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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This is a cute little penguin that will come in handy if you’re working on a Winter theme, Winter animal theme, or Penguins themselves.  It would also be fun for any kind of winter themed scounting event, and we’ve even done them for homeschool!  I’ve shown some other options for creating a couple of different kinds of penguins like Emperor Penguins and Macaroni Penguins.

NOTE:  Some people have expressed a concern that they can’t use toilet paper rolls in preschools, even if they sanitize them first.  For this craft, you could roll up a piece of file folder and staple it to make a tube, cut a paper towel tube, or even make it with heavier construction paper if necessary!

These are the basic instructions for the penguin…

What You’ll Need:

• Toilet paper tube
• Black and white construction paper
• Scrap orange construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• 2 Wiggle eyes
• The templates below

What to Do:

1.  Cover your tube with black construction paper.  Print out the template below for the penguin parts.

2.  Trace the tummy template onto white construction paper and cut out.  Trace the wings template onto black construction paper and cut out.  Trace the feet and beak onto orange construction paper and cut out.

3.  Glue the tummy onto the tube so that the flat edge is at the bottom of the tube.

4.  Lightly crease the wings and then glue them onto either side of the tummy.  Creasing them before you glue them will help them stick out from the body a little.

5.  Glue on the wiggle eyes and the beak.  Fold the feet on the line to create tabs.  Glue the tabs to the front inside of the tube so that the feet stick out in front of the penguin.  (See picture above.)

To Create An Emperor Penguin

It’s really easy to create an Emperor Penguin by simply coloring his belly.  I used chalk in the picture to the left so that the colors would blend easily.  Simply color around the outside of the belly with yellow chalk and then put a line of orange next to that.  Blend the colors together.

You could do the same thing with crayons or watercolor paint, but the blending won’t be as smooth.  Younger children won’t care about that a bit.

To Create A Macaroni Penguin

It’s also a lot of fun to make a Macaroni Penguin.  First cut a piece of paper to fit around the inside of the tube.  Cut slits in the tube to make a fringe, and then glue it to the inside of the tube.  Rough it up to make it look more fuzzy.

Fringe too difficult? Use strings, yarn, or even a pom pom to make the crazy hair on the head of a macaroni penguin.

By the way, the picture above is a little deceiving.  Macaroni Penguins are supposed to have a little bit of yellow or orange hair on the outside edges of their top knot — but this is just too complicated for younger children!

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Tissue Tube Penguin

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This easy bead Christmas wreath ornament craft is really easy to make for children of all ages to create. It makes a great project for small groups like scouting or classrooms too.

One of these little wreaths would also look great tied onto a gift!

What You’ll Need:

• A 12 inch white pipe cleaner
• 35 green tri-beads
• 7 red tri-beads

What to Do:

1. Feed 5 green beads onto the pipe cleaner, then feed on one red bead. The beads should interlock over each other.  Keep alternating the beads until you have them all on the pipe cleaner.

2. Move all the beads so that they are in the middle of the pipe cleaner and there are equal lengths of pipe cleaner at both ends.

3. Bend the beaded pipe cleaner into a circle and twist the two ends together to make a circle. Use the remaining ends of the pipe cleaner to make a bow.

When you get ready to hang the ornament on the tree, you can use a wire ornament hanger and hook it through the top of the ornament where the pipe cleaners are tied. You can also tie a piece of thread around the ornament to make a hanger.

Don’t forget about our Little Kid Christmas Crafts book!  It’s only available for a limited time!

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Easy Bead Christmas Wreath Ornament Craft

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The paper plate wreath has probably been around just about as long as the paper plate itself, but what Christmas craft season would be complete if we didn’t do at least one paper plate wreath?

So here are a couple of ideas you might like to try this year!

Tissue Paper Plate Wreath

What You’ll Need:

• Cheap Paper Plate
• Green Tissue Paper
• Red Tissue Paper
• A Piece of Ribbon or String For Hanging
• Scissors
• Hole Punch
• White Glue

What To Do:

1.  Cut a hole in the center of the paper plate so that you have a ring that is about three inches wide.

2.  Cut your tissue paper (or tear it for a different effect) into 2 inch squares.

3.  Crumple each square up slightly and glue the center onto the plate. Fill the plate in with the green pieces, then go back and add red pieces randomly to make berries.

4.  Punch a hole in the top and thread the ribbon through to hang the wreath. You can embellish this project with a bow, glitter, etc.   You make this craft as fancy or as easy as you want and it’s suitable for kids of all ages!

