Crafting with Kids

Crafting with kids can sometimes be stressful and very messy! Here’s some things I have learned…

  1. If your trying something new let the kids play around with it for a little bit
  • If they break it you will know to reinforce it better. (I learned that I needed to add fabric to my lining with the oven mitts after one of the kids put a huge hole in the lining)
  • If they make a huge mess you will know that you need to change your tactic for the next time (We will never do finger painting with the paper on the wall without covering the entire wall) I remember making stress balloons and filling them full of beans, rice and flour and the flour one completely exploded in the car on the way to pick up a prize and waking in to the building completely covered in flour. I learned that I needed to buy better balloons and never use them in the car.
  • If they aren’t interested in it after a short time, you can change it up and try to make it more entertaining. For the girls, adding glitter usually gets them to like it for longer and for my son making it robot or Minecraft themed really gets him interested.

2. Designate an area for crafting. This will contain the mess to a small area rather then the entire house. Avoid having it in carpeted rooms as if glue or paint spills it’s a lot harder to clean it up.

3. Let them make slime! I know we all hate it and it’s so messy, but the kids love it. We have special rules with slime, such as it cannot get off the table, if they don’t follow the rules they have to put the slime away.

  • We got a slime kit for Christmas and I was horrified! This was the ultimate slime kit and I was not prepared for this much slime, but hearing the kids laughter as they made slime with eyes floating in it or their amazement as we turned the lights off and one of their creations flowed in the dark. We still have some slimes left to make, but I have just as much fun making it with the kids.

4. Try to incorporate all the kids in the craft activities, however be understanding if they don’t all want to participate or if they only do it for a short time.

  • Offering each child a chance to help with a project, like making a ton of perler bead pizzas. It gives them a feeling of accomplishment that they made something really cool.

5. Don’t forget to have fun too! It’s ok to join in too! My kids love it when dad and I participate in the activity and make things just for them. They were very excited the day I melted old crayons into LEGO guys!

6. Enjoy the “nailed it” moments! Take time to laugh at the failures.

Gigantor The LEGO Crayon

I decided to have some fun with melting crayons.

I had 3 different sizes for the LEGO guys and so I wanted to try all of the sizes.

I have had little LEGO molds for a while and have used them for various things, including making candies and chocolates so you would think I would be an expert with using these molds when I wanted to make some crayons….well I did only break 4 heads but it was 3 in a row!

I decided to mix up the little heads and remelt them, for gigantor I wanted to try to salvage him but it was not working well.

I tried to use an iron and it looked like I had killed him, I tried to use a lighter and blow dryer and ended up with crayon everywhere. So I gave up and remelted him and them I proceeded to break is body..

So with my husbands help we were able to piece him back together

I might make the yellow look a little better but at least he’s finally one piece!

They were a lot of fun to make and the kids are very excited for some new crayons!

Sorting Perler Beads

This isn’t even close to how many there are

We received a bucket of 8,500 perler beads and the kids were very excited to make “melts beads” but on top of another bucket of 10,000 beads from a bucket from IKEA that’s ALOT of beads! The kids didn’t really have interest in them until we got this bucket (I think it’s also cause they are older and can actually make designs and follow patterns now) The two buckets weren’t mixed together yet, but having to find a very specific color for each of the kids (because why would they want the same color at the same time) I wanted to find a way to make it a little easier so I decided to start sorting the beads! I have the bucket that had the most color variety done and I still have to finish sorting the other bucket, but it’s already making things easier!

Some tips I used when sorting beads

1. If you have many different shades of the same color mixed it with other colors, I found it best to sort the similar colors together. I then sort them into their specific shade however it’s up to your preference on if you want to go that far.

2. Be patience especially if you have kids, they will want to play with the beads as soon as you get them out. You will probably want to set some aside for them to play with and then sort them later

3. Use baggies/containers that work best for you. I found that using the snack sized baggies tend to have more issues with spilling and they had a really big opening so I found some smaller baggies that stand up right a little easier.

I also tried using the plastic bead organizers but after a few times of it being opened the wrong direction, I wanted to find a different solution. It might also make things easier to have multiple baggies (or whatever you decide) of the same color, that way each kid can use their own without having to fight over who gets to use that color

4. I found sorting the beads in a muffin tin worked really well, I added cupcake liners inside to make it easier to get all the beads out. I recommend only filling them about 3/4 of the way full as you need to pinch the sides of the liner together to get it out and if it’s too full the beads will spill out.

I had to move some of the black out as it was too full

5. Let the kids be involved, they will probably get tired of it after a few minutes, but letting them be involved can help keep them entertained while sorting the rest of the beads.

Fun with Water Beads

“It so memorizing” said my girls. I knew what they meant but it brought me back to having to memorize many things in high school.

It’s so easy! Just Hydrate some water beads (follow the directions on the bag) after that rinse the water beads and if you bought a bag with a variety of colors you can then sort them to make a rainbow of colors or you can leave them unsorted.

After putting them in a bottle, I then added some baby oil. I really liked the colors looked with the oil!

I then added some glitter and caught myself flipping it back and forth to watch it, although I have a lot of water beads in my bottle it still is fun to watch.

The only drawback is that the sorted beads will not last if the bottle is shaken.

The kids wanted to make one too, so I found some smaller bottles. I have water instead of oil in theirs but they love them and they aren’t too big for them.

It’s so Mesmerizing!

It’s been awhile..

There has been a lot of changes in the last little while and I haven’t been able to crochet as much as I like to, but some of the changes are really exciting, so I really can’t complain.

I have decided to add a section to my blog and it will be a craft section. It will include probably a little bit of everything as we are a pretty crafty family.

Stay tuned for the first craft!