Crafts: Kitchen Items
Coffee Filter Snowflakes
Use a basket-style coffee filter (round shaped) to make a snowflake. Fold the filter in half three times. Cut out shapes along the edges of the folds to reveal a beautiful snowflake when unfolded. Discuss with your child the uniqueness of each snowflake made!(read more)
Lava Lamps
Take a jar or bottle of any size and pour a small amount of vegetable oil in it and then pour a small amount of water into the same bottle. Add a few drops of food coloring if you want to color the liquid. Then add sparkles, confetti and glitter if desired and close the lid. You have made a lava lamp. Have the kids shake the jar ...(read more)
Paper Plate Clock
Write the numbers 1 through 12 on the outer edge of a white paper plate. Create hands for the clock by cutting off two half-inch wide strips of black poster board. Make one strip three inches tall and the other five inches tall. Cut off two small triangles from the black poster board. Glue one to the end of each of the strips of poster board. ...(read more)
Paper Plate Tambourines
Take 2 paper plates and decorate the bottoms of them with markers, crayons, tissue paper pieces, ribbons -- anything you have handy. Then put the two paper plates together so that the decorated bottoms are facing out. Begin to fasten the paper plates together by stapling around the outer edge. Once you have stapled three-quarters of the way around, pour some rice or beans into ...(read more)
Paper Tube Maracas
Take an empty paper towel or toilet paper tube. Cover one end with a small square of construction paper and fasten the square to the tube with a rubber band. Then fill the tube with dried beans or uncooked rice -- you can experiment with different amounts and with different materials (or combinations of materials) to create different sounds. Once you've placed the desired amount of beans ...(read more)
Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Pasta Bones
This pasta skeleton is easily made from a few different types of pasta glued to a piece of black construction paper. When you're done, you'll have a great Halloween decoration that you can also use to teach your child the names of some of our bones. Put several different kinds of pasta on the table. Have the kids choose pieces of pasta and arrange them on the paper in ...(read more)
Milk Carton Bird Feeder
Cut out a long window on the side of an empty juice or milk carton (the side opposite from the pour nozzle). Paint the carton brown all over and leave it to dry. Once the first coat of brown is dry, add long streaks of dark brown and white, and small brown knots to make your bird feeder look like the bark on a tree. One ...(read more)
Coffee Filter Flowers
Begin with a stack of white, basket-style coffee filters. Give your child a stack of the coffee filters and a bunch of markers, and let him or her decorate them. These will form the petals of the flowers. Once they're done, group the filters into stacks of three or four. Then twist together to bottom of the stack of filters, and secure it with a colored ...(read more)
Jelly Bean Pictures
Help your child draw a picture with ornamental frosting on a piece of cardboard -- this frosting works like glue and tastes great! Have her place jelly beans on the frosting. You can give this project a seasonal theme by using pastel jelly beans on a rabbit outline for Easter, or green jelly beans on a Christmas tree and beans of other colors for lights and ...(read more)
Paper Bag Animals
Turn a brown lunch bag upside down so that the bottom of the bag becomes the top of the puppet. Use the flap for face, drawing on a nose and some eyes. When you open the flap, have your child draw a tongue under the flap or attach a tongue made from red construction paper. You can also have them glue ears to the top of the ...(read more)
Paper Plate Masks
Use a small white paper plate as the base for a child's mask. Cut two holes about where the child's eyes will be, then punch one hole on either side of the paper plate and tie a piece of string or yarn through each hole. This will be what you use to tie the mask on the child's face. Once that's done, you can turn the plate ...(read more)
Homemade Playdough
Mix together the flour, salt, water, food coloring, cream or tartar, and cooking oil in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture forms a large 'ball' and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove the ball from the heat. Once it is cool to touch, knead it until it is smooth. Your playdough will then be ready for playtime ...(read more)
Paper Plate Spiders
Create some homemade spiders this Halloween. Have your child draw spider faces on paper plates. Then cut strips of black construction paper for the legs. Have your child help you glue them onto the back of the paper plate. This craft is a great way to make Halloween fun and silly for the littlest ones.(read more)
Edible Play Dough
If you like, have your child help you with this part: Combine 1 cup peanut butter and 1/2 cup honey in a large bowl. Then add 1 cup non-fat dry milk and mix thoroughly. Take another cup of non-fat dry milk, and slowly add, just a little at a time until you reach a playdough-like consistency. You may wind up not using all the dry milk. ...(read more)
