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Guest Post by Jennifer Richards

How to Create a Paper Bag Kite

The summer provides a great time to spend time with your kids. I found a guide on the Factory Direct Craft blog that explains how to create a paper bag kite and this project looks like a lot of fun. I am going to make this with my kids because it looks like a lot of fun. I have always enjoyed crafting and my kids seem to enjoy it as well. There are many great craft ideas that are perfect for kids of any age.

The necessary craft supplies for this project are a Paper bag, Clear tape, Scissors, Sock yarn or kite string, and a Yarn needle.

1. Trim the top of the bag until is it even and then remove the seam from the bottom of the kite. There should be a flat paper tube remaining.

2. It is now time to decorate the bag. Your kids will love this part.

3. Cut the center of the tube close to the seam

4. On a flap in the center of the kite, add 3 layers of tape. These should be on top of each other.

5. Next, you will need 2 feet of yarn. With the yarn needle, thread the yarn you just cut through the tape about 1/3 inch from the edge and make a knot.

6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 with the other remaining flap.

7. Tie a not at the center of the yarn and you should then attach a piece of string. This will be used to fly the kite.

8. Create the tails by taping 10-14 inch sections of string to the flaps along the bottom.

9. You are ready to fly your kite after adding some extra string to the loop.

Summer is such a great time to play and enjoy time with your kids.  There are so many fun activities for kids on these hot summer days!  A wonderful activity to try with your kids is to go to the beach and explore for crabs, fish and shells and other fun things!  (Of course you need to be able to get to a beach to do this.  Although, if you don’t have a beach you can go to the park or woods and search for bugs and animals! ) We have a beach that has rocks by it and crabs love to hide under them!  Kids can spend hours searching through the rocks for crabs to fill their buckets!  Make sure to have a bucket with a handle and a net and you will be ready to go searching.    You can fill up the buckets with a little sea water and once you find a crab, starfish or little fish you can put them in the bucket.  This way kids get an up close and personal view of the crabs/sealife. Once they are done checking the sealife out they can let them go in the ocean.

It’s always fun to do some reading before you go on an adventure like this.  You can read about  some of the sealife they might find at the ocean.  Make sure to bring a camera so you can take pictures of the crabs, starfish etc they find.  Then they can look at the pictures afterwords and relive the fun they had.  You can even get adventurous and have your kids create a book about their adventure.  They can draw pictures of what they saw, and glue in pictures you took.   You will certainly have some great memories and a fun day after spending a day at the beach like this!

This preschool craft can also make a great gift for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.  This craft would be great for a Christmas or Chanukah gift as well.  It will be special to whoever gets this wonderful gift!  Credit for this idea goes to my nephew who made it for his dad as a gift!

Supplies:

• Popsicle  sticks
• Glue
• Melty beads

Steps:

1. First you will want to create the box, to do this you will start by making a square with the popsicle sticks and gluing the corners together.
2. Then line the sticks side by side across the square to make the base of the box, glue them to the square.
3. You will then need to glue the sticks along the square to make the the walls of the box until they are the right height- approximately 1 1/2 inches.
4. Now you will want to create the top.  Make another square and glue the corners.
5. Glue popsicle sticks side by side to the square to make the top of the box.
6. Create a melty bead design, You can make a heart, flower whatever you like.
7. Iron the melty bead design and let it cool
8. Glue the melty bead design on to the top of the box.
9. Let it dry.

Enjoy!!

photo credit: seantoyer

Happy Fourth of July!!  I hope you are all enjoying this long holiday weekend!!  I know for our family it seems like we go from one cookout to another.  Our kids are in their glory!  Not to mention all the good appetizer food we get to pig out on!!  We had the BEST Choclate dipped oreo cookies at a cookout this weekend.  I had never had the pleasure of having these before but they were delicious.  If you ever get the chance to have some (or get inspired to make some) I highly recommend it!!  It was really sweet and rich, and you only needed one and it was very satisfying!

I love this time of year.  It’s so great to be able to get outside and enjoy the weather.  The kids love being able to play games outside!  They  have hours of fun playing tag, hide and seek and kicking the ball around!    Not to mention splashing in the pool and ocean!  I love summer time!!  I am enjoying every minute of it.  How about you?  What do you and your family do to celebrate the fourth and the summer?

It is summer time at last!!  Almost everyone is out of school, and soon all the kids will be on summer break!!  This school year went so quickly!  Now it is time to enjoy the summer time!   It always seems like summer to me when it is July 4th!  It’s hard to believe but July 4th is just around the corner!  This is a great time to start creating some fun Fourth of July crafts with your kids.  I have highlighted a few fun ideas below.

• Fourth of July Necklace
• Flag Craft
• Flag napkin ring craft
• July Fourth Noise Maker
• Fourth of July Door Hanger

These are all fun Fourth of July Crafts for kids!  Enjoy!