Fun Space Crafts and Activities for Kids

My 4-year old son really got into our Blast Off! Week of MOMS Camp this summer. We did a few small projects I found at the Dollar Tree, such as a space sticker scene and some foam rockets that were fun. We also made a few crafts that we all loved!

One of my favorite things we made this week was Night Sky Play Doh! My kids really love play doh - especially my son. I found this awesome recipe on Pinterest that was perfect for this week and we had a blast. Here is the original Link  for the recipe I followed.  The only thing was, I didn't have any black food coloring.... or any black liquid water color! So I came up with a fabulous idea to turn the play doh any color I wanted!! Dissolve dried watercolor paints into 1 cup of water and mix into your play doh as it's cooking! Just pop out a little oval of watercolor paint from the pallet and stir it into a cup of water. For this night sky color I used one oval of black and one oval of purple paint.  When the play doh was cooling, I added TONS of glitter in all different sizes and shapes.

 

We used plastic gems and glow in the dark stars to make night scenes in the play doh which was a super fun way to play with it before we really started molding and squishing the play doh like normal.  Then we used those giant glow in the dark stars to decorate my son's ceiling! They cleaned up great after being in the play doh so it wasn't a problem.

I have been dying to paint with shaving cream for some time and was excited to come up with a craft project using it for Space Week.  We made Shaving Cream Painted Planets!! Start with a rectangle cooking tray covered in foil and fill it with shaving cream.

Then squirt several lines of acrylic paint on top.  Use something pointy to swirl it around - but not too much! We used plastic chop sticks but you could just use the tip of your paint brush.... or your fingers if you're not afraid of a little mess! 

Cut out circles of construction paper and press one down onto the shaving cream mixture.  Hold it there for about 10 seconds, making sure it touches everywhere.  Then gently pull it off and set it aside to dry. 

 After about five minute, use a squeegee to carefully scrape off the access shaving cream and you're left with an awesome swirly planet!

This was such a cool technique to create what looks exactly like a gaseous planet - I loved it! Not to mention my kids loved playing in the shaving cream afterwards and mixing it up even more.

Finally, we made some Paper Straw Rockets that I found on Pinterest. They were so fun and simple - we used crayons to decorate several small squares of paper. They were each about 4.5" by 4.5". Then wrap the paper around a pencil to help it hold a cylindrical shape.

Glue it down one side to create a tube. 

Once that's dry, fold over one end and secure with tape.

Stick it over the end of a straw and blow (just like you do with a new straw wrapper at a restaurant!) to launch your rocket! We used big plastic straws for ours but regular straws are fine too. This was a fun project to make and THEN play with! Here is the original blog where I found this!

Snow Day Fun - Indoor Carnival!

Being stuck inside on a snow day is no excuse for boredom! I decided to transform my whole house into an indoor carnival when my two kids were home from school on a very cold snow day. Each room had a couple different games in it and I acted as their ring master to guide them from game to game. As my kids watched tv, I set it all up and had it ready to play, but then my kids had a fun time coming up with their own games! My daughter even set up a prize stand in her room, assigning points to each item so it was a great bit of math practice when it was time to cash in our prizes!

Here are a few of the games I came up with:

I used Washable Crayola markers to draw a huge target on our living room windows and had the kids shoot their dart guns at it.

We bounced plastic buttons into a display of plastic trays... from the Dollar Spot at Target! Score!

Just timing each other while we did a simple puzzle was really fun.

Here's my favorite one: a water shooting gallery!! I drew several circles across the back of my bathtub using Washable Crayola markers. Then the kids stood next to the tub and shot at the dots with water guns! The only thing to get wet was my bathtub, and as they kept shooting, the colored dots disappeared! We actually re-did this game a few times because it was such a big hit!

Here's a giant ring toss consisting of a hula hoop and a skinny little shelf I had in our family room.  You just need something sturdy enough that it won't fall over when the ring hits it! Even a person sitting down will work - we did it that way too. ;O)

We tossed a small basketball into a large basket in our hallway...

... and I set up a bean bag toss using a few bowls from our kitchen. Check out a Valentine's Day version I made HERE that shows how to make homemade bean bags!


