Get Busy with Spring Break Crafts for Kids

The kids are home for Spring Break, and chances are you could use a few craft ideas for entertaining them. Here are 5 Spring Break arts and crafts that are sure to keep them busy!

1. Yarn Eggs

Our first Spring Break craft idea could pass as an Easter-time craft, but really it works any time of year. It’s a fun project for school-age kids who will love the process and the end result – big, colorful orbs to hang in their rooms.  You’ll need thin cotton yarn, balloons, craft glue, newspaper, waxed paper, a clothespin and a hanger. The project involves making a watered-down glue mixture, dipping strands of yarn in it and and wrapping around a balloon. Once dry, you pop and remove the balloon, and you are left with a funky, colorful egg.

2. Spring Blossom Painting

The blogger from Toddler Approved created the idea for this gorgeous painting that is worthy of hanging on a prime spot on your walls. Check out her handy tutorial for a detailed how-to that includes photos of each step. Be assured that it’s a simple project involving materials you likely already have in the house, which is perfect for crafts for Spring Break… watercolor paper, paint and a Sharpie is all you need!

Blossom Painting by Toddler Approved
Blossom Painting by Toddler Approved

3. Chalkboard Flower Pots

We’ve tweaked this Spring Break craft a bit to make it more kid- friendly.  The day before you tackle this project with the kids, paint a few flower pots with chalkboard paint. The ingenious paint now comes in nearly every color of the rainbow.  Once dry, big kids they may enjoy embellishing the pots with trim, ribbon or buttons (similar to the project shown here). Kids of all ages will love using the colorful pots to plant a few fast-growing seeds or actual flowers or plants you’ve picked up from the home improvement store or local nursery, and then decorating their pots with chalk drawings that can be erased at whim.

Chalkboard Flower Pots by Paint Me Plaid
Chalkboard Flower Pots by Paint Me Plaid

4. Button Flowers for Counting

This cute craft helps young kids count and learn to associate numbers. It’s simple, too.  Help kids use green Wikki Stix  (wax covered yarn sticks you can bend and mold to any shape) to make stems and leaves for flowers and attach to a piece of white paper.  Children can then attach a button to the top of the stem (the Wikki Stix will adhere the button so no glue is necessary). Label the stems of the flowers with any numbers the children are working on.  Have the children place the corresponding number of buttons on top of the flowers.

Button Flowers for Counting by Sixty Second Parent
Button Flowers for Counting by Sixty Second Parent

5. Bunny Paper Plate Photo Frame

Here’s a cute Spring Break craft that even the tiniest tots can handle. Simply cut the middle out of a paper plate, paste cotton balls on the remaining circle, and staple two bunny ears made from additional plates and also covered in cotton balls You can either paste it around a photo of your child’s face (like a frame) or tie a string from side-to-side on the back and make a fun mask.

Bunny Love by I Love 1st Grade

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4 Fun Holiday Projects that Make Great Gifts from Kids

Hopefully you’ve taken advantage of UrbanSitter to score a sitter or two so you can get out to enjoy a holiday party or take care of some shopping without the kids. Why not make it fun for the kids and a little easier on the sitter by leaving them with instructions and supplies for holiday crafts to tackle together?

We’ve selected four crafts that will score big points with kids and are simple enough as to not to stress out the sitter. What’s even better? These crafts make awesome homemade gifts. Your kids will love wrapping their masterpiece and will beam with pride when they deliver it to a lucky recipient this holiday season.

Our top four, fun-to-make, homemade gifts, along with instructions and a handy shopping list for each:

  1. 1. Salt Dough Hand Print Ornament

Those tiny hands, whether they belong to your newborn or your 7-year-old, won’t last for long. These classic handprint ornaments made with salt dough are an adorable, touching way to cement a moment in time.  You’ll cherish them so much, you won’t want to give them away… so have the sitter and your kids make one for you, too.  Click for instructions.

