kids crafts

Crafty Ideas March 2010

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Springy Activity 

  Spring break is upon us, which means five fun-filled days of having the kids all to ourselves.  If you’re staying close to home during the break, you might want to have a few clever activities in your back pocket.  Here’s our list of ten fun things you can do with the kids at home!

Ten Springy Activities for Spring Break

Sprout Some Seeds
 1. Sprout Some Seeds – fold 2 paper towels in half.  Moisten towels.  Place one on a lunch plate and sprinkle your seeds (such as snowpeas, beans, or squash) on top.  Place second moist towel on top of seeds, and move plate to a draft free location.  Keep towels damp by spraying with water when necessary.  Your seeds should sprout by the end of the week.  If you’ve chosen snowpeas, you can plant them directly in the ground once sprouted!
2.  Wash the windows – this may be work to us adults, but it’s child’s play to the kids!  Minimize the spills by giving them wet cloths and rewetting when necessary, instead of leaving them to their own devices with the water bucket!
Footprint Rainbow Craft 3.  Make rainbow footprints for a treasure hunt – trace footprints in all the colours of the rainbow.  Number them and take turns laying them out to lead to treasure!
4. Decorate a pot and plant something – a great way to play in the dirt without getting TOO dirty!  To decorate, consider markers, sidewalk chalk, stickers, sparkles, paints, etc.
 Count Some Coins 5. Roll some coins – kids love sorting, and the bigger ones can learn about coin value.  Plus, they’d be helping mommy and daddy with the finances!
 Thank You Card 6. Make and send a card – Grandma and Grandpa or that special relative or friend will be thrilled by an unexpected, handmade surprise in the mail!  Get the ball rolling with our selection of Card making Kits
 Orange Peel Bird Feeder 7. Make a bird feeder – we repurposed an orange peel into a feeder.  Simply scoop out half of an orange, let it dry slightly, poke some holes with a skewer, and fill with seed.  String the feeder up in your yard
  8. Build a fort – blankets and chairs and kids, oh my!
 Paint with a flower 9. Paint something unusual – water on tiles, diluted food colouring on bread, or WITH something unusual, such as spring flowers dabbed in paint, toy cars rolled through paint, or bubble wrap as a paint stamper
 10. Go on an ‘I Spy’ walk around the neighborhood – in search of new buds and spring flowers.  Take sketch books in case you feel inspired to draw what you see. 

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Crafty Ideas February 2010

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Winter Games Crafts

The Olympic torch is quickly making its way to Vancouver now, and we’ll soon be watching our country go for gold!  Do some sports or
medal crafts with the kids, or be inspired by the Olympic logos and mascots.  Here are some ideas to get you started:

Mascot Puppet:

Go to the Olympic website to find out which mascot is most like you, and then make your favourite one!  We recreated our favourite
sasquatch with an easy paper bag project:

Sasquatch puppet
 Supplies: 2 brown paper bags, cream paper, white paper, blue felt, scissors, glue, crayon or marker

  1. Cut the bottom of the paper bag off, zig zagging your cuts to resemble tufts of hair
  2. Use the scrap from the bottom to make a jagged tuft of hair.  Glue onto top of bag
  3. Cut a heart shaped face from cream paper.  Glue onto top of bag.  Use marker or crayon to make face
  4. Cut arms from 2nd paper bag and glue onto your puppet.  Make hands out of cream paper and glue onto arms
  5. Cut ear muffs from blue felt.  Cut ear muff band from white paper.  Glue into place

Inukshuk Paintings

Thanks to Melanie for her craft ideas and photos!  Her family did Inukshuks two ways – with black paper and with handprints. 

Handprint Inukshuk

Inukshuk1
 Supplies: white paper, tempura paint (red, yellow, green, light and dark blue), red construction paper, marker.

  1. Dip the sides of your fists into red and yellow paint to and stamp the legs of the Inukshuk.
    Wash and then repeat with light blue (body), dark blue (arms – stretch out hand and use the side of
    whole hand), fist for the green head.  
  2. Dry, cut out, paste onto red construction paper, print 2010 on the top, and GO CANADA on the bottom.

