Frozen Water Balloons

Well, I only pinned this idea a year ago... Maybe I am on the ball, because, really, how many things do people pin and how many of those pins do they actually accomplish? (I've never thought about the rate of attempting vs. just saving ideas, but I bet my track record is pretty good compared to most people.) Anyway, this wasn't something that the kids could really help me with, which was a bummer, but we all enjoyed the results. It was just something fun for yet another "snow day," which was really a "way too cold to go to school day and, therefore, you can't go outside and play day" -- of which we have had far too many this year! I lined them up along our porch railing so that we can easily see them from the living room window.

{A row of pretty frozen "eggs" on my porch railing}

Materials:

• water balloons 
• food coloring
• water
• pan to hold balloons (optional)
• scissors (optional)

Directions:

1. Stretch out your water balloon. Add a few drops of food coloring. (I used 3 drops per balloon. I made one balloon for each color of pure food coloring: red, yellow, blue, green, neon pink, neon purple, neon green, and neon blue plus I mixed a few colors. For example, orange = 2 yellow + 1 red.) Tip: Do NOT use regular balloons. Trust me on this. You will just end up with a mess of colored water!
2. Fill the balloon with water. (Mine came from Dollar Tree and the package included a little nozzle to attach to the faucet. It didn't stay well, though, so I secured it with packaging tape. If you decide to do that, have a towel handy! Actually, you may want a towel handy, anyway, since a few of the balloons are bound to leak. We lost two at this stage.) Tie the end of the balloon in a knot.
3. Place filled balloons outside to freeze. This takes a few hours. Be careful not to move them too soon, or they may pop. (This happened to me when I was checking on them about 2 hours later. I figured with the sub-zero temperatures that they might be ready. They weren't. One popped and made a mess on the front porch. I didn't check again for another 4 hours or so just to be safe!)
4. Remove the balloons and display your frozen "eggs." You could use scissors for this. I just peeled them off with my fingers. (Here I lost a couple that had become frozen into the purple puddle from the popped balloon that I moved prematurely. They ended up cracking when I tried to chisel them away with my boot.)

{Neon colors are surprisingly less vibrant.}

NOTE: If you enjoyed this project, you might also like making Colorful Frozen Ice Shapes. On another note, there are just a few days left for the Livingston Parent Journal's fundraising efforts. Please stop by their crowdfunding site and see if there is a way that you can help out! Thanks so much.

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

Colorful Ice Shapes

I found this idea here and I had been waiting for the right time to give it a try. While this would probably make more sense if I had done it in February, another snow day (third in a row!) was the ideal time for creating these pretty outdoor decorations. Plus, I had heart-shaped molds, so that was what we used. This was simple and fun for the little ones and for me, too. The finished ice molds are quite lovely, and they seem to sparkle and shimmer in the sunlight.

Materials:

• silicone muffin cups (or a candy/brownie mold -- aluminum would also work)
• water
• food coloring
• fishing line (Dental floss will also do the trick!)
• clear tape
• scissors
• cake pan or cookie sheet (optional, but very helpful)

Directions:

1. Cut several lengths of fishing line (or dental floss), one for each mold. Make each one into a loop and then secure it inside the bottom of your silicone (or aluminum) mold using clear tape. Tip: We used 12 heart-shaped muffin cups, so I placed them in a cake pan for easy transport. If you are using a candy mold, you might wish to place it on top of a cookie sheet for the same reason.
2. Add colored water to each mold. We had snow paint at hand, so we didn't need to do any mixing. I just poured some from each bottle into small paper cups so that the kids could easily fill the molds. If you don't already have colored water, just place some water in each mold and then add a drop or two of food coloring to each one. Tip: I don't recommend filling them more than 2/3 of the way if you are using muffin cups. Full cups were a bit bulky and took considerably longer to freeze than the ones that were only 1/2 - 2/3 full. 
3. Place your molds outside to freeze. (Alternatively, you can put these in your freezer, but with cold winter temps, it just made more sense to use the outdoors.) The shallower ones were set up in about 3 1/2 hours, while the fuller cups were done in about 6 hours.
4. Remove the colored ice from the molds. With silicone, it is simple to just peel the mold away from the ice. For aluminum, it may be easier to run some warm water on the bottom of your pan to help release them. Remove and discard any left over tape.
5. Hang your colorful ice shapes outside and admire them! 