Here’s what you’ll need to leave the sitter:

4 cups of flour

1 cup salt

Food coloring

Large Mixing Bowl

Cookie sheet

Canola oil

Small rolling pin

Drinking straw

Ribbon

Photo by Stephanie Severin
Photo by Stephanie Severin

2. Magnified Magnets

This is a good project for bigger kids who have better focus and dexterity than their younger  siblings. Half the fun of the project is hunting down tiny pictures to fit on the back of glass pebbles. Good places to search for images include: scraps of wrapping paper, Christmas cards, homemade drawings, and thumbprints made with a stamp pad. Simply cut out the image and glue it right side up to the flat side of a glass pebble. Once dry, glue a magnet to the back of it. The blogger gives you more detailed instructions, and lots of photo for inspiration.

You’ll need the following, available from a craft supply store:

3/4 inch circle punch

Glass accent marbles/pebbles

Adhesive

Stamp pad

Craft paper, wrapping paper, cards

¾ inch magnets

3. Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels

pretzels
Photo by: food.com/938006

This is a yummy cooking project for kids of various ages.  Everyone can help break up the chocolate; older kids, with the help of a sitter, can dip the pretzels into melted chocolate (candy canes work well for dipping, too); and little ones can sprinkle and/or roll pretzels in crushed candy, sprinkles, nuts or coconut. There is no shortage of recipes for this one, but here’s a favorite of ours.

You’ll need:

Pretzels rods or candy canes

Chocolate chips or melting chips

Candy, sprinkles, nuts, coconut – anything you want to roll them in

Wax paper for cooling pretzels

  1. Holiday Cards

crafts for kidsHere’s a good project for preschoolers. It’s a DIY holiday card using their handprint and finger paint. The instructions recommend using washable finger paint because it’s thicker and of course, easier to clean up than the real deal paint. You simply help kids coat their palm in paint and press it onto the front of cardstock to make a Christmas tree or menorah. You can use other colors and fingerprints to decorate the tree if you are making a Christmas tree print, or for the flames on the tips of the menorah candles.  It’s a simple project that requires few materials, and  produces great results.

You’ll need:

Finger paint

Cardstock

Paint brush

Pen

Have you found other holiday crafts for kids that your kids are going ga-ga for? We’d love to hear about them. Please share with us!

7 Simple Kid’s Crafts for Mother’s Day

Mother's Day Art, Simple Art Projects for Mother's Day, Mom Art

Why not surprise a mom by helping her kids create a heart-felt, homemade gift to show their love this Mother’s Day? Here are 7 simple DIY gifts kids can create with a little help from you to make any mom feel special:

1. Mother’s Day Coupon Book

Download our Mother’s Day Coupon Book printable template to make an extra-thoughtful gift mom with coupons for “washing the dishes,” “folding the laundry,” and even “one hour of quiet time.” Have your little one color-in and draw on each coupon to personalize it. Complement your coupon book with an UrbanSitter gift card!

mother's-day-coupon-book

2. Yarn Wrapped Bottles

A Mother’s Day art project older kids will enjoy is creating these beautiful vases for Mom.  It’s an easy way to present a few flowers on Mom’s big day.

via Huffington Post
via Huffington Post

3. Craft Stick Flower Pot

Another fun easy art project for kids to make on Mother’s Day is to create a colorful flower pot. Find a recycled can or other small container and craft or popsicle sticks and some glue. After the flower pot is finished, fill it with her favorite plant for a long-lasting gift that will keep her smiling.

via Somewhat Simple
via Somewhat Simple

4. Baby Feet Butterflies

If you’re looking for an easy art project for Mother’s Day for a baby, using their fingerprints or footprints is a wonderful way to create sentimental art. One homemade gift for mom from a baby is to dip the baby’s feet into non-toxic washable paint and create footprints.  After the paint has dried, turn them into butterflies with just a few swipes with a marker.

via Pinterest
via Pinterest

5. Tissue Paper Flowers

Truly a classic craft for Mother’s Day! Who doesn’t love a few tissue paper flowers, and even more so if they were created by the little ones they love. WikiHow tells you how to make them three ways.

via Rust and Sunshine
via Rust and Sunshine

6. Craft Stick Jewelry Box

For the elementary kids, a simple Mother’s Day craft is this beautiful keepsake box. All they need to make this box are craft sticks or recycled popsicle sticks and embellish with anything from beads, sequins, buttons, drawings or even stickers. Mom will love storing her treasures here.