Variation on the Tissue Paper Wreath

The tissue paper Christmas wreath above probably won’t work well with the youngest kids, but there is a variation that seems to work much better.

All you have to do is leave the tissue paper flat and glue the squares onto the paper plate, rather than crunching them up.  The project will go much faster this way and younger kids understand what they’re supposed to do better when you do it this way.

Plus it still makes a pretty wreath.

Evergreen Paper Plate Wreath

What You’ll Need:

• Cheap Paper Plate
• Cheap Evergreen Garland (Dollar Store Type)
• Red Pom Poms
• Glue (Hot glue or white glue)
• Stapler
• Ribbon

What To Do:

1.  Cut a hole in the center of the paper plate so that you have a ring that is about three inches wide.

2.  Cut a piece of the garland that’s long enough to go all the way around the surface of the paper plate… probably about 18-24 inches depending on the size of the plate.

3.  Staple the garland to the plate, making sure the place the staples on the center cord of the garland.  You’ll need to staple it every four inches or so all the way around the wreath, then fluff it up so that you can’t see the staples.

4.  Glue red pom poms onto the wreath using either white glue or hot glue (adults only).

5.  Tie a ribbon into a bow and glue it onto the wreath.

6.  If you want to hang your wreath, punch a hole in the top and use a string or simply tie a string around the wreath.

This is the wreath pictured and would work well for older kids, scouts, etc.  If you don’t want to use staples, you could always hot glue the garland onto the paper plate, but most kids shouldn’t use a hot glue gun on their own.

I hope you enjoy the wreaths!

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Paper Plate Wreath Ideas

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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.

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Countdown to Christmas Bell

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This simple votive candle idea makes a nice little gift or a creative way to use some of the leaves you collect during an Autumn nature walk. You could also create a few to sit on your dinner table during your Thanksgiving Dinner to add a little something special to the setting.

Plus it’s a nice little craft that older kids will be proud to take home too!

You’ll Need:

• A small drinking glass or votive holder (a baby food jar would also work well!)
• Real or silk fall leaves
• Glue
• Raffia
• A votive candle

What to Do:

1.  If you’re using silk leaves, peel the cloth off of the plastic veins.  That will give you a flat leaf to work with.

2.  Glue the leaves (real or silk) around the outside of the votive holder, glass, or baby food jar. You can arrange the leaves in any way you want.

3.  Take a couple of strands of raffia and tie them in a bow around the middle of the votive holder, over the top of the leaves.

4.  Drop in a candle and you’re done! Take a look at how pretty it looks when it’s lit.  Although this picture doesn’t do it justice, it looks really pretty with the candle light peaking through the colored leaves.

NOTE: You can pick up tons of small drinking classes, votive holders, and small jars at thrift stores, Salvation Army, etc. REALLY cheap.  They always have a lot of that kind of stuff around!

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REALLY Easy Fall Votives

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Okay, I know that this one isn’t exactly unique, but could we really have Thanksgiving without doing some kind of American Indian craft?  This one is super simple, and the kids love wearing them… even my oldest gets into making headbands!

Indian Headband

There are so many variations on this project, but kids love just any type of head band. You can omit the feathers altogether and use construction paper cut into feather shapes, you can use glitter, sequins, etc. to embellish the headbands, you can go hog-wild and create a chief’s head dress. It all depends on how much work you want to do for a project that they will probably tear up before the day is through. Keep in mind that this is a good opportunity to talk to your children about the role that Indians played in the first Thanksgiving.

What You’ll Need:

• Brown construction paper
• Stapler
  
• Glue
• Feathers
• Markers
  

What To Do:

1.  Cut the brown paper into strips for the head band.  Decorate the strips of paper with American Indian markings (optional).

2.  Measure your child’s head for fit and staple it in place.

3.  Glue feathers onto the band so that they stick up.

Very easy kid Thanksgiving craft idea!  If you’re on a budget this year — like so many of us are — just use scrap construction pieces and cut out your own feathers!

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Simple Indian Headband Craft

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I like to do just about anything that will get my kids thinking about how blessed they are in their lives, and a Thankful Book craft does a really great job!

This is a craft project that would be ideal for just about any group of kids, regardless of age.

The idea is to make a Thanksgiving keepsake for your child.  You can make this as elaborate or simple as you want. You don’t even have to “make” the book.  You could purchase a small scrapbook, Thanksgiving stickers, etc. and make this a really simple project.   But for those of us on a budget, a homemade Thankful Book is quick, simple, and fun.