Cookie Cutter Birdseed Treats

Here is an idea that I saw a while back that combines two things that I love: birds and cookie cutters. Of course, we needed to try it! Admittedly, I was skeptical that this would work. These are sort of like homemade "suet cakes," and I had never heard of anybody making their own before.

However, I don't want to call them suet cakes, and mislead you. There is no actual suet involved. I do, however, think that the gelatin serves a similar purpose both in holding the treats together and in providing the birds with a fat. The blog where I found this idea said to use Knox gelatin. To save money, I used Kroger brand unflavored gelatin, which is essentially the same. You do not need to buy a specific name brand for this to work.

I am thrilled to report that this project turned out very well! This is especially true since we made the treats on the day that everything was going wrong. These birdseed treats held up very well in extreme cold, wind, and heavy snowfall, which makes them great for wintertime bird feeding.

{This chickadee actually latched onto the treat to eat!}

One downside is that they were kind of messy to make and the kids weren't thrilled about getting their hands all sticky. Also, unlike other bird feeders* we have made in the past, there is a waiting period for the gelatin to set up. So, I wouldn't consider this to be the perfect kid-friendly bird feeding project  (although it is still a good one, and I would make them again). *Note: For more homemade bird feeder ideas, see my previous posts about birdseed biscuits and other assorted bird feeders.

This made 3 cookie cutter birdseed treats that stayed together and one that fell apart. (The little tree was the one that fell apart. It just did not have enough stuff to make the bakers twine hold it up on the tree branch.) For future reference, I would double the recipe so that both of the kids could each make two to three treats.

{Finished Cookie Cutter Birdseed Treats}

Materials:

• 3/4 cup birdseed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
• small cooking pan
• twine/string/yarn/baker's twine
• scissors
• cookie cutters
• wax paper/parchment paper
• cookie sheet

Directions:

1. Cut a few lengths of twine, string, or yarn. We used both yarn and baker's twine. Tie each one into a circle and make a knot to secure the ends.
2. Place the water and powdered gelatin into the pot. Simmer until the gelatin is dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and stir birdseed into the pot until combined. Kids can easily help with this step.
4. Line your cookie sheet with wax paper or parchment paper. (We actually used parchment since we had just baked. I flipped it over and used the reverse side of the parchment. Otherwise, I would have used wax paper since I usually reserve parchment for baking.) Place cookie cutters on top of the wax paper/parchment paper. Then, start spooning the birdseed mixture into the cookie cutters. Have children press the mixture in as tightly as possible. Fill about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way.
5. Lay the twine/yarn/string on top of each. Now, fill the cookie cutters the rest of the way with the birdseed mixture.
6. Place in the refrigerator for about two hours. Then, allow to dry overnight, flipping over occasionally so that they dry all the way through.
7. Gently remove the treats from the cookie cutters. They are now ready to be hung outside, which children can do with some help. Enjoy watching the birds! (Note: I have noticed that most birds prefer to perch on a branch beneath the treat and to eat that way, so place the treats in a tree accordingly. The chickadee pictured above was an exception; it just climbed aboard to eat!)

{Our feathered friend enjoys a meal on a VERY snowy day.}

Shaving Cream Snowmen

Here is project #2 that we made on this "snow day." I decided that we had to make some snowmen. We attempted to build one 3 days ago when we had a snow day that truly involved snow, and enough of it for building a snowman. The only problem was that it wouldn't pack. So, alas, we have yet to build an actual snowman this year. This was another craft idea gleaned from the library story time lady. I already had the glue out, so it wasn't much of an effort to mix some shaving cream in with it.

{Snowman by Mia, Age 6}

Materials:

• construction paper
• white glue
• shaving cream
• bowls
• mixing spoon
• paint brushes (optional)
• pencil
• decorative items: pom poms, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, felt, buttons, construction paper, etc.

