Winter Mittens Paper Craft

Here is another cute and simple preschool craft created by our wonderful library lady, Mrs. D.! Logan always enjoys using the paint daubers, so this was a hit. (Note: If you don't have paint daubers at home, you can buy Bingo markers at Dollar Tree that work very well for dot-eriffic projects.)

Materials:

• construction paper
• pencil
• scissors
• hole punch
• yarn
• Bingo/paint daubers

Directions:

1. Draw and cut out a mitten shape. Use this as a template to create a matching mitten, and cut it out. (Tip: If you want a sturdier template to use again and again, consider making one out of boxboard -- like a cereal box.)
2. Punch a hole in each mitten.
3. Cut a length of yarn. Thread each end through the holes and tie knots to secure.
4. Give your child paint or Bingo daubers and let him decorate the mittens. Allow paint to dry before displaying the mittens.

11 more Bingo marker project ideas for the rest of the year:

• Easy Paper Easter Eggs
• Decorated Easter Eggs (Real)
• Spring Butterflies
• 4th of July Mini Flags
• Paper Owl
• Fall Hand Print Tree
• Coffee Filter Leaves
• TP Tube Indian Corn
• Paper Bag Indian Corn
• Turkey Table Toppers
• Christmas Trees

Turkey Table Toppers

Here's an easy craft to keep the kids busy this Thanksgiving. Once again, this idea is brought to you by our wonderful library lady, Mrs. D. (I hope she isn't offended that I love her ideas and run with them!) These turkey table toppers are fairly quick and easy for little ones to create without too much parent prep. I think that it would be cute to have child-made place cards for everyone by simply adding names to the tail feathers. That would surely make for a happy Thanksgiving table.

The good news is that most of the items needed for this project are things you likely have at home. The only item you may not have are the Bingo markers. I assume that the library ordered these Bingo daubers, but my suggestion is that you save yourself a lot of money and get some from Dollar Tree! I bought ours there over two years ago and they are still working great. (I normally see these in the school supply aisle.) We have red, orange, green, blue, and purple. The only color I have seen at Dollar Tree that I did not purchase was black since I figured that would have limited craft possibilities. Personally, I think this was a great investment for kids' crafts so I would definitely recommend getting some!

{Turkeys by Logan, 4, and Mia, 6}

Materials:

• TP tube
• small paper plate
• scissors
• tacky glue (or school glue)
• yellow/orange construction paper
• brown construction paper
• pencil
• 2 googly eyes (or eyeball stickers)
• Bingo markers (or regular markers)
• red pipe cleaner (or construction paper)
• something to protect work surface (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut a small paper plate in half. One half is needed per turkey, so if you are only making one turkey, set this aside for another project. (One option is this paper plate turkey.)
2. Cut a toilet paper tube in half. If you want to make lots of turkeys but you are short on TP tubes, you can also cut them into thirds. Using your scissors, make two small notches on one end of the tube, about 1/4" deep. They will be spaced equally apart so that the paper plate will be able to slide into the notches after it is decorated. (If you need a project for leftover tube sections, try making bird feeders.)
3. Make a beak out of yellow (or orange) construction paper. The easiest way to do this is to cut a strip of paper and then cut a smaller rectangle from the strip. Then, fold the rectangle and cut a triangle so that the fold is the base of the triangle. When glued onto paper, this will make a 3-D beak.
4. Draw and cut out a turkey body from brown construction paper. The basic shape is a small circle on top of a larger circle and it should be about 4 1/2" tall. (Note: Mrs. D.'s is thinner and reminds me of a bowling pin and mine looks a bit more like a fat pear, but I think they both are fine. Also, hers is flat on the bottom and mine is rounded, and they both seem to stand up nicely, so take your pick.) Tip: If you are planning to make more than one turkey, use the first one as a template and trace around it to make more.
5. For the wattle, we used a scrap of red pipe cleaner. If you want to use pipe cleaner, you may need to cut a piece about 1" long. Tip: I keep left over bits of them in an old plastic peanut butter jar for times when we need just a small piece. This way, we don't have to cut up a perfectly good pipe cleaner. Tip: If you don't have pipe cleaners, you could also make a wattle from red construction paper, cut into a kidney bean shape.
6. Have your child decorate the half paper plate using the Bingo markers. It doesn't matter which side of the plate gets decorated. Tell kids that they do NOT need to press hard. Tip: If the ink isn't flowing well, make sure the cap is secure, and shake the Bingo markers. If this doesn't work, gently tap, tap, tap the marker until the ink starts flowing. Set aside to dry. Tip: Sometimes markers will bleed through, so you might want to protect your table before starting. I like to use cereal box liners, but you can also use newspaper, an old vinyl tablecloth, or wax paper. Tip: If you don't have Bingo markers, let your child decorate the plate with regular markers.

