gift craft | Faemom Crafts for Toddlers, Preschoolers and Kids

Posts Tagged ‘gift craft’

Pirate Flags

Posted by: faemom on: July 21, 2009

In: Easy Crafts | Non Messy Crafts
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(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

Posted by: faemom on: July 20, 2009

In: Easy Crafts | Gift Crafts
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(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

Magnet Artwork

Posted by: faemom on: June 17, 2009

In: Easy Crafts | Gift Crafts | Non Messy Crafts
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(I have read several places about taking those magnet business cards and doing something with them, like gluing pictures on them. I decided on art work for the boys to do. As my b0ys love coloring and stickering, they enjoyed doing this.)

Things you need:

Business magnets
Craft foam or construction paper
Markers, stickers, anything else you want to decorate with
Scissors
Black marker
Glue (craft or hot)

Trace the business magnets on the craft foam or construction paper with the black marker.

Tracing the magnets

Have the child decorate the shape. Cut the shape out.

The artwork

Glue to the magnet.

The magnets

(I have also heard of moms who make a scan of the child’s artwork and print it in business card size. This would work for the magnets too.)

Craft Foam Picture Frame

Posted by: faemom on: June 16, 2009

In: Gift Crafts
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(I was trying to find a twist on the picture frame idea because grandparents and parents just love pictures. The boys really liked decorating the frames. Evan had a unique twist on the stickers as he used Halloween spiders.)

Things you need:

Craft foam
Scissors
Pen
Markers, stickers, anything you want to decorate with
Glue (craft or hot)
Picture
Magnets

Trace out a square for the picture on the craft foam. Cut out the square. (I left an inch and a half around the picture for the frame.)

naked picture frames

Have the child decorate the craft foam.

The frame, Evan, decorate the frame.

Decorate the frame. Decorate the paper.

Glue the picture in the frame. Glue magnets on the back of the frame. (I picked up decorative magnets for a buck at Michael’s.)

The back of the picture frame

Decorated frames

Picture Frames

Posted by: faemom on: June 15, 2009

In: Gift Crafts
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(This is a great craft with lots of variety. The boys and I did this one last year. They had a blast. The husband loved it.)

What you need:

Unfinished thick picture frame (the thicker the better to give room for toddler creativity)
black or white paint
finger paints
paint brushes
sealer or top coat
sand paper
smock

First sand and prep the picture frame. Next paint the background color with white or black paint. Once the background paint is dry, have the child paint the frame. After the painting is dry, paint the sealer or clear top coat to protect the painting.

Variations:

For older children, a regular unfinished frame works well too.

The child can stain the frame.

The child can paint it black and the sponge paint it with gold, silver, or any other favorite color.

The child can paint it black and put stickers on it. Glow-in-the-dark stars look really cool.

The child can paint it a solid color and glue rocks, shells or buttons on the frame.

The child can decoupage the frame with material, color paper, magazine articles.

Too much sugar!

Posted by: faemom on: June 8, 2009

In: Kid recipes | Projects gone wrong
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So now I’m thinking every Sunday night I should complain about a terrible craft, try to warn you about it before you try it. When I worked for the Girl Scouts, we had to do all the crafts ahead of time so that we didn’t look like fools in front of the girls, loosing their attention, their respect, and our patience. We met every quarter to do a week of crafts to make sure we worked out all the kinks. We don’t have that luxury as parents.

So this last week I tried making rock candy for the boys from a book called EcoArt!: Earth-Friendly Art and Craft Experiences for 3 to 9-year-olds by Laurie Carlson. This recipe calls for 4 cups of sugar to 1 cup of water, which ended in totally disaster. I got the first two cups dissolved, but after stirring for forty-five minutes, I couldn’t get the last two cups of sugar to dissolve. I finally gave up and poured the sugar water into glasses. Big Mistake. Huge Mistake! I ended up with two glasses filled of hard candy that I have been trying to dissolve away for four days.

