Véronique Christensen is the mother of three very active children. She started blogging in 2006 in an effort to (re)capture the fun and wonder of childhood. She believes that crafting and kids' activities are more fun when self-directed -- but she's always on hand to help out if needed.
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Macramé!
Spring is officially here so that means there are flower pots to be hung! My Mom has been visiting and brought the Seventies with her. The result is that my daughter is now hooked on making hangers for every possible thing that could be hung in and around our house.
My mom worked from memory to teach Maggie, but I've found a couple simple tutorials to help get you started:
Happy knotting!
A miniature greenhouse
Every year around this time we start our gardening by a sunny window. I love the fact that it doesn't matter how much space we have, or even if we don't have any outdoor space at all, we always have room for a bit of greenery grown from seed.
This year, we are extraordinarily lucky to have a yard where we will set up a sweet-pea teepee that the kids will be able to hide in, read their books, and dream.
To start your own window-sill greenhouse, all you'll need is a plastic egg carton (as pictured), potting soil, and seeds. If you have a bit more space you can use an apple carton as we did last year. Just have your child fill each well with soil, plant the seeds following the directions on the packet, give it a light misting of water and you're done. Close the carton and let the sun do it's thing.
Inventing board games
Inspired by an old project on Kidley and Rhyme Time
All I do is break out a large sheet of paper, and the pencil-pot, and they get to work. Of course, they each have very different ideas about what the game should be, what it should look like, what the rules should be, how big the squares should be... you name it. The best solution always ends up being to have them each make their own game.
I'm always so impressed at how much thought and planning go into their games, and how they react when we play and discover problems with the rules. Instead of getting frustrated, they tend to work together (!!!) to come up with corrections, and work-arounds.
Pretty awesome, if you ask me.
So in love with Bloesem Kids :-)
Now that we're settling into the house (slooowly), I'm starting to get the itch to have some creative fun once again. This is especially a good thing since I've got a swap to ship out this weekend!!). It was so hard to even contemplate doing fun crafts with the kids when I was going through the move and working full-time, and packing, and mothering, and wifing...
I'm so glad that Bloesem Kids is around and chock-full of creative goodness for me to soak in. I'm especially tempted to try out some of Arounna Khounnoraj's craft projects which are beautifully photographed, and explained in a clear, straight-forward manner (no thinking required!).
If you have creative sites that inspire you, please share, I'm always on the lookout for new perspectives :-)
Valentine's Garland
One of my all-time-favorite crafts to do with kids is paper garlands. All you need is a craft punch, some kitchen string, sturdy paper, and a stick of glue.
Depending on the kids' ages, you can have them do the paper-punching, or do it for them. Then all you do is glue two hearts back-to-back over the string. We like to space ours out about six inches, but these are lovely no matter how you do it.
If you are obsessed with garlands like I am, you'll have to check out Ga-ga for Garlands, a photo pool on Flickr set up by Heather Bailey, and the paper garlands Kiddley featured ages ago.
mini swap no.3 (!!)
Molly is hosting her third annual mini-swap, and sign-ups start on Tuesday morning, January 22nd, at 10am ET (do not forget this date & time!). This is a wonderful project where children (and their families) around the world are matched up for a little swap of creative goodness. Children are encouraged to make small gifts for their swap-mates, hand down toys they don't play with anymore, and share bits and pieces from their life (where they live, what they like to do, that sort of thing).
Do head over to read all about it! This is as much fun for the crafty parents, as it is for the kids ... really!
Pom-pom bird and nest
Our local arts center held it's annual Holiday open house for kids recently. This picture is of a bird made by one of daughter's friends at the event (the shots I got of M's bird all came out horribly).
To make the bird:
To make the nest:
Voila! Just lay your little bird in the nest & you're done. Very satisfying :-)
I'm thinking my daughter's little bird will make a nice addition to our Christmas Tree.
Pilgrim hat
As you can see plainly here, this is a fun and rather silly project. Perfect for getting kids ready for Thanksgiving.
What you'll need:
To make the hat:
I'd love to see any hats you make, so please include a link to your photos when you comment!
Halloween jewels
Today is Blog Action Day, and participating bloggers are to post something environmental. I'm thinking that recycling magazines and stickers is a good (& crafty!) place to start!
About a year ago I discovered a fun craft that can be customized to make lovely seasonal gifts. It has the added benefit that you can use recycled elements (which warms my green heart), and is very easy for kids to do on their own with minimal parental interference.
This time around I used some stickers that my son got with his latest Mathmania mailing. To make these sweet treasures you'll need craft glue, glass gems (available at most craft stores and florists), and pictures to glue them on. When they're completely dry you can glue strong magnets to the backs of these to make gorgeous, home-made refrigerator magnets. My daughter made some as gifts for her teachers last year and they were a huge hit.
To make your own:
Pick your images, and check that they fit nicely under your gems. Pause to admire the magnifying effect. Squeeze out a good dollop of glue on to the back of your gem.
Place over your image. It's very wet, so you'll have plenty of time to align to your satisfaction, even if they slide a bit while drying.
Set aside over night so they dry completely. In the morning cut out your gems and admire your work.
If you make these with your kids, we'd love to see pictures, so do add a link in your comment so we can enjoy your handy-work!
Fall garlands
When the leaves start falling it's the perfect time to get the kids outside and crafty! One of our favorite activities is to scavenge for beautiful objects to make garlands with.
All you will need is some kitchen string, and your imagination. In general, we look for things that aren't too heavy, and won't disintegrate too quickly like large leaves, dried flowers, and pine-cones (big and small).
When you are done, you can hang your children's creations in their rooms, or use them to decorate the bushes outside your home.
What's your favorite outdoor craft for Fall?