   

   {Mia made a rainbow turkey.}

7. Have your child decorate the turkey's body. Mrs. D. provided eyeball stickers for a no-mess option. (Logan's make me smile because one is upside down.) Mia used googly eyes and adhered them with tacky glue. (Tip: If you don't have eyeball stickers or googly eyes, use a black marker to draw eyes.) Next, both kids glued down their beaks. Mia then added her red pipe cleaner wattle. (Tip: If you don't have a pipe cleaner, use red construction paper or draw one with a red marker.) Lay flat until glue is completely dry.
8. Kids may need help with assembling their turkeys. Place some glue on the back of the turkey's body and affix it to the tube, making sure that the two slits are on the top of the tube, and are to the left and right of the body. Slide the paper plate, flat side down, into the two slits so that the colorful side is facing the front.
9. Display your child's turkey table topper. You may want to make several for all of your Thanksgiving guests.

One final thought: I know it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving, but Mia's rainbow tail feathers inspired me, and I could totally see tweaking this craft and making it into a showy peacock. To do this, use pretty blue paper in place of brown. Skip the wattle, and add lots of colorful Bingo marker dots to the body. For a final flourish, add a blue feather on top of the peacock's head, and voila! A pretty peacock!

Have a blessed and safe Thanksgiving!

Easter Eggs Everywhere

Considering that nobody really ate our colored eggs this year, it seems like we are overly obsessed with Easter eggs. (Actually, I take that back. Earlier, I caught the dog standing in our outdoor trash can, which had tipped over from the wind. And she was eating -- you guessed it -- all of those forgotten hard boiled eggs that I had just pitched. Wanna bet I will not be having a fun evening when those catch up with her?) Hard boiled eggs are fun to decorate, but maybe we should stick to other goodies in the future.

For example, we made our Jell-o eggs, as we always do. They were a hit as usual. You pretty much can't go wrong with kids and finger Jell-o.

{Mmmmm..... raspberry!}

{He likes almost anything he can eat with his hands.}

For something new this year, we tried the Rice Krispie treat eggs, which weren't quite as successful. They're supposed to have M & M's inside. I was lucky just to get Rice Krispie treats that somewhat resembled eggs, and there was no way the kids could really help. It was a sticky mess, one that I will not be repeating any time soon. Word of warning: these things always sound easier than they actually are. The good news is that they taste fine, unless, of course, you ask Logan his opinion. Even though he LOVES Rice Krispies and marshmallows, he apparently does not like them together. Weird.

Okay, you can't eat it, but I LOVE this paint chip Easter egg garland that I made, so I will likely be making one or two more of them for around the house. It's an ingenious way to use up something I had been saving until I had a project idea, and so, so very adorable. This is easy, but a bit time-consuming, and definitely an adult-only project.

