Felt Crown

February 2, 20181 Comment

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We tried out a pipe cleaner crown the other day, but unfortunately it was short-lived. The pipe cleaner segments unwound from one another quickly after King Travis tossed it around a few times. We thought a felt crown might stand up to more rough and tough kingly play!

First, trace an outline for your crown on white felt and cut out.

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Even this large piece of felt wasn’t long enough to stretch around Travis’s head, so we cut an additional strip of felt to sew on the back. This ended up being the neatest part of the craft for Travis. With careful adult help, we threaded yarn through the felt to secure the extra strip in place.

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Before sewing though, I asked Travis how he would like to decorate the crown. He wasn’t very into the permanent markers I offered, making only a few scribbles. (I ended up ending a few lines of decoration across the front).

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He did, though, love the “gems” from the craft store that I had.

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Very careful consideration was given to which gem should go where, and then I adhered them with hot glue.

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If you have decorative buttons on hand, you can also add those to your crown – another chance for sewing through the felt!

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Once he had the crown on, I realized he actually looked more like a medieval bishop than king! But either way, this is a great dress-up prop.

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Dinner Table Conversation Jar

February 1, 2018February 1, 2018Leave a comment

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I’ll be honest; we’re not always the model family when it comes to sitting down together for dinner, despite research about this healthy practice. Typically Travis eats early, and my husband and I eat later. So I loved the idea of this game when I came across it, as a reminder to all sit and be present together. But honestly, the game works whether you’re gathered around a dinner table or if you make it a part of your bedtime routine. One way or another, it’s a great way to get kids talking!

First, I invited Travis to help me decorate the glass jar that would hold our topics.

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The thrill of scribbling all over a glass surface with permanent marker was pretty grand in and of itself! Travis made a vibrant purple…

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…and I also colored in a jar we could use, in case the first was ever too full.

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To make your conversation starters, write out simple questions on popsicle sticks.

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Our initial list of questions included:

Favorite teacher? Why?

Exciting news to share…?

What are you proud of?

Best friend?

3 Words to describe your day?

Favorite part of recess?

Favorite movie? Why?

Favorite song? Why?

The intention is to add sticks as time goes on, so the game keeps evolving with our family!

I loved how much Travis loved this game.

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My initial thought was to have each family member draw one question, but he was having so much fun that he made us go through every stick! His answers were charming and enlightening; some that I was sure I knew the answer to, he surprised me, and he thought really hard about some of the more open-ended ones.

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We can’t wait to play this for many nights to come.

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DIY Shield & Coat of Arms

January 28, 2018January 28, 2018Leave a comment

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Inspired by our Medieval kit from Koala Crate, we had to continue the fun with more games of knights and kings! Travis has a Disney plastic broadsword, so this Medieval mama couldn’t wait to show him how to make a shield to go along with it.

Start with a piece of cardboard roughly the size of your child’s chest, and trim the bottom edge into a point to make a shield shape.

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Next we covered the shield in foil for a shiny metal look, securing on the back with masking tape.

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It’s starting to look like the Middle Ages around here!

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Travis adored the next step, outlining the edges of his shield in colorful duct tape. I knew I’d need all those colorful rolls that have been taking up space in our craft bin eventually!

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Any pretty washy tape would work great here as well, and you can tape designs on the interior of the shield as well as the edges, if your child would like.

We then talked a little about coats of arms, and how knights used them to distinguish one another in battle. Travis drew a “lion” as his sigil.

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Older kids may want to do some online research and pull up information about real coats of arms, or learn about the symbolism in many of the designs. You can draw a more complicated coat of arms on paper, and tape that onto the shield. If drawing directly onto the foil, make sure you use sharpie markers; washable markers will rub right off.

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For the handle, tape two pieces of colored duct tape together, leaving one longer than the other. Apply the sticky ends of the long tape to the back for the shield in an arc. Now your knight has something to hold on to.

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Behold brave Sir Travis!

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Then it was time for a sword fight of course. Haha, that’s me wielding a Nerf bat to battle my son.

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Snowman Stacking Cups

January 20, 2018January 20, 2018Leave a comment

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There are so many uses for these easy little snowman figures, from competitive stacking games to imaginative play. All you need are 12 Styrofoam cups and you’re ready to go.

