Kids' Craft Felt Easter Eggs

Are you looking for a last-minute kids’ Easter art activity? Well, this one is super-simple – and tons of fun too! With some craft felt scraps, and a few googley eyes, your kiddo can get artsy and make these textured eggs.

2D Easter Eggs

Okay, everyone knows that making those colorful eggs is a major part of Easter. At least, for kids. Even if you’ve got the food coloring, glitter, stickers and anything else you need to make the eggs (try dyeing them with jelly beans), your child can still try this two-dimensional craft.

Your child has a few different options when it comes to these eggs. There’s a permanent craft, in which she’ll use glue. Or, you can take a DIY felt board approach. To make the felt board, simply glue a paper-sized sheet of craft felt to a piece of cardboard. Reuse the front of a cereal or cracker box instead of buying new board. The felt eggs will stick to the felt on the board, making it a completely reusable craft.

Learning and Development

So, what will your kiddo learn?

·         Fine motor skills – scissor skills, eye-hand coordination

·         Color recognition and identification

·         Math – shapes, counting, patterns

·         Creative thought

·         Problem-solving

Materials

·         Craft felt – use craft felt sheets (paper-sized) and/or leftover scraps

·         Scissors

·         Googley eyes

·         School glue

How-To Activity Steps

1. Cut the felt into egg-shaped ovals.

2. Create smaller-sized shapes. Your child can cut apart scraps that are left over from other projects. Ask your child to name the shapes she’s cutting out and name the colors.

3. Press the smaller shapes onto the eggs. Add in an extra math lesson, and have your child count the pieces as she’s putting them on the eggs. If she’s making this a permanent piece of art, glue the pieces on. Your child can make patterns, stack the shapes (creating new textures) or even make an Easter chick.

4. Glue the googley eyes on top of the felt pieces. If your child is making this a reusable activity, make sure she glues them directly onto the egg.

 

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Valentine's Day Kids' Art: It's Heart-Felt!

Valentine’s Day is coming up! That means hearts, hearts and more hearts. Am I right? So, that also means kids’ art activities that feature the lovey-dovey shape.

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I’ve done quite a few kids’ crafts with a Valentine’s theme. Heart paint resists, crafty little candy pockets and geometry art were all fun children’s activities that feature the holiday. This time I’m working on a super-easy activity.

Craft felt is kind of perfect. It’s easy to work with (your kiddos can actually cut through it) and it sticks to itself. Instead of buying fancy felt boards you can DIY yourself one with an 8x10-inch piece of felt (glue it onto a piece of reused cardboard!). This Valentine’s Day craft is super simple and your kids can use it, reuse it and reuse it again. Or, you can use card stock paper and turn it into a cute (and crafty) card!

What Can Your Child Learn?

There isn’t just ‘one way’ to play with this Valentine’s kids’ activity. Your child can let her imagination lose and figure out new and different ways to create. That means there are endless possibilities, and many, many different ways your child is learning. To give you an idea, check out the basic ways it can help your child’s development. Your child will:

·        Build fine motor skills

·        Explore textures (sensory experience)

·        Recognize colors

·        Identify shapes (math-geometry)

·        Problem solve

·        Learn about the part-to-whole relationship

What Art Materials Do You Need?

Craft felt – in a rainbow of colors
Scissors 
Card stock paper
A marker
Clear-drying school glue

Optional: Cardboard (reuse the front of a cereal type of box)

How-To Steps for Creating Valentine’s Heart-Felt Art

1. Fold the felt in half. Draw half of a heart, starting at the fold. The hearts should be fairly small – about the size of a golf ball.

 

2. Cut along the line. Unfold the felt to reveal a full-sized heart.

3. Repeat, making hearts in other colors.

4. Create a larger heart. Fold a piece of card stock paper in half and repeat the folding and cutting steps. Your child can also use another piece of craft felt instead of the paper.

 

5. Put the small hearts onto the larger one! Your child can make a picture, abstract heart art or create patterns with the craft felt.

 

Optional: Place the larger craft felt heart onto a piece of cardboard. Trace it and cut it out. Glue the felt on to make a Valentine’s Day themed felt board. Now you have a reusable DIY felt board that your child can press the smaller hearts onto.

10 Holiday Gift Must-Have's for Artsy Kids

Who loves making art? Your child does! The holidays are quickly approaching, and you need gifts, gifts and more gifts. After all, there are eight nights of Hanukkah and the Christmas tree has enough room to fit a sleigh-full of presents under it. So, what’s the answer? Kids’ holiday gifts that focus on art-making.