We did have a few other simple games, and then my kids' games they made up got a little silly, but it was definitely a fun and different way to spend some time at home on a snow day! Plus we got prizes! Have fun!

Octopus Theme Party Ideas - Party Games

Ever since my daughter was born in 2007, I have given her a Halloween Party every year just for fun (even when she was only 6 months old!!). When my son was born in 2010, I wanted to give him a part each year for fun, too, but couldn't decide on a holiday to celebrate so he gets a summer party each year! I admit it's usually been an "end of summer" party because I always get so busy with our other happenings that I don't get around to planning it until school is upon us!!

This year, my son chose the theme of Octopuses for his party! Once you pick a theme for any gathering, planning the details just falls into place.

This blog features the games I came up with for our party.  Check out the other two parts to read about the FOOD and PARTY FAVORS!

Ocean Animals Search: I found a package of small plastic ocean animals which included one octopus at a huge toy store near us called US Toy. While the kids were playing in a separate room, I hid all twelve sea dwellers around my living room. This was a group of children ranging in age 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 so the hiding spots weren't too difficult! I had the kids come in the room to search for the animals. Whoever found the octopus was the winner!

Ink the Octopus: A couple days before the party, I drew a large octopus on my garage doors using sidewalk chalk. This was a really fun set up activity to do with my son because he got to participate with me! When all our guests arrived, this was also a great back drop for a group photo!! Also before the party, I spent about an hour filling up water balloons so they would be all ready for the big day. I filled up a large cooler (on wheels) with about 200 water balloons. I had the kids throw the balloons at the octopus drawing to make him "disappear!"

Cave Drawings

One of our favorite parts of Cave Week was learning about cave drawings!! We read a cute book about "Grunt! The Primitive Cave Boy" by Timothy Bush.  In it a boy draws animals on his cave walls and they come to life. Then we decided to create our own cave drawings!

I used two huge sheets of brown packing paper to tape on our own "cave" walls (a corner in the living room we covered with blankets). I had been saving that packing paper for months! It originally came in a package I'd ordered from Amazon and I knew it would come in handy!

We decorated our cave walls using crayons.  Each of us got to do a different section. To find some real examples of cave drawings we could replicate, we took to the internet to find pictures of real examples of cave paintings. Here are the links to the ones we really liked:


One

Two

Three

 

This was such a fun project because it involved learning, a creative project, and imaginative play! Molly (6) loved finding real examples of cave drawings and discussing what each image stood for or what story it would tell.  As for the actual drawing part? My kids ventured in their cave to keep adding to it all week! Finally, both of them had a blast pretending to be cave men.... or even explorers discovering the drawings we'd done and speculating about the cave men who lived there. Weeks later our cave drawings are still up!

Fun Cave Activities and Crafts for Kids

My theme for last week's MOMS Camp was all about CAVES! My kids are way into caves recently so I decided to make a whole week of activities based around them.  At first I felt kind of limited, but then I was surprised at how much I came up with and what a successful week it was!

Here is a list of fun activities and crafts we made during our cave week: 

- Naturally we made a giant cave in the living room out of blankets. We used an old baby gate (the kind that stands on it's own and makes a giant hexagon when linked together) to really add some space. It stayed up for a whole day and we had a blast laying in it to watch a movie; read books; and pretend to be bats, dinosaurs, bears, and even monsters. 

- Here is a fun and quick CRAFT we made that I found on Pinterest. You can make a mini cave out of a paper lunch sack. We used ours as a home for Molly's mini plastic dinosaurs, and later a tiny plush bear.

- We took TWO awesome trips this week!! First we went to the Omaha Zoo in Nebraska with my mom. We had visited before and knew all about their "Kingdom of the Night" exhibit, featuring bats and other cave-dwellers, as well as just nocturnal animals. That and a couple other exhibits featured areas that looked just like caves and the animals that lived in them! Seeing the bats - especially the Giant African Fruit Bat - was so amazing!