Sunset Inukshuk

Inukshuk2
 Supplies: white paper, tempura paint (red, yellow, orange, green, blue), pastels (optional), black construction
paper, scissors.

  1. Draw wavy lines using coloured pastels or crayons across white paper about 3-4cm apart.  
  2. Fill in white spaces using tempura paints (use blue greens on the bottom half, and red/yellow/oranges
    on the top half)  let dry
  3. Using black paper and scissors, cut out 5 shapes to form your own inukshuk.  It can have 2 legs,
    a body, head, and a long piece for the arms, or try some other combination of stacking
  4. Glue onto coloured background

Recommended Reading

Thanks to Portia from Once Upon A Huckleberry Bush for her Olympic reading recommendations! 

 

Outstanding Olympics

Outstanding Olympics

By Clive Gifford

The Olympic Games is the greatest sports celebration in the world. This colorful book offers
all the information you need about the world’s top athletes, their amazing achievements and
the rivalries and competition among nations. The perfect companion to our own hosting of
the games – and way beyond!
Olympic Mascots

Miga, Quatchi and/et Sumi

This is the lovable story of the mascots Miga, Quatchi, Sumi and their sidekick Mukmuk unfolds on the
magical landscape of Canada’s West Coast.

Written in both English and French, learn the legends behind these now famous characters as they introduce
the world to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

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Crafty Ideas January 2010

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Happy New Year!

Getting back into school and daycare routines after the holidays usually leaves little ones exhausted at the end of the day.  Give your tired kids some extra time to relax by sitting around the table for craft time.  They can get crafty by getting organized for the new year!   Give these crafts a try:

Decorated Art Folder:

Supplies: presentation folder, collage supplies such as photos, magazine clippings, crayons or markers, stickers, feathers, sparkles, glitter glue etc.

Directions: transform a simple folder into a personalized art folder by decorating with your name, a photo of yourself, and other items.  Keep your folder in a handy place and add the new artwork that comes home from school or daycare!

 2009 Calendar Story Book:

Transform your old calendar into a story book with the kids!

Supplies: 2009 Calendar, 12 pieces of paper large enough to cover dates portion/chart of calendar, glue, something to write with

Directions: replace the dates area of the calendar with a blank writing area by gluing paper on top of dates chart.  Do this for all 12 pages.  Using the theme of the calendar (animals, landscapes, princesses, cars, etc), ask your child to dictate a story for you to record.  The calendar themes can be transformed into personal stories such as ‘Joe’s trip Across the Country’, or ‘Sue’s  Animal Adventure’.  You can also add word bubbles to the calendar photos if your child wants one of the pictures to talk.  A great way to pass the afternoon!

Did you try these crafts?  Send us your comments and photos!

 

Kitchen with Kids – Candied Walnuts

Some nuts, such as walnuts and pecans, are a good source of Omega-3s, which may be linked to brain development and emotional well being.  Here’s an easy snack the kids can help make:

2 ½ cup walnuts

1/3 cup corn syrup

2 tbsp sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

Coat walnuts with corn syrup, and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.  Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 325 for ~15 minutes or until nuts are golden brown.  Let cool before serving.

Simple Science – Gravity and Resistance 

A classic experiment that’s a fun guessing game for kids too!  Choose several (non-breakable) objects from the house, such as a stuffed toy, a ball, a building block, and a couple identical pieces of paper.  Hold two of the items out in front of you.  Which one will fall fastest?  Why?  What happens when you drop the pieces of paper at the same time?  What happens when you crumple one up and drop it?

Five Minute Fun – Mark Up Your Calendar

Enlist the kids to help mark up your calendar with special events such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  They can practice their printing by writing the names of friends and family who are celebrating birthdays on a certain date, or they can draw a picture of the person in the calendar date box. 

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Crafty Ideas September 2009

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Back to School

With the kids getting back into the fall routine, now is a perfect opportunity to add craft time into your schedule.  Doing crafts provides creative and cognitive challenges that help ready young kids for future learning.  Start with some back to school crafts such as the ones below:

Artist’s Display Ribbon: 

A simple way to display the drawings and art projects the kids will be bringing home from school!

