Crafting Secrets

Get a Step-by-Step Guide for Craft Projects For Any Age And Ability, Made EASY 101 Easy Craft Project Ideas.. -Let me know how you like it.

There are lots of nice free summer actions that are planned for kids.  You may hold your children entertained and out of bother with out breaking the bank.  In the event you examine with your native library they might have many fun free youngsters summer time actions planned.    Many of those activities embody snacks and drinks for the kids.  Some libraries even have summer season clubs that embody issues similar to Lego’s and kinetics.  Libraries can even host ice cream socials and e-book readings through the summer.  All of those activities make your local library an ideal place to check out.  In case you have a community pool or a Y in your area they run great summer season actions as well.  A variety of times they may host free activities for children.
There are lots of movie theatres equivalent to Regal Cinemas and some AMC’s host children’s film festivals in the summertime with free admission.  They play films which might be orientated in direction of youngsters often rated G or PG.  Some theatres have once a week showings which might be free and a few do them each morning.  It’s a great way to entertain your children.  In case you have a state or native metro park in your space they normally have free kids summer activities as well.  They host every thing from lunch with a ranger to nature walks and animal meet and greets.  The lunch with a ranger program is very informative and fun for the kids.  They get to ask questions and study rather a lot about their local environment.
If you are in search of free youngsters summer actions that do not include leaving residence there are numerous options.  You possibly can arrange a water park environment in your back yard.  You possibly can set out the sprinkler and can even make a slip and slide for those who do not have one.  You probably have a tent you may arrange a camp out in your children.  There are additionally loads of arts and crafts initiatives you can do with supplies you may have at home.  Arts and crafts could be a good way to maintain your youngsters imaginations busy all summer.  You may be amazed at how few supplies it could take on your children to make a mini masterpiece.  There are such a lot of things that may be completed at no cost in the course of the summer.  There is no such thing as a reason to let cash stand in the way in which of having an awesome summer together with your kids.

Looking to get creative and have some fun with your kids during special holidays? These fun projects will have your children laughing, giggling and remembering those very special moments. Guaranteed!

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day Cards Age suitability: 6+ You will need: cardboard, a selection of suitable magazines and newspapers

Make the most of Valentine’s Day by fashioning some eccentric and original cards. To send an anonymous card, create a message of love using cut-out letters and words from newspapers and magazines and sticking them on to a red paper heart. If you would prefer to give your Valentine a clue who you are, find photos of yourself that you no longer need and cut them up to make a Picasso-style face with lips sticking out of an ear, eyes skew-whiff and an upside-down nose floating in a corner.

April Fools’ Day

Practical Joke Ideas Children all over the world love April Fool’s Day and, although the tricks are supposed to end at midday on April 1, your child may like to make the most of the only day of the year that you can be naughty and get away with it by playing tricks right up to bedtime. Here are some favourites for your children’s eyes only!

- Start at breakfast by removing the inside bag of a cereal box and swapping it with another one. Just as someone is expecting Shreddies in their bowl, they will pour out Cheerios instead.

- Offer to make a cup of coffee for someone, but only use cold water when you do.

- Before lunch, stick some Sellotape to the top and bottom of the fridge door so that it won’t open.

- Reset all the alarm clocks in the house to go off at 1.30pm. (Remember to reset them before school on Monday!)

- If dad wants to watch some sport on the TV that afternoon, be sure to remove the batteries from the remote control. Write “Happy April Fool’s Day” on a piece of paper, fold it up carefully and stuff it into the battery compartment instead.

- In France, pranksters stick paper fishes on to unsuspecting people’s backs. See if you can do the same, but with messages on. Things like “I never wash” or “Tell me I’m gorgeous”.

- Before bed, put a hairbrush, apple or something else a bit lumpy under someone’s sheet so that they will get another top surprise before the day comes to an end. Have fun!

