Litter Bugs (For Earth Day)

It's important to teach our youngsters not to litter (and all about the Earth). This is a super fun way to teach them about the importance of keeping our Earth clean and letting them be creative little kiddos. The week before this project, I collect and clean an assortmant of "trash" from their lunches (like fruit cups, water bottles, disposable spoons, pasta cups etc) and allow them to choose something to be the base.

Materials:

• An assortmant of wiggle eyes (I like the giant bug eyes but use whatever you have)
• Clean Trash
• Hot glue gun with a low temp option (this way they won't get hurt)
• Assortment of collage materials (pipe cleaners, feathers, buttons, pom poms, rocks, shells, puzzle pieces, sequence, glitter, etc)

Directions:

• Allow your child to choose the base of her bug
• Ask her where she would like the eyes and how many... you should do the hot gluing of course.
• Have him show you where he would like each collage material

These Litter bugs are super cute and were a BIG hit in my class room!

This really looks like a Litter-pig!

Can you tell that she loves purple?

He kept calling this project a "glitter-bug" so I made sure he had some glitter for the top!

He grabbed this discarded tissue box out of our recycling bin and decided that this would be his litter bug.

Organic-bug!

I think we might need some pest control!

Happy Crafting!

M



Easter Banners

My students are so excited to learn about Jesus! My co-teacher and I came up with these beautiful and inexpensive banners.

Materials:

• Felt squares (We found some felt rectangles that were perfect @ 14 for $1 at Dollar Tree)
• Puffy Paint
• Tacky glue (are we seeing a pattern yet?)
• Gems or buttons (whatever you have lying around)
• Baking sticks (I have no idea what they're called) or thin wooden dowels
• Paint brushes
• Fine glitter (optional)
• Wax paper
• Hot glue gun (unless you have time to allow the Tacky glue to dry

Directions:

• Adults only: Hot glue a stick to the very top of the felt.  Let cool.
• Put a piece of wax paper on a table and place the felt over it
• Ask the child what he or she would like to say on the banner (I gave them 2 choices: Hosanna or He Is Risen)
• Use puffy paint to write it wherever you like or wherever the child asks you to
• Then ask the child to paint a picture (I gave them 3 choices: crown, palm branch or cross)
• Sprinkle their creation with fine glitter (optional)
• Add their name and or date at the bottm with more puffy paint
• Add a 3D effect by gluing gems or other collage items you may have

In the past I have added a ribbon to the top.  I ran out of time this time though.

Happy Crafting!
M

Easter Frames

This is something you can use the discarded backs of the frames from the previous craft!

Materials:

• Cute kid (s)
• Camera
• Easter decorations or whatever you would like
• Cardstock
• Discarded back from an inexpensive frame
• Gems or other decorations you have lying around the house
• Tacky glue

Directions:

• Take a picture of a cute kid (preferably your cute kid, as you can see from my photos I have hidden the faces of my students)
• Cut the photo in the shape of an egg and glue on some card stock
• Cut the card stock into a larger egg
• Glue on the discarded frame back and trim off the bottom so that the cardboard doesn't show.
• Glue on gems and or apply stickers and buttons or whatever else you'd like to use.

These make beautiful gifts!!

Happy crafting :)
M

Stained Glass Hand Prints

Here's another stained glass craft that is very inexpensive to do!

Materials:

• Picture frame (with glass) large enough for your child's hand print.
• Dry erase marker
• Black puffy paint
• Stained Glass paint (in various colors)
• Tacky glue (I use this stuff for everything)
• Ribbon
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Directions:

• Take the cardboard backing off of the frame. I save mine to reuse for other crafts but, you're done with this one now.
• Trace your child's hand onto the glass with the dry erase marker
• Use Tacky glue to glue the glass down into the frame.
• Go over the dry erase marker with black puffy paint.  Feel free to be creative and add swiggles and other designs around the hand. Leave the hand print clear though.
• Allow the puffy paint to dry over night.  If you don't wait, it will be a disaster!
• Here's the fun part! Let your child paint this frame any way she wants to. I encouraged the children to paint the hand print one color and use various colors around it but, they didn't all share my vision :)
• Adults only: After the paint dries, attach the ribbon to the back of the frame at the top with hot glue.

This craft makes a beautiful Mother's day or Christmas gift!

Happy Crafting!

M

Last Supper Goblets

These beautiful "stained glass" goblets are a big hit with kids.  They love transforming a boring piece of plastic into something divine!

Materials:

• Inexpensive plastic wine goblets(I found mine at Dollar Tree, 6 for $1)
• Tissue paper (lots of different colors)
• Mod Podge (a little goes a long way)
• Plastic jewels (found mine at Hobby Lobby half off but they can also be purchased at Dollar Tree, though you don't get quite as many)
• Tacky Glue

Directions:

• Cut the tissue paper into small 1 inch squares, use all of the colors or any colors you like.
• Next, give your child the goblet and allow them to paint some Mod Podge all over it.  He can then select the tissue paper squares that he wants to use.  It doesn't matter if the pieces over lap, you'll be applying a thick layer of Mod Podge over it all anyway.
• Cover the entire goblet with Mod Podge, and let dry.
• After the goblet is dry, allow your child to choose the gems she wants.  Let her apply them with fast drying tacky glue. 

Note:
If she puts the gems on the side, you need to lay the goblet down so that it doesn't slip.  It could take awhile to apply all of the gems if you choose to put them on the side.  That's why I only let my students put one large gem on the side of the goblet and several small/medium gems along the bottom. Additionally, I'm not letting my students drink from these cups (for my own peace of mind).  It's totally up to you if you allow your child to drink from the goblet!

Happy crafting!
M