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.

Break free of the winter doldrums with some hands-on crafting fun geared toward preschoolers. Rare is the child who does not delight in glue and paint, so snap on the smocks and get started. The four easy winter crafts below will keep preschoolers occupied and learning at the same time.

Puffy Snow People

Combine a handful of fluffy white cotton balls, a stick of glue and a snowman shape cut from construction paper for this fun and easy craft. Children will enjoy gluing cotton balls on their snow person and teachers will enjoy the low-mess glue sticks. For a jaunty cap cut a top hat from black construction paper that can be glued on after the cotton balls are adhered. Small circular pieces of construction paper can be used for buttons if so desired. Use the puffy snow people as a tie in to a discussion about the science of snow.

Symmetry Snowflakes

Teaching symmetry starts in the preschool years. It can be made easy with a simple snowflake craft that will allow the children to practice their fine motor skills. Have them take a sheet of white construction paper and fold it in half lengthwise (like a hot dog bun) and then again in half widthwise (like a hamburger bun). Prepare a snowflake quarter template for them to trace onto the folded paper after it has been neatly lined up along the folded sides. Safety scissors will help them cut out the pattern. Once the snowflakes have been cut out, open them to see the symmetry. Add coloring, glitter or glue on sparkles to make the snowflakes stand out.

Silly Seedling

Bean plants grow year round and are a great craft activity turned science lesson for the preschool set. Have the children decorate a Styrofoam cup with a silly face using magic markers. Fill the cup about 3/ 4 of the way full with potting soil and place a dried bean into the dirt. Place the cups in a warm place that receives light and watch for the beans to sprout. The children love drawing the faces on their cups and getting dirty in the soil while the teacher has an instant lesson plan in hand.

Mitten Memories

It is never too early to have children tell of things that they remember, and the winter is full of fascinating memories and stories. In this simple craft the children will trace from a pattern and cut out two mitten shapes from construction paper. On each mitten they can recite to the teacher a fun winter memory that she will write onto the cut out. After a memory has been written on each mitten the child can decorate them on the blank side and tie a length of yarn to connect the two pieces. For very young preschoolers assistance may be required with tying the yarn. Hang the mittens around the room or on a classroom bulletin board for display. This activity is great to integrate into story time or show and tell. Consider sending the completed mittens home with a note asking parents to share their favorite winter memories with their children.

Crafts provide a wonderful opportunity to integrate other subjects into a lesson. They do not have to be overly messy or expensive to be effective and fun. Allow children the freedom to express their ideas and memories this winter with the easy craft projects above.

How to teach young children to make a clay Stegosaurus dinosaur arts and crafts project;

get expert tips and advice on arts and crafts for kids at preschool through elementary

school ages in this free instructional video.

How to teach young children to make a loincloth costume arts and crafts project;get expert tips and advice on arts and crafts for kids at preschool through elementary school ages in this free instructional video. Expert: Debbie Noah Bio: Debbie Noah is an elementary school teacher at Bedford Heights Elementary in Bedford, TX. She has been teaching over 30 years. Filmmaker: Drew Noah

If your home is anything like mine, you’re constantly picking crayons up off the floor. My son colors everyday, sometimes for hours on end. He loves crayons. We’re always buying more crayons because he either looses them or they’ve been worn down to nubbins and hard to color with. Well, here’s a tip for you on what you can do with the worn out crayons rather than throwing them away. You can recycle the old crayons by making them into candles. You can show your kids how they can take something old and make it into something new and colorful that’s useful too. You’ll want to burn these darling homemade candles yourself and give them as gifts as well.

Use this craft technique as a teaching moment with your kids. Before you start making the candles, talk to your kids about safety. They’ll need to know that the crayons will have to be melted using a very high heat, and they will not be able to do that particular step in the process. Tell them they will have other fun steps in making crayon candles.

Get your supplies together. Along with about six crayons, you’ll need a wax container of some sort such as an empty milk or orange juice wax carton, one pound of paraffin wax, two full ice cube trays, a double boiler, white packing string. If you’re hesitant to use your double boiler to melt the crayons and wax, an old coffee can and saucepan works great.

First, trim the top off of the wax carton, leaving it approximately six inches high. Next, cut the string at least 8 inches long and later cut the wick to fit the holder. Braid the three string pieces together to make a wick that burns easier. Melt the paraffin wax in the double boiler or coffee can. To help it melt faster, cut it into small chunks. Usually you’ll need to allow about 20 minutes for the melting process to complete.

