Crafts for Kids: Rainbows & Shamrocks Watercolor Garland

We love St. Patrick's Day around here, simply because our heritage makes us part Irish. Plus we love holidays, and there's just something fun about rainbows, leprechauns, shamrocks, and pots of gold. Do don't go all out, but my kids definitely know when I holiday is approaching. 

Since my school children are out this week for Spring Break, I decided to keep them busy with some fun activities. The beginning of the week was warm, dare I say HOT outside, so we spent a lot of time outside. However, when we woke up today, we were a bit fooled because as bright and sunny as it was, it was bitterly cold out there. This mom is not a fan of the cold, so inside activities for us today!

Rainbows & Shamrocks Watercolor Garland

You will need:

• Watercolor paper
• Watercolor paint
• Paint brushes
• Baker's twine
• Hole puncher
• Scissors
• Tape
• Shamrock printout
• Rainbow printout

Because I only had really thin printer paper and super thick watercolor paper, I printed out the two pages (I had to shrink the rainbow down some), cut out one of the shamrocks, and the rainbow, and traced them onto the watercolor paper. However, if print onto card stock, you should be good. 

I just simply let my kids paint as they wanted and let them cut them out, after they dried. Then, we punched two holes in the top of each one and threaded the baker's twine through. Lastly, hang it up anywhere you want. 

We also had fun talking about the real meaning of St. Patrick's Day and finding Ireland on our new globe. Get yourself a globe! My kids love to look at that thing for hours! I see an atlas in our future as well. 

I knew Elijah was going to struggle with cutting his own shapes out, so I cut his for him, and allowed him to cut my shamrocks instead. I really wanted to make sure that his rainbow and shamrocks got hung up, but I also wanted him to get the opportunity to cut as well. My sweet boy definitely needs a little more practice! He tried so hard though. 

Of course, there are so many ways this can be done. The idea is to just have fun, am I right? If you don't have watercolors or any type of paint at all, use crayons, markers, or even allow your child to glue fabric scraps, for a fun twist. 

If you make a fun St. Patrick's Day garland, I'd love for you to share it with me. 

                    

Birdseed Wreath

Back at the beginning of November, the kids and I made birdseed ornaments to hang outside for the birds and squirrels to enjoy. The kids had so much fun making them, we added this fun birdseed wreath to our Christmas advent calendar as well.

Not only did we enjoy making the ornaments, but we had the opportunity to see more birds and squirrels than we have ever seen in our yard. We don't exactly live in the city so you would think that we would have an abundance of creatures all year round, but that isn't always the case. In fact, this is the first year we have ever really seen squirrels in our yard and we have lived here for nearly 10 years.

One morning, we looked out the window and a fat squirrel was happily eating one of the ornaments. Elijah and I watched him for nearly an hour. Last week, we knew we needed to make this birdseed wreath when we placed a bowl of seeds on our porch and watched it fill up with water after a heavy rain. That poor little fat squirrel came snooping around for more seeds and had to scoop them out of the bottom of that water filled bowl in the cold. We felt sorry for the little guy and were eager to get this wreath made and hung on the tree outside.

To make a birdseed wreath of your own, simply follow the directions from the original recipe. The only difference here is that we doubled the recipe for a bigger batch and used a small bundt pan to mold the seeds into the wreath shape. I also suggest you lightly coat the pan in some type of oil before filling it so it can easily be removed. Once it has hardened overnight, simply cut a large strip of fabric of your choice, threaded it through the middle, and tied a bow at the top. Then hang  it up in a tree for your little friends.

 

 

Be sure to let me know if you make one of these with your children.

                    

Birdseed Ornaments

 

The other day we saw a squirrel on our back porch and we were so shocked and amazed, you would have thought we had seen bigfoot back there. I am convinced that squirrels have been slightly domesticated over the years and that they live best in the city because in the 10 years we have lived here, we have seen a squirrel one other time. I looked out the window the other day and there he was, hanging by his back set of little squirrel toes off the side of the railing, and reaching as hard as he could for a jalapeno left on one of our container garden plants.

Some people don't really like to see the squirrels in their yard or eating out of their bird feeders, but it doesn't bother me. But, rather than singe his tiny squirrel tongue on that jalapeno, I quickly jumped up and ripped open a giant bag of birdseed we purchased about 2 months ago for a birdseed ornament project. I filled a cup, slowly opened our back door and tiptoed over toward my new little friend. I got so close to him, I am sure I could have grabbed him. I slowly began to pour the seed and then... he took off.

Hey, I thought squirrels loved birdseed? All my life I remember hearing, "Damn squirrels ate all the seed out of the bird feeder again!" So, I just left the bird seed up there on the rail and hoped he would return. He never did, but the birds certainly did.


Which brings me to these ornaments...

I bought the birdseed with the intentions of making birdseed ornaments but the seed and the recipe just floated around the house, never getting done. Once I noticed how many birds were showing up to eat the seed on our porch that I put out for the squirrel, it motivated me to finally make the ornaments with the kids.