As for the actual eggs, we tried some different techniques, some more successful than others... For some reason, I thought that if we stamped on circles of glue, with foam paintbrushes, we could add glitter and have nice glittery circles on our eggs. In actuality, they dribbled and weren't really circles, but all that glitters makes Mia happy so no harm done. Next, we added the glitter that was left on the plate, to some purple poster paint and applied that. (I don't suggest doing this even though it was easy, and washable. I thought they were dry, but somehow they got moist again in the refrigerator, so when I went to peel some to eat, paint got smeared all over the place.)

{Purple + glitter = one happy little girl}

Here is what I think is a great idea, and I am pleased I thought of it: decorate eggs with Bingo markers. So simple, even the littlest egg decorators can do it, and it's fairly mess-free.

{Need something to rest your eggs on while they dry? Cut up toilet paper tubes work perfectly and they are very cheap!}

I wish our tie-dyed eggs came out a little clearer, but I do like this technique that we have tried in the past, and brought back again this year. I have done it two ways: dye and then wrap with rubber bands and dye again or wrap first, dye, let dry, and dye a second time. I'm not sure if I have a preference or not.

{There are only so many ways you can get a rubber band to stay on an egg.}

{Our finished tie-dyed eggs}

{My "egg-cited" little helpers}

After tie-dying some eggs, we had dye left over, so we made some coffee filter carnations. They look nice as a centerpiece.

The last of the dye went toward a science experiment. We used it to dye some real carnations. Mia loved this even though they aren't as brightly colored as our paper bouquet.

As much as I am thinking we should avoid decorating hard boiled eggs next year, I am sure we will be doing it. And more likely than not, we'll be trying out more new ideas. I can't seem to not try new craft ideas when they come along. Plus, Mia will expect it. She told me recently, "Mom, I wish you were the Easter Bunny." When I asked why, she replied, "Because you make the best Easter eggs in the whole world!" How can I not at least attempt to live up to her expectations?

Bingo Marker Christmas Tree Craft

Here is a simple Christmas craft that would work for toddlers on up.

{Christmas Tree by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• green construction paper
• pencil
• scissors
• Bingo markers
• newspaper 
• tape
• glue (optional)
• yellow construction paper (optional)
• brown construction paper (optional)

Directions:

1. Fold a piece of green construction paper in half like a hot dog. Draw half of a Christmas tree shape, including the trunk at the bottom. Cut out the tree shape and unfold it.
2. Protect your work surface with newspaper. Dot Bingo markers onto the tree shape. We used orange, red, blue, and purple Bingo markers from Dollar Tree. Logan decorated his tree with "ornaments" and Mia made "garland" and "ornaments" for hers. She also used lots of orange dots to make the tree trunk look brown instead of green. Allow ink to dry.
3. If desired, draw and cut out a star from yellow construction paper. Tape (or glue) on top of your tree. You could also cut a trunk from brown construction paper and tape (or glue) it onto the green paper.
4. Display your Christmas tree. Ours are now affixed to a window with clear tape.

   

   {Christmas Tree by Logan, Age 2}

Paper Owl Craft

The inspiration for this craft came to me in a somewhat odd fashion. My husband removed the plastic rings holding together a twin-pack of jelly jars (from Sam's Club) and I looked at it and said, "That would make perfect owl eyes!" Of course, he gave me a look that said, "You're nuts. Only you would look at plastic packaging and proclaim it to be perfect owl eyes," but any creative types reading this can totally relate (unless it's just me and I really am nuts). Either way, these owls are a "hoot" for fall, if I do say so myself.