Supplies: 1.5 m of wide (~5cm) ribbon, 8 self-adhesive Velcro dots, fabric and/or ribbon scraps, felt pieces etc, stickers, craft glue, glitter glue, fabric scissors

Directions:  Evenly space one side of 7 Velcro dots along the length of your ribbon.  Decorate ribbon by gluing on pieces of fabric, ribbon, or felt, and drawing designs with glitter glue.  Clip a ‘V’ at bottom end of the ribbon to finish it off.  Let dry.  To hang your ribbon, place 8th Velcro dot at the top of the ribbon on the underside, and secure it to matching Velcro dot positioned at the top of your wall.  The ribbon will hang down, ready for art work display

To display art: attach a Velcro dot to your artwork, and then secure the artwork to the matching Velcro dot on the display ribbon

 

Did you try this craft?  Send us your comments and photos!

Decorative Back Pack Tags:

An easy way to identify your child’s book bag or snack pack!

Supplies: construction paper or card stock, markers, crayons, or alphabet stickers, clear self-adhesive laminating paper, hole punch, beading string, pony beads

Directions: Cut a small circle or square out of cardstock – similar in size to a luggage tag.  Draw or decal child’s name onto the tag.  Decorate the tag with other stickers and colouring, and then place between two pieces of clear laminating paper.  Cut laminating paper so it is just wider than the tag inside.  Puch a hole into the laminated tag, and string onto beading string.  Add decorative beads to the string, and then tie it to backpack.

Did you try this craft?  Send us your comments and photos!

 

Kitchen with Kids – Bean Dip with Corn Chips

A great after school snack, this is a simple dip that needs a dollop of this and a pinch of that, so it’s easy for the kids to be in charge!

  • 1 can refried beans
  • 2-3 heaping tablespoons plain yogurt
  • Pinch of salt
  • corn chips or vegetables for dipping

 

Scoop refried beans into mixing bowl.  Add plain yogurt and a pinch of salt.  Mix thoroughly.  Serve with corn chips, carrot sticks, or celery for dipping.  Tip: if your kids are feeling adventurous, add some chili powder, chopped green onions or cilantro for extra flavour!

Simple Science – Bent Pencil

Fill a jar or clear container half way with water. Hold a pencil in the water so that half of it is submerged.  When you look at the pencil through the water, does it look straight or bent?  Light travels slower through water than it does through air.  When the light enters the water it slows down, changing direction slightly, and it speeds up again as it leaves the glass, making the pencil look bent.

Getting Organized – Craft Supply Box

Preschoolers and primary school kids will often find themselves exhausted at the end of a school day.  Help them make it through the long afternoon by setting up an easy-to-access craft box for quiet time activities.  Decorate a shoe box with your child, and stock it with craft staples such as crayons, scissors, stickers, and glue stick.  Keep the box, together with some coloured paper and drawing paper, within reaching distance so that they can grab their crafts whenever they need to relax and create.

Five Minute Fun – Label It

Practice  your printing by making labels for school supplies and snack containers.  Place a strip of fun coloured masking tape on a non-adhesive surface, such as a vinyl placemat or stone countertop.  Place tick marks at even intervals so that your child knows how much space they have to write each name, and then let them repeat their name over and over again to label all their stuff!

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Craft Ideas for kids – February 2009

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Hearty Heros!

Cupid isn’t the only one who flies around making people fall in love!  How about a Valentine’s fairy?  Or perhaps a Valentine’s superhero?  February is heart month, so help the kids spring into action with some Valentine’s inspired playtime props:   

Superhero Wrist Bands:

Supplies: toilet paper roll, aluminum foil, scraps of coloured paper, fabric or ribbon, glue

Directions:  Cut toilet paper roll in half cross wise, creating two small cuffs.  Snip each cuff vertically, so that child will be able to slip cuff onto wrist.  Cover each cuff in tin foil.  Cut paper or fabric into stars, hearts, lightning bolts, or other superhero symbols (such as child’s initials) and glue onto cuffs.  Let dry, and then let the games begin!