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There are what seems like an endless supply of kids’ art materials out there. It can be almost unnerving to walk into a craft store and try to pick out a handful of supplies. In my years teaching children’s art classes I was lucky enough to have a wall of closets stocked high with almost every artsy item that a kid could want. Seriously. If only I could have that at home. But, I can’t (and I know most of us can’t). So, we need to pick and choose.

 

Yeah, the kiddos are going to ask Santa (or you) for video games, smartphones and all kinds of other stuff that they really don’t need—and that you really aren’t into buying. If you’ve got a crafty kid or just want to add some artsy ideas to their already lengthy list of holiday presents, these are some of my top picks. Along with gifting these to your child, you can also pack some away into a gift basket for others. Last year we put together an art-themed gift basket for a silent auction at my son’s karate school’s holiday party. It went over very well.

So, what are my favorite kids’ art supplies to give as holiday gifts?

1. Paint: Really, a nice tempera will do when it comes to process paint explorations or as a finger painting medium. I’m a fan of Crayola’s. The texture is easy for kids to work with, it isn’t too watery (I can’t stand watery tempera, it’s just way too runny for little hands) and it doesn’t get that weird smell after a few uses (when I worked in a preschool the paint closet always smelled like old tempera). I also like that you can choose small sized bottles (they come in multi-color packs) or larger sizes.

 

2. Oil pastels: I love, love, love oil pastels. Yes, kids like regular ol’ crayons. But, when you take out the oil pastels, they really get creatively crazy. They’re slightly less of a mess than paints, but the kids can still blend the colors together. This 50-piece assortment of Cray-Pas gives your child all the shades and hues she’ll need.

 

3. Modeling clay: Building and sculpting are fine motor favorites. But, I also like using modeling clay to paint. What? How? Follow this tutorial to see how (it’s such as less-mess version of finger painting). Crayola has my favorite kind of clay for artsy play. While you’re looking, their Model Magic (which is a totally different type of compound) also makes a creative kids’ holiday present too.

 

4. Glitter: What child doesn’t want to play with the sparkly stuff? ALEX Toys Artist Studio24 Glitter Shakers gives your child so many sparkle-filled options to choose from.

 

5. Hole punches: I know, I know—hole punches? Right? These shaped punches are perfect for so many crafts. Really, I used to use them all of the time when I taught art classes. Let the kiddos punch a bag of shapes, then use them anytime to collage or add to a craft project.

 

 

6. Canvases: Ready-to-use canvases are an ideal alternative to plain construction paper. Your child is probably pretty used to painting on paper (or maybe poster board). A pack of canvases gives her a new option, making her feel like a “real” artist.

 

 

7. Craft foam shapes: These are super-easy to use. You can get adhesive back ones (they’re basically like puffy stickers) or plain ones to glue on. In either case, gifting your child with an assortment means hours of crafting fun. You can pick a theme that interests your child or go with something educational (such as letters and numbers).

 

 

8. Craft foam sheets: While we’re on the subject of craft foam, adding in a few paper-sized sheets makes for even more artsy good times. Your child can cut these apart and add craft foam shapes to DIY her own bookmarks, fold them in half to make books or use her imagination and create whatever she wants to.

 

9. Watercolor crayons: As if watercolors weren’t fun enough as is, try this art item out with the kiddos and see what happens. They can draw (like they’re using crayons) and then brush on water for a paint effect.

10. Paper mache art paste: Oh, this is my all-time top paper mache pick. Sure, you can make your own using school glue, water and flour. But, I adore Elmer’s version. It’s a powder that dissolves into water, giving the kids tons of ooey, gooey artsy sculpture-time play.

 

 

Kids' Art Activity: Craft Felt Painted Collage Landscape

What kind of kids’ art activity are your little ones making today? If you’re not sure, this summer landscape idea combines fabric collage with painting – in a totally creative way (your kids’ creativity that is).

Your child looks out the window, and what does she see? Go ahead, ask her. She’ll probably give you an answer that sounds something like, “Trees, plants, grass, sky and clouds.” Now ask her what colors she sees. Chances are she’ll say, “Green grass, a blue sky, a yellow sun, a green and brown tree.” Right?

This art idea doesn’t necessarily follow what your child actually sees. Instead, she can take what’s in front of her and change it – using her own imagination.

If the weather feels like cooperating, take your child outside. Have a seat under a shady tree in the backyard or get ready for a park-side art activity. If going outdoors isn’t an option, take a look out of the window.

Now, ask your child to draw what she sees using colored pencils, crayons or markers. She can create a realistic landscape, with the colors of nature.

After she’s done with the real-life drawing, it’s time to make another landscape. But, this time she’ll create a colorful version that is more imaginative than ‘natural’.

