web hosting short URLs photo sharing

KID'S CRAFTS

Crafts on this Page

Eggshell Mosaic
submitted by Lesley

Create mosaics with food dye and broken eggshell (the best part is smashing the eggs)  Separate shell into piles.  Fill bowls with a variety of food colourings.  Dye each pile. let it dry, then put each colour into separate placstic bags.  Let the kids crush them using a spoon or fists and you have the perfect material for mosaic or massage. Lesley's note - eggshell mosaics work beautifully on cardboard.  Take eg cardboard pencil holder, letter holder and glue eggshells on.  You don't need to grout this type of mosaic, but remember the background will show through, so paint first if necessary.

Edible Art
submitted by Lesley

Using slices of white bread, your kids can create masterpieces that are good enough to eat.  Add a few drops of food colouring to several glasses of milk, then using NEW paintbrushes, have kids paint pictures on bread. Toast lightly and use in sandwiches.

Recipe for volcano mixture:

1 cup glutunous flour (white)
1 cup water
1 TBSP oil/2 cup salt
1 tsp cream of tartar (optional but it will make it smoother
consistency)

Mix ingredients in a pan.  Cook over medium heat until mixture pulls away from sides of pan and becomes dough in texture and consistency.  Knead until cool.

Wall Hanging
submitted by Nite109

This is a neat and EZ  idea for the kids to do themselves with a little preparation from the adult.  I bought burlap and cut out pieces 14" by 16" one for each child.   Then let the child pull the threads out from the 2 sides and the bottom to make a fringe look.  At the top, and rolled
once, the kids glued a twig gathered from the yard.....or you could use a dowel, about 18".

From this twig or dowel, I had them tie a piece of macrame or rope at both ends  to use as the hanger.  Now the decorating of the wall hanging itself.....the kids loved this.  If they are old enuff, give them different colors and pieces of felt to cut out.  You can preshape some designs on the
felt - or the Alphabet, the sun, flowers, trees, any design you or they want.

They glued these designs on their wall hanging.   Most of the kids liked to put their names on it somewhere and drew a design around their names.  And proudly displayed these on the door to their bedrooms.

Jewelry Box
submitted by Nite109

Well, this is another kids kraft I taught in my class......they made jewelry boxes for their Moms for Mothers Day.  I begged at a cigar store for their cigar boxes....they do sell them.  Then I made a pattern out of each box  - cut material to go totally around the inside top to the top and down
the back and under and up over the front edge and wide enuff to cover the side edges both inside and out.   Laid of piece of batting a little tiny bit shorter than the material. which the kids glued to the material.

The kids then glued the material to the box and then they added glued pieces of designs and their Moms name out of whatever stuff.  They added glitter and stones, cut up jewelry pieces, etc  and/or whatever else they brought to the class  (or if you have stuff, I just let them use whatever supplies were on hand). And finally, they cut a piece of Royal Blue Felt and glued to
the bottom.

You Need:
One Net type bath poof
2 Wiggly Eyes
Fun Foam (for ears)
Ribbon for girl bunnies
Cotton Ball or Pom Pom for nose
Glue gun or a good crafting glue

Cut out 2 long bunny ears out of the crafting foam.  Using the poof as the “head” glue the foam ears to the top. Glue on the eyes and either a cotton ball or a pom pom for a nose. You can also cut out bucked teeth from white fun foam and apply it under the nose.

For a girl bunny add a pretty bow from any ribbon.  These make great inexpensive gifts for the kids.

Popcorn T-Shirt
submitted by Vampirs Mom

Materials needed:
T-shirt - remember to wash before painting - NO Fabric Softener
Fabric paints - white & yellow & red
Material to make popcorn pocket

Cut material to make a popcorn pocket - 8" in length & 6" wide.  Attach pocket to front of shirt with squiggle of paint & allow to dry...when doing this kinda pleat the sides to make it look like a bag used for popcorn.

Now to make the "popcorn" - Brush on simple round "popcorn" shapes with diluted paint - one large & 3 small circles.....they actually look like "pawprints".  After the paint dries, outline the 3 circles with white.

Inside the middle of the large circle near the small circle detail with yellow paint.  Paint (write) on T-shirt front "POPCORN" and on pocket the price of your popcorn.

Buy telephone cable (Builders supply store).  This is 10 strand wire which is encased in black plastic.  The 10 strand is the best thickness to use and provides you with 10 different colors of wire.

Strip off the plastic (use scissors to cut slit in end and start to peel off - dont need to buy a stripping tool. Wire is sold by the foot for about .35 a foot. Cut wires into lengths of about 10-12 inches. Take a wire and wrap one end around a small cookie cutter shape (I used stars and hearts, .50 each at craft store).