Christmas

Shatterproof Christmas Baubles Age suitability: 4+ You will need: polystyrene balls, scraps of material, PVA glue, ribbon, thread and a pin

Buy polystyrene balls from any craft shop and decorate with fabric scraps: glue a small cloth circle on to each end, then working towards the middle, stick on overlapping strips of different materials. Finish off with a piece of ribbon around the middle and attach a loop of thread with a pin at the top. If you don’t have any material, use shiny coloured paper instead.

Celebrity Santa Age suitability: 4+ You will need: photos of celebrities, cotton-wool, cardboard, glitter, glue, scissors

It’s never too early for Celebrity Santa! Let your child search the internet for images of their favourite TV characters or sportsmen, then print them out. Cut around the figures and stick them on the front of a piece of folded card. Now give them a Santa makeover. Glue on cotton-wool beards and red hats; a touch of glitter on David Beckham’s shirt or some antlers on Bart Simpson’s skateboard will add to the disguise. Hand them out to school friends at the end of term.

Copyright (c) 2010 Ivana Katz

You will notice that many of the following ideas are very open-ended tasks. Your child will be led by his or her imagination. However, remember that they will be limited by the resources that you place in front of them. At times like these, it can be useful to have your own craft-box, full of odds and ends that will prove useful for craft activities. Your craft “box of tricks” can include:

Sticky stuff:

a roll of Sellotape / masking tape
glue stick, plasters,
cling film,
gummed paper,
sticky-backed plastic

The bricks to build with:

coloured paper and cardboard,
cereal boxes,
egg boxes,
clean food containers,
yoghurt pots,
polystyrene packaging,
corrugated cardboard,
tissue boxes,
cardboard tubes…
…as much ‘junk’ as you can fit into one box!

Useful extras:
scraps of material (e.g. cut up old jeans or sheets),
old magazines / comics,
string,
table-tennis balls,
elastic bands,
pipe-cleaners (always useful)
tin foil,
water-based paints,
PVA glue (as well as its sticking properties,
when painted onto a decorated surface this dries transparently and acts as a shiny varnish), paintbrushes,
scissors child friendly
felt-tipped pens (water-based),
‘sticky eyes’ (these stick-on wobbly eyes are available from most craft shops and make any character-model instantly come to life when stuck on – a must!),
a selection of buttons
a tube of glitter (use at your own peril!)

Design A Bookmark Age suitability: 2+

You will need: a variety of craft materials for inspiration (e.g. magazines to cut up, glue sticks, card, pens, paint, and items from nature)

Children of all ages enjoy owning their own books. A great way to personalise their bedtime story experience is for them to design their own bookmark. Depending on their age, you will need to do the preparation yourself. Begin by cutting a rectangle of card of material and then decorate to taste. Remember that it needs to allow a book to close, so anything bulky should be saved for the end that sticks out beyond the pages. Use sticky-backed plastic, Sellotape or a laminator if you have one to cover and protect the design transparently. Feel like turning into a mass-production line? How about making one for Granny and Gramps too, with designs that suit their interests? They’ll be sure to cherish them.

Floatin’ Boatin’
Age suitability: 4+

You will need: a variety of craft materials for inspiration (the more waterproof the better), somewhere to trial the boats’ floatability (a bath, swimming pool, stream)

Suggest that your child builds a craft that is able to float. Useful materials may include plastic water bottles, lids, food containers, twigs, used matches, tin foil, etc. If you don’t have any Sellotape, cling film or even plasters can be used to stick together component parts.

Design an appropriate test for the boat to complete: Have access to a swimming pool? See how far your boat can float before sinking. The boat maker may wish to swim slowly behind their vessel and help it along by blowing a gentle breeze in its direction! Testing the boat in the bath? Why not see how many items it can carry before capsizing? Start off lightly with a sponge or a bar of soap and build up the weight.