Get your kids involved with the crayon candle making fun by letting them remove the crayon wrappers from the crayons while the wax is melting. Be creative by mixing and matching the crayon colors to create your own pretty candle.

Most folks find that they get the best results if they wait and add the crayons to the wax after it’s totally melted. Use a pair of scissors and dip the string into the paraffin. Dipping the string will make sure it’s coated with paraffin because the ice cubes may make it hard for the wax to stick to the string. Hold the string so that it is in the middle of the carton and fill the carton with ice cubes. Pour wax mixture over the ice cubes. You can even add a touch of scent to your crayon candle by adding a little cinnamon or vanilla to the hot wax.

Once you have poured your candle, make sure your kids know the importance of leaving it alone to harden. The candle will usually set in about half an hour, but leave it alone for a couple of hours and until the ice is melted. Put the candle in an area that is safe and where it will not be bothered. Be sure the little ones know they could be burned if they touch the hot wax before it’s cooled. The wax can stay hot for hours after pouring and can be a potential hazard to kids and animals. When you’re ready, all you have to do then is pour off the melted water and then peel off the wax carton.

If you’re looking for a new and easy craft project to do with your kids or with a small group of kids, then making crayon candles is great idea. You can spend a fun afternoon with your children and make a useful candle for your home or as a gift for grandparents and friends.

Are you or someone you know an avid reader?  Try making a personalized custom book marker so you’ll never lose your place.  You can make several of these in no time at all using cardboard and antiqued looking wrapping paper.  What a quick way to create art with decorative scrap paper and your own personalized 3-D foam letter, as you’ll find out by reading below.

Begin by selecting a scrap piece of wrapping paper that resembles time gone by.  If you don’t have any left over wrapping paper, you can find some very inexpensive paper at your local craft store.  For this project an antiqued looking sports theme was used in a flat finish. (tan, brown, black and olive)  Using scissors cut the wrapping paper in to two 8”H x 2”W strips. Next, cut one piece of thin scrap cardboard in to an 8”H x 2”W piece to match in size the two strips of paper you’ve already cut and set aside. Spray Artist Adhesive to one side of the cardboard and apply one of the wrapped paper strips to it, smooth out any wrinkles and allow time to dry, approx. 5 minutes. Next, flip the quickly to be finished custom book marker over and repeat the same process on the other side.  Now, to add the personalizing touch to your project, add a 3-d foam letter sticker for scrapbooking to the front side of your marker. For this project we used a cream colored S letter, 1.5” x 1.5”.

That’s all there is to it.  A nice simple craft, and a special and personalized custom book marker. A great classroom craft for teachers, or just the rest of us everyday home crafters.     

Supplies:

Decorative scrap wrapping paper (Flat finish) Ruler Scissors Artist Spray Adhesive 3-d Foam letter sticker for scrapbooking (One letter, size 1.5” x 1.5”) 

Formore kids crafts visit and info: www.simplekidscrafts.com info@simplekidscrafts.com Also visit: www.artsandcraftstv.com Manualidades para niños en Español www.manualidadesconninos.com Manualidades para adultos en Español: www.manualidadestv.com Muslim Kids Videos and Crafts: www.muslimkidstv.com Background Music: Free Royalty Free Music from: www.partnersinrhyme.com Free Music by Kevin MacLeod from: incompetech.com Public domain music downloaded from: www.virushead.net About Simple Kids Crafts: Simple Kids Crafts is a blog dedicated to reviving the old art of handicrafts. and art that has been lost to fabricated toys. We provide easy fun crafts, with step by step instructions, coloring pages, home school resources, educational resources, kids arts and crafts projects for teachers and all for free! The focus of the site is mainly on preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school crafts. Make wonderful, easy, simple crafts with things found around the house featuring: paper crafts, animal crafts, decoration, painting, beading, gift making, gardening, felt crafts, puppets, play date tips, scrapbooking, yarn and needle crafts, photography, home decor, reading, poetry, jewelry making projects and science projects. About the author of the videos: My name is Merve, I am a Muslim, an engineer from New York, a mom, a wife and a crafter by nature. My parents introduced me to arts and crafts at a very early age. I love doing arts and crafts as a hobby but most importantly to …