Thursday, November 30, 2006

Happy Holidays! December Toddler Craft Projects


Project #1 -- 3D Christmas Tree Ornaments
This fun project will allow even your littlest crafters to create an ornament that will hang on your tree for years to come. With a full 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of stickers to decorate these with, you'll have more than enough to decorate these cute trees, and you can use the leftovers to decorate your felt stocking

Project #2 -- Lacing Felt Stocking
A great first needle and thread project, you can also use materials you have at home to embellish this stocking. One great idea? Use the leftover stickers from Project #1

Project #3 -- Santa or Snowman Tote Bag
This is a very simple gluing project, which your child is sure to enjoy. For foam projects, our favorite glue is

http://www.duncancrafts.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=0ec308f9-71a4-4fd0-b4df-b4bbf7b42152

You can buy this glue at any craft store, or at Wal Mart.

Happy Holidays! December Kids Craft Projects

It's hard to believe that December is already here! We have some really fun projects picked out to help you celebrate the holiday season!


Project #1 -- Lacing Felt Stocking This is a great project for some early needle and thread experience for your little crafter. Plus, you can embellish the stocking in lots of fun ways with items from your home. Use stickers, buttons, small pieces of candy, paint, markers, and have fun decorating this stocking to make it your own!


Project #2 -- Santa or Snowman Tote Bag. We offered this project through Family Circle Magazine last year and it was a huge hit. Your child will receive either the Santa or the Snowman (we were very surprised last year that the snowman was the more popular choice). We don't do a lot of these foam projects, because of the drying time needed with regular glue. We usually recommend either using glue dots, or at home, we use this great crafting glue


You can get this glue at any craft store, or in the craft section at Wal Mart. It's really terrific.


Project #3 Santa or Reindeer Snap Bracelets -- Your child will receive either Santa or the Reindeer. We thought this adorable project was perfect for this time of year


Project #4 -- Embossed Foil Greeting Card -- These embossed foil projects are a new favorite of mine. Your child will receive either the snowman or the Candy Cane. Each project comes with a wooden stylus for tracing the design, but I find that a ball point pen actually works better, the stylus can tend to rip the paper.


Project #5 -- Santa Glove Ornament -- Ornaments are my favorite type of Christmas craft project. These special items made by your child will bring you happy memories every holiday season. I thought this ornament was particularly adorable and unique.


Thursday, October 26, 2006

Fun Thanksgiving Links

Here are some fun activities that your child might also enjoy!

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/thanksgiving/games.htm

http://www.blackdog.net/holiday/thanks/

http://www.edhelper.com/Thanksgiving.htm

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/thanksgiving_games.htm

November Toddler Kits

Project #1 -- Create a Turkey Stickers -- Your little one will have lots of fun with this adorable set of Turkey StickersProject #2 Fall Leaves Tree -- The tissue paper leaves will be fun for your child to crinkle and attach to the foam tree. What a fun centerpiece for Thanksgiving dinner!
Project #3 -- Cornucopia Paper Plate -- This colorful decoration will be a lot of fun for your child, they will enjoy naming the colors, and the different fruits and vegetables while attaching them to the plates. The foam pieces do take some time for the glue to dry, so your child will need to be patient while waiting to hang this up.
Project #4 -- Color a Thanksgiving Placemat

November Kids Kits

The November Kids Kits are here! They should be going out in Monday's Mail, and you can expect to receive them shortly thereafter.


Project #1 -- 3D pumpkin Wreath. I don't have a photo of this one, but it is a great project, and I'm sure that your child is going to enjoy it.


Project #2 -- Felt Fall Coasters
I thought this project was a really unique one, and I think your child will think it is really fun.

Project #3 -- Color a Fall Puzzle

We don't usually do a lot of coloring projects in the Kids Club, but I thought these were adorable. Project #4 -- Fall Leaf String Art

I think these string art projects are always a lot of fun for everyone, and I thought this one was really unique.

Project #5 -- Pilgrim Paper Plates

I think these are a really cute holiday decoration. A couple of notes on working with foam pieces. Glue dots (available at any craft store, or Wal-Mart) will help to secure the pieces while you wait for the glue to dry. If you are using Elmer's glue, your child will need to be patient, because it does take a while for these to dry.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Saturday, September 23, 2006

The October Projects are here!


Here are the Kids Projects
Kids project #1 -- Halloween Tote Bag. All this project takes is a little glue for the felt pieces. One thing I liked a lot was the option on the instructions to make a "girl" tote bag by putting the bow on the top, and a "boy" by placing it like a bow tie. This little bag is perfect for Halloween events where your trick or treater might get small amounts of candy (we do a great event every year at our local library). No reason to lug around a big bucket!




Kids Project #2 -- Light up necklace

I love this project because kids can wear this necklace along with their costume without it looking too out of place. It's easy to turn the light up components on and off very easily. One note on the instructions... it says to thread the cord through the light up piece, which is VERY difficult to do. This piece actually snaps apart and then back together, which will let you place the cord inside really easily.







Kids Project #3 -- "Boo" Banner


A great decoration for Halloween time!


Kids Project # 4 -- Felt Pumpkin


I really love projects like this that give kids a chance to try their hand at something new, like sewing. This simple project has pre-punched holes in the felt, that your child can easily lace up using the enclosed plastic needle. One fun thing I liked a lot was that although you start out with what looks like just an orange square pillow, the Pumpkin takes shape very easily, and is a lot of fun to make.

Kids Project #5 -- Pumpkin Decorating Kit

I love this project! These great adhesive foam pieces adhere right to your pumpkin, which means you can decorate your pumpkin and leave it on display for ages! We have several of the kits you can use to print and create really amazing designs on a Jack O'Latern, but it is always disappointing to see how quickly the pumpkin disintegrates after it has been carved. Not doing pumpkins this year? These would also be fun on construction paper, or have your child paint a paper plate orange and decorate it with these instead!

Here are this month's Toddler Kits
Toddler Kit #1 -- Paper Plate Spider or Ghost
These projects are very simple and fun, and will make a great Halloween decoration! Please note, each child will get either the spider or the ghost, not both.




Toddler Project # 2 -- Halloween Door Hanger

Stickers are always popular with our youngest members, so this month they are getting several sticker projects. I liked this one a lot, and your child will enjoy hanging it on their door.


Toddler Project #3 -- 3D Haunted House

I love this project because then end result is pretty elaborate, but its really very simple for your child to do. They will probaby need help locking the two pieces of cardboard together, but then they can have lots of fun decorating this spooky haunted house with all the stickers included.

Your child will also be getting a set of Halloween themed Cardstock stickers this month. They are very cute! Enjoy!

Monday, August 28, 2006

Fun Links to Go with our Space Theme

Here are some fun links that go with our Toddler Club's Space theme this month we think you might enjoy them

NASA Kids Club and other fun NASA Links
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html

http://spacekids.hq.nasa.gov/osskids/

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/kids/index.cfm

http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/Astronauts.html

A Fun Project to try at home -- Marbled Paper

Here is a great at home project for you to try. We just made cards out of this homemade marbled paper, and it was a lot of fun.
You will need:
Shaving Cream (buy the cheapest you can find, we used plain old Barbasol)
A Baking Dish
Spatula
Construction Paper or Card Stock
Tempera Paint (Washable is best!) in 2 or 3 complementary colors.
Small Paintbrush

To start, fill a baking dish with shaving cream, 1-2 inches thick.
Smooth surface with a spatula.
Drizzle paint over the shaving cream.
Using the handle of your paint brush, swirl the paint to make interesting patterns.
Press a sheet of paper into the pan.
Make sure to get the whole sheet of paper covered with shaving cream.
You can either wipe the paper with a paper towel at this point in the process, to speed the drying process, or let it dry overnight to let the shaving cream evaporate.
We used these for party invitations, and they turned out really great!

Kids Craft September Projects

This month, we don't really have a theme for September, so we're calling our theme this month "Club's Choice". These are projects that didn't fit into any of our regular themes, but were too much fun to leave out of the club offerings this year. Enjoy!









Project #1 -- Bumblebee Tic Tac Toe with Tote Bag





All this one really takes is some glue, and a little bit of patience. But I hope that it's worth the wait, because we think it's a really fun one!





Project #2 -- Rocket Launcher




This one is really simple from a craft perspective, but a lot of fun


Project #3 -- Sportsball "I love reading" bookmark


Beads are a favorite of mine, and I thought this was a perfect project for Back to School!



Project #4 -- Beaded Window Hanger
More fun with beads!



Project #5

This project really will be Club's Choice. We test out a lot of projects, and not all of them make it into the club, usually because they don't fit into a theme. So this month, we're going to send these great projects your way.

Toddler Club September Projects




Here is a quick look at the September projects for our Toddler Club. Our theme this month is Space, and I'm really excited about the projects we have lined up for you this month.










Project # 1 -- Solar System Paper Plate Mobile


This is one of my favorite projects for this whole year. Your toddler will enjoy threading the wood beads onto the strings, but may need your help with the ones that are foam. This is a great project to talk to your toddler about names of planets, and the instructions come with each planet labelled, so you can use it as a fun teaching tool after it's complete. I hope you really enjoy this one!





Project #2 -- Foam Space Scene



This is another really fun project. We don't do a lot of foam projects, particularly with our toddlers, but the pieces in this great project are self adhesive, so your toddler should have a lot of fun putting it together.


Project # 3 -- Space Sand Art

Sand Art is always a favorite in our house... whenever we have a sand art project I have to hide them from my older son, because he would do these for hours! I hope that you enjoy these this month. Just peel back the paper to expose the adhesive surface, and pour the sand onto the page.
We are also sending another great set of cardstock stickers. This month they are in a Back to School theme. This is another thing that my son loves to play with, so I hope your child enjoys them too!

Welcome to the Blog!

Hi Everyone

At the beginning of the year, we launched our "Members Fun Area" ... the idea behind it was that I was looking for a forum to really build a community within the club. I was hoping to build a place that you could come to get pointers on the projects, see pictures, get ideas for other crafts you can do at home. With our current website, the upkeep for that was just too cumbersome, and with a growing business, plus two growing boys, I feel like I wasn't ever getting time to do those things. So, I'm going to try this new format, and I hope that it works out well, and that you enjoy it!