After talking to a few experts (my mom and grandma), they assured me that there was too much sugar in the mixture. After looking online at the other recipes, I have to agree. Apparently this recipe was to speed up the crystal growth, which didn’t work in my case (which I think is like trying to bake a cake faster at 500 degrees and that always works out well). The recipe said nothing about boiling like the online recipes too.

So stay away from crystal rock candy recipes with a lot of sugar to water ratio. I’ll keep working on this recipe. I also will try a few more crafts before returning this book to the library.

Planting

Posted by: faemom on: June 3, 2009

In: Easy Crafts | Spring Craft | summer craft
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(I don’t know one kid who doesn’t like getting dirty. For young children, like my boys, I would recommend starting out with a plant; while, older kids have more patience and would enjoy starting a plant from seed.)

Things you need:

A pot
Potting soil
Pebbles
A plant or seeds
A small shovel
Water

Have the child cover the bottom of the pot with pebbles to allow good drainage. Then have the child shovel the soil half way in the pot.

A pot filled half way

Have the child place the plant or seeds in the pot.

The flower

Have the child fill the pot with soil with the shovel or hands. Water the plant as needed.

Watering the plant

(Encourage your child to talk and sing to the plant as this will help the plant grow better.)

The growing flowers

Painting Pots

Posted by: faemom on: June 2, 2009

In: Spring Craft | summer craft
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(Nothing like a little gardening to get the kids interested in the great outdoors and possibly vegetables. Before I dug a hole, I thought the boys would like to paint their own special pot. This would also make a great gift. The boys loved doing this.)

Things you need:

Terra Cotta Pot
Primer
White paint
Washable paint
Paint brushes
Smock
Sealer (optional)

Primer the pot, and then paint it white (or any color you or your child would prefer as the background). Allow the pot to dry. Have the child paint the pot with the washable paints.

Sean decided to paint the inside of the pot

Because Evan did

Allow the pot to dry. If you want this work of art to last, seal the pot.

The finished product

The inside of the finished product

Gift Bags

Posted by: faemom on: May 25, 2009

In: Easy Crafts | Gift Crafts
2 Comments

(Sometimes you just want to spruce up that gift bag, and sometimes you need an activity for a party. I first did these with elementary school children at a Halloween party with all kinds of art supplies. Then we did them at Sean’s birthday party with two three-year-olds and a two-year-old. Every child I have done this with has enjoyed it.)

Things you need:

Plain gift bags (any color)
Crayons, markers, stickers, glitter, glue, what ever you want to decorate with

Give a bag to the child. Let the child decorate it. (Totally easy and potentially mess free.)

Can you figure out who did what?

Another example

Decorate a tote

Posted by: faemom on: May 22, 2009

In: Easy Crafts | Gift Crafts
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(This project may be a bit advance for younger children as I used a stencil to decorate the tote. Of course, I’m all for handing over the fabric paints and letting kids go wild. I made this tote for my nephew’s birthday to replace a gift bag. Evan liked it so much that he wants one. You can make one with any theme or let the child do it. I liked how it turned out. And yes, it was fun.)

Things you need:

Tote
Stencil
Fabric paints
Paint brushes

Note: I used red, blue, and black fabric paint. You can add water to dilute the paint if you would like. Any type of stencils would work.

Lay the tote flat. Place stencil down on tote. You may tape it to keep it from moving. Holding the stencil firmly paint within the stencil.

I hope a black skull looks as good as a white one.

It is easy for paint to soak under the stencil, so you must hold it firmly.

Well, I wish I had yellow paint.

It is best to let the print dry before using another stencil in case you have to overlap.

Hmm, not bad, but it's missing something.

I used the tip of the handle of the brush to write the words.

Do the letters look straight?

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

Faemom Crafts for Toddlers, Preschoolers and Kids

Posts Tagged ‘gift craft’

Pirate Flags

Birthday Pails

Magnet Artwork

Craft Foam Picture Frame

Picture Frames

Too much sugar!

Planting

Painting Pots

Gift Bags

Decorate a tote

Nursery Rhymes

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