The game couldn’t be easier to set up. First, we cut circles from adhesive-back black felt for the eyes. Whoops – at this point they looked almost like ghosts. Wrong time of year!

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Orange carrot noses and little dotted mouths helped set things right. Now they looked like snowmen.

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For older kids, you can stage great stacking games to see which formations you can come up with…

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…or who can stack them the fastest. Travis had a hard time getting the snowmen into a pyramid, but he loved running the stopwatch and timing while I tried! Note of caution: static electricity can make things especially funny and interesting when it comes to stacking Styrofoam.

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After that we used our cups more as a playful prop. Travis set all the snowmen up for a picnic with a campfire.

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We decided snowmen would melt if they had a hot campfire, so made it out of… shredded coconut snow!

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Nothing wrong with stealing a nibble.

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Again, for Travis as a preschooler, stacking into complicated arrangements wasn’t interesting. He preferred to pile the snowmen atop one another into one big stack.

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But big kids (and moms and dads!) can heat up the snowman stacking competition to see who goes the fastest, or who comes up with the best stacking arrangement.

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What games will you play with your snowmen cups? Please share in the comments!

Recycled Jet Pack Costume

January 18, 2018January 18, 2018Leave a comment

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We’ve been having fun with empty cereal boxes lately. Combine that with Travis’s current interest in the moon and space exploration, and what better item to turn our cereal container into than a jet pack?

To start, cut the ends of two toilet paper tubes and fold them outward; they’ll look almost like little octopuses.

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Wrap the tubes in foil, then duct tape them to the ends of the cereal box.

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Note: Ideally you’ll have silver duct tape. Unfortunately, I only had yellow duct tape on hand… but it was nothing that a little silver paint couldn’t solve in a pinch!

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Next, wrap the cereal box in aluminum foil, and tape the edges with duct tape. (Add your silver paint to cover any duct tape, if needed, at this point).

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It’s up to your little explorer how they want to decorate the jet pack. Travis always needs lots of glue of course.

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We added construction paper buttons and glitter glue, because of course a project this silver needs glitter glue.

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Use hot glue to attach ribbon or string onto the top and bottom corners of the box; these will be the shoulder straps.

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Our jet pack couldn’t launch without flames, of course! A few strands of tissue paper glued into each tube solved that problem.

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And now we’re ready to fly.

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What else might you make from empty cereal boxes? I’d love to hear ideas in the comments!

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Foam and Cork Canoe

December 27, 2017Leave a comment

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This was not so much a craft that Travis and I did together, but more of a toy that I put together for him. It mainly involves scissors and hot glue, so definitely grown-up materials! If your kids are8 years old and up, they can help out with the hot glue under careful supervision.

I had actually hoped to put the little canoe together around Thanksgiving, when Travis learned about Native Americans and the holiday. But alas, at the time I didn’t have enough wine corks! With a trove of 5 corks now on hand, I finally got around to making the canoe. If you want a bigger boat, use up to 8 wine corks.

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To start, I drew a canoe shape on white paper, and traced that two times on brown craft foam. Cut out; these are the two sides of the canoe.

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To make your boat buoyant, hot glue together the wine corks in a row. Travis did venture over to see this stage, thinking it was pretty neat!

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Glue the corks near the bottom edge of one canoe half, then add drops of glue to each cork and press on the other half of the canoe.

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Seal the top edges of the canoe together with more hot glue.

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You can assemble your canoe’s passenger from additional shapes of craft foam. I snipped out red rectangles for body and arms, a brown square for the face, and a larger square of black foam for the hair, all of which I attached together with hot glue.

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Cut fringe in the black foam for a cute touch.

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Now we needed to test if he would float! To Travis’s delight, the canoe worked great.

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It wasn’t long before he grew impish and wanted to see if our little foam person could swim.

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This being closer to Christmas than Thanksgiving, he turned the canoe into Santa’s “sleigh” during his bath. Bath was nearly double its normal length because he was having so much fun. However you use it, a great floating toy.

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Mud Pie Kitchen

December 6, 2017December 6, 20173 Comments

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In an ideal world, we would have done this activity outdoors in beautiful summer weather; it’s the kind of activity that can keep your kids happily occupied while you garden or do other outdoor chores. But if a kid needs dirt in the winter, then you bring the dirt inside!

