Little Elephants: Kids Crafts and Fun Activities

A scary fox mask

This scary fox has just left the house to go on a walk with his daddy. I'm hoping he doesn't scare the neighbors.

My Mom sent me the link for the site where I found this mask. Momes.net is in French so will probably be a bit awkward to navigate if you don't speak the language, but if you'd like to learn some of the songs I sang as a child you'll have to check out this section.

Tor and I colored in the print-out, and then glued it to some sturdier craft paper because I could tell the thing would fall apart in minutes without some reinforcement (you can't tell from this angle, but it is a lovely, contrasting Teal to match the front of the mask). Next, I cut it out & attached a long rubber band to secure it to his head. Voila! We have a very scary little boy fox who did an excellent job of frightening his Dad.

Mothers' Day

On the back of this card there is copper
this will intrigue the eye of a shopper.

on the front of this card there is silver
this will definitely bewilder.

however these things are as common as mold
for to me you are as precious as gold.

{Poem by Maggie and flower pot by Bjørn. Yes, I did cry}

No bake clay

Maggie (10) has a big project due at school, one part of which requires that she build a model Aztec temple. I think. When she first asked for help getting started, I suggested that she build a frame out of Popsicle sticks & then cover that with air-drying clay. I thought I was quite clever. She thought that was dumb.

So... off to the internet I turned & I found what looked like a neat idea - we'd make our own no bake clay! I was working, so I printed off a copy & told Maggie about it, letting her know we could make this together when I was done with work. I didn't get too much of a reaction from her but when I wrapped up my work I found her in the kitchen, busy with measuring out all her ingredients. 

This recipe from Education.com is wonderful & super easy, but you do need to cook it -- a detail I'm kind of happy Maggie missed while I was unavailable because this part does need a bit of adult supervision.

My girl hasn't gotten 'round to building her temple yet, but in the meantime, Tor (3) has had a blast building & destroying his own (and others') creations. Over and over again.

We've kept ours plyable by storing it in a ziplock bag. To dry it out (thus the "no bake"), you just leave it out over-night.

Paper beads

My Mom is visiting & one of the fun benefits for the kids is her excellent memory of the crafts she used to entertain me with when I was a kid in the 70's (that, and endless rounds of "Bataille"/War and Solitaire). This time she brought out the paper beads.

I have such vivid memories of making these for hours on end at the kitchen table. Full of the kind  of patience only a child could muster. Cutting the triangles of paper just so, wrapping them carefully around a toothpick, and finishing them off with a good slathering of glue to secure them. Once completely dry I would paint them, and string them up, or just leave them as-is if the paper was particularly pretty. I loved sorting and classifying them by size, patter, color, and even just the feel of them over-flowing from my hands when I'd scoop them up.

Paper University has a good tutorial where they use straws instead of toothpicks, which will be much easier for smaller kids, if you'd like to try this one out as well.

Sock puppet!

Tee Hee. Tor brought home this friendly sock puppet recently & I have to say I love it. Usually, I'm not a big fan of those weird foam shapes they sell at craft stores (I know this is odd, but I really can't stand the texture), but this time I like how they worked out.

All you need is a sock, some yarn for hair, shapes for the face, and glue to hold it all in place.

Pure. Simple. Fun.

I think this guy is going to like hanging out with our finger puppets :-)

Paper flowers

Maggie was so excited to present this new project of hers yesterday afternoon. So simple & lovely :-)

All you need is colorful paper, a glue stick, scissors and a big hole punch. Next time, I'll make sure she knows we also have a heart-shaped hole punch, too These are perfect on their own, but I can see them decorating cards, hung from a mobile, or strung up on a garland.

Bejeweled alphabet

Leave kids alone with pipe cleaners and sparkly beads, and they'll create the most wonderfully unexpected gifts. Bjørn has been stringing together letters for everyone in the family, and has spend a good amount of time in busy concentration over his treasures.

I'll say it now. I'm GLAD his Nintendo DS bit the dust. Just don't tell him, 'k?

Leaf prints

A couple of weeks ago we converted our office/guest room into a family craft studio (pictures coming soon!). While it still serves as an office for Tomas and me, it's now become the go-to place for the whole family. You're bound to find one or all of us in the room at any given hour of the day and evening. I'm finding one of the best by-products of this change is that there's a steady stream of creative energy flowing.

Today, Maggie was working on a Fall project for school and experimenting with different ways to use leaves in her cover page. One experiment was this simple leaf print.

Very easy to do: she just coated her leaf with ink using a sponge, placed her leaf ink side down on the paper, covered it all with a catalog, and pressed evenly across the entire leaf. I love the effect even though she did not, thinking it looked too much like a computer print out.

A scary pipe cleaner spider

This is the easiest and most satisfying Halloween project ever. All you need is one black pom-pom and one black pipe cleaner. Just cut your pipe cleaner into four even strips and wrap them around the pom-pom. Once secured in place, bend the legs for a nice creepy crawly effect, and you are done.

You're welcome :-)

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Looking for a few more easy Halloween craft ideas?

Check out my Halloween Craft Roundup!

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Toys from trash

This little guy is the happy result of mini-dumpster diving. The boys were all out or occupied one day recently and Maggie decided the two of us should create something from nothing. Her rule for this activity was simple: just search the house high and low for random bits and pieces, spread them out on a table and create. We were quite pleased with our little soldier; with his pointy sword, and sturdy shield. That pistachio shell is his pouch.