Directions:

1. I started by tracing various sizes of bowls and other round things to make the snowman outlines onto two pieces of blue construction paper. Mia requested a 2-ball snowman, and Logan wanted a 3-ball snowman, although you can't see it any more since he went hog-wild with painting. You could skip this step and just let them paint, too.
2. Squirt some shaving cream into a bowl. Add about 1/2 that amount of white glue and mix together with a spoon. (Tip: If doing this craft with more than one child, you may want one bowl per child.) My proportions are approximate. It should be spreadable and not too sticky.
3. Have your child paint the snowman. My kids used a combination of mainly finger-painting with a small amount of using the Q-Tips left over from the previous project. You can also use paint brushes for this.
4. Let your child decorate the snowmen. There are tons of options here. Mia used googly eyes, buttons for the mouth, an orange pom pom for the nose, pieces of scrap felt for a scarf, and my favorite accessory: ear muffs made from part of a pipe cleaner and two purple pom poms. I suggested twigs for arms but she didn't like that idea. Logan's snowman had turned into a big mess covering most of his paper. Rather than tossing it out, I suggested that we make it just the snowman's head, and he agreed. He made button eyes and a button mouth, which is frowning for some reason, but is still cute. We took a two-inch piece of orange pipe cleaner, folded it in half, and added it for the nose. I cut out a hat from black construction paper, and we trimmed the brim with a strip of yellow felt. We just added a bit of extra glue-shaving cream mixture to adhere it.
5. Make sure the shaving cream/glue mixture dries completely before displaying your snowman craft.

   

   {Snowman by Logan, Age 3}

Q-Tip Snowflake Craft

Here is what we did this morning since it is another "snow day." This craft idea was one Logan and I learned at story time last month, and it seemed like a good time for a repeat since it was easy to quickly pull it together.I say "snow day" because most of the snow melted during last night's rain, and I am not 100% sure why school was cancelled. I assume the back roads were impassable due to a combination of ice, mud, and wind-blown nastiness. I am not about to go outside to figure out exactly why, though. The wind is really whipping right now and the kids are happily watching The Lion King.

Materials:

• construction paper
• white glue
• Q-Tips
• scissors
• small bowls to hold glue

Directions:

1. I started by folding the paper in half (hamburger fold) and then cutting it. You can use a whole piece of paper if you prefer.
2. Pour a small amount of white glue into a bowl. (Tip: One bowl per child makes life easier.)
3. Set out Q-Tips. (Tip: You can first cut some in half to give kids a little more variety, but this is not necessary.)
4. Have kids dip Q-tips into the glue and then arrange onto the paper to form snowflake designs. These can be as simple or as intricate as they want. Allow glue to dry completely before displaying the snowflakes.

Build-a-Snowman Snack

Once again, we sat down to do a project that I pinned to Pinterest last winter. The idea was to make a snowman craft using mini marshmallows, but I decided it would be a shame to glue those tasty treats to paper when we could eat them instead. So, I switched it up and decided that Mia could build her own snack. I gave her a plate with some mini marshmallows, a skinny baby carrot, two pretzel sticks, and some mini chocolate chips. (I had originally thought to try to make it even healthier by getting out the raisins, Craisins, and peanuts, before deciding that it hardly mattered since the main ingredient of this snack was sugar considering how many little marshmallows it takes to make a decent looking snowman.) Here is what she came up with. Obviously, it didn't last long, but really, I didn't need a paper project with food on it that I would be concerned about somebody eating.

{Mia recently made this snowman snack.}

For Logan, I arranged the stuff on the plate in a snowman and let him have at it since I didn't figure he would have the patience to build a snowman himself. As you can see, mine doesn't look all that different from my five-year-old's handiwork. The kids both enjoyed this, and it wasn't time-consuming or difficult to do with items we already had in the pantry. Now, I am thinking that a gingerbread house with a snowman design would be another project for the future.

Salty Snowman Scene

{I like to think of this guy as "Salty the Snowman." Created by Mia, age 5}

Here's another one I have had pinned in Pinterest for quite awhile, and we tried it out. Mia enjoyed it, of course. She is very much into crafting, just like her mama. This project, however, was not a good one for Logan, age 3. He ended up with a snowball scribble covered in A LOT of salt. I am not even ashamed to tell you that I threw it away, especially since he did not even notice. The end result is a fun, textured snowman, no glitter required.

Please note that this is not an original idea. I keep trying to find the blog of the original idea for this, but the link seems to be broken. I guess that can happen over the course of 40 weeks (crazy, but true, this is how long ago I saved this idea), so my apologies to whomever came up with this idea. I really did try to give credit, but it is just not working out.

Materials:

• construction paper (any color)
• crayons or colored pencils (white and any other color you choose)
• paint brush
• white glue
• salt
• baking sheet (optional for containing the mess)
• small cups (optional for holding glue and salt)
• other optional decorative items: puffy paint, buttons, sequins, pom poms, etc.

