Handmade Tree Topper for Christmas Tree

I made this Christmas tree topper with my 4 year old son last year. It was the first year we were decorating our Christmas tree with handmade ornaments made by  him ( of course with a little help from me). We used red card stock but you can use any color you like. We used 4 inch squares for the cones and 3 inch circle for base. 

You can choose the size of the square card stock for the cone based on the size of tree topper you want to make.

Supplies : 

- 4 inch square card-stock ( 20 nos.)

- 3 inch circle for base ( 2 nos.)

- Glue 

 Follow the following steps for making the  tree topper :

Here is our Christmas Tree topper on our tree.  We added a punched snowflake in the center. You can also use buttons or rhinestones. You can also add a loop in the back and use it as a decoration  in kids room.

My son was very happy after making this and kept telling everyone he made this amazing  tree topper. He still remembers the tree topper and told me yesterday we need to get our Christmas tree out and decorate it with all the ornaments and topper we made last year.  

Time to make some more holiday crafts  and wonderful memories to be cherished for years to come. Happy Holiday Crafting to all of you !

Fun Plastic Egg Crafts by kids on Playdate

Easter is around the corner, everyone is getting ready with Easter preparation.As far as we are concerned, we have always associated Easter with lots of fun and egg hunts and egg crafts.
Sometimes the Easter crafts or Spring crafts start a week before and sometimes on the day of Easter and at our home it usually continues till a week after at least.

This year my daughter wanted to do something with her friends who were coming on a play date.
From past years experience I realized this craft needs to be quicker than what I am used to. I hope you agree that patience usually runs out pretty quickly when 5-6 year old kids get together and do crafts.

I think this will be the easiest and probably the best DIY Easter Egg Craft I ever blogged about.

Supplies you will need :

-Plastic eggs
-Sharpies permanent markers various colors
-Pipe cleaner
-Scissors (optional)

To make it interesting I let kids do a little egg hunt in the basket filled with some eggs. Only few had something
inside it. Once a child finds a filled egg (took shaking a few to get a filled one),then that is the egg he or she works with. First part was to see what's inside- A little trinket for little hands.

Once they have the egg, its their imagination that took over. They could do anything they wished for. I kept couple of samples for them to know the possibilities.

This is what these crafty kids came up with.

So proud of you kids. Way to go.
They all had so much fun doing this. It was an evening to remember.

PS:
-Recently figured that these plastic eggs come with no holes, single holes or two holes. Most of the eggs we had were without the holes. I ended up buying the ones with holes as didn't have the time to make them. I think you can actually make them using pointed heated metal.I found buying was easier option as I was running out of time.
-Two holes are needed for the bunny Easter egg craft.
-Single hole is useful if you want to make a garland.
-Once the ears are made it is hard to make the eggs stand even on those little egg stands. You might want to keep them in baskets or hot glue a small piece of cardboard at the base. It should do the trick.
-It is a good idea to let the kids do whatever they want, you might help them here and there if they ask for it.

Spring flower sketch- Birthday Card inspired from Book illustration

I am very proud in sharing this beautiful card made by my 6 year old daughter.

This was inspired by an illustration in the book "The Owl and the Pussy Cat" by Edward Lear and Jan Brett.
Recently, she did an author study on Jan Brett. She came across a lot of Jan Brett's books and was particularly impressed by the illustrations.

Inspired from Jan Brett, she wishes to write books and do the illustrations herself too.

In order to make this lovely card- her first attempt to make something similar from a book,she used

Supplies-
Blank Card
Pencil colors
Pencil
Eraser
Book as mentioned above

Personally I thought she will save this card in her treasure box,as she was so excited she could do it so good. In her words- "Almost like the one in the book".She found a better use. She gifted it to one of her best friends.

Always, encourage and inspire your kids to do crafts or sketching or painting. You never know where their imagination takes them.

Handmade Valentine's Day Favor for Preschool Kids, Caterpillar Valentine's Day Craft Tutorial

" You Make My Heart Wiggle"

 
I made these adorable Caterpillar Pencil Favors  yesterday for my son's preschool classmates.  They will be celebrating Valentine's Day today in their class and exchanging little treasures with each other. He loves Eric Carle's Book - The Very Hungry Caterpillar so I decided to make this Caterpillar. I also added Finger LED lights as pencil toppers though that is totally optional.  The earlier post with butterflies is similar but my son was more excited about this one.