Heart Tipped Fairy Wand:

Supplies: wooden dowel or old wooden spoon, cardboard (e.g. from cereal box), red or pink paper, ribbons, packing tape, glue

Directions: Cut heart shape from cardboard. Lay dowel on heart so that one end is at the centre of the heart, making a handle coming down from tip of heart.  Secure in place with packing tape.  Glue ribbons to bottom of heart shape to create a ribbon fringe.  Cut two identical hearts out of  red or pink paper, making hearts slightly larger than cardboard heart.  Cover both sides of cardboard heart with the red or pink hearts, pinching edges together to secure around cardboard heart.  Let dry.

Made with Love for Valentine’s Day

Help your child create one-of-a kind unique Valentine’s Day Cards with our exclusive Valentine Card making kits .  Choose a class pack of 24 mini cards for your child to give to classmates, or standard size cards (packages of 8) to send to close friends and relatives.  A crafty way to make Valentine’s Day just a little more special!  Check our card selection here .

 

Have A Laugh!

 

Not only is laughing a lot of fun to do, but it’s proven to be good for your heart.  Your heart rate increases with laughter, and then dips below normal when you stop, giving your heart a workout.  And did you know that kids laugh about twenty times as much as adults?  That’s 20 giggles for every one of our chuckles.  So, get a little crazy with the kids this month, and get laughing! .

 

Kitchen with Kids – Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

A little bit of (dark) chocolate is good for the heart, as is the fibre provided by delicious red strawberries.  Try this simple Valentine’s treat with the kids! .

  • Strawberries, washed, but not hulled
    •   2 oz semi-sweet bakers chocolate, chopped up, or chocolate chips
    •    2 tablespoons milk

Melt chocolate in microwave; add chopped chocolate and milk to microwave safe bowl, and heat for 30 seconds.  Let stand for 30 seconds.  Stir.  Microwave slightly longer if necessary.  When chocolate is melted, cool slightly, and dip strawberries, letting the kids hold them by the hull.  Tip: if you prefer to remove the hulls before serving, use corn picks to hold the strawberries for dipping.

Simple Science- Geometry Lesson

Cut several pieces of paper into squares and circles.  Can you use the pieces you have cut to make a heart?  Note:  Pieces can overlap.  Use a heart template to make it a little easier for little ones to see what they’re striving for!

Five Minute Fun – Folding Heart Card

Make a quick Valentine card with your child by folding a piece of paper in half and cutting a heart along fold line.  Open your heart and decorate with crayons, markers, stickers, and other embellishments.  Let dry and then close the heart card, pop it into an envelope, and send it to someone special.  

Stick to My Heart

Planning a party this month?  Try playing pin the heart on the human!  Draw an outline of your child, and draw a heart in the location of the real heart.  Give each child a heart stick to the human.  Blind fold the child, spin them once or twice, and lead them to the picture, giving them a chance to stick their heart to the picture.  Get as close to the real heart as you can!  If you need party crafts, check out our supply here

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Craft Ideas by Craft Caravan – December 2008

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Visions of Christmas!

Visions of Christmas have already begun dancing through the air, and as we move into December the kids are already asking about Santa’s arrival.  Channel their excited energy into some simple Christmas time craft projects.  Give these ones a try:  

Feather Boa Winter Wreath:

Supplies:  Wreath form (cut one from cardboard, or purchase at craft store), feather boa (white, red, or green), ribbon, other decorations (pine cones, berries, or bells), tape or glue   

 Directions:  Starting with one end held at back, wrap feather boa around wreath form, pulling up through middle and around.  Continue wrapping until wreath s entirely covered.  Tape or glue boa end in place at back.  Tie ribbon into a bow at bottom.  Add berries, pinecones, or bell (Shown).  Tie second ribbon at top of wreath for hanging.   

Tip:  if you want to reuse the feather boa after the Christmas season, simply tuck one end under as you wrap, and use one piece of tape to secure other end at back.  Remove tape and unwind boa to use. 

