Faemom Crafts for Toddlers, Preschoolers and Kids

Dinosaur Park

faemom — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:36:07 +0000

(It’s just nice to have an easy craft up your sleeve when you need something to entertain the kids. This is easy, mess-free, and fun. The boys loved it. This is good with young toddlers on up.)

Things you need:

Green paper (or scrapbook paper that looks like grass)
Dinosaur stickers
Tree or rock stickers (optional)
Crayons (optional)

Give the child the green paper. Have the child decorate it with dinosaur stickers, creating a whole dinosaur world.

Adding stickers

Working on a dino world

The child can draw more scenery or add stickers.

Finished projects

Pirate Flags

faemom — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:55:55 +0000

(Here’s another craft we did at Evan’s theme fourth birthday party. I figured this was easier and less messy than giving the children fabric and fabric paint. This is an easy craft that is great for a group of children as well as young toddlers. I recommend foam stickers, but you can use regular stickers and markers. This craft is not messy, is easy, and all the children enjoyed this craft. We have already made a second set of flags because the boys enjoyed them so much.)

Things you need:

Foam sheet (either black or red)
Pirate foam stickers
Pirate stickers
Markers

Give the child the foam sheet.

Foam sheet with a coin foam sticker

Let the child decorate the flag with the stickers and markers.

Decorating the flag

This is a great time to talk about how pirate flags were to scare merchant ships so that the pirates could take over the ship without a fight.

Evan's Pirate Flag

Sean's Pirate Flag

Birthday Pails

faemom — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:40:00 +0000

(This was one of the simple crafts we did at Evan’s birthday party, which was pirate themed. I chose buckets because I figured the kids could reuse them and not throw them away for a while. This was easy and mess free, especially if parents write the name of the child. The kids had a lot of fun, enjoying decorating the pails and playing with them.)

Things you need:

Plastic pail
Stickers
Foam stickers (optional)
Permanent marker

Have the child pick out stickers to decorate the pail.

Evan's pail

Have the child decorate the pail. Write the child’s name on the pail.

Sean's pailanother pail

Igloo

faemom — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:51:28 +0000

(I’m sorry about not posting any crafts. My camera broke last weekend, and I was too heartbroken to write. Now I’m trying to pull off images from an online photo account of pictures from my mom’s camera. We are experiencing technical issues. I have a few crafts that I will post, and I will try to buy a new camera soon.)

(We were making egg carton animals when Evan started playing with his. “Look, Mommy, an igloo!” So if you ever need an igloo, here it is.)

Just paint it white!

Egg Carton Turtle

faemom — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:19:14 +0000

(Another egg carton craft. After making spiders, caterpillars, and bugs {I’ll get to those at another time}, I wanted to make something other than a bug for once. So I came up with this turtle. This is another easy craft where you can pick how you want to decorate the carton. The boys loved making them and playing with them. The first time I didn’t even want to throw out the turtles until an unfortunate smooshing accident. Remember Styrofoam egg cartons cannot be colored or painted on, so use cardboard.)

Things you need:

Cardboard egg carton
Scissors
Crayons, markers, and/or paint
Pen
Green construction paper or green craft foam
Scissors
Glue
Optional: things to glue on to decorate the shell

Cut out a cup from the egg carton.

Egg carton cup (again)

Trace four feet, using a dime, on the green construction paper. Make a “U” shade using the dime for the head, and make an obelisk shape for the tail.

The body parts

Cut out the shapes. Have the child draw eyes on the head. Have the child decorate the shell.

So I used the photo. We made them on the same day.

Have the child glue on the feet on each corner of the cup.

Adding the feet

Then glue the head between two feet, and glue the tail on the opposite end of the head.

The turtle brothers

One of the first turtles

Easy Egg Carton Bug

faemom — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

(Another favorite craft medium of mine is the egg carton. You can make lots of things with it. You can paint them, color them, glue them. But you have to get the cardboard kind because you can’t do anything with the Styrofoam kind. I like to let the boys’ imagination run wild sometimes, so I let them make any kind of “bug” they wanted. We have painted our bugs in the past, but I let them use markers and then dive into my goody box of randomness. Evan chose to use little tiles from a stepping stone kit.)