What You’ll Need:

• A holiday picture
• Crayons
• Several sheets of paper
• Stapler
• Pen or marker

What To Do:

1.  Print out a holiday picture and let your child color it.

2.  On the sheets of paper, ask your child what they are thankful for (you may have to help them get started or give them examples to get the ball rolling). Write down each thing they are thankful for on a separate piece of paper.  You can even take this further by having them draw pictures of what they are thankful for, etc.

3.  Assemble all the sheets with the holiday picture on top and staple it along the side like a book.

There are so many variation of how you can do this book and make it a meaningful activity for your child… but I hope this gives you the general idea.

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A Thankful Book Craft

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This Easy Thanksgiving Pinecone Turkey Craft is a really easy Thanksgiving craft for children of all ages to do, and it’s also pretty cute.

After all, what would a Thanksgiving with children be without some kind of pinecone turkey? This one is a little bit different than most that you see for the holiday.

You can also do this project with construction paper or feathers instead of foam!

What You’ll Need:

• Foam scraps (green, red, orange, brown, yellow, black, or any other Autumn colors you want to use.)
• Yellow foam
• A Pinecone
• Scissors
• Glue (I used glue dots)
• Black permanent Marker
• 2 Wiggle eyes

What to Do:

1. Find a good sized pinecone outside, or purchase a bag of them at a craft store.

2. Cut several feather shapes out of different colors of foam. I didn’t include a template for this because the size of the feathers depends on the size of your pinecone. Each feather is basically shaped like a leaf on one end and flat at the other end like the picture below. It’s not important that the feathers be perfect.

3. Once you have several feather shapes cut out, put a little glue (or a glue dot) on the flat end of the feather and tuck it into the wide end of the pinecone. You’ll keep doing this until the back part of the pinecone is pretty filled out with feathers. Make sure you leave about one third of the pinecone without feathers so that you can make him stand up later. Let the glue dry.

4. Cut out the turkey’s neck and head from yellow foam. It should be shaped line a lop-sided dumbell. Take a look at the picture for clarification. Poke a small hole in the large end of the dumbell shape and push the foam onto the tip of the pinecone through that hole.

5. Cut out two turkey feet from yellow foam. I cut a shape similar to the one below, but you can do yours differently if you desire. Put some glue on the long edge of the feet and tuck them into the pinecone.

6. Glue two wiggle eyes on the turkey’s head. Cut a small orange triangle out of foam for a beak. Use the permanent marker to add the breathing hole detail. Cut a small dumbell shape out of red foam to make the turkey’s waddle.

That’s it! Make sure you let the glue dry completely before you handle it.

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Easy Thanksgiving Pinecone Turkey Craft

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You won’t believe how easy it is to create this Fall centerpiece.  Even little kids can do this one plus it can also work really well for older kids, scouting, church groups, and classrooms.

It looks great on a holiday table or as an Autumn decoration around the house, and it’s made of mostly recycled materials!

You’ll Need:

• Sturdy paper plate
• Paint (Fall colors)
• Scissors
• Three toilet paper tubes (or paper towel tube cut into three)
• Yellow tissue paper
• Glue
• A sponge
• Fall colored ribbon
• Pinecones
• Silk or real fall leaves
• Raffia

What to Do:

1. Cut the toilet paper tubes so that they are in three graduated sizes. Refer to the picture if you don’t know what I mean.

2. Sponge paint the toilet paper tubes and both sides of the paper plate. In order to sponge paint, just dip the sponge into the paint and tap it onto the surface you’re painting. In the example, I used orange, brown, and green paint and tapped the colors onto the tubes and the plate. Let the paint dry completely before you continue.

3. Gather the three painted toilet tubes together on a flat surface and glue them together to that they look like three pillar candles. Cut three large squares of yellow tissue paper. Push one square into each tube so that it sticks out of the top and mimicks a candle flame.

4. Tie a ribbon around all three of the “candles” and then glue them onto the center of the paper plate. Let dry.

5. Glue pieces of raffia and silk leaves around the “candles.” You can use as many or as few as you want to fill out the plate. Your last step is to glue on the pinecones.

That’s it.

NOTE: If you’re working with older kids, consider using hot glue to make this project go a little faster. Another alternative is to use glue dots… that’s what I used on this project.

Post from: KidCraftsMagazine.com

Easy Elegant Fall Centerpiece

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