Sparkle Snowflakes

Fingers crossed we won’t actually get anymore snow here in central Virginia but since this winter has been especially snow filled,  we made sparkly snowflakes for this week’s craft time.

First I cut out long strips of paper.  I used light purple because it seemed more fun than plain white.  I also grabbed a stack of blue construction paper, glue, sparkle paint and Q-tips.

I had the kids glue the purple strips onto the blue paper in a pattern that overlapped to make a snowflake.  If they wanted there was room for two snowflakes for one page.  Then they squeezed on bunches of sparkle paint and used the Q-tips to spread it around to cover their snowflakes and the rest of their pages.  Seems the bigger the kid the more sparkle necessary. 🙂

Easy toddler craft – sparkle snowflakes

Seriously, with the flu everywhere plus it seems like it’s been raining always… we have been doing so many crafts.  How else to fill long days stuck inside? I’m beginning to suffer from some serious spring fever.  Fingers crossed for sunshine and 60*’s sooner than later.

Happy crafting!

Amanda

Winter Mittens Craft

This week at Cartwheels and Coffee we made the cutest little mitten craft.  The star of this activity is the stamp pad and handprints.  The kids loved getting their hands covered with ink from the giant pads of ink.  I had wipes on standby, so the mess was easy to contain.
This craft only requires a few supplies.  Red, white and blue construction paper to cut out to make mitts and heart.  You need a giant ink pad, for the handprints.  We added some winter themed stickers so the kids could add some decor.  I also grabbed a black sharpie to add the writing “cold hands, warm heart” and the kids names. Oh, and glue of course.

I pre cut out the mitt pieces and heart before we started the craft.  I had the kids apply their handprints to their mitts before we assembled the project.  I showed them where to glue their pieces and the finishing touch was the snowflake stickers.  In the end we made something that you may even want to keep.  Who can resist art with their kids handprints?

Happy crafting!

Amanda

Lovable Penguin Craft

This past month with lots of time off and together as a family there has been some extra TV time happening at our house.  In an attempt to infuse some education into this down time we have been watching the Planet Earth series on Netflix.  I have to confess, I love the series.  Nature amazes me! Anyways, this inspired our animal craft from Pinterest this week at Cartwheels and Coffee.

the completed project, added to our wall of kids work 

I found the inspiration for our easy craft here. The prep just took a few minutes.  I cut out several large ovals on black construction paper for the body.  Next, I cut out stacks of orange hearts from construction paper for the kids to use as feet and a nose for their penguin. Finally, I pre-cut one large heart for the belly out of white construction paper.  I gathered up some googly eyes and we were ready to craft.  For the little ones, I helped by applying the glue for their pieces and they helped with assembly.  The big kids just needed a visual to copy and could glue and assemble on their own.

During these cold months easy go to crafts are a lifesaver.  Hope this simple idea helps bring some peace to those long winter indoor afternoons.

Love,

Amanda

Easy Winter Mitten Craft Idea

Every Monday my kids and I facilitate craft time for Cartwheels & Coffee, a local coffee shop with a play land for the kids (awesome, I know).  My kids love getting to participate in making the crafts.  My son often helps me brainstorm ideas of what to make. It’s really a great gig.  Anyways, since I’m already coming up with the ideas, I should go ahead and share them.

This week we created a mitten with handprints.  Our mittens turned out to be totally easy to make and adorable! This is one you may actually want to keep.

The prep for this is super simple. I grabbed some construction paper, printer paper, extra large stamp pad, sharpie and glue.  I pre-cut the construction paper into the shape of a mitten and printer paper into the shape for the fluffy mitten ends.  I let the kids glue together the mitten and the white mitten ends.  Once that was complete we added the handprints and their names for a finishing touch.  Here is our completed product:

For my older son I had him write his name himself.  He loved stamping his hand. 🙂

I’m sure you could jazz yours up with stickers or jewels.  We wanted to keep ours looking clean and simple so the sweet handprints stood out a bit more.

Hope you and your littles have fun making this sweet craft.

Happy Holidays!

Amanda