 

- Our second trip was to Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, MO.  It is the only ride-through cave in the U.S. so it was perfect for little feet that tire easily... and a little boy who is obsessed with trailers! Our tour guide was spectacular and the kids really loved being in a real cave. It was really neat to point out the different parts of the cave and formations that we had learned about from our books all week. My favorite part was when they turned of the lights and we got to be in absolute darkness: you literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face. According to our tour guide, if you stayed in absolute darkness for 30 days, you would go completely and permanently blind!! Luckily they turned the lights back on and our tour only lasted for about 50 minutes.

- We also acted out "We're Going On A Bear Hunt" which was really fun. I was happily surprised at how much my three year old really got into it! Here's what you do: sit on your knees and slap your legs gently with alternating hands to simulate walking as you chant/sing "We're going on a bear hunt/ We're gonna catch a big one/ We're not scared/ What a beautiful day!" Then you act like you come across something in your path: ie "Uh Oh! A river!" Then it's always the same: "We can't go over it. We can't go around it. Oh no! We'll have to go through it!" So then you pretend to swim and say something like "splashity splash! splashity splash! splashity splash!" .... so on and so on.. until you reach a cave and find a bear. He chases you and you have to QUICKLY go back through everything you passed again, doing the motions and sounds. Then you get home, slam the door, run upstairs, and hide under the covers. All while pretending and sitting on your knees. I remember playing this in preschool when I was little and was THRILLED to find a BOOK of it which we have read since Molly (age 6) was a baby. 

Bath Time Foam Robots

I love finding ways to make bath time more fun for my kids! I read a while ago on Pinterest to use foam sheets to create a fun bath toy for your kids. I finally decided to make some for our Robot Week of MOMS Camp.

Start with a variety of colors of foam sheets. I found mine at Target in their kids' craft section for just a couple bucks. Cut out several shapes just like we did with the felt busy bags. Include regular shapes, as well as silly ones like long zig zags to be robot arms.

During your kid's bath time, get each foam piece a little wet and it will stick to the side of your tub! Now your child can create robot after robot! Note of warning: if you leave the pink ones stuck on overnight, it will stain your tub!! (oops) Don't fear! It does come off with a quick swipe of a wet cloth. ;O)  These are so fun for kids and curbs the complaining at bath time!!

You could also do the same thing in your kiddie pool in the yard!

Robot Crafts and Printables

Here are few projects we did over the past few days for our robot themed week! I found all of these simple printouts on Pinterest.


We loved this robot helicopter! I printed one out for each of my kids (plus myself) to color with markers. After you cut it out and fold the legs in opposite directions, it's supposed to twirl down like a helicopter when you drop it. Ours didn't work as well as hoped, but when you weight down the head by adding two strips of scotch tape, it works much better! 

We decorated a cute robot key chain! We found ours sold individually at Michael's for less than a dollar apiece but I couldn't find a link for those online. The key chains in the link look the exact same, though! My 6 year old and I decorated ours with permanent markers. Mine had a cubed head so I drew a different facial expression on each side. This was great for emotion recognition practice for my three year old!

Here's a fun robot coloring page.
Here's another.

These pages are educational and fun! Here's a cute robot activity.
Here's another.

Hope this keeps you busy for a while!!  

Busy Bag Idea: Felt Robots!

I haven't made a new busy bag for a long time, but Molly is always pulling them out to play with. Click HERE to read about busy bags and a few other ideas for them! I made a new one that was a big hit with both my kids, ages 3 and 6: Felt Robots!

Cut out several shapes from colored felt. You can buy single sheets of felt at Walmart for maybe $0.29 each so you can get a good variety of colors.  Make some normal shapes like rectangles, squares, circles, and triangles. Naming these shapes is great practice for my three year old.  Include plenty of smaller circles and squares to be the buttons! Also make some silly shapes like squiggly lines and crescents (for smiles) to complete your collection.  Molly (age 6) helped me cut some shapes this time and got very creative!

Have your child build a robot out of the felt shapes! This is a fun, quiet project your child can do with or without you. My favorite part was so unexpected - Molly and Ben focused on what each robot would be used for and named what each button would do! What wonderful imaginations!