Here are supplies I used for this making the Caterpillar :

- Green , Red and White card stock

-  Martha Stewart Scoring Board ( Its not necessary. You can do simple accordion fold but since I had to make multiples (25) it came in real handy.

- 3/8 inch circle punch I used one from Recollections. You can use file or hand hole punch but I found the hole little small to insert pencils easily. If you find a  hand hole punch like this one ( 5/16 inch) it might work or you may have to punch twice to make the hole little bigger.

- Martha Stewart Heart Confetti Punch  I used it for eyes and mouth. You can simply draw them using markers if you do not have this or similar punch.

- Paper Trimmer

- Red and Black markers


- Glue

- Scissors

Steps for making the Caterpillar for pencil favor : 

- Put the green cardstock on the scoring board and score it at one inch intervals as shown in the picture. ( I scored along the longer side of 8.5 x 11 inches card stock). You can totally do accordion fold by hand if you are not making  a lot of these. I had to make 25 nos. and hence it was quicker to use scoring board.

- Cut 1inch x 8 inch strips from the scored card-stock ( cut perpendicular to the scored line not along the score)

 - Punch red and white mini hearts for eyes and heart and glue them to make the face. Use black marker to make the eyeballs.

- Round one end of the strip for the caterpillar face.

- Using the hole punch , punch out circles from the strip for inserting pencil.

- For the antennae of caterpillar use the punched out circles from above and glue them to 1 inch x 1/8inch strips from green cardstock. Color the center of the circles red. Fold the antennae at bottom ( around 1/8 inch) and glue as shown in the picture.

- ( Optional ) Write " You make my heart wiggle "  and from ( child's name) on the top and bottom edge, Older kids can write themselves or you can print and glue thin  strips instead of writing by hand.

- Add the pencil to the wiggly Caterpillar.

Here is another picture of Caterpillar Pencil Favors for Valentine's Day. As I mentioned above I added LED mini lights to the back of the pencil for added interest but its totally optional.

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you and your loved ones!

Handmade Valentine's Day Favors for Preschool Kids

One of my friends wanted to make handmade Valentine’s Day favors for her daughter's preschool classmates and asked me for ideas.  It had to be something her daughter could make with her.  I had seen many decorated pencil favors on Pinterest and had been meaning to try one of my own. Here is a picture of the adorable  butterfly pencil favors we (me , my friend and her sweet soon to be 5 year old daughter) made.

List of Supplies used:

 - Scalloped Circle punch (3.5 inches)
-  Small Hearts Punch
- Red, white and yellow card-stock
- Scissors
- Glue
- Double Sided Tape
- Pencils

Steps for making the project:
 - Punch red scalloped circles (depending on how many favors you plan to make) from the card stock using the scalloped circle punch.

-  Punch lots of red hearts using heart punch. You need four for each favor.

-  Cut out 1.5" x 0.5 " strips from yellow card stock.

-  Fold 3" x 11" white card-stock in half and draw butterfly wings as shown in the picture below. I cut one butterfly first and used it as a template to draw others for uniformity. Cut out the required numbers of butterflies.

-  Attach the butterfly cut out to the scalloped circle using double sided tape.

-  Now take the pencil and place it at the center of the butterfly. Attach the yellow strip to the butterflies over the pencil using double sided tape.

- Glue the hearts to the four corners of the yellow strip. And your adorable butterfly pencil favors are ready. Here is another picture of  bunch of  butterfly pencil favors we made.

You can easily add a lollipop, pen, pack of mints etc.  to customize this for favor of your choice. As an added touch my friend’s daughter wrote her name on a smaller scalloped circle with handmade from heart stamped on it and we attached it to the back of the butterfly favors.  I forgot to take pictures of that :( .

Kids can do most of the steps in this craft project with little help. Just use blunt scissors and help them with cutting the double sided tape.

I loved how these turned out and may end up making something similar for my son’s preschool classmates too. Let us know what you think about this project. We love to hear from our readers.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Basket full of love- Paper hearts in a paper basket , Valentine's day Craft for kids

Whenever my niece visits me , she makes it a point that she has some craft time with me and my daughter. I absolutely love that one on one time. I am amazed by how quickly kids learn things and how fast their fine motor skills develop.