Birdseed Ornaments

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You will need:

• 3/4 cup birdseed
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
• Twine (string or ribbon can be used as well)
• cookie cutters
• Fabric scraps

In a small bowl, mix the gelatin and the water and stir. Pour mixture into a pan and heat on medium high. Bring mixture to a boil while stirring. Stir until all of the gelatin is dissolved. Once gelatin is dissolved, remove from heat and let cool slightly (approximately 1-2 minutes).

Next, stir in the birdseed until all of the seed is evenly coated. You may need to add a little more seed if there is any liquid still left at the bottom of the pan.

On a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper, lay out your cookie cutters of your choice. Fill the cookie cutters halfway with the birdseed mixture. Cut off a piece of twine and knot the end. Push the knotted end of the twine down into the top of the mixture where you would like for your ornament to hang. Then, lastly, fill the remainder of the cookie cutters, packing them down as tightly as you can.

These set pretty quickly, but I recommend giving them 24 hours before placing them outside. Simply hang them from a tree or ledge of your choice.

.....

During our 24 hour wait time, Elijah and I found a large tree limb with lots of crooked branches to use for hanging our ornaments. We cleaned out an old tomato plant from one of the pots in our container garden and "planted" the large limb in the pot. Once the ornaments were ready for hanging, we tied a fabric scrap at the top of each one and then hung them on our "tree".

The kids had a blast making these and each of them picked out the cookie cutter they wanted to use. We are so excited to start seeing all the birds, that stick around our area during the winter, enjoy the treats we made for them.

I would love to do these again in the Spring and even make this Bird's Nest Helper as the birds start building nests and preparing for new little baby bird family members.


I would love to hear if you make these with your children. If you do, be sure to come back and share your story in the comments. 

It's NaBloPoMo, which means I will be blogging every day in November. I do hope you will follow along here.  

 

                    

Salt Dough Leaf Bunting

 

I came across the recipe for salt dough the other day and it reminded me of the Christmas ornaments we make every year. As I was sitting there thinking about how we could do our ornaments differently this year, I thought about using the recipe to make something for Fall. I remembered I have a small Pampered Chef set of cookie cutters, and that there was a leaf shape in the box, so I decided to use it to make this leaf bunting. Originally, I had planned to just make the dough and then let the kids paint them, but then I decided to mix food coloring with the dough instead to make Fall colors, and whatever dough was leftover, the kids could play with it.

Elijah enjoyed watching me roll the dough and even helped me cut some of the leaf shapes. Then, I used a straw to poke holes in the tops of each leaf and baked according to the recipe. Once the leaves had baked for several hours, I took them out, let them cool, and then threaded a long piece of jute twine through them. I tied a knot in the top of each leaf along the way and made sure to leave about 2 inches between each one.

I had planned to hang this elsewhere, but this lamp of mine was crying for some attention so I tied it around the top of the shade . During the day, you can see the colors, but at night, when the lamp is on, I love how you can see them as a silhouette. Minus the baking and cooling time, this was a super quick project.

I made so many of these leaves that I had a ton left over, so I put the rest in a bowl and added a little bit of gingerbread essential oil and turned them into potpourri. Just a few drops and the leaves soaked the oil right up. I also made something else that I will be sharing with you this Wednesday! Be on the lookout!

If you are interested in making your own salt dough ornaments, here is the recipe that I used. Just a few simple ingredients!

                    

Crafts for Kids: Owl Leaf Art

A few weeks ago, I found a branch that had fallen from a tree near the woods and brought it inside to use as a Halloween/Fall tree inside our home. It has sat pretty bare since I "planted" it in a coffee tin that I decorated with twine and a colorful bow, so I thought I would organize a little craft project for Elijah and I to start decorating the tree. I saw a few ideas in the most recent issue of Family Fun magazine that used leaves, so I decided to come up with something that also used leaves and an owl came to mind.

Elijah and I ventured outside to collect some of the beautiful fallen leaves on the ground to start our project. We enjoyed talking about the colors and shapes of the leaves as we did and he was very particular about which leaves we were choosing, throwing down any that didn't meet his standards. Once we got inside, we collected all of our materials and got started. 

Materials

• Colorful Fall leaves with stems

• Heavy card stock or construction paper (for owl cut out and eyes in the colors of your choice)

• Glue

• Scissors

This is an extremely simple project for children of all ages. Pretty much no help is needed for older children, however, I did cut the owl shape for Elijah, as well as the eyes and beak. He simply followed my lead and glued everything on.

We worked from the bottom and started gluing the leaves on our owl cut out, all the way to the top of the head. Once all the "feathers" were glued on, I cut 2 large circles, 2 medium circles and 2 small circles in the color of our choice for the eyes, plus a triangle shape for the beak. We glued those on starting with the largest circles first and in order to the smallest, then glued the beak on last. Since we were hanging ours on our tree, I used one of the little stems from the leaves to make a loop and stapled it to the top for hanging. You could also use string, twine, or yarn in place of the stem.

Elijah really enjoyed this project and he feels so proud to see his owl hanging from the tree in our living room.