Valentine's Day Party Bean Bag Toss

My daughter (5) requested a bean bag toss for her class Valentine's Day party at school this year. I make bean bag toss games for many holidays and parties so it was easy to make one in just a short time.

Here's what you'll need:

cardboard box
old steak knife or cutting tool
paint
half a yard of fabric total in different patterns as desired
plastic sandwich baggies
dry beans
sewing machine/needle and thread

Start with a cardboard box in the size you wish your bean bag toss game to be.  Trim off all the flaps so you're left with a solid base to cut on.  Draw your design on the box, including holes for the kids to toss bean bags through.  I made the word "LOVE" with the "O" being a toss hole, and a couple hearts for Valentine's Day.  Now carefully cut out your design using your steak knife or other cutting tool. A simple steak knife works so well for me and I have so much control when cutting out shapes like hearts!

Now you're ready to decorate your box. I painted mine with Crayola washable paints, which dry really quickly.  You can also use construction paper or markers if you're in a time crunch.  But really, the paint goes on fast and dries so quickly!

As that dries, start making your bean bags. Cut your fabric into 5 inch squares - you'll need two squares for each bean bag.  I made a total of six bean bags in three different patterns.  I found really cute, inexpensive fabric at Wal-mart for this project.

For the inside of our beanbags, I bought a bag of dry beans from the grocery store. Molly helped me fill six sandwich bags with about 3/4 cup of the beans in each and seal them up.  Fold each bag in half, then in half again so it's the right size.

Place two squares together, with the fabric design facing each other.  Sew around three complete edges, and part of another edge. Leave that hole open so you can turn it right-side-out. Then put the plastic baggie filled with beans inside your semi-sewn bean bag.

 

Finally, fold the open edges in a little and sew it closed. That way you won't have any rough edges poking out. You can also sew this part by hand.  Be careful not to sew the plastic bag inside so you don't mess up your sewing needle.  I have a set of bean bags I made this way from five years ago and they're still perfect, so these will stand up to lots of play and last for years to come!

Frosty's Musical Snowflakes Party Game

Here is a fun game to play at holiday parties this year, or just as some fun indoor exercise during the cold winter months! I collected some ideas from different games I found online to come up with a new version of musical chairs: "Frosty's Musical Snowflakes!"

Start with several white paper plates. You'll need enough for each kid to have one. I decorated mine with the same snowflake design on each, drawn on with a permanent marker.

On the back of just ONE plate, draw a red circle to be the  "Hot Spot!" Be sure you can't see it through the plate from the front.
 

Now scatter all the plates around the floor, completely randomly without knowing where the "Hot Spot" is.  Have the kids pretend to be snowmen and dance around among the plates while you play some music; preferably "Frosty the Snowman!" I like the version by Gene Autry.

When you stop the music, have the kids jump to the nearest snowflake. Once everyone is standing still, tell them to look under their paper plate to see who is standing on the "Hot Spot." Whoever landed on it has to MELT and is out of the game.

Gather all the plates from the floor and take away one regular plate from the mix. Have the kids close their eyes as you once again scatter the snowflakes on the floor, not knowing where the "Hot Spot" ends up. Then everyone opens their eyes and the game continues for another round, minus one player. Play continues until only one person is left standing!

We played several fun rounds with just my daughter (5) and I, with several snowflakes out and it turned into a fun game of chance to see if one of us landed on the "Hot Spot."  Even my 2 year old can play this one!

I would recommend making a few extra plain snowflake plates as well as an extra "Hot Spot" plate just in case any of them get torn or bent. If the "Hot Spot" gets scuffed or bent, for example, kids will know which one it is and try to avoid it. ;O)

For another fun holiday party idea, check out the Wrapping Paper Game from a blog I wrote last year! I plan to use this game at Molly's class party as well, with a package of pencils so all the kids will get one.

Christmas Countdown Calendar Activities

So apparently I took off the entire month of November from blogging... until today. It wasn't a planned break and I still made lots of crafts and fun snacks with my kids but I just didn't get around to documenting them! Oh well! I have so much planned for December, as always, so I really hope I can get it together and type this month!

