Halloween Craft Activity- Black Widow Spider

 

One Halloween my sister put together some Halloween crafts for her kids and my kids to do.

 We all made spiders out of pipe cleaners and pompoms with wiggle eyes. Most were 'daddy long legs' with one middle body. This is what I did for mine. There is a magnet on the bottom with 4 pipe cleaners bent to look like 8 legs, and 8 wiggle eyes of 2 kinds, red felt hour-glass for a Black Widow, and 2 pompoms large and medium sizes. Easy peasy.

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Earth Day Activity for Kids- Recycle and Grow

Wow- the beans sprouted within 3 days!

For Activity Day Girls, we planted seeds in aluminum cans.  We also had a short lesson on Faith is like a Seed.  Here are the results, and my daughter's plant above (only a week later!)


MATERIALS:

Adults should do the holes

We used 16 oz. cans.  If they have a ridge on the bottom, you can use a bottle opener/can piercer to poke it.  If not, just use an ice pick and hammer.  I used the cheapest dirt at Walmart- less than $1 per small bag.  We used yogurt or sour cream lids as water dishes/catchers.  Water it a little everyday to keep the dirt moist until the seeds pop up.  My daughter and I kept ours inside by a sunny bathroom window that tends to be very warm (almost like a greenhouse).

After we planted the seeds

If you want to use the 'flags' here is the document:
Cut just below the upper word 'grow'.  It folds down over the popsicle stick and then tape/glue.

Happy Earth Day!

Lucky Four 4-Leaf Clovers

#1 & #2 clovers

I was taking my normal morning walk and happened to glance down at a patch of clovers and noticed one that was larger standing out above the rest.  I thought, "What a perfect clover... wait! There are 4 leaves on that clover!"  And just inches away was another one just about as big and proud.  What are the chances of that?  Not one, but two 4-leaf clovers without even searching!  I don't know how many hours I spent as a kid looking through clover patches and never found one.

Look in the very center- #3 clover

About a week and a half later, I found another one a couple blocks down the path by just glancing down again but decided to leave it.  I went back to save it from the lawn mower a couple days later, but was too late.

#4 four-leaf clover with the first two clovers

So, I went back to the original patch where I found the first 2 and... Voila! Another one!  And it only took about 1 minute or less to find.  I don't know whether they are more common than I thought or if I am more uncommonly lucky than I thought.  Four 4-leaf clovers in less than 2 weeks!  Wow.

I'm going to press and dry them for good luck!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Christmas Folk Doll Craft

Here is a project I did a while ago. Little folk dancers made from fabric scraps, lace, cord, and a little hot glue to secure the arms inside.

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Quilt Pattern Puzzle for Kids

Recently a friend asked me if I would make some quilt shapes with felt on the back to be part of an exhibit at the Children's Museum of Houston.  The exhibit is called "Cum Yah Gullah" and began earlier this year.  My kids really LOVE going to this museum!

So, after making the shapes, and put them together in a few designs and thought they could make a really good activity for kids to learn shapes and puzzle-making skills.

Here is how I made them:

Homemade Christmas Snowglobe

Clearanced Ornaments and Clear glitter

Here are some easy crafts I made with inexpensive materials.  This is easy for kids and definitely fun to make and look at.  In the Winter Scene Jar, the snowman was a miniature I found on clearance at Michael's.  The tree was a miniature on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  The snow is made of clear glitter.  You will want to use glue or sticky tack to keep them down.

Dollar Store Shells and Craft Sand

The Summer Beach Scene is made of shells I bought from Dollar Tree, and the sand I bought a long time ago from Hobby Lobby.  It would definitely be more personal and cheaper to have found the shells and sand from a beach that I visited.

Candle Jar from a Thrift Store

And where did I get these candle jars?  They were at Salvation Army for a good price.  Craft stores probably have plenty of options similar to these.

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Etsy Shop

Cinco de Mayo Tissue Paper Flowers Tutorial

My mom lived in San Antonio when she was younger.  In school, they would make tissue paper flowers for the Mexican/Texas culture.  They would actually use a box of facial tissues.  You can use gift tissue and pipe cleaners.  They are very easy and inexpensive.  We used this craft for a non-messy and cheap and satisfying craft for Valentine's Day Party for my child's school class.

Cut the tissue sheets in 4 or 8 sections, depending on how large you want your flowers.
Stack at least 8 sheets of paper.  
Start on the short side and fold them back and forth like a paper fan.

Wrap a pipe cleaner around the center and twist tight like a bread bag twisty.
'Fan' out the paper and carefully pull each layer upwards close to the center pipe cleaner.

Make sure you do the layer on both sides before doing the next layer.

Do this all the way until the last layer, being careful not to rip them.

You can make all sorts of beautiful color combinations.  Have fun!