These lovely little hearts were made by my sweet niece and my lovely daughter. Initially we decided we will make lot of hearts. Eventually we made a paper basket to hold them too.

After they finished their project they were super proud. My niece came to me and gave me a heart from her basket and said , " This is specially for you Mami ( Aunt). Thank you for all you do". It really touched my heart.

My daughter brought one and said, " This is for you Mommy for teaching me to make a heart - a symbol of love". And then I got a warm heart felt hug from her.

I guess this is why I love doing craft projects with kids so much..these priceless moments are my reward. I got so involved in teaching them that I took less pictures than usual. Apologies for that.

 Here are some of the best pictures I have. Hope they are of help along with the instructions of  the project.

Instructions for making the Paper Hearts:
- For making the hearts we used paper strips of multiple colors and varying widths ranging from 1/2 inch to 1 inch. Its better to use a light weight paper like print paper.


-  Hold the corner of the strip and fold it into a triangle along the width. Refer the first picture.
-  Crease the fold and the keep on folding the triangle till you reach the end where you snip a little and tuck the remaining strip in the flap.
-  Pinch the resulting triangle at the center and puff it a little to make it look like a heart shape.
-  To get rounded corners cut them a little with scissors ( refer picture )

Tips:
- Wider paper will result in a bigger heart.
- Adults should help kids for rounding the heart as it really needs muscle power and sharp scissors.
-  This is a very popular way of making heart. You can get video tutorial on you tube if you need further instructions. I did not use any particular video for this tutorial. I shared this project as I tried making it with kids for the first time.

Dumbo the Elephant lunch bag craft for preschoolers

Being so much involved in crafts I usually buy craft items separately. I have all kinds of papers and pom-poms,glue etc. When my daughter has to do a project I just think about the project and grab the things needed and she is ready to go. I guess this was my first experience of getting something in a kit. My sister gifted The Giant Busy Box to my daughter a while back. It was interesting to get something in a box and ready to craft. The instructions are pictorial and there is only one of a kind.

The supplies are not packed in a way that you pick one and you have all the things needed for a particular craft. Similar things are packed together like the lunch bags, pom poms. You still need to sort out and pick things. I think this is a good thing if you let your child figure it out and the child is up to it. If not then, parents should help. It was interesting to watch my daughter make this Lunch bag Elephant, which she instantly named Dumbo.

 Supplies: As shown in the picture plus some stickers which she figured out later.

 Observation: I let my daughter (referred as 'A' henceforth) chose what she wanted to make and figure it out herself. It took a little longer but she learnt a lot in the process. Glue stick might not work that well as the cut-outs are glossy. It might need more time to dry or you might offer the craft glue to stick some pieces.It is not so simple for kids as it might appear to you. Let them do it themselves but do provide encouragement and give hints.  

Things my child learnt:
 - Follow instructions: Understand pictorial instruction for something similar and apply that to make something else.
- Decision making- What she wants to make, what supplies will be needed.
- Implementation: Actually use the understanding and make the craft.
- Improvisation : Things might not work the way think they will, so we need to improvise.
- Accept others help: It is alright if things don't work, we might need help sometimes and it is alright to ask for help after trying first.

- Sense of Accomplishment: Feeling of accomplishment after looking at the completed project.

'A' took this project to school for "Show and Tell"and explained her friends and teachers how she made it. She was so proud that she made it all by herself. She quoted " The tusks and the tail were so tricky, they kept falling and falling. So if that happens always remember you can use that white craft glue and press and count 1 , 2, 3 ...and may be more till it sticks:) Trust me, it will stick".

And what followed was laughter, fun and hours of puppet play.  

Note:Alex Toys- The Giant Busy Box is a good purchase and keeps your kid busy and they learn a lot. The instructions are not so clear so preschoolers might need help.Not sure if the price is worth the supplies included but it sure saves time.  

Disclaimer: We were not compensated to write this review in any way. It was just a personal project.

Curvy and Cutie Paper Caterpillar Craft

I think the first big word that my daughter learnt when she was 3 year old was CATERPILLAR. Thanks to the story book "The very hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. There was something about this book that she was always so fascinated by Caterpillar and the fact that it becomes Butterfly.