 

Here’s What You’ll Need:

·        Card stock paper (thicker paper holds the collage and paint better than construction or drawing paper)

·        Scissors

·        Clear-drying school glue

·        Craft felt – in vibrant colors such as bright pink, red and aqua blue

·        Tempera paints

·        A paintbrush

Here’s What to Do:

1. Cut the felt into shapes. This lets you add in a math lesson to this kids’ art activity. Have your child name the shapes as you show them to her.

2. Create a landscape, using the shapes. Your child can collage the felt onto the paper using the glue. This is like putting together a puzzle. For example, a tree is three rectangles in a line with a circle on top.

3. Let the glue dry.

4. Pour quarter-sized pools of paint onto a palette or a piece of wax paper (it works as an inexpensive barrier that keeps the work surface clean – or at least, cleanish).

5. Paint the felt. Your child can add details or change the color of the felt. Mix the hues, making new ones too!

6. Paint the paper. Your child can add extra colors to the paper as well.

 

Compare the two pictures – the realistic drawing and the painted collage. Ask your child to tell you what the differences are and why she choose the colors and shapes that she did!

 

Kids' Tissue Paper Collage Made Easy with Double-Sided Tape!

Double-sided tape is sort if my new obsession. Recently, I’ve used it for a few different kids’ art activities – a textured sensory sand craft and a sparkly glitter project. This time we’re combining it with tissue paper to make a crafty collage!

This is a majorly easy children’s art project. It takes the typical glue and tissue paper collage, and makes it super-simple. Your child still gets the same sensory experience (with the texture of the tissue), but it doesn’t involve the extra mess of the glue. Don’t get me wrong – I’m always up for a messy art activity. But, there are some times when this just isn’t possible or you just don’t have the time for a major cleanup. This project is perfect if you’re traveling (toss the materials into a baggie) or just don’t feel like peeling school glue out of your child’s hair for the next few hours.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

·        Double-sided tape

·        Card stock paper

·        Tissue paper

Here’s What to Do:

1.     Tear the tissue paper into small-sized pieces. You can also cut it if your child wants extra scissors practice.
 

2.     Stick the tape on to the paper. We made a flower by adding a vertical piece in the center, and then diagonal pieces on top. Later we added two triangle tape shapes to make leaves.

3.     Press the tissue onto the tape. Your child can press the paper on flat (like the green stem) or crumple it and make it fluffy (like the petals).
 

Your child doesn’t have to make a flower. She can pick any tissue paper collage design that she wants. She can make a garden scene, a beach, her dog, a house or even an abstract piece of art. Change up the texture by using flat pieces, small-sized fluffy pieces and bigger crimpled tissue.

Are you looking for more kids’ art activities? Follow my Pinterest board for ideas!

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Learn with Play: 150+ Ideas for Year-round Fun & Learning Book Release!

I’m super-excited to announce the release of the new book Learn with Play: 150+ Ideas for Year-round Fun & Learning. Ok, so I’ am included in the book. But, it’s filled with more than 150 (obviously, based on the title) ideas, activities, projects, lessons, crafts and artsy adventures by some of the best bloggers out there.

 

(This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosure statement for more information).

Seriously. The 94 co-authors from the Kid Blogger Network are all imaginatively awesome when it comes to creating kids’ activities. I’m pretty picky when it comes to big books like this. Between having my own child, teaching preschool-aged kids and teaching art classes, I’ve browsed quite a few crafty compilations. This one takes the cake. The ideas intelligent, creative and pure fun!

What will you find in Learn with Play: 150+ Ideas for Year-round Fun & Learning? All kinds of cool stuff! It includes sensory play, fine motor, arts and crafts, holiday projects, science, math, literacy, life skills, imaginative play and even area organization.

Why get this book? I know, I know. There are enough kids’ activities books out there to fill every bookshelf in your home. But, this one is special. The bloggers who co-authored it comes from a variety of backgrounds (and from all over the world), all adding their unique skill sets to the ideas. The activities are all hands-on, with detailed how-to steps and materials lists. The activities also bridge a wide range of ages. You’ll find ideas for babies, toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten kids!

Where can you get it? You can get a regular old-fashioned print copy, a Kindle edition or choose the ebook version. If you’re going with the ebook, during the first week of the release we’re offering a $5 discount, making it $9.95 (starting July 7, 2015).

The regular prices are as follows:

·        Print copies are available from Amazon for $29.95.

·        The Kindle edition is also available on Amazon and is $14.95.

·        The ebook’s regular price is $14.95 (this is the price after the initial launch week).