via Spoonful
via Spoonful

7. Flower Photos

A free printable background, cupcake liners, construction paper and favorite photos are all it takes to make these adorable flower photos. Photos of children’s faces are cut into 1.5 inch circles and pasted to the center of flowers.  Once they are completed, these can be used to make a Mother’s Day card or a picture frame. For a picture frame, either buy a new frame or find an old picture frame and just remove the glass to make room for the 3D flowers.

via Raising Arizona Kids
via Raising Arizona Kids

Homemade Mother’s Day crafts like these are the ones that will truly touch her heart. She’ll appreciate the time and effort you made to help the kids create such meaningful Mother’s Day gifts. UrbanSitter.com gift cards make great gifts, too!

Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids

How about arming your babysitter with Valentine’s Day craft ideas and supplies for your kids to create special treats for family and friends? You’ll have happily occupied kids, a grateful babysitter and a few special gifts, too.

Here are five sweet ideas for your little ones to get crafty:

1) Fun Craft for Bigger Kids – Matchbox Valentine Boxes

matchbox valentines by inchmark.squarespace.com

Kids love tiny things, and who can blame them? These tiny packages made out of matchboxes and filled with candy are adorable. (You’ll want one, too!) Easy to create, the boxes can be customized with as much or as little as your crafter likes. Tape a strip of craft paper to cover them [Cut a piece of paper 2″ high (or the height of your matchbox) and about 4″ long (enough to wrap it around)], slap on some stickers, or paint or draw your own decorations… and tie with a bow. Since they are so teeny, a bag of candy is all you’ll need to fill a whole slew of them. M&Ms work well, and you can buy the pink and red ones for VDay.

2) Homemade Valentine’s Day Cards with Crazy Crayons

crazycrayons by innerchildfun.com

We love this crazy cute Valentine, particularly because it includes a kid-approved treat that isn’t candy – Crazy Crayons. Here’s the perfect use of all the bits and pieces of broken crayons you undoubtedly have at the bottom of your arts and crafts box. Crazy Crayons take what’s old and turn it into colorful, useful, Valentine gifts for classmates and friends. Your kids will love the crayon “demo” and the big reveal (once the bits bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, then chill in the frig). A heart muffin tin is especially cute to use, and these free printables stapled to the top of a Ziploc bag make the Valentine especially easy to package.

3) The Perfect Project for Preschoolers – Heart Flowers

Photo by Puttisworld

You’ll need red, pink and green construction paper, craft or popsicle sticks, glue, scissors and a couple of markers to create these happy Heart Flowers. Your sitter can help by cutting out four red/pink hearts for the flower and two smaller green hearts for the leaves of each flower. Your child can glue them to the paper, overlapping to form a flower, adding the stick for a stem and leaves, too. Once dry, draw a face and any Valentine’s Day message you choose. Instructions and photos here, thanks to Putti’s World.

4) Get Cooking for a Tasty Snack (or Gift)

Photo by Workathomegal.com

Take it easy on your sitter by leaving her all the trappings for a low-fuss treat she and the kids can bake and decorate. Depending on your child’s age and familiarity with baking, choose either a roll of refrigerated cookie dough, a boxed mix for cupcakes, or the easiest route – premade, undecorated cookies or cupcakes from the bakery or grocery store. Most will agree the best part of baking holiday treats is decorating them, so go all out on decorations. You could include several colors of candy sprinkles or sugars, maraschino cherries, dried coconut, tubes of frosting, chocolate chips, and candy hearts.

5) Home-Crafted Decoration to Resurrect Each Year

Photo by Kaboose

We know, we know, it’s another craft with crayons, but we couldn’t help ourselves. This craft is worth picking up an extra set of crayons so you can tackle it, as well as the melted crayon Valentines. So pretty to hang in a window, these stained glass hearts are a perfect way to brighten dreary winter days. You can make them by melting crayon shavings between waxed paper using an iron set on low. Hang them with a loop of string or ribbon after cutting out hearts. Experiment with different color combinations, and make sure the sitter knows not to take her eyes off the hot iron or melted paper until they have cooled.

Hope you, your kids and your sitter love these Valentine’s Day Crafts for Kids as much as we do!