Christmas Tree Cutout:

  Supplies: 2 pieces of cardstock of construction paper (one of the pieces green, if possible), regular scissors or scrapbooking scissors, glue, decorating supplies such as stickers, pompoms, acrylic jewels, sequins, etc

Directions:  Using the piece of paper that is not green, fold verticall y and cut triangle tree shape down the fold line, so that when you open the picture it will be a complete tree.  Glue tree outline  onto second piece of cardstock (green, if possible) and decorate the tre e with sequins, glitte r glue, etc.  

Kids in the Kitchen – Clove Orange

Not for eating, this simple scented project is one from back when I was in kindergarten!  Makes a lovely table display or poupourri replacement.

1 orange
Whole Cloves
Toothpick, darning needle, or wooden skewer
Ribbon in contrasting colour

Using toothpick, poke holes into orange.  Make a pattern, or simply poke holes to cover the entire surface.  As you poke holes, ask your child to insert cloves into each spot.  When you have finished inserting cloves, tie a ribbon around the orange. Place on a decorative plate or in a bowl for display

Simple Science – Christmas Tree Scent

Use your Christmas tree for a quick science experiment with the kids.  Cut a sprig from the tree, and then have them carefully rub the sprig between their fingers.  Can they smell the scent on their fingers?  Why do trees smell?  Apparently the plants that give off minty, oily, or sharp smells do so as a defense mechanism.  The smells come from chemicals that smell and taste terrible to animals that might consider the plant for lunch!

Letters to Santa

If your child is expecting Santa to arrive with gifts they’ll want to let Old St. Nick know what they’d like to see on Christmas morning.  Turn their wish list into a chance to practice writing or pre-writing skills.  Make a Christmas wish letter to Santa; they can draw pictures of what they’d like for Christmas, or find pictures in magazines and flyers. Bigger kids can write what they’re hoping for as well!  To complete the project, put the letter in an envelope and send to Santa at North Pole HOH OHO.  The Canada Post reply program recommends getting your letters in the mail by December 5th.   Remember to include your return address!

 

Five Minute Fun – Christmas Cards and Wrapping Paper

Fight boredom the entire month of December by having a stack of card making and wrapping paper making supplies available to your kids.  Magazine and flyer clippings are perfect for decorating, in addition to old Christmas cards, stickers, and crayons or markers.  The kids can work on hand made cards whenever they have a few minutes.  A great way to tackle your Christmas card list in addition to giving the kids some hands on fun!  Check out our Christmas Card making kit – a great way to get started!

Simple Party Planning for January

If you’re trying to take a breather from the Christmas chaos to plan for your child’s winter birthday party, we can help!!  Craft Caravan is pleased to announce our new party crafts.   Available in minimum order quantities of 5 crafts, simply choose the craft that’s right for your party, and we’ll send you everything you need to entertain.  Order before Christmas to ensure arrival in time for your party! 

Craft Caravan on Living Vancouver

Want to learn more about Craft Caravan or how to get crafty with your kids at home?  Check out these clips from CBC’s lifestyles show Living Vancouver.   View ‘Getting Crafty with Kids’ (Nov 20 Episode 3049) and ‘Craft Caravan’ (Oct 9 Episode 3019)

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Craft Ideas by Craft Caravan – November 2008

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Falling Back…

Turn back time tonight, as today is the day most people change their clocks to ‘fall back’ for daylight savings time.  The shorter days, together with cooler weather are sure signs that winter is just around the corner.  Use the themes of time and winter for a couple of fun crafts with the kids:

It’s About Time for a Clock

Supplies:  Cardboard, old magazines and newspapers, aluminum foil, 2 buttons, string, scissors, glue, crayons, hole punch

Directions:  Make clock face- cut circle from cardboard and cover with aluminum foil.  Find newspaper or magazine clippings of the numbers 1 through 12.  Glue each number to the clock face. 

Cut a big hand and a small hand from cardboard.  Colour the hands with crayon, or cover with magazine clippings.  Punch a hole at the end of each hand, where they will be connected to the centre of the clock.  Make a hole in the centre of the clock using scissors (a job for the caregiver!) 