 

Easy Earth Day Art Ideas for Kids

Earth Day art activities anyone? Did you know that in 2012 Americans created 251 million tons of trash (according to the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency)? Yikes! Of that, we recycled only about 34%, or 87 million tons, of the stuff we tossed. While there are some things that you just can’t reuse, I bet you’ll find plenty around the house that you can magically transform into artsy items.

I’m big on reusing everyday items as art materials. I’ll admit, much of it has to do with me being somewhat cheap. But, my husband is super into recycling. So, when the green can in our garage overflows with plastic and paper, I tend to find other ways of using those items.

With Earth Day coming up, here’s a list of some of my favorite everyday items that the kids can turn into art (I’m including a few activities below, but you can also let the kiddos get creative and make their own ‘junk’ sculptures with the addition of some school glue and tape):

·        Popsicle sticks: Why go out and buy brand new craft sticks when you can save onto these wooden beauties all summer long?

·        Egg cartons: Depending on where you get your eggs, there are two types of cartons – the cardboard and the styrofoam kinds. Your child can use both for art activities (she can also use them to store glitter, sequins or beads, or to sort crayons pieces. The top of the foam type works well for printing projects.

·        Yogurt containers: Not only can your child use these to make art, but she can also use them as water tubs for water coloring painting.

·        Cardboard boxes: So many possibilities. Make a pretend play car, boat or airplane. Or, cut the box up and use the cardboard pieces for painting and drawing on. or make a train table mat!

·        Soda bottles: Cut them or leave them as is to make sculptures with.

·        Glass jars: Cover them with glue, add a layer of tissue paper pieces (collage-style), go for a second coating of glue and get a handmade vase. I also like to use the little ones (baby food –size) to hold paint or my favorite DIY glitter glue!

·        Wash cloths and other assorted fabric: Fabric scrapes make fantastic sensory collage materials. Cut and glue them onto cardboard to make textures galore.

·        Old worksheets: Your child’s teacher sends home more worksheets and random fliers from school. Instead of tossing them in the trash, turn them over and draw on the backs.

·        Holiday cards and gift wrap: Your child can use these to make collages.

·        CDs and DVDs: Transform these into wind chimes!

That’s just a few of my favorites. There are so many more ways to reuse and recycle your would-be trash into art materials.

If you’re looking for a few more Earth Day art ideas…

Try these egg carton ideas!

Or

Make a cardboard tube mobile.

Or

Create painted stamper letters with this foam print-making project.

Or

Stamp with flip-flops!

Are you still looking for more creative crafts? Follow my Pinterest board for ideas!

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Kids' Felt Board Book Art Activity

It’s a DIY felt board and a children’s book all in one! I’m a fan of making my own felt boards. It’s so simple, and the kids always enjoy it. When I used to teach community art programs, I always brought along my homemade board for the children to use. They could puzzle out the pieces, creating their own stories, building fine motor skills and learning how to problem solve. The kids also were able to develop basic math skills, playing with patterns, shapes and the part-to-whole relationship.

This kids’ art activity takes the traditional felt board for a twist and gives your child the chance to make her own foam book that features page after page of felty fun! The best part? Your child can put together her own story, take it apart and then start over again.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

·        3 or more 12x18-inch craft foam sheets

·        8x10 craft felt sheets

·        Clear-drying school glue

·        Scissors

·        Yarn

Here’s What to Do:

1.     Stack the foam sheets together.

2.     Fold the foam in half, book style.

3.     Poke at least three holes all the way through all of the foam sheets, about one-inch away from the fold. You can use a hole punch, but this is tricky due to the foam’s thickness. I used the end of the scissors. Do not allow your child to use the scissors in this way. Do this step for her, being careful of the sharp edge of the scissors.

4.     Push the end of a piece of yarn through the bottom set of holes. ‘Sew’ the yarn all of the way up the side of the book.

 

5.     Tie the yarn at the ends to bind the book together.

6.     Cut the felt to fit the pages of the book.

7.     Glue one piece of felt to each page of the book.

 

8.     Cut out a felt rectangle. Size it to fit on the bottom half of the book’s cover.

9.     Glue the sides and bottom of the rectangle to the book, making a pocket.

10.  Create shapes. Cut different colors of felt into circles, squares, rectangles and triangles.

11.    Store the shapes in the front pocket.

 

12.  Take out the shapes and have your child create pictures on the pages. The pictures can tell one story or fit a theme. Your child can also create individual artworks.
 

When she’s done, take the felt pieces off, pack them up in the pocket and start again later!

Are you looking for more kids’ crafts? Follow my Pinterest board for ideas!

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