5 Crafty Ideas for June!

Cupcake Spring Flowers

School is out at our house. How about yours? Are you ready for summer? Are you ready for bored kids telling you they have NOTHING to do? Here are a few ideas to beat the boredom blues.

Paper Bag Picnic
This easy craft is fun to create and fun to play with. Use it as a rainy-day boredom buster or take it outside into the sunshine for some make-believe fun!

Colorful Butterflies
This artsy activity is a crowd-pleaser! Marbles, paint, a shoebox and you are set to jazz up your butterflies in a most colorful and unique way.  No paint brushes required!

Bears on the Beach
Summer time is all about snacks. Get creative with teddy grahams, frosting and a few gummy worms and watch the smiles spread as your kiddos create a surf's-up-sort-of snack!

Flower Pot Decorations
If gardening is your family's forte, let the little ones help by decorating some flower pots (old or new) for showing off your summer flora and fauna!

Enjoy your summer!

Flower Power for Mother's Day!

Fingerprint Spring Flowers

Mother's Day is just a few days off and you may be wondering..."what can I create with my kids/class for all those special moms and grandmothers?"  We have a few ideas to get you started!

Flower Pot Decorations
This simple craft involves a pot, some paint, and a little imagination.  The flower pots can be as simple or elaborate as your kids like and can be embellished with glitter, buttons, bows, etc.  Fill the pot with a small flower or plant, or even some treats for Mother's Day!

Handprint Tulips
For little hands this art project is the way to go to create a sweet Mother's Day card or Spring decorations for your classroom.  These tulips will last and last and will lift your spirits!

Handprint Flowers in a Pot
A perfect paper craft for preschoolers, the handprint flowers in a pot make such an adorable bouquet for mothers or as a learning tool for exploring nature and flowers.  Your kids will love this one and it encourages their creativity!

Daisy Finger Prints
This is a simple craft for kids of all ages to create a personalized Mother's Day card or picture to share or display.  It's great for encouraging dexterity and art skills at a young age, as the kids create the daisies with their fingers and thumbs!

A Handful of Love for Mommy
My personal favorite, this handprint craft creates a beautiful butterfly bringing handfuls of love to mommy on Mother's Day!  This activity can be done with tiny hands too with help from teacher.

Earth Day Ideas for Your Kids!

Coffee Filter Earth

Who's ready for Earth Day (April 22 in most places)?!  We are ready at The Idea Box and we have tons of fun Earth Day crafts, games and ideas just waiting for you, your kids or your class to try.  How adorable is the Coffee Filter Earth?

Cupcake Spring Flowers
This craft is simple and fun, and can be done by little hands.  You probably already have the supplies in your cupboard!  These cupcake flowers can be used to illustrate a lesson or as a last minute filler activity if you need an easy time-filler.

Earth Day Art
A great activity to get your kids or class outside, you can use it to clean up around the house, school, church or nearby park while discussing ideas for keeping the earth clean.  Bonus - make some art out of the stuff you find on your Earth Day walk!

Earth Day Cooking Project
A successful Earth Day lesson or party must include a treat to help kids stay on topic!  The nice thing about this cooking project: you perform a little prep work and the kids create the treats.  It's a fun way to talk about the soil, gardening, or bugs and creepy crawlies!

Earth Day Flowers
This Earth Day activity is a crowd-pleaser as the kids get to make something to take home to parents or grandparents.  Take pictures of your little "flowers" and then let them add petals and leaves to the printed photos - easy!

Enjoy your Earth Day celebrations!  If you need more ideas please visit our Earth Day page for our full list!  We love feedback and photos, so please send us pictures if you try one of our activities.

Crafty Wednesday: 3D Flower Fridge Magnets

Each Wednesday we'll bring you a fun craft to make with your kids!

This week's craft is...

3D Flower Fridge Magnets

1 empty 35mm film canister
white glue or hot glue gun
4 small magnets
spray of small artificial flowers
may need a few cotton balls for filler

1. Using white glue or hot glue gun, attach the 4 magnets in a column along one side on film canister.

2. Arrange flower spray to your liking inside of the canister. Stems of spray should be long to suggest a flower vase, or short if you'd like your magnet to look like a flower pot. Cotton balls on bottom of canister can help bolster flowers, and keep them in place. You might want to decorate the canister before attaching magnets, using stickers, clip art, foil, etc.

Visit The Idea Box for all of our crafty ideas and Father's Day ideas

Don't forget to enter our contest!

Friday Activity: Fingerprint Spring Flowers

Each Friday we'll bring you a fun activity to do with your kids!

This week's activity is...

Fingerprint Spring Flowers

poster/tempera paint for stems & flower petals
paper

Create varying shades of color of choice (i.e.: lavendar & purple, light & dark pink, etc.)Have child paint stem(s), then using his/her fingers, create hyacinths (or similar spring flowers) by dipping fingers in paint, and pressing on either side of the stem, starting w/ a wide base of prints at the bottom, and working toward the top w/ just one or two. It looks great when larger fingers are used first, graduating to pinky prints at the top. - - - create a beautiful spring scene with several, or create just one & cut it out to enjoy solo!

Visit The Idea Box for all of our activities for kids

Crafty Wednesday: Earth Day Flowers

Each Wednesday we'll bring you a fun craft to make with your kids!

This week's craft is...

Earth Day Flowers

Digital camera
computer printing program
bullentin board paper
tempra paint
glue

Snap each child with your camera and enlarge on computer. Have each child paint flower petals around their face. (Encourage then to paint with bright colors and large petals). When these have dried cut them out and glue on the bulletin board paper to create the look of a flower garden. Be sure to add stems and leaves. Title "We are the flowers of the Earth"

Visit The Idea Box for all of our crafty ideas

March 20th is the First Day of Spring!

Yay, spring is here and we are ready to share all of our springtime activities, crafts, songs and more. When we think spring, we think of flowers, rain, sunshine, rainbows, nature, and more. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Here's just a sampling of what you will find in our spring section!

Butterfly Feet

Construction paper
paint (any color)
black pen

This is a great craft for infants who are too young yet to do crafts on a regular basis. Paint the bottom of the child's feet. Make imprints of each foot with the big toe facing outward and the outer edge of the feet touching each other. You will notice the results looks like a butterfly. It helps to clean one foot before you paint the other. Can't seem to keep the little ones still? I do this project while they are in high chair eating a favorite snack. They are occupied, but still giggle alot when you paint their feet. I then write this poem on the paper:

Beautiful butterfly,
precious and sweet.
Strange how it looks,
Just like (child's name)'s feet.

I really get a wonderful response from parents on this craft. They know their children get great care when even the infants can participate in art from time to time.


Paper Dot Rainbows

colored construction paper
glue
hole punch

Have the children make several paper dots using the hole punch in the colors of the rainbow. Then have them glue the dots onto white paper in the form of a rainbow. You may want to have a picture of a rainbow to show as an example. Have fun!


Spring Lilies

Construction Paper (Any color)
Green Chenille Stems
pencil
stapler and staples
glue or scotch tape

Have children trace hands on the paper, cut out the hand prints. Place the chenille stem at the bottom of the hand print and then roll the paper around the stem and attach with glue, staples or tape. Once you have that completed, take a pencil and curl the fingers down to form a lily. You may want to make a bunch in different colors. You can also cut some leaves from green construction paper and attach them to the stems of your "lilies". You can make a container for your bouquet of "lilies" by taking an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of construction paper, roll it to form a cone, fasten the end with glue, tape or staples. Makes a wonderful Mother's Day, Grandparent's day or Father's Day gift also.


Check out all of our activities, crafts, recipes, games and more by visiting The Idea Box