Country Kids Crafts

Laura Childs — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:14:38 +0000

Have you heard, “I’m bored,” coming from the mouth of your child lately and not known what to do about it?

If you’re growing weary of coming up with new ideas to keep children happy, then these kid-friendly crafts might just be your answer.

We start by providing children with lots of craft materials, suggesting a few outcomes, and letting their imaginations shake the boredom out of them.

Child-friendly craft essentials might include paper, crayons, safe scissors, stickers, sparkles, and glue. The paper for crafting might include construction paper, plain white typing paper, cardstock of various colors, plus cardboard or any other paper you can get your hands on.

Even junk mail, old magazines, expired catalogs, etc. can make interesting arts and crafts projects for kids.

Crayons are nice for younger children, but the stores are now filled with far more options, such as washable dry-erase markers, watercolor pencils, gel pens, sparkle pens and multi-color options. Younger kids who craft enjoy using pasta, beans, popsicle sticks and lots of glitter. Girls especially really enjoy crafting artwork with splashes of glitter.

Saving Money With Crafting for Kids

Kid crafts supplies can run quite high, but there are many ways to save while entertaining your child’s creativity.

Use recycled paper (as listed above) as well as the inside of empty cereal boxes, toothpaste boxes, cardboard boxes, some plastic or styrofoam containers and anything else you might run across that is kid-safe and craft-friendly.

Incorporate some objects from nature to keep their craft projects interesting and your costs down. Spend an hour on a hike with your child(ren) collecting leaves, twigs, rocks, flowers, or any other items from nature.

Hair and wool – from farm animals that may be hanging off the fence – are other items that lend well to children’s crafts. Just be sure that these organic objects have been frozen, washed, or are clean before allowing children to use them. Also, watch your child for any allergic reaction to the animal fur, wool or dander.

Well Tested and Loved Kid’s Craft on the Cheap

One favorite and inexpensive kid craft is collage making. Kids glue anything to the paper surface and essentially create their own interpretation of art. Start with heavy paper for the background, load the table up with paper, pens, natural objects, and then stand back and let them create.

For an extra challenge, ask your young crafters to create a collage based on a theme. The theme of the day could be food, an animal, machinery, or family members. Magazines and catalogs can be used for just the right picture, which can be cut out and glued to the background. Words and headlines from these same sources add a personal touch and are a lesson in themselves when used during craft time.

For Harried Home Schooling Moms

Laura Childs — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:15:41 +0000

I recently found myself teaching Sunday School at church and bible study at the elementary school…

For those of you who didn’t know me when I was a city girl, let me tell you dealing with more than one child at a time (never let them outnumber you was my motto!), much less a roomful of children, has never been my strong suit!

It’s a tough job keeping 30 children of various ages amused for 90 minutes. For those of you who do this on a consistent basis, my hat goes off to you!

I was at a loss every weekend wondering what to do with those children (ages: 3-15) every Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. So I started searching online for some help and I’m compiling a list of my favorite resources on this page.

Help for craft or home school classes, amusement and then rushing home to make dinner, is on my current list. More to follow.

Quiet Time – Collecting and Crafting

I’m a flower child – even in northern Canada (with our short summer season) I have 9 flower gardens that provide me with enough short-term joy to keep me doing it every year.

Throughout the summer I collect my best petals and create interesting arrangements under glass (mixed with poetry) as artwork.

And it’s simple enough that children can do this too!

You’ll like this next resource, you’ll learn the tips and tricks, plus ways to make great gifts and money on your creations.

What a great two-step project, collecting flowers then using them in a craft or artwork activity at a later time!

You start by collecting and then pressing to dry, the flowers. Then you make cards out of them, artwork pressed behind glass plus many others. I’ll try to provide more ideas here as time permits, but again this is an inexpensive and easy craft for children that anyone can do. Let your imagination run wild.

What’s for Dinner?

On the run and finding that dinner is a consistent challenge? Me too!

That’s why I love cookbooks that get it from the fridge to the dinner table extra fast – without having to be some pre-packaged, factory made food.

Below you’ll find some of my favorites in books of dinner ideas that are different and delicious!

These may be used or slightly used, but the prices are right and you can’t beat the value of feeding your family a healthier meal – even on the busy days. Whether you’re rushed for dinner or just too darn tired to think of something new to cook, this helps.

Family favorite recipes, perfect when you’ve run out of creativity and dinner time is just hours away. Recommended Recipe Books

Laura Childs
Just Another Home Schooling, House Keeping, Working from Home, Mom

Country Child » country children