{Owl by Mia, Age 4}

{Owl by Logan, Age 2}

Materials:

• construction paper 
• pencil 
• scissors 
• cardboard (optional) 
• Bingo markers 
• feathers 
• glue 
• wiggly eyes 
• plastic rings from packaging (optional) 
• other materials: pom poms, craft foam, buttons, pipe cleaners, yarn, sequins, etc. (optional)

Directions:

1. Draw or trace an owl onto a piece of construction paper. My kids chose purple. Any color would work. Tip: If you plan to make several owls, consider using templates. I made owl templates by drawing outlines onto paperboard (cereal box sides) from the recycling bin. Here is a template you could use, if desired. Then, just trace the owl onto construction paper.
2. Cut out owl shape/s.
3. Decorate the owls. We used Bingo markers for chest feathers and Mia glued on colored feathers for the wings and above the eyes. Both kids glued on wiggly eyes. (Logan's is more abstract.) I helped Mia cut small circles of construction paper to go behind her wiggly eyes, which are framed by those plastic rings that started this whole project idea. The owls don't have beaks because their attention waned by that time, but simple paper diamonds would work. You could also try pom poms, pipe cleaners, craft foam, buttons, yarn, or sequins for decorations.
4. Allow all glue to dry before displaying your owl craft.

Coffee Filter Leaves

Here is a cute, simple craft that Mia learned at preschool. You can make several of these leaves to decorate your windows for fall. Or perhaps you could try making them into a mobile. Either way, this project is great for little hands and doesn't require very much adult preparation.

{Leaves by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• real leaves
• coffee filters
• pencil/pen
• scissors
• Bingo markers
• newspaper/paper towel
• spray bottle with water

Directions:

1. Trace your leaf onto a coffee filter and cut out the leaf shape.
2. Lay the coffee filter leaf onto a few layers of newspaper or paper towel.
3. Spray the leaf with water.
4. Dot the leaf with Bingo markers.
5. Spray with water a second time to get the colors to blend somewhat. (Don't spray too much water or you will wash away most of the colors.)



{Leaves by Logan, Age 2}

6. Lay wet leaf shape on paper towel to dry.

Other Options:

• If you can't find actual leaves, draw some freehand or use a template like this or this.
• If you don't have Bingo markers, try using washable markers or watercolor paints. If you use watercolors, you won't need a spray bottle.
• If you don't have coffee filters, you can also use paper towels or watercolor paper.

TP Tube Indian Corn Craft

Once again, we have a supply of toilet paper tubes and I thought that they could be made into an Indian corn craft. I was thinking that these would look nice as either napkin holders or as place cards for a fall table setting. This craft is quick, easy, and only requires a few materials. You could substitute paint for the Bingo markers and paper bag for the raffia if you don't have those items on hand.

{By Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• toilet paper tube
• Bingo markers
• raffia
• glue

Directions:

1. Use Bingo markers to dot color onto an empty toilet paper tube to look like Indian corn kernels. We used red, orange, and purple Bingo markers from Dollar Tree. Allow ink to dry.
2. Unroll a piece of raffia (ours was the handle from a paper shopping bag) and tear it into strips.
3. Glue the strips of raffia to the inside of the toilet paper tube to make the corn husks.
4. Once glue is dry you can place a napkin inside the tube or take a marker and add a name to the outside to make a place card holder for your fall table.

Paper Bag Indian Corn Craft

I was trying to come up with some fall craft ideas that we hadn't already done to death, and I realized Indian corn was perfect. We have made several variations of Indian corn lately, (and I have a few more ideas to try) so I will get them posted soon. For now, here is the first version, which we made with a re-purposed brown paper shopping bag.

{By Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper bag (raffia type handle optional)
• scissors
• pencil
• Bingo markers
• glue (optional)
• newspaper (to protect work surface)

Directions:

1. Draw a corn cob on a paper bag. Ours was a shopping bag that got torn and couldn't be used again. (The basic shape for the ear of corn is a long thin oval.) Add corn husks to the sides.
2. Cut our your corn cob and husks.
3. Cover your work surface with newspaper and use Bingo markers to dot on color for the Indian corn kernels. We used orange, red, and purple Bingo markers from Dollar Tree. (If you have yellow or white, those would work nicely, too.) Leave some of the background paper brown to give some extra contrast.
4. If you like, you can use a green Bingo marker to color in your corn husks, which is what Mia chose to do. You could also leave them plain brown, which would look dried out like actual Indian corn husks. Or, if your paper bag has raffia type handles, cut them off and unroll them. Arrange as desired, glue to the paper bag, and trim off the excess so that it looks like corn husks. This is what I did for Logan's.