Kitchen Fork Chimes
Make a wind chime using your old forks and spoons. Begin by drilling a small hole into the end of a few old forks and spoons, then thread fishing line through the hold and tie off the end. Then, give your child a bowl of beads to string onto the fishing wire, decorating the wind chimes. Once your child has finished stringing the beads onto each of ...(read more)
Polly Want a Cracker
Take a cookie cutter and punch a nice shape out of a slice of white bread. You can save the scraps for breadcrumbs or make ones with the center cut out. Punch a hole into the bread for yarn to hang, thread the yarn through the bread shape. Then let the white bread shapes sit out for a day or two so that they become firm. ...(read more)
Apple Turkey
Take 5 toothpicks and slide miniature colored marshmallows to fill each toothpick. Color a turkey face on a piece of paper, cut it out, and tape it to the front of an apple. Push toothpicks into the top of the apple to resemble feathers. Makes a cute table decoration for Thanksgiving!(read more)
Vegetable Painting
A good activity for a day when you are cleaning out your refrigerator. Do you have a wrinkled red pepper in there? Some floppy broccoli? Sprouted potatoes? They're not good for eating, but they are good for a little art project. Instead of the usual paint brush, have your preschooler use these to make interesting textures and shapes in their paintings. (A cut ...(read more)
Sandpaper Prints
**Please note: A portion of this activity requires the use of an iron. Only adults should handle a hot iron, and children should be supervised and kept away from the iron at all times. Using crayons, have your child draw pictures directly onto sandpaper. Be sure to have your child press the crayons firmly into the sandpaper. For best results, encourage your ...(read more)
Anytime Sunshine
Using a basket type of coffee filter and kid-safe scissors, cut inward toward the main circle part of the coffee filter, stopping at the main circle. Do this over and over and you will create fringe around the main circle part of the filter, which will look like a shining sun. Paint with watercolors on the main 'sun' part and you will create beautiful sunshines.(read more)
Oatmeal Drum
Making a drum out of the tall 42 oz cylindrical shaped oatmeal container. Take top off and cover the container using decorated paper. You can use glue to seal the edges. Then seal opening with construction paper by securely using tape. Little kids will enjoy drumming away!(read more)
Edible Art
Set up a work space in an area where you won't mind creating some mess. Line up small bowls of dried cereal like Cheerios or Fruit Loops; small crackers, like Cheez-Its or Goldfish; and raisins, craisins, or other cut up bits of dried fruit. Include a bowl of icing to be used as "glue." Give your child a white paper plate and let him "glue" the various food ...(read more)
Stamping with Potatoes
You can make your own 'stamps' out of potatoes. Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes from slices of raw potatoes, or you can just cut a raw potato into thirds cross-wise (so you have three round ends to work with) and cut patterns in the potato ends. Older kids like to help with the creation of the stamp patterns. Once the 'stamps' have been created, the ...(read more)
Pasta Snowflakes
This is a fun activity to do on a cold day when you and the kids are stuck indoors. Using white spray paint, coat uncooked wagon wheel-shaped pasta and let dry on newspaper. (Plan on about 25 pieces of pasta per child.) Then, glue the painted pieces of pasta onto construction paper in snowflake shape. An easy way to create this shape is to glue one ...(read more)
Corncob Prints
This is a great seasonal art activity. Pour some paint into a baking sheet, and take the husk off of an ear of corn. Have your child grab each end of the corncob and roll the corn in paint until it's completely covered. Then have your child roll the ear of corn back and forth or in different directions on a piece of paper. You can repeat ...(read more)
Noodle Art
Let your kids get creative with what's in the pantry. Each time I cook pasta, I always save a little bit of the noodles in a baggie. Then once we have accumulated enough different types of noodles, we make art. Let the kids use their imagination and see what they come up with.(read more)
Egg Carton Spiders
Make your own spooky Halloween spider! Cut apart the bottom of an egg carton. Give your child one egg section to color and draw a spider face on the front. Poke four (or eight!) black pipe cleaners through the side of the carton section and bend to look like spider legs.(read more)
Pasta Jewelry
Spread some of newspapers over your work area, and then pour some different pasta shapes out on the newspaper. Let your child help you paint each of the pasta shapes with different colors of craft paint, and then let the paint dry thoroughly. While the paint is drying, pour some white glue into a bowl or onto a paper plate. Mix a small amount of water into ...(read more)
Homemade Playdough -- No Cooking Required!
