Creative Kids

  • Tissue Paper Bleeding Art

    Do you have some crumpled tissue paper laying around?  At the next birthday party or gathering make sure to keep the colorful, crinkled tissue paper for this craft or if you already have some on hand that works great too.  It is super easy and loads of fun!  Our girls loved these and had a blast doing this craft.

    Colorful tissue paper in one of the kids bowl

    Tissue Paper Bleeding Art

    • Variety of colorful, crumpled Tissue Paper
    • White Paper (we use a heavier paper or poster board)
    • Small Bowl of Water
    • Paint Brush

    Gather some brightly colored tissue paper. Tear the tissue paper into a variety of pieces (small to several inches).  Put a piece of tissue paper on the white paper and use a paint brush dipped in water to wet the tissue paper, you will see the colors start to bleed.    Continue putting the tissue paper pieces down and painting with water until your white paper is full.  Set aside and allow to dry over night.  Once the tissue paper has dried, remove all the pieces and throw away.  You can use your new tissue paper bleeding art paper to cut out shapes and use them for thank you notes or display (see picture at the top of the post).

    Tip – if the kids are not able to get all the tissue paper wet you can use a spray water bottle and lightly mist the art piece before putting it away to dry.

    Putting down the tissue paper

    Water in a bowl and a paint brush

    Tissue paper covering the paper now just need to wait for it to dry

    What the paper looks like after the tissue paper dried and removed.  The tissue paper die bleeds onto the heavy paper underneath and this is what it looks after it has dried, really neat!  You can use this paper to cut out shapes and use for thank you notes or something special for the kids to display.

  • Creative Kids: Sidewalk Chalk Paint

    With the warm weather just around the corner (it was in the 70’s here this past weekend).  I want to share one of our family’s favorite outside crafts with you.  Sidewalk Chalk Paint is super easy to make and can entertain the kids for hours.  The sidewalk chalk paint can take the place of traditional chalk and is inexpensive to make at home.  You can make whatever colors you want; we’ve done all the colors of the rainbow, including Charleston Green (which was requested by the girls).

    We’ve had kids from 1 years old and up play with this neat paint and love it!

    Sidewalk Chalk Paint

    • 1/2 cup cold Water
    • 1/2 cup Cornstarch
    • Food Coloring
    • Jumbo Muffin Tin
    • Variety of Old Paint Brushes

    Stir the cold water and cornstarch together until you have a smooth consistency.  Mix in 3 to 6 drops of food coloring.  Repeat the process until you have filled your muffin tin with a rainbow of colors.   If you want to make less you can do 1/4 cup cold water and 1/4 cup cornstarch.  You can make your sidewalk chalk paint darker by adding a few more drops of food coloring.

    My niece Noelle and I were having fun doing her name together!

    This works on any sidewalk or driveway, although smooth surfaces may be a little better.  Our driveway is rough but the kids always have a blast doing this activity.  When Jake’s sister and family was here a few months ago we did this activity with the kids.

    Brina painted her name on the sidewalk

    The sidewalk chalk paint will wash off your sidewalk or driveway and is safe for your grass and plants.  If you have leftovers you can put them into empty yogurt containers and store them until the next time the kids are ready for sidewalk chalk paint.  You may have to add a few drops of water if the paint has become a little dry but it should revive well after adding a little more water.

  • Creative Kids: Invisible Writing

    The girls love to do crafts and all kinds of fun activities…..(so do I)! 🙂  As I was getting ready to leave for a few hours the other day I left a “secret” note on the girls bar stools.  They didn’t realize it was a note because it was invisible .  The night before the girls had asked if they could paint again soon so I decided that since the paints were going to be out anyway I might as well leave an invisible note for them to discover the next morning.

    These invisible notes were a hit and super easy to do.  Take a white piece of paper, write a message in white crayon, and have the kids paint over the letters to decode the message.  Once the girls figured out it wasn’t just a plain white piece of paper on their bar stools they quickly decoded the message.

    They decided it was pretty neat and the next spent hour writing invisible notes back and forth to each other.  I love it when I start a fun activity and they run with it.  Thankful that the girls get excited over the little stuff.

    These would work really well for younger kids too.  You could do a picture instead of a note as well.

  • Teaching Our Children: How to Wrap Gifts

    Letting the kids wrap their own gifts

    As I sit in the middle of the floor with little scraps of Christmas wrapping paper around me I have to smile…..  The girls LOVE going to the store to pick out the perfect gift(s) for each person.  They also really like to wrap the gifts!  While they have a tendency to make a mess, use more wrapping paper, put on too much tape, and take a long time wrapping they have a blast doing it.  Although, I have noticed that every year they get a little better and more efficient.