Things you need:

Cardboard egg carton
Scissors
Markers, crayons, and/or paint
Googly eyes
glue
Any decoration you want to use (shells, buttons, marbles, noodles, etc)

Cut a cup from the egg carton.

Egg carton cups

Have the child color the egg carton cup.

Coloring the master piece

With the opening down, have the child glue the eyes on the carton.

It has eyes!

Have the child glue on extra decorations.

Evan's is the right one, the "lady bug." Sean's is the left, going for minimalism

A Better Pompom Frog

faemom — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:10:49 +0000

(After the sad misery of a failed project, I worked out a better frog. It took me a few days, but I came up with a better idea. The boys love these frogs just as much as the Ugliest Frogs in the World. Maybe more because the Ugliest Frogs in the World have taken a vacation, trying to find out where everything went totally wrong. This was an easy craft, and depending on the gluing skills, it could be relatively mess-free.)

Things you need:

2 in green pompom
2 small green pompoms
2 googly eyes
Green craft foam
Glue (school or craft)
A pen
Scissors

Glue a googly eye on each of the small green pompoms. Allow them to dry.

Who's looking at you, kid?

Cut out a circle out of the green foam to make a lily pad. I used the top of the juice can to make my circle. Cut out a triangle out of the circle.

The lily pads

Have the child glue the 2in green pompom. Have the child glue the frog eyes to the top of the 2in pompom.

I can see! I can see!

Sitting like two frogs on a log

The Ugliest Frog in the World

faemom — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:08:39 +0000

(The boys loved them. They loved making them. They loved playing with them. I found them to be the ugliest frogs in the world, which is why I give this craft thumbs down. You know what you get when you make eyes by using a small pompom and then glue a mini pompom on top? You get what looks like white breasts with green nipples. I secretly threw these away and came up with my own version of the craft, which I’ll post on the next post. If you can figure out a better looking frog, let me know.)

Things you need:

3in green pompom
2in green pompom
2 small white pompoms
2 green or black mini pompoms
Green craft foam
Glue (school or craft)
Scissors

Cut out of the green foam two frog feet. I used a quarter to trace around and added three triangles to the top.

I know. They're ugly feet.

Have the child glue the 3in pompom to the feet. Have the child glue the 2in pompom to the first one, making the body and head. On the top of the head, have the child glue the white pompoms to make eyes.

Gluing the eyes

Have the child glue the mini pompoms to the small white ones.

The Ugliest Frog in the World. (I'm a freak of crafting!)

Ladybug, ladybug

faemom — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:38:07 +0000

(I always liked pompom animals. They seem so much fun, so cute. Evan likes carrying them around and naming them. So I decided we needed to make lady bug ones. This was an easy, simple craft that both boys enjoyed, which turned out to have no mess.)

Things you need:

Red 1 in pompom (or 2in)
Black mini pompoms
Black marker
Googly eyes
Glue

Have the child make black dots on the red pompom. The child might have to swirl around the marker to make a good size dot.

Making spots

Glue on the eyes.

He can see!

Then glue the mini pompoms on the top to make antennas.

Now he is a true bug.

Evan decided he needed to decorate his bug more, so he added a mini red pompom for an earing.

The ladybugs

Plastic Egg Heads

faemom — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:14:32 +0000

(I always liked those cute little egg shell planters. I once read that cutting grass was an easy way for children to learn how to cut. So I combined the two projects. Since I was going to let Evan cut the grass, I figured I better use plastic egg cups. Luckily these ones even had holes. The boys loved doing this because they got to color with markers and play with the dirt. How awesome is that!)

Things you need:

Egg carton
Plastic Easter egg shells
Markers
Dirt
Grass seed
Spoon
Water

Take the plastic eggs and have the child draw faces on the eggs. (I wanted to add googley eyes, but Evan nixed that idea.)

Decorating eggs

Place the eggs in the egg carton, so that they cannot be tipped over.

See, mine had a face.

Have the child place some dirt in the eggs with the spoon.

There's a reason I suggested a spoon

Have the child put in enough grass seed to cover the area.

You might want to do this outside

Have the child put on a slim covering of dirt. (Um, we missed that step. We had too much dirt to begin with.)

Grow, baby, grow

Let the child water the plants and take care of them. (Unfortunately we only had three blades of grass grow. We’re redoing this planting experiment.)