Into a large bowl, put 3 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 2 tablespoons of warm water, and 1 and 1/2 cups vegetable oil. Knead all ingredients together and form into balls (this is a great sensory development skill for younger children). Then gently work in a few drops of food coloring to create colored playdough. You can mix colors together to teach children about using primary ...(read more)
Easy Easter Eggs
A unique way to do your easter eggs this year! Begin with a batch of hard boiled eggs. (Alternately, you can take a wooden skewer and put it through a raw egg, letting the yolk and white run out.) Rinse the outside of the empty eggshells well and let them dry. Using fine point, colored Sharpies, let your child draw lines, flowers, polka dots, whatever he ...(read more)
DIY Mr. Potato Head
Take an uncooked, unpeeled potato and have your child decorate it with any interesting items you can find about the house: buttons, raisins, marshmallows, tissue paper, fabric. Your child can even make features out of playdough. Use pieces of toothpicks to fasten everything on. (read more)
Cool Whip Art
This is a fun and delicious way to make a "puffy" painting that will appeal to all ages: Scoop Cool Whip into as many bowls as you want colors. Sprinkle on about a tablespoon of jello, a different flavor/color per bowl, and stir just to combine. Let your kids "paint," applying thickly for best results, on dark colored paper, using either brushes or their fingers. They'll have ...(read more)
Picture Toast
Read a book with your child. In a small cup, mix 1/4 cup of milk with a few drops of food coloring. Use a Q-tip to paint the colored milk onto a piece of bread. Ask your child to paint their favorite part of the story or their favorite character. You can mix several different colors of milk to make a more colorful piece of bread. ...(read more)
Creating Snacklaces
This is a slightly more nutritious variation of candy jewelry. Cut yarn or string in different lengths for your child to wear as a necklace or bracelet. Let your child decorate it by stringing on Cheerios or small pretzels. Make extras - they're fun to carry around for your child to nibble on!(read more)
Turtle Bowls
Use a paper bowl and construction paper to make a fun turtle craft. Help your preschooler cut out a circle and 4 triangles from green paper. Turn the bowl upside down, making the turtle's shell, and glue or tape the green circle to the edge of the bowl, making the turtle's head. Next, glue on the the 4 triangles to make legs. Then your preschooler can ...(read more)
Egg Carton Caterpillar
Cut out a row of 3 or 4 egg cups from an egg carton. The first cup will be the head; the remaining are the body. Have your child paint the body of the caterpillar with bright colors. Add pipe cleaner antennae and googly eyes to the first cup for a very cute art project and fun toy.(read more)
Dough Art
(If using frozen dough, defrost in a large oiled bowl covered with a towel to prevent from drying out; this takes up to 2-4 hours so plan accordingly.) Once the dough, either fresh or defrosted, has risen, punch it down and divide into portions for each child. Provide a lightly floured work area for them and aprons if they tend to be messy. Have them create something out of the ...(read more)
Egg Carton Bats
Create these spooky bats to hang around your house. Begin by cutting off one cup of an egg carton. Have your child paint it black and then glue on googly eyes and a red pipe cleaner or yarn mouth. Next, cut two wings out of black construction paper or poster board. Help your child glue to the egg carton, towards the back of the bat's "body." ...(read more)
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