My Inner Childhood

 

I have had the opportunity over the years to work with young girls in our church in various committees.  The girls have this fantastic effect on you...they make you feel young again!  Their energy and enthusiasm is infectious!  In deciding what to write about this week I got to thinking back on what activities we have done and what I learned or re-learned to do.  One of my favorite hobbies as a child was friendship bracelets.  Remember those?  They are a perfect craft for kids to do during the summer.  Its inexpensive and a little time-consuming so it helps with the constant "I'm bored!" mantras we all deal with in the summer.  You need three pieces of equipment...embroidery floss which you can find at any dollar store, scissors, and a safety pin to attach it to a pant leg or pillow (or clipboard) to give that all important tension.  There are a ton of websites online that teach how to make them.  Everything from the classic chevron or diagonal to how to put your name (of the name of your BFF!) on them!

http://www.how-to-make-jewelry.com/friendship-bracelet-patterns.html

this is a good site for basic patterns and learning how-to

 http://friendship-bracelets.net

this site has every bracelet under the sun!

and there are tons of other sites that all have fun and fascinating ideas for you to try out!

I hope you  have fun rediscovering the joys of childhood with your kids doing this fun, easy and inexpensive craft!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

"Do you know where I found him? You know where he was? He was eating a cake in the tub! Yes he was!"

-from The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone
 
This Crafty Bettie post is devoted to providing a number of different activities you can do together as a family in celebration of Dr. Suess's birthday on FRIDAY, March 2nd.

Why celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday, you ask? 

Well, Dr. Suess showed us that reading and learning can be fun. By using rhymes, children are able to develop foundational tools needed to sound out words, then make sentences, and eventually create stories of their own.

So... Let the Celebration Begin!

• "You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child."

• Here are four (4) FREE printable lesson plans for your kids from Seussville.

• FREE Dr. Suess Read-n-Color Word Search from Read Across America.

• Make simple gold stars to wear on your belly, like the Sneeches'! 

• Give children a variety of cratf supplies and recycling items (ie: glue, toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, pipe cleaners, felt, yarn, pom-poms, wiggle eyes, etc.) and challenge them to create their own unique character or creature like those found in Dr. Suess's books. Then encourage them to write a story about their creature.

• Make cupcakes with red, white or aqua/ turquoise frosting.

• FREE Cat In the Hate Birthday Cake Maze from Suessville.

Paper Christmas Tree

Christmas is always a go big or go home holiday with our family. Usually the tree is up by now and carols are playing; however I became an Auntie this weekend and thus I am a little behind. It will be up soon though no worries. This is a craft I made last year and it was a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy!

Materials Needed:

Cardstock made into a cone about 7-8" high
Strips of double sided scrapbook paper cut about a half inch by 2/12 inches
an 8" piece of thin ribbon
Small terra cotta pot
Flower foam
Moss for base of tree in pot
foot long thin dowel rod
glue gun and glue sticks
scissors

The first step it the part that takes the most time. You want to take your strips of double sided scrapbook paper and glue them into loops. Ribbon can also be used as an alternate material. Careful to not bend and crease the paper loops. you will need to cut the corners off your loops as you get further up the cone.


Then you start glueing your loops around the base of the cone and work your way up keeping in mind to overlap your seams.

Once you get to the top tie your ribbon around the top to give it a nice finish.


Cut your flower foam to fit in your terra cotta pot. make sure it does not go above the height of the pot.
Add your moss and dowel and then you can put your finished tree on top of the dowel (glueing optional) and you are done! It makes a very cute, very country-ish Christmas decoration. Hope you like it!
-Rachel

Customize Your Own Super Hero Face Masks

This year for his birthday my oldest son wanted a super-hero theme birthday party. He wanted to fly, fight bad guys and eat lots of cake. Like any good mom, you want your child's birthday to be a special event, and so you begin thinking, "How can I help my son feel like a super hero?".

This post is all about FACE MASKS.

To be honest, when I planned the super-hero theme birthday party, I knew I wanted each child to have a cape (I'll save this for another post) and a face mask. I didn't think it would be difficult to find red capes or blue super-hero face masks either.

I was so wrong.