   

   {By Logan, Age 2}

A Hand Print Tree for Fall

{Fall Hand Print Tree by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper
  
• brown crayon
• Bingo markers
• green crayon
• newspaper 
  
  

Directions:

1. Trace around your child's hand and forearm using a brown crayon.
2. Color in tree trunk and limbs with brown crayon. Mia also drew some extra branches.
3. Protect your work surface by placing newspaper under your paper. Add leaves using Bingo markers in fall colors. Mia chose to use green, red, orange, and purple, all of which we bought at Dollar Tree. (Okay, when I came up with this craft idea I envisioned a fuller tree, but Mia decided that most of the leaves were falling, so that is why they are all down the sides of the tree.)
4. As a finishing touch, draw some grass at the bottom of the paper with a green crayon. Add fallen leaves to the grass, if desired.

Dotty Apple Tree Craft

Yesterday the kids received a gift wrapped in bright green tissue paper, and I was inspired to do another take on last year's apple tree craft.

{Apple Tree by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper (or printable tree template) 
• red Bingo marker (crayon/marker/paint would also work) 
• green tissue paper/crepe paper (or construction paper) 
• brown crayon (or colored pencil or marker) 
• scissors 
• glue 
• green crayon (optional) 
• foam paintbrush (optional)  

Directions:

1. Draw a tree or use a printable template if you prefer. Mia wanted me to trace her hand and forearm with brown crayon to make the tree trunk and branches. 
2. Color in tree trunk and branches using a brown crayon.
3. Cut or tear small pieces of green tissue paper, crepe paper, or construction paper.
4. Glue green paper pieces onto the paper to make the tree's leaves. (We used a foam paintbrush and very slightly watered down Elmer's glue.)
5. After glue is dry, use a red Bingo marker (Ours is from Dollar Tree.) to make apples on the tree.
6. Mia finished her project by making grass with green crayon. You could also use your green paper pieces or cut fringe along one long rectangle of paper and glue down.

Easy Easter Egg Craft

Materials:

{Easter Egg by Logan, Age 19 Months}

• construction paper
• pencil
• scissors
• Bingo markers
• newspaper (to protect work surface)

Directions:

1. Fold a piece of construction paper in half like a hot dog.
2. Use a pencil to draw 1/2 of an egg shape (basically an oval that is narrower on one end).
3. Cut out the egg shape and unfold it.
4. Decorate your Easter egg by dotting it with Bingo markers.
5. Allow the egg to dry and then display your craft.

Think Spring! Butterfly Craft

{Butterfly by Mia, Age 4}

Mia made this cute and very simple craft at preschool and we decided to make a few more to decorate at home. The snow has to go away soon, but in the meantime, we have a cheery bit of spring indoors!

{My Dotty Butterfly Design}

Materials:

• coffee filter
• Bingo markers (Ours came from Dollar Tree.)
• pipe cleaner
• scissors  (optional)
• fishing line (optional)

Directions:

1. Make a design for the butterfly's wings by dotting Bingo markers onto a coffee filter. (You can also use markers or watercolor paints if you don't have Bingo markers. One option is two color with washable markers and then spray the design with a water bottle to create a softer look.) 
2. Let the markers (or paint) dry.
3. Pinch the coffee filter in the center and twist once.
4. Cut a pipe cleaner in half. Bend one half around the twisted center of the coffee filter and twist it to secure it. Shape into antennae. (If you prefer, you can use a whole pipe cleaner. You will just have fairly long antennae.)
5. You can make a whole flutter of butterflies and hang them using fishing line if you wish.

   

   {My Finished Butterfly}