 For a while she thought any big word can only be caterpillar. Spring is finally here and she has been learning about the life cycle of a Butterfly in her 4 yr preschool. I felt it was the perfect time to finally post those pictures I have planned to post from long.

 I am sharing the caterpillar craft she did when her cousin came to visit us.They ended up naming the caterpillar. I guess it was Curvy and Cutie. Here is how you can make your own Curvy and Cutie Caterpillar.  

Supplies:
-Green print paper or construction paper
-Google Eyes
-Chennile stems
-Pom poms
-Glue
-Masking tape
-Bangle or similar material to make circle. You can use circle punch also.
-Safety Scissors

 Instructions: Follow the pictures. 

 Notes:
 -  While making this caterpillar kids learn making circle using another material. This is an important craft skill. Kids need to practice to get better at this.
 - Cutting circles adds to the fine motor skill practice that is so vital at this tender age.
 - If you feel your child's attention span is not long you might want to cut the circle and give or do this craft in two sittings. Cut circles in one and make caterpillar in another one.
 - To make it more interesting and reinforce the story you might start by reading Eric Carle's story book. The very hungry caterpillar or click on the link and show them the video where Eric Carle is reading the story himself.
- It is a fun group craft. Kids enjoy it more when done in group.
- It is easier and quicker to fix the chenille stems or pipe cleaner legs using masking tape, however if you do not have it you can use glue. Tacky glue works best but you have to leave it for a while to dry.

 Variations: You can use different colors of circles or you can use different sizes of circles to make it more interesting.

Handmade Birthday Cake Greeting card for 5th Birthday

Recently we celebrated my daughter's 5th Birthday. The moment this new year started she was all about reverse counting the number of days left for her birthday. I guess its like this for every 5 year old. Every time she goes for her friend's birthday party I make sure that she makes a card. She was complaining the other day that "I make card for everyone but most of my friends buy the card and send it. No one really takes the trouble to make it." She is right,except couple of her friends no one really makes it. Personally, I feel that making card for someone you care about is one of those gestures that express your sentiments at a whole different level. If you cannot make it, even then if you buy a handmade card it definitely tells that you took the time and made the effort to give a special card.

 I promised myself that this time I will make a unique card for her birthday. Just to inspire her and also for her to feel that mom cares and makes card for me too. Can you believe, I made it at the day of party as I was running out of time. With a new baby at home it is hard to find time. She was about to wake up and my husband tells me to drop everything and finish wrapping the gift and make the card. There is nothing more important than that. Trust me, I did what he said and ya, I agree, there was nothing more important than that.

So here it is, the card that I made for our daughter. Both of us (mom and dad) ended up writing inside in such a way that she could read. She is learning to read right now and getting better day by day.  

Supplies needed:
- Blank card
- Envelope
- Card stock yellow, red and polka dots
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Colored Pens and pencils
 This is a kind of a 3D card you might say. The base is like a step cut-out and then there are individual strips with corners scored with a bone folder so that it looks 3d.

Decorate it with colored pens and pencils. Write the message and give it to your loved one. I guess the rest is self explanatory. If you have any questions about how I made it, feel free to ask. Didn't get a chance to take the picture while making it.

 PS.She loved the card and says I can't believe it mommy you made such a lovely card for me. She was happy that both of us wrote.

Chenille Stem Star Ornament

Like last year, this year also our Christmas tree was up on Dec 1st. The decoration is in progress. With a new baby at home I hardly get time to make ornaments. But my 4 yr preschooler is ensuring we are doing some or the other Christmas related craft almost every 2 days. I am not getting enough time to post all of them but I will definitely try to share these ideas as and when time permits. In my daughter's preschool class they asked every child - Who do you want to gift on Christmas and what?My daughter,who is usually Daddy's girl and a big sister to her little brother, replied 2 star ornaments for my Mom. Lucky me!! And who else will she ask how to make them? So here I am helping my kiddo to make 2 star ornaments to be gifted to me.

Jokes apart I really admire her eagerness to learn and create when it comes to crafts. She is a different kid when she is doing crafts.

