Crafts

Stained Glass Cross – Easter Craft

March 14, 2013 by Betty

My boys have been counting down to Easter and looking forward to those Easter egg hunts since the beginning of March. I thought what a better way to emphasize the meaning of Easter by reminding us all of the cross. This is an easy craft that little ones can do. And while working together, we had some wonderful discussions about what Jesus did and his sacrificial death on the cross for us just because He loved us.

Isaiah 53:4-5 came to mind as we enjoyed our Easter craft.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Materials:

Tissue paper
Wax paper
Craft stick
Scissors
Cut-out crosses
White Glue

Instructions:

1. Cut out squares of colored tissue paper or have your kiddos tear them.

2. Precut some crosses. I used scissors to cut out the inside of the crosses.

3. Roll out a piece of wax paper that is double the width of your cross.

4. Fold the wax paper in half and spread glue onto half of the wax paper using a craft stick.

5. Add tissue paper squares to the glued wax paper until all the glue is covered.

6. Now spread glue all over the other side of the wax paper and fold over on top of the tissue.

7.Smooth out the paper and let it dry. I put some heavy books on top to help it dry nice and flat.

8. Glue the cross to the wax paper, let dry. Then cut out the cross.

9. Now you have a beautiful stained glass cross!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Crafts, Easter, Indoors Activities Tagged With: Easter children's craft, Easter craft, Easter kids craft, stained glass craft, tissue paper

Woven Heart Basket Craft for Kids

February 7, 2013 by Betty

In gearing up for Valentine, I made this little woven hearts baskets with the kids. This craft is pretty cute and it can be used as a Valentine’s treat baskets. The heart shaped basket is very easy to make and inexpensive.

Materials:

Construction papers

Scissors

Glue/tape/stapler

Instructions:

Cut construction papers in half the long way (the hot dog way).

Fold the paper in half, the short way (hamburger way) and make cuts on the open end edge. For young children, I only made one cut. See first picture below. The max number of cuts I made was 4 cuts.

Round the corners on the folded side. (This will give you the heart shape. You can also trim it at the end)

Now do the same with a different colored construction paper. The two colored construction papers for the same basket would need to have the same number of cut strips.

Simply weave the strips together using the “under and over” method, weaving the bottom first, then join the tops together. Refer to second picture below.

After the weaving is done, you can glue/tape or staple your basket together and lastly, add a handle.

For very young children, just make one cut on the paper.

This picture shows the bottom of the basket already woven.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Crafts, Indoors Activities, Valentine's Day Tagged With: construction paper craft, heart craft, Valentine's Day craft

Chenille Stem Candy Cane

December 6, 2012 by Betty

As I was looking through my Christmas stuff, I found some more read and white pipe cleaners and my kids wanted to make some chenille stem candy canes as they brought back memories of Christmas past. This is one memorable craft that your kids can do and be reminded of the reality of God’s love as He came to live as one of us.

Supplies:

1/2 Red Chenille Stem (or Pipe Cleaner)
½ White Chenille Stem (or Pipe Cleaner)
Scissors
1 Green Chenille Stem (or Pipe Cleaner) (Optional)
Bell (Optional)

Directions:

1. Twist the red and white chenille stems together.
2. Form into a candy cane, and trim the ends if needed.
3. To make a bow with green chenille stem, first make a loop on one end, then string the bell through. Make another loop. Adjust the bell so that it sits in the middle of the two loops. Using the remaining of the green chenille stem wrap the bow around the candy cane.
4. Candy canes could be used as a Christmas ornament.

To view the Candy Cane Poem and related children’s books see the post on Christmas Craft for Kids: Beaded Candy Cane.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Crafts, Winter Tagged With: chenille stem candy canes

ThanksgivingTree

November 4, 2012 by Betty

To start off the Thanksgiving Holiday, I decided to do a craft with the kids that will allow them to have a hands-on experience. The idea of this craft is to get them to write down one thing that they’re thankful for each day. Through this exercise, I am hoping that they are mindful of the many blessings that God has given to us as a family. So, here’s the Thanksgiving Tree that’s in our kitchen. Enjoy!

Materials:

2-3 yd. brown butcher paper (I think mine was 24″ wide, got it at a local educational store)
Fall leaves
Painter’s tape (doesn’t ruin your wall)
Marker for writing
Strips of paper (optional)

Instructions:

1. Lay out brown butcher on floor.
2. Sketch out a tree on butcher paper with black marker and cut it out.
3. Tape tree to a wall with marked side facing into the wall, and start decorating your tree with some fallen leaves.
4. Everyday, have each family member write down what they’re thankful for on a leaf and simply tape leaf onto tree using painter’s tape.

Here’s our leaves after our first day.

Our Thanksgiving tree after day 1. Pretty soon, it’ll be filled with beautiful leaves with all our blessings.

Note: I bought these foam leaves from Michaels, and decided I’ll reuse them in the years to come, so I cut strips of paper for writing instead of writing directly on the leaves themselves. Remember Michaels and Joann both take each other’s coupons. There’s a lot of 40 or 50% off coupons out there at this time of year.

Does your family have a neat way of celebrating this season of thanks? I’d love to hear from you. Please share some of your traditions.

Filed Under: Crafts, Indoors Activities, Thanksgiving Tagged With: season of thanks, thankful tree

Fall Leaf Rubbings

October 17, 2012 by Betty

If you have not done leaf rubbings before, it’s a fun and easy activity for you and the kiddos. For you, it’s not messy making cleanup a breeze. Also, you can transform the product into notecards or thank you cards. For the kids, it’s an art project that is easy to learn and fun for all ages! Here’s the process and how I made the thank you cards.

Materials:

fall leaves (preferably flat ones)
tape (any kind)
scissors or sliding paper cutter
crayons (without paper wrapper)
thin white paper
colored construction paper (or other colored card stocks for notecards): Optional

Put a leaf or leaves facing down so veins are facing up. Put white paper on top of the leaves. Tape down the paper corners to hold it in place.
Rub the side of crayon where the leaves are.

Beautiful leaf rubbings framed or simply tacked onto your bulletin board for a touch of fall.

I trimmed some leaf pictures and pasted them onto precut construction-paper notecards.

For further study of leaves, being the homeschool mom, I printed out this leaf-part diagram and used it as a study tool. I went over it with my kids before starting this craft project. They decided to color this page after their leaf rubbings.

Click Leaf Part Names for a copy of this leaf coloring page.

For beautiful pictures of fall leaves, check out children’s books Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber. For a list of fall books for children, read 10 Fall Books for Children.

What fall activities does your family enjoy? I’d love to hear from you. Please share in the comments.