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I recently had the pleasure to try out Craft Caravan’s Kids Club.  They sent me one of their project packets that their members get, so I could check out the projects they offer.  I have to say I thought it was fabulous and I think it would actually make a great gift!  I did both projects included in the kit with my children, ages 4 and 7 and they loved it!  I will share the first project today and the second tomorrow.  Even though there was only supplies for one child, I was able to duplicate both crafts pretty easily!!  Getting this craft kit is like having craft inspiration sent to you once a month.    They send the craft kit in a shiny envelope twice a month.  What fun for kids to get their own mail sent to them!

The Kit was very nicely organized with Packets for each craft and clear directions.

The Craft included the Leaf, colored sand, and String.  The leaf had paper you took off one at a time to reveal a sticky back, so you could shake the sand on the leaf.

I actually made my own version too, using the extra colored sand I had, I will share the steps for that below.

Supplies:

• Card Stock Paper
• Glue Stick
• Colored Sand or Glitter – orange, red, Yellow – to show the changing colors of the leaves
• Whole Puncher
• Scissors
• String
• Bowl or plate to sprinkle sand over

Steps:

1. Draw a Leaf shape on cardstock
2. Cut out leaf
3. Punch hole in one end
4. Put a little glue on one portion of leaf
5. Sprinkle one color of sand/glitter on it (put leaf in plate or bowl to minimize clean up)
6. Add more glue and another color
7. Continue until the leaf is full of varying fall colors
8. Put string through hole and hang up once dry.

Craft Caravan also also has card making kits that they send out .  I haven’t seen these personally, but I love the idea! There Craft Making Kits include 8 brightly colooured cards and envelopes and have many child friendly supplies like glitter glue and stickers.

Thank you to Craft Caravan for letting me have a kit so I can try out your club!  It was great and the kids loved it!  It’s a big thumbs up!  I will be getting some for presents this holiday season!

I got the biggest kick out of this Dad sharing some great simple games to do with your kids. They are really simple and you probably know how to do many of them yourself. Sometimes it just takes a reminder of all the simple things we have at our fingertips that can be fun learning games. Enjoy!

It’s almost summertime and getting to that time of going to beaches and lakes and exploring all the creatures that live there!  My kids love going to this beach by us that is in an inlet.  You can see the crabs and minoes moving around.  They love to catch the tiny fish in the bucket and watch them!!  In honor of the coming warmer beach weather (can you tell I am ready for it?) I am doing some sea animal crafts!  Today we are creating a Crab Craft!  I was inspired for this craft by a GREAT craft book called Crafty Kids: Fun Projects for You and Your Toddler by Rosie Hankin.  I was at the library with my kids the other day and discovered this book while browsing the craft section for inspiration.  All of the crafts in this book are simple to create and have great colorful pictures.  You will be seeing more crafts inspired by this book in the future.

So here is what you need to make Carl the Crab

Supplies

• Paper Plate
• Construction paper-one color for legs and one for background
• Paint
• Glue
• Tape

Steps

• Paint underside of paper plate
• Paint eyes on plate by edge
• Let Plate dry
• Tape two pieces of construction paper together (unless you have a big piece of paperstock)
• Put plate on paper, centered and draw a circle around it.
• Remove plate
• Cut out two pincher claws and eight legs from other color construction paper (different from background)
• Glue Pinchers and legs on circle
• Glue dried plate on Construction paper.

You might like to talk about that Crab starts with C and write out the words “Carl the Crab” showing your child the C to reinforce their letter learning and the sound that goes with it.  Enjoy your Crab Artwork !!

What do you like to do in the summer? Share in the comments below.

This is a fun activity for kids!  My daughter once again inspired this!  She decided we should make something with the paper plates we had and I suggested-let’s make a mask!!

Supplies

• Paper Plate
• Scissors
• Hole Puncher
• Crayons or Markers
• String or Yarn

Steps

1. Cut out holes for eyes
2. Let your child decorate the mask-they can make eyelashes or eyebrows, rosy cheeks etc.  (my daughter was into solid colors on this day!)
3. Suggest drawing on the outside (bottom) of the plate- (my daugher decided she wanted to do the top!)
4. Hole Punch on sides of plates
5. Tie Yarn/String through holes

Now you have your very own Mask for playing with!!  A variation is to get large popsicle sticks and glue it to the bottom and they can hold it in front of their face.  Enjoy! Have Fun!