    Each girl starts the gift wrapping activity by picking out their own roll of wrapping paper to use for their gifts.  They use that roll of wrapping paper on all the gifts they have to wrap until there are no more gifts to do or the wrapping paper is gone.  They do the entire wrapping process on their own from cutting the paper to taping and even labeling the gift.

    While we still have the occasional – “Mom, I didn’t cut the wrapping paper big enough” overall they are getting better at the whole process.  At times, I’ve even had problems not cutting the paper big enough!  Typically, we spend an evening or two (depending on the amount of time we have) doing a “wrapping party” while listening to Christmas music.  As they wrap their gifts I will tackle some that I need to do as well.  Everyone has fun and we get a lot accomplished at the same time.

    I love that they take the extra time to not only wrap the gifts but label, add little notes, or draw pictures on the outside of the gifts.  They started doing this on their own last Christmas.  It was so cute reading their notes and talking about their drawings as we opened the gifts.  They were so proud of the gift and the wrapping which they did from start to finish.  Here are some of the sweet drawings and notes we found under our tree last year:

    Silly notes written on the gifts…..made me smile

    Brina even picked out turtle food at the store for the turtles and wrapped it for them.

    Karlie drew a planet, specifically Saturn, on this gift

    I Love You note on the gift

    Brina drew little “heart” people on the outside of this Christmas gift.

    Picture of the sweet sisters on the gift

    While the gift wrap my not win a decorative prize the girls are proud of their work and are excited to share.  They are learning many lessons during this too (hand-eye coordination, measuring, sharing, giving, etc….).  Pretty soon I will have to start delegating more gift wrapping tasks to them! 🙂

  • Blessing Lives Everyday with Special Surprises (B.L.E.S.S.): 25 Days of Christmas Blessings (Week 2)

    Fresh Citrus Christmas Potpourri wrapped up and given to friends & neighbors this week

    We into our second week of  25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. (Blessing Lives Everyday with Special Surprises).   It has been a lot of fun doing the daily activities and doing our best to be a blessing to those we meet.  Seriously, I feel like we walk away from an activity feeling more blessed then we did going into it.   What a joy it has been participating in intentional acts of kindness during the Holiday Season.

    In some cases we get to see who receives our B.L.E.S.S. gift and in other cases we will never know who is on the receiving end.  We pray that whoever receives or finds these gifts will experience joy during this Holiday Season.  Each night we take down the B.L.E.S.S. activity for the next day and read the verse and the activity then pray for those who have and will receive our little BLESS’ings.

    Gift bags full of goodies for our Community Group members

    Here is what we have done so far and a couple pictures to share of our adventures:

    • Day 8 – Gave a donation to the Salvation Army at a local Big Lots store.  Brina was the one with me when we put the money into the red container.  It was a great opportunity to discuss what Salvation Army was and why they collect money during this time of year.

    Fresh Christmas Potpourri gift

    • Day 9 –  Put together little gifts (Fresh Christmas Potpourri and a bag of Chocolates) for the families within our Community Group and delivered them at our Christmas Social.  Thankful for the neat people God has placed in our group this year.

    Brina and Karlie helping me put away all the AWESOME food families donated during the Awana Food Drive.  The pantries are restocked and ready to be a blessing to people within our community.  Thankful for the girls help getting everything put away (love those chickadees)!

    • Day 10 – Organized and put away food items into the Alms & Legs Food Pantry after the Awana Food Drive.  I was SUPER EXCITED to see the cabinets full again!  Praying that the food will be a huge blessing on the lives of those who need it.
    • Day 11 – Brought a bag with goodies to the tutor for Christmas to brighten her day and spread some cheer.

    Lasagna, garlic bread & Coke are in the van and on their way to a friend

    • Day 12 – Made and delivered a meal to a friend to help out.  The girls had a lot of fun delivering the meal and playing for a few minutes with their friends.  Praying for our dear friend as she is going through radiation while trying to take care of her family, we hope the meal was a blessing to them this week.

    One of the baskets full of goodies for our neighbors

    • Day 13 – Delivered Christmas goodies to our neighbors.  I made Fresh Christmas Potpourri and homemade sweet treats!  The girls look forward to this activity.  The have a lot of fun delivering the gifts and catching up for a few minutes with each neighbor.  Thankfully our neighborhood is fairly small so we had plenty of time to do it in the afternoon after school.
    • Day 14 – While at KMart checking out I was talking with the cashier asking about her day, if she was ready for Christmas, and such.  Through the conversation I found out that she is a single Mom with a girl the same age as my girls.  I felt led to be a blessing to her.  Even though I paid cash for the transaction I told her to keep the change (which wasn’t a lot) and put it towards something little for her girl this Christmas.  Even though Jake has to travel sometimes I am very grateful for him and everything he does for our family, I cannot imagine how busy it must be as a single Mom.

    One of our favorite verses this week went along with our Day 13 activity.

    This is my commandment, that you have love one another as I have loved you.  – John 15:12

    It has been a lot of fun working on ways we can be a blessing to others.  This verse talked about “loving others” which can be difficult at times because some people are just hard to get a long with.  We talked about why it is important to show love and compassion to those around us.  The girls decided that when we find it hard to love someone we should ask Jesus for help and to adjust our attitude towards that person because there are many days we are not lovely people ourselves yet God always loves us.

    It is fun be to be a blessing to others not because we anticipate any rewards or benefits from it, but because we were given the greatest gift of all.  God’s love, grace, and mercy.  He wants us to give cheerfully from the heart.

    Basket full of goodies to deliver with the meal on day 12 – Rice Krispy treats, fruit salad, lettuce salad, and a box of Angry Bird fruit snacks!

    I am super excited to see how great this B.L.E.S.S. activity is going already.  It has been a true joy sharing with others (many of whom we’ll never meet).  It has been a great experience and I look forward to seeing what will happen with our fun adventures this week.

    Neighbors gifts are ready to be hand delivered!  The girls LOVE delivering the gifts and catching up for a few minutes with the neighbors!

    The main purpose of this activity is to teach our family the joy of giving and sharing to those around us.  I plan to do another update on our fun B.L.E.S.S. adventures next week.  Sometimes it’s the little stuff that can make the most positive impact.  I would love to hear how you are spreading the Christmas cheer this Holiday Season.

    To learn more about our 25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. activity and what we have done far check out the links below:

    Below are the printable versions of the  25 Days of Christmas B.L.E.S.S. activities, verses, and sheets to handout so here they are for your family to enjoy as well:

  • Snowman Pizza

    Snowman Pizza

    Cool days, Christmas approaching quickly, and pizza just seem to go together really well.  During the Holidays the girls always hope for snow.  I can only remember one Christmas since my time in South Carolina where it actually snowed on Christmas day so that’s a rare treat!

    The nice part about snowman pizza is you don’t actually need snow to make it!  We made homemade pizza and decorated it.  The girls chose black olives for his mouth, a cheese wedge for his nose, pepperoni (with black olives) for the eyes, and two slices of ham for the eyebrows.

    You can use your favorite pizza recipe and make any snowman variation you want.  If you are looking for a pizza recipe here is one of our favorites from Money Saving Mom.  You can get really creative and make three separate pizzas and put them together to make a whole snowman (instead of just the head).  🙂

    Freezer-Friendly Homemade Pizza Dough

    • 2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
    • 2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
    • 2 teaspoons sugar
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • 4 Tablespoons oil (vegetable, Canola, or olive oil)
    • 5 cups flour (can use all whole-wheat, half white/half whole-wheat, or all white)

    Pour the warm water into a bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Stir to dissolve.

    Add the remaining ingredients and mix.

    Dump onto a floured surface and knead dough for two to five minutes until smooth and no longer sticky.

    To freeze: Cut lump of dough in half and place each half in an airtight freezer bag. Freeze for up to 4-6 weeks.

    To bake: Place frozen dough in a greased bowl and thaw at room temperature for at least 3-4 hours. Roll out and shape onto a greased pizza pan.

    Add pizza toppings of your choice. Bake at 500 degrees for around 10 minutes (until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned).

    If you don’t want to mess with freezing the dough, take the kneaded dough and roll out and shape onto a greased pizza pan. Add pizza toppings and bake as directed above.

  • Snowmen Mini Donuts

    The girls were so excited to make and eat these cute snowmen.  After you finish making your snowmen, grab a cup of hot chocolate, your family, and curl up on the couch next to the Christmas tree or fireplace and enjoy.

    Snowmen Mini Donuts

    Our Blue Eyed and Green Mouth Snowman

    The girls love these little powdered donut snowmen!

    Our pretty girlie snowman

  • Easy Snowflake Marshmallows

    The girls loved having these marshmallows in their hot chocolate!