Get Crafty with Spring Crafts for Preschoolers

Dare we say it for fear of jinxing ourselves? Spring is almost here! Despite the cold weather most of the country is still fighting, Spring is officially only weeks away. Let’s mark its long-awaiting arrival with some fun, simple crafts for parents or sitters to tackle with preschoolers who will love creating these adorable bunnies, chicks, flowers, Easter eggs and rainbows.

isabel-raincoat

Spring Crafts for Preschoolers

Happy Cloud and Rainbow
Spring showers often bring rainbows – create your own with curly ribbon. Instructions via Meet the Dubiens.

via Meet the Dubiens
via Meet the Dubiens

Shaving Cream Easter Egg
Promised to be far less messy than it appears, this craft is pure tactile fun for little hands! Instructions via Little Wonders’ Day.

via Little Wonders' Day
via Little Wonders’ Day

Toilet Paper Roll Bunny
It’s always nice to pull art supplies from the recycling bins, and who doesn’t love a project with googly eyes!? Little ones will need some extra assistance gluing tiny pieces and drawing the bunny face. Instructions via Eco Scrapbook.

via Eco Scrapbook
via Eco Scrapbook

Fabric Scrap Garden
An adorable garden made from scrap fabric, pipe cleaners and popsicle sticks. This one looks cute as a wall hanging. Instructions via Spoonful.

via Spoonful
via Spoonful

Paper Plate Chick
Super simple, super cute craft for little ones. Instructions via Simple as That.

via Simple as That
via Simple as That

For more great ideas for creating fun art and crafts with kids, check out UrbanSitter’s Pinterest Board – Crafts for Kids. 

Got 1 Minute? 3 Art Games to Boost your Kid’s Strategic Thinking, Problem Solving and Visual Recall

By Ruthie Briggs-Greenberg

It’s Monday. You have to get your kids to school, and you’re only on your first cup of coffee. What can you do that will help them think better and not annoy you? An art activity! What, you ask, is an “art activity”? It’s something that exposes kids to art. Why should you do it? According to the National Endowment for the Arts, kids with more art experiences had higher GPAs than kids who lacked those experiences. How do you start? Pour that second cup of coffee, set the timer for 1 minute and do one of the following:

GAME 1: (The timer is set, right? Did you pour that second cup of coffee?) Ask Junior “How many things can be done with spoons?” Now wait. If Junior hasn’t had breakfast, they might say, “I don’t know.” But, if Junior just had a bowl of sugary goodness, the answer may be, “You can eat with spoons, dig with spoons… Uhhhhhh…..” Then Junior may fall silent. This is where you say, “Keep going…”  Junior may come up with one more answer, something involving “you can fling a spoon.” The minute will pass.

What’s the answer? An unknown number of things can be done with spoons. Think outside of the box, or in this case, the silverware drawer.  This idea of thinking beyond what is obvious frees your child’s mind to use their imagination.  Imagination leads to solutions. Let’s get back to the spoons.  If you weld spoons together, you could build skies, or a wall, and then you could make a house of spoons, (no, it’s not cheating, I never said, “a spoon,” or that the spoons had to remain in their original form). The question leads your child, and you, to think strategically to solve a puzzle. This method of thinking creatively frees up your mind to design, imagine and build ideas that don’t exist. That’s how art starts. You’ve spent a minute and engaged in strategic thinking.

GAME 2: Grab a pencil and a piece of paper. Ask Junior to draw a bicycle with circles, and lines. Did you set the timer for one minute? If your coffee has kicked in, you can try it too. What does this game do for Junior? It makes them think about design principles of how shapes fit together for practical use. If you want a hint, a very basic bike can be drawn using 5 circles and 11 lines. Wait a minute, how is this art, you ask? It is art because it involves organizing shapes and lines and creating a design. So you’ve just covered design, which fits under problem solving.

GAME 3: Open the cupboard and let Junior look at it for 8 seconds. This is not the time to obsess over the fact that there is high fructose corn syrup in half of the breakfast cereals. Close the cupboard. Ask Junior, “How many colors can be made from the colors on the boxes inside the cupboard?” You’ll probably get this, “I don’t know”. Who thinks about cereal boxes and art? Ask Junior to open the cupboard and see if there is red, yellow and blue inside, if so, you have the three primary colors. All colors can be made from the three primary colors. Play a color addition game (go on, the first part wasn’t even 20 seconds). What is red plus yellow? Orange. Was there a yellow box on your shelf? A blue one? Sure there was, everyone has that blue box of pasta on the second shelf, so now you have yellow plus blue. You get the picture. Now you’ve covered visual recall.

