Christmas Craft Kits for Kids

My kids love doing little crafts for the holidays but I don't have the time to search all over for ideas and supplies. I love that Oriental Trading Company has Christmas craft kits all ready and assembled. It makes life easier on me and my kids get to do little crafting projects that they love.

This year we have loved assembling these little felt mice candy cane kits.

And another favorite of my kids are the foam gingerbread houses. They spent so much time decorating their houses and then loved displaying them in their bedrooms.

What kind of activities do you like to do with your kids?




Disclaimer:This is a sponsored post, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

More Play and Imagination with Hide-a-boo Hideouts

Have you noticed that kids these don't seem to play and use their imagination like we did as kids? With the ever increasing technology, gadgets and growing schedules playtime just isn't what it use to be. If you want to change this then check out Hide-a-boo Hideouts!

Hide-a-boo Hideouts are here to encourage play for all kids. Hideouts are forts that slip over a card table for easy set-up and are a home base for adventure. Created with a puppet backdrop on one side and on top, an aerial view map that's also a play mat. Hideouts are incredibly versatile, giving kids endless opportunities for creative and imagination inspired play.

Included with the Hideouts are printables called Teachables. They give busy parents on the go a built in and pre-planned way to encourage play and learning. Simply print out the Teachables from the website and Hide-a-boo provides lots of fun activities to keep kids imagining.

If you want a Hide-a-boo Hideout hurry and head over to Kickstarter and place your order because they will only be available there for the low price of $29 until July 14th.

Make Your Own Olympics T Shirt

Since the Olympics are just around the corner I thought I would share this free printable so you can make your own Little Olympian t shirt. Brody and I made this one for the last summer Olympics and he loved it!

All you need is a printer, iron on transfer paper, a shirt and an iron. Simply follow the instructions that come with your iron on transfer paper.

Download the little Olympian shirt template here 

Easy Meal Planning with Kids

In an effort to have Brody help me with dinner and actually be excited about it I am recruiting his help in planning the meals. For a picky eater having a say in the family dinner plan makes him happy. I know I would have loved helping my mom plan meals as a kid, if only to avoid the foods I didn't like.

First we pulled out our cook books. I made sure to incorporate some of our kid friendly ones too. Even Sadie and Sammy wanted to look through them.

 Then we talk about some our favorite meals or new foods we want to try. We also talked about what things we would need to make them. Brody loves to help me cook and the girls are wanting to help as well (even if it is just stirring something in a bowl) so we also talked about how we would make the dinners.

Then we wrote down our plan. We decided to just plan the main course and only started with Monday through Friday since we are pretty low key on the weekends.

We used this awesome personalized chalkboard that Personal Creations sent us. Our name isn't just painted on, it is engraved, pretty cool if you ask me.

I love that Brody looks at this time as fun time spent with mom but he is also learning some good life skills!

DIY Valentine Mail Bag

Last year I made this easy, no sew Valentine mail bag with my kids. It was a hit! In fact, they played with it long after the holiday. it will only take a few minutes to whip up one of these bags.

You will need the following sizes of felt in the same color; 12 x 9, 8 x 9 and 2 x 24. You will also need a pink or red felt heart, a hot glue gun and fabric paint.

You can cut your heart free hand or use a pattern.

First lay down the 12 x 9 sheet of felt and then lay the 8 x 9 sheet on top, matching up the bottom edges (as shown below. With the hot glue gun, glue the bottom edges and side edges together. 

 The top half will then become the top flap to the bag by folding it over.

Now take your felt heart and center it along the bottom half of the flap as shown below. Using the hot glue gun glue the top half of the heart to the bottom part of the flap. Make sure you don't glue the bottom of the heart or you won't be able to get into your bag.

 To make the strap, turn the bag over and glue each end of the 2 x 24 strip of felt to the top of the back side of your bag.

 And lastly take your fabric paint and write mail in the center of the heart. Of course you can write anything you want, perhaps your child's name.

As you can see, my sassy little Sadie loves this bag!  