Directions:

1. Have your child use a white crayon or colored pencil to draw a snowman. You can also put your snowman on the snow covered ground and make snowflakes falling in the air, as Mia did in her winter scene. Mia also drew a black top hat and a blue scarf.
2. Lay the paper on a baking sheet. (Tip: You can add wax paper, tin foil, or parchment paper as well if you don't want to craft directly on your baking sheet.) Have your child add glue to the parts that he or she wants to be snowy. (Tip: For less mess, put some glue into a Dixie cup and let your child apply it to the paper with a paint brush.)
3. Next, add salt to the glue. (Tip: I definitely recommend giving him or her another small cup of salt.) The salt can be added in little bits, shaken off, and then used again as needed. Allow the salt/glue mixture to dry.
4. Decorate your snowman as desired. Mia used orange puffy paint for the carrot nose and red puffy paint for the eyes, mouth and buttons. Other materials that you could try are buttons, sequins, and pom poms. Make sure that all glue is dry before displaying the snowman project.

Make Your Own: Crystal Snowflakes

This project has been on my mental to-do list for at least a year, and thankfully, yesterday's snow day prompted me to finally make a real crystal snowflake with the kids. I got the idea and basic directions from this website. This project involves boiling water so it's definitely not one for kids to do on their own. Borax isn't something that everyone has at home, but it is definitely handy if you are interested in making your own laundry detergent or all-purpose green cleaning solution. The only things we changed were using a popsicle stick in place of a pencil to hold the snowflake in the jar, and I constructed the whole thing from white pipe cleaners instead of pipe cleaner and string. (Oh, and one small tip I learned by trial and error: if you think that maybe you can pour boiling water into a plastic peanut butter jar because you have one one hand, think again. It will immediately melt. Just saying. Enchanted Learning does apparently know better than I do when they say to use a glass jar.) This was a fun and simple science experiment and the kids were excited to wake up to find that crystals had really grown overnight. I think next year we will make several of these crystal snowflakes and either use them for Christmas ornaments, give them away as gifts, or perhaps hang them from the chandelier using fishing line.

DIY Snow Globe

This snow day inspired a home-made snow globe project that turned out well enough for Mia's tastes. I suspected that the "correct" way of making your own snow globes involved glycerin (and a quick Google search confirmed this), however, I figured we could get away with using baby oil since I had that around the house. The "official" directions that you can find all over YouTube call for distilled water (or at least boiling your water and letting it cool down), but for our purposes I just used water straight from the tap. If you are looking for something professional looking, this is not it, but as a snow globe it gets the job done. Plus, it was the perfect way to re-use a small glass jar (which formerly held bouillon cubes, but baby food jars would work great if you happen to have those) and the ballerina that had broken off from her music box. (Surprisingly, we couldn't find any Happy Meal type toys that were small enough to work for this.) For classification purposes, I am labeling this a kid's craft, however, since it involved hot glue, I did most of the work. Upper elementary age kids and older could do this on their own, perhaps, but I did it mainly to amuse my 5-year-old and 2-year-old. For a video I consulted before making this project, see here.

Materials:

• clean glass jar with twist on lid
• hot glue gun (adult use only)
• water
• baby oil
• small trinket or toy
• glitter

Directions: 

1. Have an adult use a hot glue gun to attach a small toy or trinket (something that won't rust or dissolve in water) to the inside of the jar lid. 
2. Fill jar most of the way with water. (Child can help with this.)
3. Add a very small amount of baby oil. (Child can help with this.)
4. Sprinkle in some glitter. (Child can help with this.)
5. Have an adult rim the inside of the jar's lid with hot glue, being careful not to cover up the threading. (It won't screw on tightly if you do.) Screw lid onto jar.
6. You now have a snow globe so give it a shake. (If leaking occurs, remove jar lid, pull out hot glue, and reapply. If desired, you can apply a small ring of hot glue on the outside of the lid to ensure that it is sealed, but I don't think this is necessary.)

Frosty Friends Recycled Craft

{Some frosty new friends made by Mia, Age 4}

Mia and I almost had our entire snow family made earlier today when Logan decided that the stacks of snowballs were like big blocks and he "boomed" them all down. So, once he was napping, I came up with a snowman craft for her to do (that should last a bit longer than our original snowmen). I had been wanting to do something with these plastic containers for months, anyway.