I am so excited for December to finally be here! My favorite holiday tradition is our Christmas Countdown Calendar - started by my mom years ago. The fun twist is that for each day, there is a little note with a special activity to do that day. A friend of the family sewed the original calendar for us, which still hangs in my parent's house each year. When I moved out to college, my mom made a calendar for me, and a few years later she made a larger, more colorful one for my kids to enjoy.

The newest version is pictured below. She actually found the tree part with pockets at a store, then attached it a large back ground fabric and quilted it. She added sequins for some sparkle, our last name in felt letters up top, and a sleeve for hanging.

My mom always wrote each day's activity in little rhymes! I have taken to drawing pictures on my notes, since my kids aren't old enough to read yet (but Molly (5) is almost there!). I guarantee mine will also rhyme when Molly can read it!

Anyway, here is the complete list of activities I have planned for our December. They are already in the pockets and planned on my family calendar (though still a secret to the kids!) so I know what we'll be doing each day. Of course, depending on unexpected schedule changes and my overall mood (hehe) I will change up the days as needed. ;O)

1. Decorate the Christmas Tree
2. Open a special gift (these are usually something small like some silly lip glass or a new book)
3. Set up our Dept 56 North Pole Village
4. Write a letter to Santa (here's an idea for kids too young to write: Collage Letter)
5. Read special Christmas books (my kids will each receive a new book this day, too!)
6. Go play indoor mini golf
7. Decorate gingerbread men
8. Drive around to see lights - there's a neat display at the Great Mall in Olathe, KS!
9. Go see a movie at the theatre
10. Make a special craft. Here's one idea from last year: Paper Plate Santa
11. Visit Santa
12. Eat a special holiday snack. Here's a great party snack idea: Rice Crispy Treat Wreath
13. Go roller skating (or ice skating!)
14. Make a gingerbread house out of graham crackers (as seen on Pinterest...)
15. Open a special gift (I repeat this a few times... a new idea might be to make and send Christmas cards!)
16. Have a holiday party with your friends (or maybe just a play date with fun snacks and punch...)
17. Make a special craft (OR go on a special shopping trip)
18. Wrap presents and play the Wrapping Paper Game
19. Holiday party at school
20. Have a pajama party complete with popcorn and a Christmas movie
21. Bake cookies to leave out for Santa
22. Eat a special holiday meal
23. Play in the snow (weather permitting!) OR make a mini snowman with homemade play doh
24. Open a special present (surprise! It's pajamas from my mom and a blanket from me!)
25. CHRISTMAS!

Just in case you need a few extra ideas, here's some blasts from the past: eat dinner by candlelight; have an indoor picnic; watch Christmas specials on TV; go buy/cut down a Christmas tree; decorate your house - indoors and out; write a Holiday Top 10; write a funny parody of a Christmas carol; sing Christmas carols; choose a friend to send gifts and cards to from a Secret Santa; make a popcorn chain for your Christmas tree; attend a holiday ceremony at church; host a holiday cookie swap; volunteer at a soup kitchen; adopt a family to buy gifts for; go see The Nutcracker Ballet; find a holiday puppet show/play/book reading to attend!

I hope this is enough ideas to get you started on your own countdown calendar! I can't wait to share all the things we do this year with ours as we go along! HAPPY DECEMBER!

Halloween and Fall Busy Bag Ideas

I decided to update a few items in my Busy Bag collection and wanted to add some seasonal activities for my kids! Now I have my bags separated in sets of five to be rotated out every couple weeks so there's always something new for them to play with. Here's what I've come up with so far for their Halloween and Fall Busy Bags!

Lately I've seen some really cute number games on Pinterest with a gingerbread man or a Santa theme. I decided to make a version for a Halloween/Fall Busy Bag! I used paper plates and drew a pumpkin on one and an apple on the other just to make it easy and sturdy. Then I filled the apple with smaller numbers, from 1 through 6: the numbers on one die. I filled the pumpkin with numbers you can get from rolling two dice: 2 through 12.