Assemble clock: feed string through hole of first button, then through clock face, then clock hands, then second button.  Loop back around through second hole of top button, then through hands and face, then through final button-hole, tying string together on underside of clock

Handprint Mitten Mobile

Supplies: construction paper, glue, scissors, hole punch, string or ribbon, pencil, decorating supplies such as pompoms, glitter glue, sparkles, stickers, etc

Directions:  trace your child’s hand on construction paper with fingers together and thumb out.  Instead of individual fingers, trace around all fingers like a mitten.  Make 4 or 5 tracings.  Cut out tracings, decorate, and punch a hole at the top or ‘wrist’ part of each mitten.  Cut various lengths of string for hanging mittens on mobile.  Tie one end of each string through each of the mittens, and tie the other end around the pencil.  Loop another string around the pencil, in centre, for hanging.

 

Kitchen With Kids –  Grilled Banana Nutella Sandwich

An easy, yummy, warm sandwich treat for cool days!

1 Banana
Nutella spread
2 pieces of bread
butter or margarine

Spread one piece of bread with Nutella.  The kids can cover the Nutella with banana slices.  Close sandwich and lightly butter outside.  Place in sandwich grill for about 5 minutes.  Let cool until warm, and serve.  

Getting Crafty for Christmas

If you’re sending out Christmas cards this year, check our website for Christmas and Season’s Greetings Card making kits .  You can also subscribe to the Kids Craft Club – a great gift idea for pint sized friends and relatives!

 

Come Get Crafty with Us!

Craft Caravan is sponsoring the ‘Creative Corner’ at Vancouver’s Baby & Family Fair this weekend.  Drop by for some colouring and crafts when you visit Canada place tomorrow!

 

Five Minute Fun – Hibernation Hideout (Cave)

A simple way to pass a few minutes, throw a blanket over a chair or table for an instant cave or tent.  Though not quite a ‘craft’, we just had to remind everyone about this age old game, as our kids get endless amounts of joy out of hiding in their makeshift cave!

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Craft Ideas by Craft Caravan – September 2008

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Findings In the Fall!

September is a great time of year to go outside and collect a few crafty items for fall and winter projects.  Take the kids on a walk to collect leaves, pinecones, and any other interesting objects of nature that can be dried or stored for future use.  Get a jump on the fall craft projects with these ideas:  

Fall Leaf Butterfly Picture:

Supplies:  Fall leaves – 2 small long & thin leaves, 1 big long & thin leaf, 4 big round or oval leaves, 1 small round leaf, construction paper, glue, googly eyes, glitter glue, or tiny leaves for decorating.

 Directions:  Dry the leaves by layering between newsprint and placing a heavy object on top.  Let dry for about a week, or until they’re dry but not brittle.  To assemble butterfly:  use 1 long thin leaf as the body, 1 small round leaf for face, 2 long thin leaves as antennae, 4 big round/oval leaves as top and bottom portions of wings.  Add googly eyes or dots of glitter glue to face, and decorate wings with glitter glue or smaller leaves.   

Tip:  Don’t stop at butterflies.  Depending on the leaves in your area, you may be able to find shapes to create elephants (large round ear shaped leaves), bunnies (thin long leaves), or any other creature that sparks your child’s interest.  Layering maple leaves in a fan shape, behind a long thin leaf, would make an excellent peacock!

Sparkly Pinecones:

Supplies: Pinecones, 2 paper plates, white glue, sparkles, string

Directions:  Thin white glue by mixing with equal part water.  Place glue in first paper plate, and sparkles in second paper plate.  Roll clean, dry pinecones in glue plate, then roll in sparkle plate.  Set aside to dry.  Tie string around the top to create pinecone ornament for fall decorations, or place in bowl for a sparkly display!

Note: if you prefer, use a re-sealable bag for sparkles.  Roll pinecone in glue, then place in sparkle bag.  Seal bag and shake, shake, shake! 

 

Inspired by Nature – Claude Monet

In a time when the most sought-after paintings were based on realism and academic style, Claude Monet chose to depict scenes from nature, in an impressionist manner.  He was inspired by his environment – poppies, haystacks, and of course, water lilies.

 

Kids in the Kitchen – Swedish Chocolate Cookies

This is a no-bake recipe that is perfect for little helping hands!

