Make Fun Crafts with and for Your Kid with Project Kid

I’m a sucker for craft idea books. I don’t always make projects directly out of them, but I think they’re a lot of fun to look at, and to have on hand for those days when the girl wants to do something crafty but doesn’t have any ideas of her own.

Project Kid: 100 Ingenious Crafts for Family Fun by Amanda Kingloff was inspired by upcycling, reusing and re-envisioning basic household items into something new.

The projects are divided into general categories:

animal kingdom
hold everything
home sweet home
playtime
ready to wear
the great outdoors
abstract expressions

Each project includes a detailed supply list and lots of step-by-step instructions. While the title of the book makes it seem like kids would be creating these projects themselves (at least to me), many of them will at least require supervision, if not just the adult doing it themselves.

That said, there are definitely projects here that I would love to make for or with my kid. To name a few: butterflies made out of joiner biscuits (in a shadowbox for extra cuteness), a pom-pom covered pull toy made from cardboard and old toy cars, tiny suitcases made out of mint tins, envelopes made out of book jackets, a super cute Melissa and Doug tray upgrade made with paint chips, woven paper cups used to decorate twinkle lights, a photo family tree made out of branches, a homemade memory game made with a kid’s drawings, a super cute hot air balloon made from a yogurt cup and a paper lantern, a pirate ship made out of newspaper, necklaces made from old T-shirts and a bird feeder made from a nut can.

These aren’t all completely original — what book is? — but there are some good ideas and basic techniques here that should get you and your crafty kiddos thinking about fun projects you can make together.

Learn more about the book (there’s a new one, too) and get more cute projects on the Project Kid website.

Next Plan Idea:

Activities and Ideas for the 100th Day of School

Whether you have snow where you live or are on the wrong side of the world for that, these snow glob crafts for kids are a lot of fun to put together at home or in the classroom.

If you want to keep it super basic, you can download some snow globe coloring pages from Monday Mandala and have kids drawn in their own images (or color in what is there for the ones that are already filled). This could be a fun way to play with different media, having kids paint in one, draw in another, or use crayons in one, colored pencils in another, etc.

Or you can add your kid (or a classroom full of kids) to snowglobes with this craft from Twitchetts. It’s easy to make and fun for kids to help with, too.

You can also make snow globes with paper plates pretty easily, and there are lots of different options out there that should give you some ideas. This one from In the Playroom uses blue glittery pompoms as the snow and has a snowman in the background (though you can use whatever you want).

Mas and Pas uses a clear plate on top of a regular plate to make its snow globe, and Daydream into Reality just uses a paper plate to make the snow globe shape but there’s no snow involved. Their template includes different images you can put in the snow globe, or draw your own.

If you want to make a snow globe without the watery (so potentially less mess) you can make a waterless snow globe out of a plastic cup with this tutorial from The Pragmatic Parent. It uses tiny foam balls as the snow. Tidy Mom’s version uses a real glass jar and fake snow to flurry around.

And if you’re OK with using liquids in your snow globe, which will allow the snow to flutter like in a real snow globe, check out this version from 123 Homeschool 4 Me, which uses water and baby oil.

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply