'Happy Fall' Wreath

This was a simple wreath I did with my kids in school to help celebrate the coming season. Apples are ready to harvest in the fall so I thought this would be a fun alternative to leaves or pumpkins for a wreath.

You can also take this opportunity to teach your kids about Jonny Appleseed, an American Legend. Chances are, your kiddos might not know what a 'legend' is, and in this case, Mr. Appleseed is based on a actual person that played an important role in our country's early years.

Another thing this craft teaches, is patterns. So far in my homeschooling, patterns have popped up in Kindergarten - 2nd grade levels. We've been playing with them in our lessons, so it was fun to incorporate this skill into a craft.

You can control your kids involvement depending on their age, either cutting all the apples beforehand, or let your kids do it themselves. We didn't have a lot of time for this craft so I had everything ready for us to put it together, and it only took about 10-15 minutes to complete.

I had everything on hand, and you most likely do as well. You will need construction paper or cardstock, hot glue gun or Elmers, ribbon or string, and cardboard.
Use a plate to draw a circle onto your cardboard to your desired size. I choose to cover mine in strips of felt since I thought it would look better in the end, but it turns out the apples will cover the entire thing. So you can skip this step if you'd like.

If you just have cardboard to attach apples to, Elmers glue will work just fine, but if you're gluing to felt, use a glue gun. I put a dab of hot glue on the wreath, then my boys stuck the apples on in a pattern.
Use ribbon or string to attach a dangling apple for the 'Happy Fall' sign, as well as a ribbon loop for hanging. I just used a sewing pin to attach the ribbon. That's it! I have found that keeping things simple when it comes to kids and crafts is key to both you and your kids having an enjoyable time. Happy Fall!

Chunky Crayons

I have seen recycled crayons like this on Etsy, though making them yourself for free is so easy and fun. If you're like me, then you have mountains of well-used and broken crayons lying around.

You'll need:

Crayons
Cooking spray
Muffin tin

Just peel the paper off the crayons and break them up. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and then arrange the broken crayons into the tins however you like. Mix and match to create new colors.
Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and melt for 7-8 minutes. Once melted, CAREFULLY remove them from the oven (you do not want to clean up melted crayon wax).
If you'd like, take a tooth pick and swirl the colors a bit. Allow to cool before removing from the tin. Some of the colors look like they completely mixed, though you will have a surprise when you pop them out. Getting them out wasn't too hard, though some needed a little coaxing.
Aren't those the coolest? My boys were ooohing and ahhing every time one popped out.
I'd say these crayons worked better for the big coloring pages like these ones, since without a pointed end like regular crayons, your accuracy isn't as good. The boys had a lot of fun coloring with them and loved seeing how the colors mixed. We will definitely be doing this again.

It's Snowing!

All these crafts have been turning our house into a winter wonderland and the boys have been loving it. Even though we live somewhere that gets a decent amount of snow and there is even some on the ground, we have the worst air quality in the nation. It is not advisable to go outside. It has been this way for awhile, and will probably stay this way for anotherwhile (I just made that word up).

So, to make winter more wonderlandish (instead of smoggish) we made it snow inside the house. We used cotton balls again and it was really simple. You can either just do white, but I had this idea to make pretty light blue and purple snowflakes mixed with the white. It didn't work out exactly like I imagined, but it was still fun to do.

In a small container place some water and food coloring and mix it up.
Maybe if I had put some vinegar in there as well the colors would have stayed better. Anyway. Dip the cotton balls into the colored water, gently squeeze, and place on a paper towel covered plate. It will look like this:
I put the plate on a heater vent overnight and this is what they looked like the next morning:
Again, not exactly like I had imagine, but no one around here minded. Using a long sewing needle and some thread we strung them up and taped them to the ceiling. String some up in groups of 3, 4, or 5 to vary the hanging length. Try to ignore the really ugly chandelier hanging in the middle.

Day 2 - Painting Snowmen

These wooden snowmen were one of my craft store clearance finds (I think around .60 a piece). They're normally not that expensive and craft stores carry a variety of shapes/styles all year round. It's not a very crafty craft on my part, but my boys love it and it keeps them entertained for about an hour. A whole hour. Of quiet painting. Did I mention the quiet?
Have you ever given your child a palette full of paint? If not, you must. Tape down some paper towels and let them have at it. Most of the fun in painting these things usually ends up in mixing the paint and creating new colors. These plastic palettes are usually around $1.
This guy could mix colors for hours. Some of the colors, according to him, that he made this time around were 'swamp green' and 'caramel brown.' He isn't just topless for painting. If you read my blog on a regular basis you'll notice he is shirtless in most pictures. He prefers it that way.
Here is Schooler's finished product:
After they dried I glued magnets to the back and we hung them on the fridge. Anyone else out there doing winter crafts with their kids? Come back tomorrow, I will have day 3 of winter crafts.