 

3 ¼ cups oats
1 ¼ cups sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter or margarine
Flaked coconut

Mix dry ingredients (except coconut) together.  Add butter and vanilla and mix until even consistency.  (you could even use your hands for this!)  With your hands, roll dough into 3 cm balls.  Roll balls in flaked coconut.  Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Five Minute Fun – Magnet Fishing Rod

Turn a stick into a fishing rod by adding a length of string at one end.  To give your fishing rod some weight and to turn it into a game, place a magnet at the end of the string: Using two pieces of self-adhesive magnet, sandwich the free end of the string between adhesive sides of magnets, sticking them together and adhering to string.  Find some household items that are magnetic, and some that aren’t, and put them into a ‘pond’ for your child to go fishing!

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Craft Ideas by Craft Caravan – August 2008

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Go Play Outside!

The great outdoors is the perfect place to work on some wonderfully messy craft projects.  Clean up is made easy with a simple wash of the hose, so gather up the craft supplies and go play outside!  Try these crafts to get your outdoor artist’s studio started:

Home Made Sidewalk Chalk:

Supplies: Plaster of Paris, powdered tempura paint, stir stick, mixing container, water, waxed paper, paper coin rollers (quarter rollers).  Optional: painters tape or masking tape.

 Directions: Optionally tape over one end of the coin roller so that it has a ‘bottom’.  Place on a cookie sheet covered with waxed paper, covered side down.  Mix 1 cup of Plaster of Paris together with 2 tbsp paint.  Add roughly 1 cup of water, stirring while you add, for smooth consistency.  Carefully pour mixture into coin rollers.  Let the chalk sticks set – approximately 2 hours.  Peel back the coin roller paper to use.   

Note: We were able to use our chalk after only 15 minutes of waiting.  Keep the coin roller paper on for strength, peeling back as the chalk gets used.

Abstract Canvas Splash Art:

Supplies: art canvas, canvas board, or paper, liquid tempura paints, paint brushes or toothbrushes

Directions:  pour paint into plates, bowls or other containers.  Lay canvas or paper on the ground.  Dip paint brush into colour of your choice, and let it drip onto canvas.  Try swinging the paintbrush to make a bit splat!  Dip toothbrush into paint and run finger over bristles, splattering paint onto the canvas.  Repeat with different colours of paint, creating an abstract masterpiece.

Note: You can position items such as leaves, paper shapes, or other objects on the canvas before painting, and remove after splashing, to create shapes on the canvas.

 

Fun Facts – the Great Jackson Pollock

Splash art is not only for kids!  Jackson Pollock painted for many years, and became an influential American artist because of his spontaneous paint dripping technique, leading the abstract expressionist movement.  Paint brushes, sticks, and basting syringes were among the tools he used to drip his paints! 

Fortunately Unfortunately

Summer time often means road trips, which can be a challenge with little ones in tow!  Add word games to your car time repertoire to make the time pass by.  You can play “I Spy” or counting games (we recently counted all the trailers passing us), or try a game of ‘Unfortunately Fortunately’.  Start the game with ‘Unfortunately (fill in the blank)’, and let your child finish with ‘Fortunately (fill in the blank)’.  For smaller kids, you can replace the ‘Unfortunatley fortunately with ‘Uh Oh’ and ‘That’s OK’.  Example:  

‘Unfortunately, we’re almost out of gas’
‘Fortunately, we’re going to a gas station!’ 

‘Uh Oh, I spilled on my sweater!’
‘That’s OK, we can wipe it up.’

Kids in the Kitchen – Frozen Banana Pops

These treats are a great summer time snack, and a snap to make with the kids!


4 bananas, cut in half cross wise
Yogurt (Flavour of your choice), or chocolate chips
Popsicle sticks, waxed paper, cookie sheet

Insert popsicle stick into flat end of banana.  Dip each banana into yogurt.  Place on cookie sheet covered with waxed paper.  Freeze for approximately 3 hours.  For chocolate banana pops – freeze plain bananas on sticks.  Melt chocolate chips and drizzle onto frozen bananas.  Chocolate will harden immediately.  To store, wrap each banana pop in foil. 

