A miniature greenhouse

Every year around this time we start our gardening by a sunny window. I love the fact that it doesn't matter how much space we have, or even if we don't have any outdoor space at all, we always have room for a bit of greenery grown from seed.

This year, we are extraordinarily lucky to have a yard where we will set up a sweet-pea teepee that the kids will be able to hide in, read their books, and dream.

To start your own window-sill greenhouse, all you'll need is a plastic egg carton (as pictured), potting soil, and seeds. If you have a bit more space you can use an apple carton as we did last year. Just have your child fill each well with soil, plant the seeds following the directions on the packet, give it a light misting of water and you're done. Close the carton and let the sun do it's thing.

Inventing board games

Inspired by an old project on Kidley and Rhyme Time, a board game created by an eight year old girl, my kids like to create their own board games from time to time. Especially on indoor days, when everyone is going a bit battty from too much togetherness.

All I do is break out a large sheet of paper, and the pencil-pot, and they get to work. Of course, they each have very different ideas about what the game should be, what it should look like, what the rules should be, how big the squares should be... you name it. The best solution always ends up being to have them each make their own game.

I'm always so impressed at how much thought and planning go into their games, and how they react when we play and discover problems with the rules. Instead of getting frustrated, they tend to work together (!!!) to come up with corrections, and work-arounds.

Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

So in love with Bloesem Kids :-)

Now that we're settling into the house (slooowly), I'm starting to get the itch to have some creative fun once again. This is especially a good thing since I've got a swap to ship out this weekend!!). It was so hard to even contemplate doing fun crafts with the kids when I was going through the move and working full-time, and packing, and mothering, and wifing... 

I'm so glad that Bloesem Kids is around  and chock-full of creative goodness for me to soak in. I'm especially tempted to try out some of Arounna Khounnoraj's craft projects which are beautifully photographed, and explained in a clear, straight-forward manner (no thinking required!).

If you have creative sites that inspire you, please share, I'm always on the lookout for new perspectives :-)

Valentine's Garland

One of my all-time-favorite crafts to do with kids is paper garlands. All you need is a craft punch, some kitchen string, sturdy paper, and a stick of glue.

Depending on the kids' ages, you can have them do the paper-punching, or do it for them. Then all you do is glue two hearts back-to-back over the string. We like to space ours out about six inches, but these are lovely no matter how you do it.

If you are obsessed with garlands like I am, you'll have to check out Ga-ga for Garlands, a photo pool on Flickr set up by Heather Bailey, and the paper garlands Kiddley featured ages ago.

mini swap no.3 (!!)

Molly is hosting her third annual mini-swap, and sign-ups start on Tuesday morning, January 22nd, at 10am ET (do not forget this date & time!). This is a wonderful project where children (and their families) around the world are matched up for a little swap of creative goodness. Children are encouraged to make small gifts for their swap-mates, hand down toys they don't play with anymore, and share bits and pieces from their life (where they live, what they like to do, that sort of thing).

Do head over to read all about it! This is as much fun for the crafty parents, as it is for the kids ... really!

Pom-pom bird and nest

Our local arts center held it's annual Holiday open house for kids recently. This picture is of a bird made by one of daughter's friends at the event (the shots I got of M's bird all came out horribly).

To make the bird:

• Glue two pom-poms together, one big and one small (body/head)
• Glue paper beak, and two googly eyes to the small pom-pom
• Glue feathers to either side of the larger pom-pom for the wings

To make the nest:

• Wrap one pipe-cleaner into a loose basket
• Thread bits of ivy (or leaves, extra pine branches, or whatever greenery you have lying about) in and out of it to make a nice bed

Voila! Just lay your little bird in the nest & you're done. Very satisfying :-)

I'm thinking my daughter's little bird will make a nice addition to our Christmas Tree.

Pilgrim hat

As you can see plainly here, this is a fun and rather silly project. Perfect for getting kids ready for Thanksgiving.

What you'll need:

• Black and orange construction paper (we use the 12x12 sheets)
• Scissors
• Tape and glue
• Decorative scraps (glitter, bits of paper, feathers ... whatever strikes your child's fancy)

To make the hat:

• Cut one sheet of paper into a large circle
• Measure your child's head and cut a smaller circle that size in the center of the larger one.
• Cut a second sheet of paper the length of the diameter of the child's head. Tape end-to-end to make a tube.
• Tape the tube to the brim, and tape the smaller circle to the top of the hat.
• Decorate!

I'd love to see any hats you make, so please include a link to your photos when you comment!

Halloween jewels

Today is Blog Action Day, and participating bloggers are to post something environmental. I'm thinking that recycling magazines and stickers is a good (& crafty!) place to start!

About a year ago I discovered a fun craft that can be customized to make lovely seasonal gifts. It has the added benefit that you can use recycled elements (which warms my green heart), and is very easy for kids to do on their own with minimal parental interference.

This time around I used some stickers that my son got with his latest Mathmania mailing. To make these sweet treasures you'll need craft glue, glass gems (available at most craft stores and florists), and pictures to glue them on. When they're completely dry you can glue strong magnets to the backs of these to make gorgeous, home-made refrigerator magnets. My daughter made some as gifts for her teachers last year and they were a huge hit.

To make your own:

Pick your images, and check that they fit nicely under your gems. Pause to admire the magnifying effect. Squeeze out a good dollop of glue on to the back of your gem.

Place over your image. It's very wet, so you'll have plenty of time to align to your satisfaction, even if they slide a bit while drying.

Set aside over night so they dry completely. In the morning cut out your gems and admire your work.

If you make these with your kids, we'd love to see pictures, so do add a link in your comment so we can enjoy your handy-work!

Fall garlands

When the leaves start falling it's the perfect time to get the kids outside and crafty! One of our favorite activities is to scavenge for beautiful objects to make garlands with.

All you will need is some kitchen string, and your imagination. In general, we look for things that aren't too heavy, and won't disintegrate too quickly like large leaves, dried flowers, and pine-cones (big and small).

When you are done, you can hang your children's creations in their rooms, or use them to decorate the bushes outside your home.

What's your favorite outdoor craft for Fall?

Finger puppet fun

One Sunday morning my daughter asked if she could make finger puppets. This was so easy, I couldn't say no (and I do say no pretty often, I have to if I want to keep my sanity, or have a few minutes of nothingness).

We measured her index finger and I cut out a whole-lotta felt squares to be folded in half and sewn along the top and length -- leaving the bottom open for little fingers. Once stitched we turned the puppets inside out so to hide the seams.

Next up, I dumped a pile of fabric scraps and random adornments including googly eyes, feathers, yarn and pretty fabric flowers. I then handed her the fabric glue and let her have at it. It was a glorious mess and a wonderful (quiet) frenzy of creative activity that lasted at least an hour.

My son watched from the sidelines for a while and finally stepped in to make his own. When he got bored (tired?) of sewing his bodies, I took over so he could get to the fun part -- decorating!

All that day they literally spent hours making up stories and creating their cardboard stage and sets. And in the late afternoon we had  family theater time to view their 1/2 planned, 1/2 improv productions. Lets just say they both had a lot of blood and gore (I might have to have a talk with them about that!).

9/22/2007