valentine's day: straw crazy!

With a few supplies, you kidlet can whip up a series of necklaces or garlands, their choice!

Materials:

*twine or yarn
*scissors
*straws (save your straws!)
*glue stick
*paper punch
*scrap paper

scrumdilly-do it!

Hand your wee one a pair of kid friendly scissors and let them go to town cutting up a handful of straws. This is a great project for recycling them straws you've collected out and about! If your wee one is really wee, cut each straw into two or three pieces so that they can lace them safely (with supervision).

Start your tot off by either tying one of of the string to a piece of straw or anchoring a loop between two punched shapes (tape off the end if it is too floopy to easily thread through the straw beads). If you tie off, make sure to leave extra room at the other end so you can knot up the finished fancy-pants piece!

For the punched shapes, make sure the twine is sandwiched between the two with a healthy does of glue stick.

For the lacing, let them go to town. You can talk all sorts of math and science during this as your kidlet creates seriation and patterns in their stringing. Alternate if you like between the shapes and the straw beads.

Package them up in small tins, stitched bags, plastic bags, half a cardboard tube decorated and capped off. there's all sorts of fun ways your wee one can gift these to friend, family & teachers!

independence day bunting

Here's an easy way to turn your spin art into a festive holiday bunting!

You will need:
*6 or more spin art circles
*ribbon, at least 2 yards
*scissors
*glue stick

scrumdilly-do it!

Gather your supplies in one place. Fold all of your spin art circles in half.Knot one end of your ribbon about eight inches from one end. This will help keep your first circle in place.Cover a small stretch of ribbon with your glue stick. slide your folded circle onto the ribbon so that the ribbon butts up against the crease.**Slather some more gluestick on one side of the inside of your. circle and fold back into place and smooth.Add your next circle in the same manner and so on. You can accordion fold your bunting as you go. I worked from the spool and cut eight inches or so out from the final circle knotting the ribbon directly next to the last one.Hang in festive place, sit down and enjoy some lemonade.**You can of course always hand the folded circles to your kidlets along with some tape and or a stapler and see what they come up with. kids are crafty like that. Happy Fourth!

Egg Memory Game

If you celebrate Easter, you most probably have oodles of those plastic egg bits floating about your home. Most of your eggs are probably a mish-mash of mixed up pieces which is perfect for this memory game. All you need is an even number of egg halves and pairs of matching items to hide under the halves.We used jelly-beans (FYI, Gimbal's jelly beans are peanut free, gluten-free, dairy-free & gelatin free!) and twelve eggs. It makes for twenty-four game pieces. The eggs we had were originally hinged but we snapped them apart but shhh, don't tell anyone!

scrumdilly-do it!

Set up your game on a clean kitchen table or on the floor on a clean solid colored mat or cloth. You can of course use a print but it makes it harder to see the jelly beans. Make sure your wee one's aren't peeking as you order out those pairs in a grid format.If your wee ones are quite young, match up each pair with a like-colored egg half. For instance, the red beans will have pink halves over them, the yellow will have yellow halves and so on. for your older tots, go a little mix crazy. Some will catch on right quick but it still makes for a fun game!Once the game is set up, let your kidlets go for it! The pieces you use can be eaten up by your tots which of course will call for a brand-new batch when they're ready for another round. You can also use buttons, stickers, beads, colored pasta, shaped pasta, etc. If you don;t have plastic eggs, whip out some tiny paper cups, cupcake liners or nut cups. Either way, make sure it's fun! Happy almost Easter!

Hang a heart or two

Repurposed art heart garlands....Here's another bit you can do with your kidlet's artwork. Like the hearts to flowers, trace a heart shape onto the back of the artwork and cut out. You can do more than one size for fun variety.

Stack up your hearts and bring them with you to the sewing machine. Set your stitch to the longest you can, I set mine to 4 and place a hard under the foot. Stitch along the heart with a quick backstitch at the top to hold and continue running the machine as you get the bottom. Guide the heart out behind the foot and gently tug along the thread as you run the machine al ittle more, about six inches or so. Add another heart under the foot and stitch. Continue until you have a length of garland yo uare happy with. I did this from top to bottom for a vertical garland. You can do this from side to side for a horizontal garland if you like.Not into hearts? Stitch up squares or circles. It's all fun!

hearts to flowers

I am sure you have all seen, if not made, the heart petal flower pops. The fun flowers that use a lollipop as the base with hearts for petals. It's all over the internet and if you're an old school Martha Kids reader you probably have that issue bookmarked like me. So, here's my take. It's pretty much the same thing but without the sugared center.You will need:
*3-4 hearts for each flower
*pipecleaner, chenille stems
*large buttons
*small hole punch
For this project, I used the artwork that was created for the shake and make painting.