Wow, look at you, covering strategic thinking, problem solving and visual recall all before your 3rd cup of coffee! Junior used art, or thinking about art, to fire up those synapses before class. Thinking about art will carry over into other areas of study, such as math, language, and science. Ultimately art allows individuals to create something from nothing by strategically analyzing a problem and solving them. If you have five minutes, tour the world’s greatest museums online. This may lead to conversations about the historical context that art was created in, or the purpose of art. If you ask Junior what they think about a painting they are looking at they may say, “I don’t know”. That’s ok, school doesn’t train our kids to think of possibilities, it teaches kids to have answers. Get Junior thinking and they will come up solutions to all kinds of life situations. 1 minute art games lead Junior to strategic thinking, problem solving and visual recall, and you did it all without a 4th cup of coffee.

Photograph by D Sharon Pruitt via Flickr/Creative Commons

DIY Families: 5 Home Projects You Can Do with the Kids

When you’ve got a lot of projects to take are of around the house, your first instinct might be to send the kids out of the house on play dates, or into the yard with their toys. But getting your children involved in working around the house presents many great learning opportunities and, when taught correctly and monitored appropriately, can actually help you get your work done faster!

Below are five easy home projects the whole family can get involved in, from our friends at HomeAdvisor.

1. Painting the walls. You can paint the high parts of the walls; your kids can help cover the lower areas. It’s a project most of them will love, and it also gives them a beginner handyperson’s education in undercoats and how to place tape to avoid painting the baseboards. You will need to supervise them throughout the process, but the sense of accomplishment they’ll feel when they actually get to see the completed room painted a whole new color is enormous. If they’re too little to really help, let them show their creativity by painting smiley faces, clouds, flowers, that you’ll paint over later.

2. Clean out the drains. Drains get stopped up over time, but there’s no need to use chemicals to un-clog them, unless you’ve gotten something major stuck down there. Baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar mixed together into a paste is a concoction that’s safe enough for children to use, and strong enough to get the job done. Let the kids pour this mixture down the drain, then follow it up yourself with a kettle full of boiling water you pour down yourself. Let it stand for 30 minutes to an hour, then let your kids run some fresh sold water through the drain to finish up.

3. Give the mailbox a makeover. Over time, your mailbox can take a beating. This is a great project to get your kids involved in. Wash the mailbox with sponges, water, and mild soap to remove all debris. Then decide: does the box simply need a fresh coat of paint? A new house number? Decorations like flowers or flags? Let everyone in the family have a say—and a hand in making your designs come to life.

4. Plant a container garden. Kids love to get down in the dirt, so why not redirect that enjoyment towards something with an actual purpose? They can create holes for young plants and seedlings, get them situated, and water them in. You can also let them choose some of their favorite fruits and vegetables to plant in the garden—they’ll be so excited to see the plants they’ve chosen shoot up and get bigger day by day.

5. Get them involved in overall house-cleaning. While this might seem like a big chore, you can help kids find a fun way to get involved in the process. Show them how to swish a feather duster around with flair, and they can dust off your end tables and other low-lying areas. You can also make tidying their rooms into a game: how fast can they stack the blocks, or how many dolls will fit in one cubby? Not only does this help you (a little), it helps your children learn good practices that will benefit them through their whole lives.

Crafty Kids: How to Make Beaded Key Fobs

The title of this craft begs the questions: what exactly is a fob, and why on earth would any kid want to make one (aside from the fact, of course, that they’re really pretty)?

Traditionally—meaning, in the late 19th century—a fob was a decorative chain that attached your pocket watch to your person. Since not many folks wear pocket watches anymore, the craft is reimagined here by our friends at Crafting Community as a decoration for a key. And as every kid knows, getting your own key to the house is an enormous rite of passage, one that symbolizes a surge in responsibility as well as a parent’s recognition of it.