    Yes, I know you can make fabulous homemade marshmallows, but if you are limited on time and resources this is a quick, easy, and fun food craft you can do with your kids.  You only need 2 items to do  these cute snowflake marshmallows (and you probably have these items in your kitchen already).  The kids will LOVE these marshmallows in their next cup of hot chocolate!

    Easy Snowflake Marshmallows

    • 1 bag Large White Marshmallows
    • 1 pair clean Kitchen Scissors
    • Optional – Small Cookie Cutters

    Take one large marshmallow and flatten it with a rolling pin (it doesn’t need to be completely flat just enough so you can cut it easily).  Use your scissors to cut snowflake or other shape for your marshmallow.  If you have small cookie cutters you can use those to cut out the shapes.  You can do as many or few marshmallows as you like.  Place the marshmallows on a serving platter and enjoy with your next cup of hot chocolate.

    I did a mix of scissor and cookie cutter snowflakes.  You can do snowflakes, stars, trees, or whatever shapes you want.  The girls wanted to help, they did more of the cookie cutter ones but enjoyed experimenting with cutting the snowflakes with scissors.  These are cute for a fun evening with the family or a get together with a larger group.

    One of the super easy cookie cutter marshmallow treats the girls made!  They ended up eating some of the snowflake outlines and the rest they used in their hot chocolates.

    Snowflake melting in a mug of hot chocolate

    Another cool “experiment” the kids can do with their snowflakes…..have them check out how much the snowflakes grow (expand) while in the hot chocolate!  Take a tooth pick and carefully pull the marshmallow out of the hot chocolate after it has been in only 30 seconds or so (depending on temperature of your hot chocolate) and see how plump your snowflake looks now.  The kids will LOVE it! 🙂

  • Kids in the Kitchen: Colorful Gingerbread Cookies

    Tray full of Gingerbread cookies to share!

    The girls love helping out in the kitchen.  At some point over the Christmas Holidays we try to make cookies.  The girls really enjoy decorating the cookies.  We have done a variety of different cookies from sugar to gingerbread and more.

    We typically turn on some Christmas music, whip up a batch of cookies, and play a game or read a book while the first batch is cooking.  Once the first batch has cooled enough and others are baking in the oven we start decorating.  As you can see from the pictures we used a couple varieties of frosting and decorations.  The girls decorate them however they want and as many as they want (they stick to the decorating until the very last cookie is done).

    It has been really neat seeing their skills improve over the past few years.  You can actually tell what the shapes of most cookies are after they are done decorating nowadays.  Plus, they have learned not to “lick” the frosting or their fingers during the whole process, ha!  🙂

    Starting to fill the tray with colorful Gingerbread cookies.  I especially like the Betty Crocker writable frosting because their easy to use for kids, only a little bit comes out, and you can stack the cookies together once they have dried.

    Just looking at these make me smile!   Some as you can see from the tops of the Christmas trees broke in the decorating process.  Love seeing the girls creative juices get flowing.

    Another rack of delicious gingerbread cookies, decorated with love! 🙂  Thankful for those quiet afternoons that we can spend relaxing and decorating cookies together.

    Next time I need to do better about taking pictures of the kids too.  I only have a couple of pictures of the girls just starting to make the cookies that didn’t really turn out.  Once we got into the cooking and decorating I got swept away with the fun that I didn’t pull the camera back out until all the cookies were done.  Hopefully, next time I will have more kid pictures to share. Does your family like to decorate cookies, if so what kind is your favorite?

  • Creative Kids: Packing Peanut & Wallpaper Craft

    Fun craft for the kids

    There are many great uses for the styrofoam packing peanuts.  Not only are the styrofoam packing peanuts  used to protect items that are being stored or transported they can be a wonderful kids craft once they are no longer needed.  The colorful ones are the most fun (at least according to the kids).  You can also pick up a big bag of them at your local craft store.

    When Jake’s sister and her family came to visit they spent one of their evenings here with friends.  Their friends introduced them to this easy and entertaining craft for the kids.  They brought home a baggie full of packing peanuts so I got out some wallpaper samples and the kids had a blast building all kids of items with the craft.

    The kids used paint brushes and water to wet down the styrofoam peanuts.  The wet peanuts would stick together and to the wallpaper like glue once they dried.  They can use their imagination and build whatever they want.  On the fireplace we had towers, houses, forts, pools and more fun stuff.

    If your looking for a fun craft and have a few extra packing peanuts around you should try it.