Do it with your kids Wednesday: Toilet Paper Roll People

Have you noticed how sometimes your kids have a playdate and they just play together perfectly, leaving you to get your own chores done or blog or whatever.... but other times it's like they are just craving attention, structure, and purpose? That's how our playdate went yesterday. They really wanted to do a craft, so I just pulled out my box of supplies and let them have at it.

Supplies used: empty toilet paper rolls, glue, markers, scissors, tissue paper, yarn, tape, pipe cleaner. Pretty much just whatever I had hanging out in the box.

 A little glue to hold down the princess's gown.

 A little yarn for princess hair. (We used double sided tape for this part and it was perfect!)

 A little sparkly pipe cleaner for arms...

A couple stickers for the prince's initials (Prince Edward James in case you were wondering)

And voila! A toilet paper roll royal ball! The girls had a blast making them, and then played with them for the next hour, taking them on trips around the kingdom (her bedroom).

It's days like this that I am glad to have a box of miscellaneous craft supplies for my kids. I just kind of hoard things that are kind of cute in one box and the kids can use anything in there when we do stuff like this. Moral of the story: keep your junk, especially toilet paper rolls. They have about a million uses!

Activity Days: Snowman Craft

I just received a new calling and I am thrilled! Honestly, any time someone asks me about it, I gush out some lame reply like "I love it, love it, love it!" That's right, friends, I am now the Activity Days Leader. Woot! If you don't know about Activity Days, you can read about it here. Basically, I get to do fun crafts/activities with the 8-11 year old girls. So fun!
Our first activity was about a week ago. We made these adorable snowman crafts, which were easy, cheap, and fun for the girls. I did a short lesson about how no two snowflakes are alike, just like no two people are alike. We each have our own talents and experiences to bring when we get together and we need to appreciate everyone. And we ate doughnuts and hot cocoa. Total success!

 Here are some of the girls painting. Don't mock the Halloween tablecloth, it saved my kitchen table!

 The longer we were there, the more creative the snowmen became.

If you want to make a snowman of your own, here's how:


1. Tape 6 craft sticks together.
2. Paint the non-painted side. 2/3 white, 1/3 black.
3. Paint an additional craft stick black.
4. When paint is dry, glue the black craft stick across the top to make a hat brim. Add google eyes and paint on a nose and mouth.


I did a trial run of these with my kids a week before the activity and learned that even a 4 year old can do it. Not so much with my 2 year old, who painted everything black and then licked her paintbrush clean.


Thanks to Serving Pink Lemonade for this idea!

Do It With Your Kids Wednesday: Wash Wastebaskets

If you are not using your children as your personal servants, you are wasting manpower.

Just kidding. I do like to have my kids help with household chores (sans allowance, so they learn that we are all part of the family and we all have to work to take care of the house.... but that's my personal philosophy). One thing they actually ask to do is wash out the wastebaskets. That's because it's so much fun!

We grab all the garbage cans in the house, a couple rags and dish soap, and head out to the lawn. We spray them down, wash them out, and have a water fight. It's so fun. In fact, today, our fun was so apparent that our neighbors came out to join in! We ended up outside for 4 hours playing in the water with friends.

I didn't get any photos of the action, but this is what my driveway looked like afterward:

I love how my neighbor's blow up pool shark looks like he wants to eat my garbage can. Have you been having fun in the water with your kids this summer?

Do It With Your Kids Wednesday: Paper Towel Wall

I don't know about your family, but my kids have approximately 748 billion toys. And yet, what would they rather play with?

Yes, friends. Today we made a Paper Towel Wall. It was my way of keeping them occupied while I folded laundry. It turned out to be the best cooperative play I've seen in a while. The 5 year old, the 3 year old, and the 1 year old all worked together to build the wall up, and then delighted in knocking it down. They used their spatial reasoning skills in determining where to place things to get the best balance. They used their negotiating skills to convince the toddler not to destroy it at the outset. They used their creative skills in determining which kind of bad guys this wall could keep out.

It was fabulous. You should do it.

Do It With Your Kids Wednesday: Sistine Chapel Painting

Have you ever seen the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Whoa. Unbelievable beauty, made even more unbelievable when you consider that Michaelangelo painted it while lying on his back. This (from the Sistine Chapel) is one of my favorite scenes in all of art; for me it depicts how close the hand of God is.

We decided to try our hand at this painting style today. At first my kids were resistant to the new technique, but after they tried it they kept saying how fun it was.

We just taped some paper to the bottom of the chairs and let them paint. When they were done, they had paint spots on their shirts and foreheads, just like real artists. Way to go girlies!

She is totally not posing for this shot. She was just thinking about where the next rainbow should go.

The most hilarious part of all was afterward when Anna kept spitting. She said she had a bad taste in her mouth, and I worried she had swallowed some paint. But no, she "accidentally" licked the chair and got a taste of the bitter apple spray we have on there to keep the puppy from chewing! How does one accidentally lick the bottom of the chair?

Do It With Your Kids Wednesday: Heart People

Holidays are such a great excuse to make crafts with kids. Valentines is perfect-- making your own cards, cutting out hearts for a garland, and making Heart People.

The process was simple: cut out a heart shape and glue on corresponding body parts. I used a lot of my punches from my card making days, but you could certainly draw the pieces and cut them out too.

After we get done using these as puppets, we'll probably hang them up for a little decoration. The kind that stays up for the next 4 days until Valentines is over. :)

Do It With Your Kids Wednesday: Milk Caps

I'm going to start something (if I can be this organized) called Do It With Your Kids Wednesday. I love doing crafts and projects, and if we're going to be honest, it's always easier to do it without any little "helpers". But, lucky me, I have lots of little helpers hanging around, so I just want to share with you some ideas of things we do together. Maybe you can share your ideas too.

Today's feature is Milk Caps. This is the easiest, cheapest toy ever. First, find an empty container (mine is an old peanut butter jar). Then, start saving your milk caps/soda bottle caps. I wash mine in the dishwasher then put them in the jar. Here are some things we do with milk caps:

1. The baby LOVES to take things out of containers. She spends a lot of time on the kitchen floor just taking these out and putting them back in. As you can see, the dog also enjoys this game.

2. Patterns. Learning to recognize and duplicate patterns is a skill that helps with math later on. Sometimes I will get out the milk caps with my older girls and create a pattern and see if they can copy it, or if they can complete the pattern.

3. Toss game. You can either stand a few feet away from the jar and toss the milk caps in, or you can stand up on a chair over the jar and see if you can get them to land in the jar.

4. Birthday party game. For Anna's birthday, we planted some fake flowers in little bowls and had the the kids toss the milk caps into the bowls. They got a little prize every time one made it in.

Easy peasy! I'm sure there's lots more to do with them, let me know if you think of anything. And, be sure to start collecting because this is so entertaining for kids.