Five Minute Fun – Bubble Art

Turn your bubble blowing session into some great outdoor art!  Simply add different colours of food colouring to bubble solution in dishes or jars, mixing or shaking well.  In between blowing bubbles into the air, your kids can blow coloured bubbles down onto a piece of paper, creating their very own bubble art masterpiece! 

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Kids Craft Ideas July 2008

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Oh Canada!

Whether at the cabin, the cottage, the camp, or even just the backyard, Canadians from coast to coast are celebrating Canada Day today!  Red and white clothing, face paints, and washable tattoos all make great fun for kids on Canada Day.  Looking for more great ways to celebrate Canada?  Try these Canada inspired crafts to make the celebration last the whole month long: 

Nunavut Provincial Flag Craft:

 

Nunavut is Canada’s youngest region, becoming it’s own territory in April, 1999.  Make this simple Inukshuk flag to celebrate Canada’s youngest territory!

Supplies: white paper, construction paper (red, yellow, blue), scissors, glue

Directions: Cut a yellow piece of construction paper that is exactly half the length of your white paper.  Glue into place, covering left half of the white paper.  Make inukshuk: cut red construction paper to the same height as white/yellow flag.  Then cut red paper into 3 small horizonal blocks, 1 longer horizontal block, and 1 small vertical block.  Round the edges of each block to create the appearance of rocks (see Nunavut flag photo).  Glue blocks to middle of flag to create inukshuk.  Cut blue star and place on white portion of flag 

Note: Extend this craft project by going outside and building an Inukshuk using stones, or by replicating the flag of your province!  You can view provincial flags at The Flag Shop

Canadian Moose Craft:

 

Supplies: craft paper, cardboard (such as from cereal box), or other ‘background’ paper, ice cream lid or paper plate, brown paint, googly eyes, black pompom, twigs from trees with a few branches to look like antlers 

Directions: pour brown paint into ice cream lid or paper plate.  Stamp foot into paint, then stamp onto background paper or cardboard with heal of foot closest to bottom of paper, to create moose head.  Decorate your moose head:  Place googly eyes at ball of footprint, and place nose at heal of footprint.  Make antlers by gluing twigs to top of footprint (at the toes).

Note: Mom and Dad can join in on the fun to create a moose family!  Their extra big footprints will make large moose heads, while the kids can be the smaller moose

 

Fun Facts About The Canada Flag

 

The Maple Leaf Flag is a work of art that has achieved international recognition.  The flag itself is young; it was adopted as the official flag of Canada in February, 1965.  Use these guidelines to recreate the flag with construction paper or fabric:  The length of the flag should be twice the height, and the white portion of the flag is exactly double the length of each red portion.  The central maple leaf has 3 major points that each break into 3 smaller points.  The number of points on the flag has no symbolic significance – this is simply the best configuration to look good while blowing in the wind!  

 

Sing it Loud!

‘O Canada’ became Canada’s national anthem on July 1, 1980.  The official lyrics are known to most adults, but can sometimes be tricky for kids.  Try singing this song with your little ones – their word changes often produce very uniquely entertaining renditions of the song!

Kids in the Kitchen – Strawberry Popsicles

Nothing says ‘summer is here’ as well as the beginning of strawberry season!  Try these yummy frozen treats with your kids for a refreshing summer time snack:

1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 cups plain yogurt
Popsicle holder, ice cube tray, or paper cups and popsicle sticks

Mix yogurt and strawberries.  Alternately, blend yogurt and strawberries for smooth consistency.  Spoon into ice cube tray, popsicle holder, or paper cups.  Freeze for 20 minutes.  Add sticks (if using paper cups or ice cube tray), and freeze until firm.

Five Minute Fun – Summer Time Streamers

Turn a simple stick or rubber bracelet into summer time fun by securing lengths of ribbon or crepe streamers.  Kids can wear the bracelets or twirl the stick to add some dazzle to their outdoor running games!

Our Newest Additions – Invitation Kit, Scrapbook Kit

Craft Caravan is excited to introduce our latest Card Kit additions.  Our ‘About Me’ scrapbook kit is perfect for kids to work on over the summer, or try the Invitation Kit for your next big bash!  

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