Life-Sized Robots
Age suitability: 4+

You will need: a variety of craft materials for inspiration, a CD of electronic music

This is a great activity to keep your children busy. Not a task to complete alone, they will need your help if they are to turn into a robot themselves! Go through the recycling bin for newspapers, cardboard boxes and egg cartons. You will also need huge supplies of sticky tape. Your kids’ job is to design, then manufacture, their own robot costumes. Begin with a box for the head, cutting out eye-holes and a large slit for the mouth. Pipe cleaners, egg cartons or twisted paper all make great antennae. For the body, tape large sheets of newspaper paper directly onto their t-shirt. Cereal boxes make excellent robotic feet. Finally, if you bind their arms and legs tightly enough in newspaper, the robots will have no choice but to move with stiff limbs.

Make the most of the costumes by practicing jerky robot moves and, when ready, hold a life-size robot parade with some electronic music.

Newspaper Challenges
Age suitability: 4+

You will need:
a pile of old newspapers,
scissors,
Sellotape / masking tape

Your children don’t need snazzy equipment to keep them occupied. Just like those early Christmases when the wrapping paper holds more interest than the present, all you need is a few old newspapers and some imaginative challenges. Depending on your choice of challenge and age of your children, there are valuable design lessons to learn along the way (paper can be strengthened by folding and rolling, triangles are the strongest shape, etc). For older children, limit the amount of paper each competitor is allowed to use. This is a good test of the best design with limited resources.

- Who can build the tallest tower? Towers must be free-standing. Try piling up scrunched-up paper balls on top of one another or a tripod of firmly rolled tubes.

- Can you build a bridge that spans the gap between the sofa and the coffee table? The winner is the one that can balance the most cushions on it.

- It is also worth challenging your child to produce a whole outfit made out of paper Hats, gloves, trousers, spectacles… let them use their imaginations. The results will be impressive, I guarantee! Who can make the largest, wildest animal out of newspaper… a crocodile? an elephant?

Playing outside isn’t always an option. Whatever the weather – too cold, too much snow, rain, too hot, too muddy or too icy – sometimes we are stuck inside with young children who wish they were outside. However, you can certainly have a ton of fun by using some simple creativity and imagination. Here are several super fun ideas for indoor play that your child will delight in.

Make a cardboard puppet theater. A puppet theater can be made from any semi-large to large box. Simply find your box, cut off one of the wider sides and a large rectangular window in the other wide side. Then, with your child, be as creative or simple as you like decorating it. You can use paints, stickers, construction paper, ribbon, crayons, or markers. Basically, whatever you have on hand with work perfectly! After you’re done decorating it find a nice spot in your living room to have you and your child take turns putting on a puppet show. You can even practice one to put on for the other parent when they come home from work. You can gather a lot of stuffed animals to be in the audience and teach your child the art of telling stories aloud.

Do you ever wonder what to do with all those left over toilet paper rolls? Well, take two cardboard rolls, glue them together long ways, and you have binoculars! Let your child decorate them with either paint or markers. When it dries take your child with the binoculars on an indoor safari. Place stuffed animals or even pictures of animals all around the house in different rooms. Let your child go on a safari using his binoculars to discover these different animals. At the end of the trail you can read books together about animals.

Have an indoor snowball fight. This works especially well if you have more than one child, but it can still be fun with a parent and one child. First, figure out what you want to use for snowballs. You can blow up tons of white balloons or use crumpled up white paper. Then, construct forts out of couch cushions or chairs and blankets. Constructing this with your child can be a lot of fun in itself. When your forts are ready, begin the snowball fight!

Also, make dinner time an especially fun time. Take a large sheet of crate paper and tape it down to your table. Set the table as usual for dinner, but put out markers, crayons, stickers, glue and googley eyes, on the table. When dinner begins, and while you eat, let your children show their creativity on the crate paper. When they are done, cut out their works of art and display them. The crate paper can be used at any meal, anytime you just want to add a touch of fun to your meal. You can even make it a special Saturday morning breakfast tradition or do it every night for one week at dinner and such.

Have fun with these ideas and add your own touch to them. These ideas can have many variations and even spur your creativity bone. A good idea, if possible is to also prepare for indoor days in advance. When you’re at the store, stock up on your child’s favorite things like paint, construction paper, and other craft needs. That way, when an unexpected indoor day occurs, you and your child can make it an imaginative day!

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