'Tis the season for crafts! Lovely temperatures after months of not leaving the comfort of air-conditioning combined with the upcoming holidays make this my favorite time of year. The little cold snaps bring fresh energy and opening windows, preparing firewood, spending so much time outdoors all unite to push housework to the side, cut down on heavy school work, and take advantage of quality time with the rugrats. I wanted to share some really easy, fun ideas, and the best part is you already have everything you need-no inconvenient trips to buy fancy craft store products. Even if you're not a stay-at-home mom, or your kids go to school there's no excuse-if you can spare 15 minutes to play on the internet you can spare 15 minutes to make a craft! :)
***Halloween Countdown***
This is kind of late, but you can always save it in your Halloween/Fall arsenal for next year, or go ahead and do it now since it takes all of 10 minutes:
***Play Dough***
Okay, yes, it is safe to say most mommies know how to make play
dough, but just in case..here is my favorite recipe:
It lasts until you throw it out, never dries up.
2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)
Mix all ingredients in pot over med heat until it no longer sticks to sides. When it cools down, you can color it with food coloring and make lots of choices. If you don't have food coloring I have used a packet of Kool-Aid to color, but be warned: it has an odor (not bad, just...there). I store it at room temp in ziplock baggies and it keeps forever! I know some mommies keep theirs in the fridge, but I don't want to give up the space, plus it makes the dough hard. Seems unnecessary to me.
***Bubbles***
Bubbles are fun, too. And sure, you can get them on clearance for next to nothing at the dollar store since Summertime is over, but where is the fun in that!?
Mix 1/4 cup of dishwashing liquid with a quart of WARM water. I always add some oil to keep the bubbles from breaking (not much, just a tbsp or so). Give each child some "tools" like straws and old bubble wands and let them play. Make sure they are outside. ;)
***Fall Leaves***
Need decorations for Autumn? Take your kids on a "hike" (a walk around your yard or neighborhood) and find colorful leaves. Sounds easy, but in Florida this is actually quite the task. All we have is brown or green. Finding yellow and red was really a task-it took two days of searching, and another added two days of searching because we didn't finish the craft right away and the leaves got too crunchy. Oops! After looking far and wide we finally scrounged up some red and yellow leaves. I imagine this craft would offer much more gratification if we had access to big,
colorful maple leaves or something comparable.
Ours were pretty pitiful, but despite our abundance of evergreens I still love Florida:
***Milk Jug Skeleton***
I was browsing the internet for ideas for Patrick's birthday party a few weeks ago and came across instructions for a skeleton made of milk jugs. It was a neat project that I would definitely do again. The biggest challenge was not what I thought it was going to be (cutting the small areas from contoured plastic). The hardest part was getting the stinking labels off. I soaked them in hot water, and managed to destroy two of the jugs right off the bat due to the water being a little too hot. I used soap and a knife. Nothing seemed to get the glue off; the labels yes, the glue no. I used my nails to scratch away at it, and after one whole jug I gave up. Who needs perfection!? I spread out all of my supplies on my back patio and let the kids play with the pieces while I worked. It took over an hour because there is a lot of cutting involved. The plastic can be pretty sharp so this was a craft that is better left to older kids, or for mommy to complete while younger kids do something nearby. I gave my kids the job of trash pick up and hot tubbing next to me.
The original idea came form FamilyFun.com, but I found these instructions, which I liked a lot better because they included illustrations. I didn't take the time to ask her permission to re-post, but I linked directly so I'm sure she won't mind. ;)
I ended up using the finished skeleton as a prop for the birthday party and he is currently on display for Halloween.
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