Why make a key fob? To celebrate that oh-so-important key and make it look as important as it really is. Not to mention, help your kid find it in her cluttered backpack!

What you’ll need:

Plastic lacing
Scissors
Metal clips
Pony beads in assorted colors

1. Start with about 6 feet of plastic lacing, fold it in half, and put it on a metal clip.

2. Thread your first bead onto one end of the cord, then thread the other end of the cord through the opposite side of the bead.

3. Begin your design by adding the next row of beads. To do this, slip on 2 beads to the right half of the lacing and then thread the left side of lacing through both beads.

4. Continue to increase or decrease by 1 bead each row until your design takes shape. Once your design is finished, make a knot and hide the little ends under the last row of beads. Now it’s time to hook on that key!

Crafty Kids: How to Make a Woven Yarn God’s Eye

Woven Yarn God's Eye

The ojo de Dios (Spanish for “eye of God”) is a folk toy with origins among the Huichol Indians of the Sierra Madre. The four points of the crossed sticks are said to represent the elements of earth, air, water, and fire; the finished eye, replete with alternating stripes of yarn, is meant to offer health, fortune, and long life.

Extremely simple to put together, this bright, festive craft from our friends at Crafting Community forms the base for a great crib mobile—something for an older sibling to make for the new baby in the house. It’s also a super entry point for talking to kids about American history—and for parents to learn a little something, too.

What you’ll need:

  • Two sticks of equal length
  • Brightly colored yarn in 3 or 4 color
  • Scissors

1. Grab two sticks and tie them together in the middle with the end of your ball of yarn. Twist the sticks to form a ‘+’.

 

2. Wrapping in a clockwise direction, wind your yarn over and around 1, then 2, then 3, then 4. (See image at right for technique).

3. To switch up your colors, simply snip the yarn you’re working with and tie on a new color. Trim the excess and continue wrapping.

4. To finish your god’s eye, top knot your yarn around your final stick twice. Trim the excess yarn and you’re done!

To add tassels:

1. Loop yarn around your fingers 15x

2. Thread another piece of yarn through your loop and make a knot with long tails. Cut the end of your yarn loop to create fringe.

3. Tie your tassel on, knotting it to your gods eye on the back side.

4. Wrap one side of the tails around the arm of your gods eye several times, then knot it to the other tail to finish.

Crafty Kids: Floating Container Ship

By Chris Barnardo

A super quick and easy model to put together, this floating container ship is made from a couple of old dishwasher or washing machine liquid bottles, along with a few other bits and pieces. There’s plenty of fun to be had both making and playing with it—kids love naming their ship, writing its name on it in permanent marker, and then sailing it across the great Bath (or Swimming Pool) Ocean.

What you’ll need:

  • Glue gun
  • Marker
  • Craft knife
  • Large dishwasher soap bottle
  • Small dishwasher soap bottle
  • Piece of cardboard
  • A few small stones
  • Shower gel bottle
  • Milk carton cap
  • Liquid detergent bottle cap
  • Yogurt cup base

1.     To make a floating ship, you’ll need a plastic bottle for the hull, and another, smaller bottle for the cabin. Mark lines around the bottles following the diagram above, using a permanent marker. Use your craft knife to cut.

2.     Place the hull part upside down on a piece of thick cardboard and draw around it with a marker.

3.     Cut out the deck slightly inside the line so that the cardboard will just fit inside the hull.

4.     Cut some small supports out of cardboard, at the right height to allow the deck to be slightly recessed. Glue these to the underside of the deck. Glue around the edge of the deck and slide in. Glue the milk bottle top into the detergent bottle opening. To prevent your ship from being top heavy, glue a few small stones inside the hull before you glue the deck into position.

5.     With deck in place, glue around its seams to make sure it’s waterproof.

6.     Glue the cabin upside down to the deck, then glue the yogurt cup end to the deck.

7.     Cut the end off a shower gel pack and glue to the front of the cabin to make the bridge. Glue a detergent bottle top to the top of the bridge to make a funnel.

8.     Decorate with marker, then get ready to launch your ship!

Excerpted from Made with Dad by Chris Barnardo, (c) 2015 Skyhorse Publishing.