After searching for two weeks, I, like many of you, decided it would be easier to make my own than to continue the search of the perfect super-hero theme face mask. Here is how mine came to be:

Craft Ingredients:
Black Zoro Theme Face Masks (found at Zurcher's)
Elmer's White Glue, Watered Down
(1) Foam Brush
(1) Small Plastic Container
Glitter of Any Color (seen here in BLUE)
Craft Paper (Keep the work space clean!)
and (2) Paper Plates

Craft Directions:

1. Prep Work: Open your face mask package and get your masks in an assembly-line. Then, layout your craft paper and two paper plates to protect the surface you will work on. Next, make your own glue/ adhesive mix in a small plastic container. The recipe for the mixture is: Two Parts Elmer's Glue to One Part Water. Use foam brush to stir the water & glue together until the mixture is a milky-color. Lastly, open your glitter container.

2. Glitterize your Face Masks: Using foam brush, baste one face mask with glue-mixture while holding on to the sides of the mask. If there is a nose covering (as seen in the my photos), be sure to cover the tip of the nose very well. Then, place the one mask onto one paper plate. Next, sprinkle the face mask with glitter color of your choice until it is completely covered. Lift face mask of plate and shake off excess glitter. You will see at this time if you need to apply additional glue-mixture or glitter to any uncovered part of the face mask. Lastly, if mask is complete, lie mask down on craft paper to dry.

Repeat process for the next mask using the second paper plate to catch the glitter (keep your space clean!) and sprinkle the excess glitter from the previous face mask left on the first paper plate.

3. Let DRY and SET for at least two hours. I recommend overnight, just to be sure.

4. Have fun! Your Customized Super Hero Face Masks are done!

Halloween Paper Pumpkin

Its Halloween  time and seems like everyone are thinking about that, so i'm too. And one more time papers can help in your decoration. You can make a lot of paper pumpkin, and use onother materials to improve this simple ideia.

To start the only thing that you'll need is  paper and glue.

First you  have to glue the paper strips together forming a circle

Then join the ends to form your pumpkin



And now you can decorate with everything that you can find at home!!! Happy Halloween everyone!!

Halloween Spider Craft for Kids

Spider Craft for Kids using Recycled Egg Carton

Kids love to make crafts as much as their parents do. This craft especially draws out the giggles because children are making a creep-crawling spider from a recycled material everyone is familiar with: the cardboard egg carton!

Although good for all ages, my children (all 5 years-of-age and younger) had some difficulty with scissors and the whole punch. I made notes of when a particular step should be done by an adult... hopefully to make your life easier while making this otherwise kid-friendly craft.

Spider Craft for Kids Ingredients

Craft Ingredients (See Picture):

* (1) 12-count (or HIGHER!) cardboard Egg Carton
* (1) Tube of water-based Black Paint
* (1) Paint Brush for each child
* (4) Black fuzzy Pipe Cleaners for each spider
* (1) Pair of Scissors
* (1) Hole Punch or other paper-piercing tool
* (1) Pair of Wire Cutters (optional)


Directions:

 1.) Cut out each individual egg-holding shell from your recycled cardboard egg carton. This can be tricky, so if you kids still have difficulty with their fine motor skills, this should be done by an adult. Once every shell is cut out, trim the bottom of the shell so that it sits evenly on a flat surface.

Punched Leg Openings

2.) Using a hole punch (another prep-work item for an adult with strong hands) or other sharp paper piercing tool, make four openings on two opposite sides of the egg shell for the legs of your future creep-crawling black spider.

3.) Paint your favorite shade of color, though I most certainly recommend BLACK paint... makes the craft project for kids (and adults!) more entertaining and creepy. Wait 30 minutes to 1 hour to dry.

The Belly of the Beast

4.) Time to make the legs! Take four black fuzzy pipe cleaners and, using your scissors or wire cutters, cut the pipe cleaners in half. Now you should have eight black fuzzy pipe cleaners for the eight spider legs. Bend each leg in half making an upside down letter "V". For a little bit of fun,  make a "foot" on one side of each letter "V"  by bending a small amount of pipe cleaner to the side.

5.) Insert all black fuzzy pipe cleaners into each leg opening. Twist two side-by-side pipe cleaners together on the inside of the shell of the recycled egg carton to hold the legs in place. Turn your new spider right-side-up and adjust legs. Place in any nook in your home that needs a little more creepiness this Halloween holiday season. If the kids didn't have enough enjoyment from making the spiders, this step can be particularly fun as they prepare to scar their family and friends.

Finished Spider Craft for Kids