Flip your paper or kidlet's artwork over so that the print and prettiness faces down. Trace a heart shape onto the back as many times as you can fit. I used the template from the memory game. An easy template can be made by folding a 3" by 4" piece of paper in half and cutting out a half heart shape on the fold. This size heart would use 3 hearts for each flower.Cut out the hearts. and stack three or four on top of each other. Punch a hole or two if using a small punch. One hole if using a regular punch. Give yourself some room from the edge so that your kidlet doesn't tear the heart as they thread the stem through.Thread a pipe cleaner/chenille stem up through the hole from the bottom. Add your button and bend the same point of the stem though a different hole in the button and back down through the same hole the stem has already been pushed thorough.Give the two bits of stem a twist and arrange your petals. Ta-da! A beautiful bouquet made from your child's artwork!

revisiting the shake and make

Also known as container painting! The cool thing about Valentine's Day is that you can bring out any of your favorite projects, use just pink & red and your are up to your eyeballs in festive love-fun!If you do not have an empty oatmeal container, you can use a coffee tin or a yogurt container. For this edition, I used a yogurt container. All you have to do is cut your paper to fit.Roll your paper into the container so that is sticks to the sides, add a handful of marbles, beads or buttons and a squirt or two of paint. The less paint you use, the more streaky fun the end result will be. Pop the lid on and hand of to your wee one for some shaking fun. Put on some favorite tunes and hold a mini dance party!When the shaking is done, pull out the art, set in a safe place to dry and add a sprinkle or two of glitter. Once dry, you can turn your kidlet's art into all sorts of valentine fun. Check back tomorrow for some ideas.

Repurposed Art: Puffy Hearts

You can also do this ahead of time with blank paper and have your wee ones art them up before stuffing and puffing them...it's up to you.

What you need:

*your kidlets artwork or blank paper
*scissors
*white glue
*clothespins or paper clips
*recycled plastic bags, grocery, produce, bread, etc.
*paint, chalk, markers, etc. if using white paper.
*ribbon, string, yarn
*stapler or hole punch

scrumdilly-do it:

Gather up your supplies. Cut up your wee one's artwork into two or more equal sized squares. If you are using a large sheet of paper, fold it into quarters. If you are using white paper, do the same.Cut out a heart shape through the layers of paper. You will be able to make half as many puffy hearts as their are cut shapes. Two hearts for each "pillow". If you are using blank paper, make your hearts as large as possible so allow your wee one's ample creating space. If you are having your wee ones repurpose their own artwork, you may want to draw a heart shaped template for them or if they are able to, have them draw their own template.Apply glue to the "wrong" side of the repurposed heart just around the edges but leaving a two inch space. The opening will allow you to "stuff" your puffy hearts.Place the companion heart, "right" side up on top of the glue-y heart, add paper clips or clothes pins to the edges to help secure. Set aside to dry.Once dry, if you are using white paper, now is the time for your kidlets to art them up. If you are using paint, set the hearts aside to allow the paint to dry. If you are using repurposed art, it is time to "stuff" 'em up. Get your plastic bags and cut into manageable pieces. I used three quarters of a bread bag for one 8 inch heart. Squish 'em up and push into the opening.Add glue to the edge to seal and use your clips to hold it closed.Once dry, staple a ribbon, string or yarn loop to the top. You can also use a hole punch. You now have a nifty Valentine's Day ornament for your front door, door knob or what have you. Give a little love to your friends and family, Happy Heart Day!

Sack it up!

Hop on over to Kids Craft Weekly for my newest scrumdilly-do project; Lunch Sack Holiday Cards. If you're not a subscriber to Kids Craft Weekly, make sure to sign-up! It is chock full of nifty, crafty, artful ideas (if I do say so myself!) This week's weekly includes four holiday projects along with some nifty gift ideas. Here's a sneek peek:

Repurposed Art: Paper Chains

When I was 5 years old, I fell ill with pneumonia...twice! Amidst all the colorforms and coloring books, someone had given me a pad of gummed orange paper strips. I remember laying on our old scratchy brown couch wrapped up in a vintage silk quilt making link after link to form this tremendous paper chain. I thought these papers were the bees knees. What better way to make a paper chain than to repurpose your kidlet's own fabulous art? You can even make art for the sole purpose of chaining it up!

What you need:

*flat, colorful paper artwork
*scissors
*glue stick, white glue or tape (kidlets LOVE tape!)scrumdilly-do it!

Take scissors to your kidlet's artwork cutting it into thin (no more than an inch and a half wide) strips at least six inches long. Place withing reach of your wee ones. If your kidlets are old enough to do this, allow them to do so. Scissor work is always fun for wee ones and it helps strengthen those wee finger muscles. Decorative edged scissors would work also but sometimes cutting with them can be frustrating.Once all the strips are cut, begin with the first link. Have your kidlet hold their strip in front of them, horizontally and artwork side up. They will need to add adhesive to one end of the strip. Once the glue is on the end, curl the ends under to form a loop, pressing together so that the glue holds.Next, take another strip and insert halfway through the completed loop. Add adhesive to one end and connect, making two complete loops or links, if you will.Continue on until your kidlets have a chain deemed worthy for the tree, their bedroom or wherever it is they wish to display it.You may want to have your wee ones complete a pile of unattached links to alternate with. Sometimes adding a new link to a loop can be frustrating so starting off with a bunch of links to join can ease that frustration. You can also use old holiday cards, gift wrap and/or magazines for this project. Have fun!