To set up our “kitchen”, I spread an old shower curtain liner on the floor to contain any mess. I then set up a variety of kitchen items. We used disposable foil pans, but you can also use items from a flea market or thrift store. Add in spatulas, spoons, ladles, or other kitchen utensils.

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If it’s summer, simply scoop up dirt from your yard and get to work! Here in the winter, we used a leftover bag of potting soil. Travis loved adding water, until we had a nice muddy consistency.

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Then it was time to make mud loaf cakes!

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Cupcake liners were a whimsical touch, so we baked a batch of mud muffins.

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Travis kept up an imaginative narrative as he played; here is a cake inside of an “oven.”

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When he was done, I simply folded the old shower curtain over the muddy pots and pans and put everything into a trash bag – easy as mud pie!

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Duck, Duck, Goose Dress-Up

October 2, 2017October 2, 2017Leave a comment

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There’s no time like October to embrace the glee of dress-up. Whether you’re planning out your actual Halloween costumes or just having fun around the house, kids seem to just morph when they are in costume, If you want, save this one (an adorable suggestion from Highlights High Five) for Halloween; it would be perfect for a parents and a child or for a group of siblings. Or just get silly like we did during a morning of play and use for creative costume play!

Travis thought the project was a delight from start to finish, intrigued right away by all the materials as we gathered them.

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First up was making our hats – two yellow ducks for mom and dad, and a white goose for Travis. Buy solid color hats from a craft store, then trace the visors of the hats on orange felt, leaving an outer edge about 1/4-inch longer than the brim for the “beak.”

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I cut them out, trimming slightly to make sure they fit the brim, and then glued on. You can have your child help you with regular glue, or use hot glue for slightly better adherence.

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To make the eyes, draw black dots with marker on styrofoam balls. Travis had fun drawing one very wobbly eye, but then asked me to fill in the circles on the others.

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Use Velcro dots to add the eyes to each hat. Neat, they stick!

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To make our shirts, we made long lines of glue on the sleeves of plain t-shirts from the craft store – two yellow, one white – and stuck on feathers in the corresponding colors.

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Travis thought this part was endlessly fun, so we covered the bellies of the shirts as well.

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Let your costumes dry completely. While we waited, Travis gathered leftover feathers and pretended it was the duck’s nest! Leftover Styrofoam became the “eggs.”

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The next day, it was time to play! I thought Travis might find the feathery shirt uncomfortable, but he was so excited to be a goose, instantly honking up a storm.

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And insisting that Mommy Duck quack, of course, so here I am:

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Even Daddy Duck got in on the action. We played many rounds of Duck, Duck, Goose of course, and Travis wanted to wear his shirt the rest of the morning. If you do opt for these costumes on Halloween, wear white or yellow rain boots to complete the look.

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DIY Sponge Blocks

June 4, 2017June 4, 20171 Comment

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When it comes to homemade building blocks, these are as easy as they come! Just buy large sponges in bulk (aim to have about 8 to 12 total), and you’re ready for play.

I hadn’t even finished cutting the sponges into shapes (rectangles, squares, and triangles) before Travis noticed them piling up on the counter and demanded we start playing with them.

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The building commenced right away.

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Once the initial novelty of the shapes and texture wore off, it was time to be more imaginative. The sponges soon turned into food.

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Which needed to be grilled of course.

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To take a break from the imaginative play, encourage your toddler or preschooler to make letters with the sponges, or simple patterns by color or shape.

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As the grand finale, we took the sponges outside. They were exceedingly fun to dip into a bucket of water and throw onto the ground.

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We also tested out how much water the sponges could hold, by squeezing them over a cup.

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And you thought sponges were dull as dish water!

Rock Star Microphone

May 13, 2017May 13, 20172 Comments

Well, it’s happened. Travis has lost interest in music from his kiddie class, and now when we’re in the car, he only requests “grown-up music” (Dire Straits, to be exact). So on this rainy Saturday morning, I made my budding rock star his very own microphone!

To start, inflate a balloon until it is the right size to balance atop an empty toilet paper tube.