Materials for Snowman:

• plastic container (We used toddler puffs container.) 
• felt 
• scissors 
• pom poms 
• hot glue gun (adult use only)
• corkscrew pasta 
• black permanent marker 
• 2 black bottle caps (ours are Powerade)
• 1 black jar lid (from a container of peanuts)

Materials for Snowlady:

• plastic container (We used a toddler puffs container.)
• felt
• scissors
• pom poms
• hot glue gun (adult use only)
• corkscrew pasta
• black permanent marker
• cardboard ribbon spool
• large pom pom
• tape 
• optional materials: buttons, ribbon, pipe cleaners, fabric flowers

Basic Snowman Directions:

1. Cut a strip of felt for the scarf and glue it around the top indentation of your clean, dry plastic container. Tie a know and cut fringe on each end. (Tip: If your felt isn't long enough, cut a second strip, tie a knot, and glue it onto the first band of felt.) If you don't have felt, ribbon or pipe cleaners would work.
2. Place two dots of glue on the top section of the plastic container and adhere 2 pom poms for eyes. Any color will work. (Tip: If you don't have pom poms, buttons would work. Or you could draw eyes with a permanent marker.)
3.  Place a dot of glue beneath the eyes and adhere a piece of corkscrew pasta for the carrot nose. (Tip: You can dye your pasta first. Or, if you prefer, use an orange pom pom, button, or a small piece of orange construction paper rolled into a cone.)
4.  Draw a mouth on the snowman face using a permanent black marker.
5.  Place three dots of glue down the middle of the snowman body and adhere pom poms. You could also use buttons or draw them on with a permanent marker.   

How to Make a Snowman Hat:

1. Run a line of hot glue along the bottom edge of a black jar lid. Press down onto the top edge of the snowman.
2. Place glue on the top of one black bottle cap and press down on top of the lid.
3. Run glue along the bottom edge of a second black bottle cap. Press cap down so that it lines up with the bottom edge of the first bottle cap.
   

How to Make a Snowlady Hat:

1. Pull one cardboard circle off of an empty ribbon spool. (Tip: If you don't have a ribbon spool, you can cut a circle from a cereal box. You will also need to cut a hole in the center.)
2. Pull a large pom pom partially through the center hole. Secure the back with some tape.
3. Cut a square of felt slightly larger than the cardboard circle.
4. Run a line of glue around the cardboard (on the side with the tape). Cover the top side with the felt, wrap the edges around the underside and press down onto the glue. Add extra glue as needed.
5. Decorate the hat as desired. We used a gold pipe cleaner, twisted at the end to secure it, and then glued on a fabric rose. 
6. Finally, line the top edge of the plastic container with hot glue, and press the hat on top.

Winter Tree Project

{Winter Trees by Mia, Age 4}

Currently, there is no snow to speak of, which aside from making us Michiganders feel that global warming is of real concern, means that there is little craft inspiration lately. However, there have been some brilliant sunrises and sunsets in recent days, and this reminds me of an art project I did in elementary school. It's a simple idea, and the end result is very striking. (Unfortunately, the photo doesn't do it justice, but you get the idea.)

Materials:

• white paper
• watercolor paints
• paintbrushes
• black marker
• newspaper (optional)

Directions:
1) Protect work surface with newspaper if desired. Then fill your paper with watercolor paints. 
2) Using a black marker, draw a winter (deciduous) tree or trees.
3) Display your winter tree project for some extra beauty on these dreary winter days.

Tips:

• For paint colors, I would suggest pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, purples, and blues since these are colors you often see in the sky at sunrise or sunset. Set aside and allow paint to dry completely.  

• While watercolor paper is of course the preferred paper to use with watercolor paints, any paper will work, although thicker papers stand up better. 

• We used an 8" x 8" scrapbook page. They came with a scrapbook and since I use decorative papers for my scrapbook pages, I save the plain white ones for kids' art projects. (The 12" x 12" size scrapbook paper fits nicely into the photo frames made for records, by the way.) 

• You could also use markers with different widths of tips to get various sized branches. 
• Before doing this project, I had Mia look out the window at our trees and pointed out how the trunk is widest at the base and then the branches get narrower as they get higher and higher up the tree. I think she understood, but she ended up frustrated because she couldn't draw them as well as she would have liked. Which is probably why this project was originally done when I was about 10, not 4.