Snowman Race, a Winter Game for Kids

I posted this a few years ago and had to re-post this because this is a favorite game of Brody's. It's super easy to put together and really fun.

Brody has a new favorite game that I want to share with you. This is a great game for the family or for preschool age children. It's simple to put together, helps kids practice drawing, it's free and your kids will have a blast playing it. It's called snowman race. Each player rolls the die and then draws the part of the snowman pictured. Whoever finishes their snowman first wins.

 I got the snowman race printable for free at Education.com. They have loads of free coloring pages, games and more. All you have to do is register and you will have a ton of great printables at your finger tips.

Froot Loops Name Activity

Supplies:
Froot Loops
Unlined paper
Markers or crayons
Glue

Start by writing your child's name on a blank piece of paper or if they are old enough let them write it. Next they will glue the Froot Loops on each of the letters in their name. Let dry.

Depending on their age and gluing skill level you may need to be a little hands on.

Let your child decide if they want solid colors or to make patterns with their Froot Loops.

For more Froot Loops activities go here. 

Froot Loops Necklace

Making Froot Loop necklaces have been around for as long as I can remember but what little kid doesn't love making them? They are great for little ones to practice patterns plus it is really good for their hand eye coordination and strengthening their fine motor skills. Oh and of course they are colorful and yummy!

Supplies:
Froot Loops
Yarn
Tape

To make it easier we like to tape one end of the yarn to the table so the Froot Loops won't slide off. The other end we wrap tape around so the yarn won't unravel while the kids are trying to string the Froot Loops.

For more Froot Loops ideas go here.

Froot Loops Bars

These Froot Loops Rainbow Bars are so fun. The bright colors and sweet flavor will make any kid happy! They are even more fun when you let your little ones help make them. They only have three ingredients and don't take long to make.

Ingredients:
10-12 Cups Froot Loops
1 Bag of marshmallows
6 Tablespoons butter

Step 1) Melt the butter and marshmallows in a large pot on medium heat. Stir the marshmallow mixture until smooth. Remove from heat. 

 Step 2) Stir in the Froot Loops. Make sure they are evenly coated with marshmallow. 

Step 3) Press into a 9 x 13 greased pan. Let cool in the refrigerator.

Step 4) Cut into bars and serve.

For more Froot Loops projects go here.

Froot Loops Rainbows

Supplies:
Rainbow (free) printable
Glue
Froot Loops
Cotton balls

Start by printing the free rainbow printable. Have your child glue the Froot Loops on to the rainbow. Once the rainbow is completed then glue the cotton balls for the clouds. Let dry. 

This is a great chance to talk to your children about the colors of the rainbow.

For more Froot Loops activities go here.

Announcing Froot Loops Week

Yes, you read that right. Froot Loops week!
Next week I am going to be sharing fun projects and activities you can do with Fruit Loops (besides just eating them) with your kids. 1 box of Fruit Loops goes far. You and your kids will have fun playing with your food!

Make sure to come back next week!

No Sew Felt Valetine Mail Bag

Hi! Today I am over Summer Scraps sharing this tutorial on making a no sew felt valentine mail bag.
Hop on over and check it out! 

DIY Tic Tac Toe

Brody loves painting so we decided to paint some rocks to use for our own tic tac toe game. They are perfect to bring inside and play during the cold winter months but we also love playing with them outside when it's warm.

I don't think there is any need to explain how we made our tic tac toe rocks other than we used acrylic paint and outside we use chalk to draw the tic tac toe board and inside we took an old tray and put washi tape on it for the board.

Indoor Sand

This summer I discovered the perfect thing to keep kids entertained inside during these cold winter months. Brody definitely gets bored being stuck inside all day so why not bring some of outside inside with Brookstone Sand?

Brody was given Brookstone sand as a gift and he loves it! It has special properties that make it stretchy and soft so it doesn't make a mess.  It is designed to stick to itself for easy sculpting and clean up.

We like to put ours in Tupperware so it's all ready to play with and all ready to put away.