The object of the game is to cover all the numbers by rolling the dice and placing an object on the number as it is rolled. Use one die for the apple, and two for the pumpkin. You can cover the numbers with anything you want. I put a sandwich bag of craft pom poms in mine, but later thought some cut out shapes of pumpkin and apples SEEDS would be cute!  You can play by yourself for quiet time or as a game with two or more. Molly (5) and I played by taking turns. I love that she gets practice reading the numbers while we're having fun!

Another Halloween idea I came up with for our Busy Bag collection is a set of Felt Jack-O-Lanterns! I simply cut out a pumpkin shape and several face shapes (triangles, almonds, crescents, etc) that my kids can stick on and make different expressions with.  My personal favorite is the pirate eye patch! hehe I also cut out a few different shapes for stems and leaves. This is a great activity for my son, Ben (2), because he has been talking about emotions lately! "Ben is happy!" .. and at bedtime "Ben is sad."  Now we can practice making a happy face, mad face, scared face, and more.

Finally, I put together a counting activity with Halloween "candy!" I cut out several pieces of candy from colorful card stock in six different colors. As usual, I used my Cricut electronic cutting machine. You could totally use real pieces of candy though, like individually wrapped hard candies or candy corn for this project! I made several cards to go along with this project, including ones with a number on them to count out the shapes and many different pattern cards. I also included a few simple math equations (1+2=3) and a couple charts for counting out the totals. I allowed for charting by color and shape and also a separate sheet for charting both (not pictured... it's on the back of one of those bottom cards).

Easy Ideas for Busy Bags

Many Busy Bag activities are homemade, but they don't have to be! It is OK to take the easy route and bag up some store bought activities for your kids. The activity will be new and appealing to your child and these silly foam locking shapes are a perfect example! We've had these forever but my kids have neglected them for a long time. Ever since I stuck them in a Busy Bag, Molly (5) can't get enough of them! I'm so impressed that she uses them to make roads, practice counting, and create really great 3-dimensional shapes! You can find them in sets of 9 at a dollar store and they come in several character designs.

Lacing cards are a great addition to your Busy Bag collection! I've seen several sets on Pinterest that are homemade from card stock and hole punches... but believe it or not I don't own a plain hole punch! Yes, I have little heart shaped ones and a big circle one, and ones shaped like cats and leaves and spiders... but no regular one! So instead I found this CUTE set for a buck at a dollar store and that's good enough for me!

 

Here are two examples of homemade activities I've included in our Busy Bag collection. These items have previously been featured on my blog so I won't go into detail with them but I will include a link to those posts! The first is a set of roads made out of old denim and a few toy cars. You can read more about it here. 

This last one is a homemade Tic Tac Toe game. My daughter and I enjoy playing this one together, of course, and my son (2) just gets a kick out of sticking on the pieces! You can read about how to make it here. 

Busy Bag Ideas - Counting, Habitats, and Colors

Busy Bags are still going strong in my house!! Molly (5) loves to pick one out to play with during quiet time, or as a part of when we play school. Ben (2) enjoys most of them and at his age, just taking all the pieces out of the bag is fun too!

Here is a popular bag I came up with using some small plastic animals we already had and some strips of card stock. Make squares to place the animals on, labeled with numbers to practice counting. Ben is really getting into counting right now (he can count to 11 already!!) so this is a great activity for him. Meanwhile, Molly needs to work on writing and recognizing her numbers so it's important for her to practice while looking at them written down. I also included some easy math problems, which can be added to and upgraded as my kids get older.

 

I also included three pieces of card stock with habitats on them so my kids can sort the animals by where they live. This is Molly's favorite part. I only used animals we already had, so that limited my habitats, but if I bought more animals we could also use a Farm or Pet Store for example. Once your child gets older, you could use this idea with more specific habitats (fresh water stream, lake, desert, rainforest, savannah, etc).

 Another really popular activity I found on Pinterest that my kids love is a simple color-sorting activity. I found some great plastic gems at a dollar store in four different colors - a buck per package. Then I cut out four rectangles of felt in matching colors. Ben does a really good job sorting these gems - it is such good practice for him! Any craft gem or stone or small toy will work... you just need several of each color!