Supplies you will need:
-Chenille stem or pipe cleaner- red (or color of your choice)
-Pencil -Golden wire or bow ribbon
-Star shape cookie cutter
-Fish line or mono filament
-Safety scissors
Instructions :
Step 1 Make a loop with pipe cleaner using pencil as shown.  
Step 2 Continue wrapping the pipe cleaner around the cookie cutter to get the star shape. Secure the end and cut-off any extra pipe cleaner.
Step 3 Wrap the golden ribbon or wire around the star shape so it looks filled and beautiful.  
Step 4 Hang the ornament with mono filament or fish line. You can use ribbon also if you prefer that.  
Note :  My daughter made this ornament herself with very little help. Some kids might need some more hand holding depending on how much practice they have for crafting. Some kids might find the ends of pipe cleaner a little sharp, parents please supervise little kids for this craft.

Pumpkin Carving Craft for Halloween

Halloween is a festival my daughter waits all year long. Apart from dressing into some interesting outfits each year she loves decorating pumpkin. Halloween is not a festival we used to celebrate growing up but now it has become a family favorite one. If you want to know more about Halloween click here. Like last couple of years we have made pumpkin craft this year's Halloween too. With the new addition to our family( my cute little boy) I thought we might not be able to carve one this time. Thanks to the enthusiasm of my 4 and a half yr old daughter and my husband, we finally did it. This time I also contributed to carving. My daughter is the happiest person in the house once it was done. We had the pleasure of the presence of my parents. My dad took pictures and my 2 month old son was in the audience too. Here's how we did it. 1. Design selection- by my daughter. 2. Cut the lid. 3. Clean the inside using scraping tool.

4. Tape the template. 5. Trace using crayon. 6. Take out template and carve using tool. 7. Place a battery operated light inside the pumpkin and place the lid.

The above pictures are self explanatory, however if any of you want to know more please feel free to ask.

Note-Since sharp tools are involved Adults supervision and participation is a must. It is advisable to use the tools meant for pumpkin carving. It makes the task super easy and it is safer too. For tutorials of other pumpkin crafts we have already done click here.

Flower Greeting Card using Paper Punches

This is another project we did during the summer craft classes. As I mentioned earlier this year my focus was introducing new techniques and tools for paper crafting. This one focussed on using paper punches.

Supplies needed for the project :
- Card-stock in various colors
- Flower Punches ( I prefer to keep same flower punch pattern in multiple sizes, helps getting realistic look for the flower)
- Snowflake punch ( used it for the stamen)
- Leaf punch
- Mouse pad
- Stylus/ ball pen
- Glue

First we punched out bigger flowers ( 3-4 per flower) from orange cardstock. For the center of the flower we punched two small yellow flowers and a small black snowflake for the stamen. Layer the flowers by turning each layer a little bit clock-wise ( or vice-versa) to obtain that fuller look. For shaping the flower keep the flower on a mousepad, and press in the center using a ball pen ( closed end) or a stylus. The flower will form a cup shape. Then fluff the petals with your fingers.

For the leaves, punch out leaves in two shades of green. You have to punch a lot ( really a lot ) of leaves to fill the background. Then attach the flowers. We kept the card blank though you could add a message/sentiment on top.

I absolutely loved how it turned out . She loved using the punches and after the class made tons of flowers at her home using these punched. It makes all the effort worth it when a kid loves what you teach them. Am so proud of her.

Summer Craft Classes - Spiral roses card with paper quilling

This is in continuation with my previous post. This project I am sharing was made by my eight year old student. Spiral roses are so elegant and enhance the beauty of any project they are used in. I have used them often for cards, tags as gift toppers etc.  Just change the size of the spiral used to make the rose and you can use it in multiple ways.

Usually when I make these I draw the spiral free hand and cut it. For Sirjan, my student I used a slightly different approach. I drew spirals of various diameters on a tracing paper. And then taught her how to use carbon paper or transfer paper to trace the template on the colored paper for the rose.  That made it easy for her to cut the spiral.I prefer to use text weight paper for the roses though you can use card stock too.

We made many variations of the roses, like inking the edges with markers to make shaded roses or using stamp pads for the edges.

There are quilling kits available with cut spirals though I prefer to cut my own. Here is  a  tutorial  for making the rose after the spiral is cut.  Here is a close up of the roses she made. I am so proud of her.