

These simple farm crafts would also work really well for an “Old MacDonald” theme or some other harvest-type theme.

Enjoy!

Paper Bag Puppet Cow – This is a cute paper bag puppet cow craft that younger kids will enjoy.  It comes complete with templates for the cut out parts.

Horse Shoes – Cut a horse shoe shape out of heavy paper or cardstock. Wrap strips of aluminum foil around the horse shoe to make it look like it’s made out of metal. If you make several, you can play a kid-safe game of horse shoes.

Farm Mobile – This is a great template craft provided by Child’s Play Family Daycare. Print out each of the mobile pages on heavy paper or cardstock. Cut out the images and glue them together back to back. Punch a hole where indicated. Use the barn as the top image and create your mobile in any configuration you want using yarn or string to tie the pieces together.

Red Barn – This craft would be too difficult to do in a classroom setting unless you created one for the entire class to illustrate a book, story, or theme — but it was great fun to do at home with the kids. You simply print it, cut it out, and glue it together according to the directions to get a three dimensional red barn. In addition, you can also add a cow with this template.

Soda Bottle Piggy Bank – We just did a Farm unit at our center and a really cute profect that we did was to make a piggy bank. We used empty plastic water bottles and 20 oz. soda bottles. We used beads and glued them on for the legs and a piece of pink pipe-cleaner curled and glued it on for the tail. We glued on large wiggle eyes and cut a slit for the coins on the top edge. Use a permanant black marker to draw the nostrils on the bottle cap. Quarters will not come out through the spout.You might give this as an item of interest. ~ Submitted Anonymously

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Farm Crafts For Fall

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I found some really great free printables for Fathers Day online today.  They’re from the HP Creative Studio and include printable Fathers Day cards, coloring pages, printable picture frames, and even some printable gifts.

There’s some great ideas here for children of all ages, but they’re probably not appropriate for a classroom or larger group.  You’ll also need a color printer for some of the projects.

I think the kids are going to use one of these printable Fathers Day cards this year… they’re nice!

Here’s the link:

http://www.hp.com/hho/hp_create/themes_holidays_fathers_day.html

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Fathers Day Printables

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A quick and easy paper bag puppet designed for St. Patrick’s Day. All you have to do is print out the included templates, cut out the pieces and glue them onto the bag.

What You’ll Need:

• Lunch sized paper bag
• Scissors
• Glue
• Green, white, black, orange, and yellow construction paper
• 2 Wiggle eyes
• Crayons

What to Do:

1. Print out all the templates on the next page.

2. Cut out and trace the pieces onto the colored construction paper indicated on the templates.

3. Glue all the pieces onto the paper bag as pictured.

4. Glue the wiggle eyes onto the face. Draw on the other facial features with the crayons.

Optional Variation:

Instead of copying all the templates over onto colored construction paper, you can simply print the templates onto white construction paper and color the pieces with crayons.

Here are the paper bag leprechaun puppet templates.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Paper Bag Leprechaun Puppet

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This is my favorite St. Patrick’s Day craft that I’ve ever done with the kids.  One look at my son’s face will tell you why… They absolutely love it!

This St. Patrick’s Day tie is quick to make and a lot of fun to wear! In fact, you probably won’t get it off your kids even after St. Patty’s because they are so fun and silly.

What You’ll Need

• Light green fun foam (most of a sheet)
• Dark green fun foam
• White fun foam
• Permanent black marker
• Hot glue or foam glue
• Scissors
• Pencil
• 18 inches green yarn

What to Do:

1. Copy the template below onto light green fun foam. Cut out the pieces.

2. Cut out several shamrocks from the dark green and white fun foam. They can be any size or shape you want, as long as they will fit on the tie. The actual tie is the larger piece in the template below.

3. Assemble the tie before decorating.

The rectangle in the template will be the knot of the tie.

Sandwich the narrow end of the tie between the two short ends of the rectangle. To do this, you will have to fold the rectangle in half and fit the narrow end of the tie into the fold. Do not push the tie all the way into the fold, only push it in about an inch or so. This will create a loop of foam that the tie hangs out of. Glue it in place.

4. Thread the yarn through the loop in the foam and tie the two ends together. This is how the child will be able to wear the tie — like a necklace.

5. Glue the shamrocks from step 2 onto your tie. Use a permanent black marker to write the words “Kiss Me!” on the tie and to add any other details you want.

That’s it. Put your tie on and have a ball being silly!

NOTE: The reason that I’ve included this as a little kid craft is that you can easily do this craft with paper instead of fun foam. It won’t be as durable, but younger children can do most of it without any help.

Click Here for Template

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Irish Neck Tie

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Just a quick note today!  A lot of people have asked me if I have a simple template for a shamrock that you can print and cut out.

Well, I do!

You can get a shamrock template here.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Looking for a Shamrock Template?

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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.  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.  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.  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.  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.  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.  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:

• www.iMarketingWatch.com
• www.Internet-Marketing-Tutor.com
• www.Escape-Your-Cubicle.com

Nothing has changed…  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

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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?

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