WinterWonderland, Day 1

For the next week or so the weather forecast is 30 degrees with smog/haze. Fantastic. Horrible for playing outside, but great for the winter unit we are doing in school right now. My boys love doing crafts and it is a great way to break up the day when both you and your kids are starting to go a little crazy being cooped up in the house.

If you are a sucker for sales then do not go to Joann or Michael's right now. You will go home will way too much stuff. I know this from personal experience. In my opinion Michael's had a way better selection of Christmas items on sale (80% off). But Christmas items were not what I was after. It works in my favor that even though winter has just begun really, all winter/snow related crafts go on sale after Christmas as well. Now is the time to stock up if you too are cooped up.

So today begins a flurry of winter related crafts for you and your tots. The first is a classic, and despite all my ramblings about craft store sales, it requires no purchases. That's right, it is the cotton ball snowman.
I did this last year too and my boys love it. All you need is a piece of paper, glue, and a bag of cotton balls. What I do is lightly draw the outline of a snowman so you will have a guide to follow as you glue. Also, jumbo cotton balls may be too big (like mine) so you can easily tear them in half and roll gently in your hand to reform into ball form.
Once all the cotton balls are glued on, let your tot draw on the stick arms, and cut the nose and hat out of construction paper. Simple and classic. This is a great craft, even for toddlers. Mom just needs to pipe the glue onto the snowman and then let your little one stick on the cotton balls.
Please ignore the messy hair and shirtlessness. I'm sure I was still wearing my pajamas. You would get lazy too if you homeschooled :)

Candy Cane Ornaments

I know a lot of people are interested in helping their children understand the true meaning of Christmas. And if somehow, in doing this, I can involve crafts and sweets, well, it's right up my alley.

My mother-in-law gave me this book, "The Legend of the Candy Cane" a few years ago that explains the meaning of the candy cane shape and colors through a really touching story. It would be a nice book to share with your children during the Christmas season, and to add to it, you can do this candy cane craft along with it.

Though I came up with this idea myself, I'm sure I am not the first to think of it. These are simply chenille pipe cleaners you can find at any craft store, twisted together, and then bent into the candy cane shape.

Pretty simple craft, even for preschool age. If you're making these for a large tree, I would use two of each color twisted together, it looks a little better (see photo below). Though if you're looking to decorate a mini tree, then cut your pipe cleaners in half and twist one of each color together.

Looks pretty cute on the tree, right? Your kids will love that they made the ornaments themselves.

Play Dough and Erupting Volcanos

Have you ever made play dough? If not, it is high time you did. Even if your kids are too old for it, you have no kids, or are a kid yourself, you must experience it. My kids are experienced Play-Doh players, yet making and playing with this dough was almost a completely new experience. There's nothing like kneading warm, smooth dough and watching as the colors get worked into it. Here is the recipe I use, it is very easy and you probably have all the ingredients on hand.

1 Cup flour
1 Cup warm water
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 Cup salt
Food Coloring

Directions: Mix all ingredients except food coloring in a medium saucepan over medium heat. It will be wet and goopy.


Stir until a dough forms. Remove from heat. Divide dough into however many colors you want. Add food coloring and knead until incorporated.

Now that you've got some dough, how about you make some volcancos? And while you're at it, make them erupt as well (we've been learning about volcanos in school). Here's what you'll need, and again, you'll most likely have everything you need on hand.

Small container like an empty yogurt cup (Iused old play-doh cans)
Plates
Tape
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Play Dough
Food Coloring (if desired)

Tape your container to the plate. This will make it easier to form the volcano.


I used red and green food coloring when making my dough to get brown.
Form your volcano with the dough, making sure to overlap the top so that the lava will come up and over the sides.




Pour 1/4 cup of water into the cup and stir in 1 Tablespoon of baking soda. Stir to dissolve. At this point you can add red food coloring if you'd like your lava to be red. Last step, pour 1/4 cup vinegar into the cup and watch what happens.



The eruption won't be explosive or long-lived, but my boys loved it and requested it be done over and over again. And then again. Until I ran out of vinegar.