Twist off around remaining wire length. Put 9-10 pony beads (buy value packs at craft stores) on length of wire take end and make a small loop and thread back down through beads (1 or 2). Cut a yard of thin ribbon (get on sale usually 3 or 4 spools (10 yds) for $1.00) and run through small loop to make necklace.

I attach a recipe for homemade bubble soap to ribbon also. I usually type up on computer on small (1 1/2 by 2 1/2) squares, laminate, and cut out with a fancy scissor. Punch hole and thread on ribbon before knotting necklace.

Bubbles are made easily from:

Water
Liquid dish soap
corn syrup

Put about two cups of water in a bowl.  Add about one cup of soap.  Then drizzle in some corn syrup and stir.  Test it by blowing bubbles.  The corn syrup increases the life of the bubble.  Add more if you need it.

When you get it right, then you can use it.  We use it in big bubble makers and even a small battery operated bubble gun.

Fill a paddling pool with bubble solution (6 cups of washing up liquid, eight gallons of water and
one cup fo glycerin from the chemist) let it sit for a few hours, then start blowing bubbles
 

Write-On/Wipe-Off Message Board
submitted by Penny

Empty Cereal Box or Other Cardboard
Clear Contact Paper
White Acrylic
Paint
Blue Acrylic Paint
Flat Paint Brush
Old Toothbrush
Self-Adhesive Magnetic Strip
Colored Pencil or Acrylic Paint
Fine Tip Permanent Marker
White Glue

Cut out two pieces of cardboard whatever size and shape you want your message board to be. I cut the first one out then traced it on to another piece of cardboard, then cut inside the line.

Basecoat the unprinted side with white acrylic paint. You will have to paint several coats allowing to dry thoroughly between coats. It will curl a little.  Since I am an impatient person, I discovered that if you blow-dry at least the last coat, it will smoothen it flat again. I did not paint the second piece which is for the back side and that may have also helped to pull it flat.

Float shade with the blue acrylic paint on the edges. To float shade, you start off with a clean wet flat brush. Tap the brush on the side of the water container slightly to remove the water from the ferrule ( the metal part). Next lay your brush down on a piece of paper towel until the sheen of the water has come off the brush. Dip one corner of the brush into the paint. You do not need to use a lot of paint. You have to blend the paint to make it spread across the brush in a graduated
shade.

Start blending by stroking your brush straight back for about 1" to 1 1/2" and keep stroking back over across the same stroke mark approximately 7 to 8 times. When you have blended properly you will see the graduated color.

To float the brush on the edge, place the brush with the edge that was dipped in the paint on
the outer edge and pull your brush around the edge. You will have to load your brush several times to get all the way around. My piece is only about 6" x 6" and I had to reload about 6 times.

If you have to go back over something to darken it, you have to wait for it to dry thoroughly first otherwise you will lift off the layer you just painted. Remember, it's always easier to add more color than it is to try and take it away, so try and use the smallest amount of paint that you can
and float sheer layers, building them up to the desired color.

If you don't want to float the color on, you could try to use a felt tip marker and edge the design all around. I just like the look of the floated color. Next, I spattered the blue acrylic paint all over the message board. I dipped an old toothbrush into water and blotted it slightly on the paper towel.

For this project, I borrowed my kids' box of colored pencils, because the colors were brighter than
my oil-based pencils. I colored in little rectangles and put dots, or plaid lines across each one. I colored in a heart between each rectangle. I used a Rapidograph technical pen for the detail work, which is dashed lines representing stitch marks.

You can use any fine point permanent marker for this. Glue the two layers together, printed sides
together and place a weight on top of them while they are drying to makesure it lays flat. When dry, cut a piece of clear contact paper at least 2 times larger than the message board (make sure that the contact paper is larger than the message board). I like to lay the painted piece on the paper first making sure that there are no air bubbles.

You can smooth them out by rubbing with the side of a piece of scrap cardboard.  Fold the contact paper over and lay it over the back side. Trim around the edges, leaving a slight border of contact paper. When everything is trimmed off, press the edges of the contact paper together to seal the edges shut.

I took wooden stars and painted them, blue with silver or white dots and red with gold or white stripes.  Had I had more time I could have embellished them a bit more but time is something I didn't have much of.  I had two different sizes of stars.  I did some barrettes with 4 small stars and some with 2 large and a small.  I did pins with one of each size.  I just hot glued them on.

Links to other Kid's Crafts on the Net:
An Uncle Sam Hat