Kids Craft: Spiders

It's time for all sorts of creepy-crawlies...including the cute, homemade ones! My boys loved making these spiders out of pipe-cleaners :)

Put 4 pipe-cleaners together and bend in half. Twist the bent side into a head and fan out the legs.

Add beads at the joints and position your spider in various ways :)

Thanks Preschool Crafts for Kids for the fun idea! I’ll be linking up to Making Your Home Sing Sunday, Mama Moments Monday,  Mom’s Library, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, The Mommy Club. 

Pipe-cleaner Candy Canes

I know Christmas is coming and time is definitely running out for cute Christmas crafts to do with your kids, but if you need a quick activity during the winter break, make some cute candy canes with some pipe-cleaners and beads :)

My boys got very into this. My 4 year old understood the pattern concept right away, and my 2 year old got to work on his hand-eye coordination. Plus, these are super cheap to make and look really cute on the tree!

Just cut your pipe-cleaners in half, twist one end around a bead and have your kiddos put the rest of the beads on. When the pipe cleaner is almost full twist the end around the last bead and voila!

I’m linking up to Mommy Ideas, Works for Me Wednesday, Penny Pinching Party Wednesday and Kids Get Crafty.

Craft Fail: Catapult

Have you ever gotten super excited about a craft and had it totally bomb? Yeah, that was us earlier this week…I made sure when a tissue box was empty that it was saved so I could make a catapult with my boys and they were SO excited.

K kept giving me instructions (ie bossing me around) on how to make it and the instructions at the site were not clear enough for my tired mommy brain. We ended up using a paper clip instead of a pipe cleaner (because, I somehow do not own a single pipe cleaner!) and had to wing it. There were cranky voices and maybe a few raised voices.

Our little catapult did actually launch the marshmallows a few times but then it lost its oomph and we were all a little disappointed.

You win some, you lose some, right?!

Clothespin Butterfly Craft

 We've been doing a lot of crafts recently since we're home so much. My girls frequently ask me for new crafts and one day they wanted to make butterflies. So, we present to you our Clothespin Butterfly Craft!

Fruit Loop Wreath

Just another quick, easy craft to do with your kids as you’re in full gear for Christmas…Fruit Loop Wreaths! Just have your kids string some red & green Fruit Loops onto a pipe cleaner and twist the ends together to make a festive wreath that the kids can enjoy (especially the devouring part after!).

Ornament Round Up

I am definitely not the type to have an elaborate, coordinated Christmas tree…I love having random ornaments that we have collected over the years. I especially love the ornaments we have made! Here’s a round up of some of those ornaments (hover over the picture for a description, and click the picture to be taken to the link):

Toddler Bird Feeders

Here's a fun, simple project for your toddler to make: a bird feeder!

Clothespin Ornaments

Last week I had a bunch of girls from our church over to make ornaments for the tree at church and these are what I came up with…clothespin ornaments: I was really pleased with how they turned out and how easy they were to make…

Santa just requires the bottom 2/3rds of the clothespin to be painted red. Cut out a thin strip of black felt for the belt and draw on black buttons. Cut out a white felt beard and a red felt hat. Add some eyes and you’re done! Clip it to your tree.

The reindeer needs to be painted brown first. Then hot glue on a small red pom-pom, paint on some eyes (or add some googly eyes), and hot glue a pipe-cleaner folded into antlers on. My boys insisted my reindeer needed to be a bit more feminine with a pretty little flower.

For the snowman, paint it white. Then use a toothpick to add dots of black for the buttons, mouth and eyes. Paint on a carrot nose. Hot glue a felt hat and you’re done!

I’ll be linking up to: Works For Me Wednesday,  Mom’s Library, Let's Hear it For the Boy! Clever Chicks Blog Hop,Share it Saturday, Fine Craft Guild,Share Wednesdays, TGIF. Kids Get Crafty, The Mommy Club

Popsicle Stick Picture Frame

My boys are in school all day, and I would think they would be exhausted by the time they got home, but most days, they walk in the door and beg to do a craft. One day, we put together these fun popsicle stick picture frames: