I am excited to be offering 30 days of fun crafts to keep kids active and entertained this summer! You won't want to miss a day of these fun crafts for kids from some amazing bloggers! Please be sure to pay them a visit!

Hi there! I'm Alicia of Mayfly, and with the help of my two monkeys (ages 10 and 6), I'm thrilled to be sharing a project for the Craft Camp!

We have been talking about making these silverware wind chimes for awhile now, and it was super easy. It is, though, a project for older kids or a patient parent who is willing to help quite a bit.

Step 1: Gather your materials. We found thrifted silver utensils for $1 each. With a little looking we probably could have found them cheaper. My kids chose them for their sound- by clinking them together to see which ones sounded nice. We used some small logs cut to length to hang the silverware. An older child (closely supervised and wearing safety glasses) can help cut the log. My son loves sawing.

Here are all the items you'll need for a silverware windchime:

1. Rag or old cloth
2. Hammer
3. Something to hang the silverware from- we used these chubby little twigs.
4. Scissors
5. Silver or silver plated utensils (they sound pretty)
6. Fishing line
7. Beads to embellish the hanging silverware
8. Drill bit- you might have to go purchase this specifically for this project. It needs to be a small drill bit suitable for hardened metals. The one I found was about $3.50.
9. Drill
Not pictured - safety goggles.

Step 2: Pound the silverware flat.

We discovered that placing the old towel over the silverware kept the surface smoother. And then we finished them up bare.

Be sure to hold the utensils still by their handles while pounding the curved parts. Both of my kiddos really enjoyed this step. Remind them to watch those little fingers!

Don't bother flattening the handle of the knives. We tried and found that ours were hollow and ruined one. Oops!

Step 3: Prep the hanging sticks and drill the holes in the silverware.  This is a step for mom or dad. My son was able to drill the holes in the twigs, but asked me to finish.

When drilling the holes through the twig, place them pretty close together. We made them about an inch apart, and it takes a pretty stiff wind to make them jingle. Maybe try 3/4" or so.

An adult should definitely drill the holes in the silverware. This is the hardest part. Hold the utensil firmly on the table covered with the cloth (it will get hot!) with only a small overhang. Drill carefully through the handle near the tip. Wear safety goggles to protect yourself from little metal shavings!

Step 4: Cut lengths of fishing line and thread them through the holes in the twig. Wrap the line around a time or two and tie multiple knots to assure they won't come undone.

I left pieces of the line on the outermost holes on the top side to form a loop from which to hang the wind chime.

Step 5: Plan and string your beads and silverware.

I pretty much did this step for my daughter with her close instruction. It's a little tricky to thread and tie knots in the fishing line. Be sure to wrap the line through the silverware holes a couple of times and tie multiple knots. Trim left over line fairly close to the knot.

My son was able to do this step on his own. Be sure to keep your silverware hanging at similar lengths so they'll all be able to clink into each other in the wind.

Step 6: Tie the two lengths of line at the top to form a triangle/loop to hang the chime from. We added a few more beads up there too, just to make them look prettier.

We hung ours from some funny little metal hooks that I made for another project, but they would hang nicely from a simple loop tied in the fishing line too.

That's it! Hang them up and hope for a nice summer breeze.

Thanks, Cindy, for letting us join camp- we can't wait to try out some of the other projects too!

Anytime your kids say, "Mom, I am bored" you will want to check out this arsenal of boredom buster crafts. Just click the button in the left sidebar.

Stacy from Not Just A Housewife writes......

Most of our summer is spent outside in the sunshine but we also like to do fun crafts. My boys love all things Army so I came up with this fun activity since it is so close to the fourth of July.

You can buy this clay at most craft stores. It doesn't dry out and will not harden unless baked. It is easy to work with and comes in all sorts of fun colors.

For my boys I mixed some of the colors to come up with "Army" colors.

We took little pieces from three of the colors and mixed them together.

Then we rolled them in our hands to make little balls.

Toothpicks work perfectly to make holes.

I helped the boys make some flags out of the clay. When using mulitple colors that won't be all squished together you can use this bake and bond glue. Like the clay, it will not harden until baked.

You don't need to make an Army bracelet, you can make any kind you would like. The sky is the limit!

Once we were done making the beads I put them on a plate and baked them at 275 degrees Farenhiet for about 15 minutes. Let them cool completely before stringing them together.

I did this activity with my three oldest boys. Their ages are 9, 7, and 4. The oldest two could do it all by themselves but my 4 year old needed some help. All of them loved the end results!!!

I am excited to be offering 30 days of fun crafts to keep kids active and entertained this summer! You won't want to miss a day of these fun crafts for kids from some amazing bloggers! Please be sure to pay them a visit!

Hi I am Beckie from Infarrantly Creative and Knock Off Décor and I am back here on STML showing you how to make woven friendship bracelets  As I was thinking about what project to do for this series I tried to remember what my most favorite craft was when I was a girl.  It was by far bracelet making!  I have noticed they are making their way back on children’s wrists lately.

How to make friendship bracelets

These are different than the macramé knot tying bracelets. These are all done by finger weaving loops.  Depending on which loops you use you get a different pattern.  The first bracelet it a flat 7 strand braid (which I will demonstrate), the second bracelet is a 4 sided cubed braid.  Both are cute and your little girls will love to make these.

Supplies:

Embroidery Floss

Scissors

Pins

Nimble fingers

1.  Cut 7 strands of embroidery floss about 24” long.  Take both ends and tie it in a knot.

2.  Pin the knot to a pant leg or pillow.  Separate the stranded loops and put them on your fingers (4 strands on one hand and 3 on the other).

3. You will always be working with the hand that has only three strands on it. In the picture above it will be my right hand.  Your pinky does all the work.

Depending on how you want your bracelet to look you will loop your pinky under that strand and pull the end loop (#7 and #8) through them all.

4.  For the flat braid you loop your pinky through the 2, 3, 6, and 7.

5. Then grab that last loop with your pinky (letting go with the pointer finger) and pulling it through the rest of the strands and tighten.  Now you have 4 loops on your opposite hand.

6. Shift the loops on your hand with 3 loops on them towards your pointer so that pinky is free again.

7. Keep finger weaving back and forth with your pinky until it is complete.  Unloop all of your fingers and tie an overhand knot in the end.

Your girls will be kept busy making embroidery floss bracelets all summer.  I used to have a bracelet making stand and sold them on my street corner for $.25.  Since inflation I am sure they could get $1.00 for them.  {giggle}

Anytime your kid's say, "Mom, I am bored" you will want to check out this arsenal of boredom buster crafts. Just click the button in the left sidebar.

Hi, My name is Calli. I keep a blog called Make it Do. I am thrilled to be back at Skip to My Lou Craft Camp.

Since my kids and I love to create together, 30 days of craft inspiration is just the ticket for the long summer days ahead.

Today I'm sharing a project that most of us have made at least once in our life.

It's the original, "Can you hear me now?"

No, not a cell phone... but a Can Phone.

In our world of high tech gadgets, a can phone is as low tech as it gets. Most kids today have never even heard of one before. It good to know that some thing don't change, and just like when we were kids, a can phone can still provide hours of fun. What could be better than sitting across the yard on a summer afternoon telling your sister secrets and knock knock jokes?

But first you've got to make your phone. I'm not sure which my kids enjoyed more, creating or using their phones. Here's how:

To make can phones you will need to cans or cups and a long string. That's it. I told you it was low tech.

But since we love to craft at our home, we also spruced our phones up a bit.

We used only what we had on hand, a little scrapbook paper and some cut out paper butterflies to cover our cans using Mod Podge. My girls LOVE Mod Podge.

The best part about a can phone is you can use whatever fun decorations you have on hand.... stickers, ribbon, or crayons.

My girls kept it simple with just the butterflies and a little rickrack for fun. When my girls had their cans just the way they liked them, we set them aside to dry.

Once dry, I poked a small hole in the bottom center of each can. You can use a nail or an awl with a hammer. Make sure the hole is small, just barely big enough to put the string through.

You'll need a long string. The type of string isn't important, just be sure it's something that doesn't stretch too much so you can pull it taut. A taut string is the key to this project working.

My kids wanted a long string, so we used about 40 feet. The distance also doesn't matter so much either, so long as the string is taut. I think you can go as long a 100 feet and have it still work.

Thread the end of the string through the hole in the can and tie it in a large tight knot. Because my string was nylon, I used a flame to burn the end and keep it from fraying. Repeat for the other can, and your "phone" is done.

The kids experimented and found it worked only when the string was straight and tight. It didn't work going around corners and doors in the house. But when it's straight....

"It WORKS!" I just heard her!

"Which Looney Tune character says swear words?" Gee, I don't know.

"The ROAD RUNNER!" "Beep beep!"

Oh, to be young again, and telling 3rd grade jokes on a can phone. That is the life.

Happy summer crafting everyone!

Thank you Cindy for inviting me to join the fun here on Skip to My Lou Craft Camp!

Be sure to drop by Make it Do and say hi. I'll be sharing more simple fun projects and great recipes all summer.