Marie, from Make and Takes writes………

Jill from Homemade By Jill writes…

Hello, craft campers!  I am so happy to be back again this summer to share another kid’s craft.

I was visiting my mom recently, a wonderfully creative lady who is mother to 8 and grandmother to 13 kids. Needless to say, she knows how to keep the little ones entertained!  She pulled out a great collection of rhythm instruments and I was excited to learn she had made most of them.  Today I’d like to share a few instruments with you!

First up, wrist bells.  Strap them on your wrists or ankles and dance around, creating instant music.  This makes an easy sewing project for older children, and can be done by hand or machine.

Supplies needed:

• 9 inches cotton belting
• 9 inches ribbon
• 1.5 inches velcro
• 4 medium jingle bells
• needle and thread

Prepare the wrist strap:

1. Fold each end of the cotton belting under 1/2 inch and sew.  If using a sewing machine, cover cut end with a wide zig zag stitch.
2. Lay ribbon on top, also folding ends under 1/2 inch and pin in place.
3. Sew ribbon to belting.
4. Sew velcro to prepared strap, one piece on the front and the other on the back, so it will hold together when wrapped around wrist.

Sew on the jingle bells:

On my first attempt, I sewed the bells onto the strap and handed it off to my toddler.  Imagine my surprise when he started shaking and the bells flew off across the room!  While the metal loops on the bells were not sharp to the touch, they were sharp enough to cut through the thread with vigorous shaking.

To solve this problem, I put a little strip of hot glue on either side of the jingle bell loop to round out the edges.  Sew bells to the strap by hand, using thread or embroidery floss.  You are ready to shake and jingle!

We also made two sets of rhythm sticks.  I bought a one inch diameter wooden dowel at the hardware store and had an employee cut it into four 12 inch pieces for me.  The hardest part was done before I’d left the store.

Supplies needed:

• wooden dowel, cut into pieces
• sand paper
• acrylic craft paint
• polyurethane varnish
• painter’s tape (optional)

Hand off the dowels and a piece of sand paper to an older child to sand of any rough edges and round off the corners.  My children are still young, so I just gave the dowels a quick blast with the power sander.

Since I was able to get 2 sets of sticks from one dowel, I painted one set myself and let my 2 year old paint the second set.

For the striped set, I taped off a pattern on the dowels with painter’s tape.  Everything under the tape remains the natural wood color.  I prepped my toddlers sticks by giving them a solid coat of paint.

Mason jars worked great to hold the sticks upright while the paint dried.  Once dry, I handed off the rhythm sticks to Oscar to decorate.  He isn’t very handy with a paint brush yet, so I gave him a pencil eraser to use as a “polka-dotter.”

After all the paint was dry, I gave each set of sticks two coats of polyurethane varnish to protect the paint.  We let them air out overnight before starting our little band.

Hopefully this will get you started making your own instrument collection!  Throw on some Motown music, and you’ll be grooving in no time.

Blonde Designs writes…

Hi, I’m Ashley from Make It and Love It; a blog of DIY sewing, crafting, decorating, gift giving ideas, etc. You know, all the fun stuff. I have 3 kids and they randomly inspire me to create projects around them……such as this one today, which is perfect for even those little fingers.

And not only is the process fun…….playing with them afterwards is thrilling!

To make your own butterflies, gather some plain white paper towels, food coloring, and pipe cleaners.

Mix your food coloring with water in separate bowls.

Now, fold your paper towel in half, in half again, another time, then one more time…….into sixteenths. Allow your child (assisted if necessary……thanks daddy!) to dip each corner of the folded paper towel into the colored water of their choosing.

(Don’t dip the paper towel in too deep or for too long. Leaving part of the paper towel white in some spots also helps with the coloring and outcome. Let the kids experiment.)

Let the excess water drip back into the bowls after dipping each color, then open up the paper towel and lay flat to dry.

Once each paper towel is dry…….gather along the center of each paper towel, wrap a pipe cleaner around the center, twist it off, even out the wings, flatten the body, and then curl the antenna’s.

Nice and simple.

Now, hang from the ceiling with some string, pin to the wall, perch on a desk……….

………or just allow them to flit around the room.

Such a simple project to help keep those little fingers and minds busy this summer.

Enjoy.

Thanks again Cindy for inviting me over!

Ashley

You might also like to make ice cream in a can or try these delicious homemade ice cream sandwiches!

If you love ice cream toppings you will want to make your own homemade magic shell (tastes just like the real thing) and this super simple homemade praline sauce (perfect for gift giving).

Enjoy!

How To Color Dried Macaroni

We used alcohol, food coloring, shaped dried pasta, yarn and a yarn needle (or bobby pin works great too as a needle).

Place pasta in a Ziploc bag, fill with alcohol until pasta is covered. Add lots of food coloring.  Close bags and let them sit until the pasta is the color you want (we did about 5 minutes).

Carefully remove pasta from bags and allow to completely dry.

Thread pasta shapes onto yarn. Tie one of the pasta shapes at the end to stop the others from falling off.

String all the pasta onto the yarn….

Fasten ends together when finished and proudly wear for National Macaroni Day!

Just go to the website and pick your location. There are participating sites all over the United States and Canada.

Each location will give you the ages that are eligible to participate.  Once you have completed the registration and confirmed your account they will send you free coupons every Sunday for the upcoming week. Yes, your children can each have two free games of bowling everyday through the summer!

Adults can purchase a family pass for $24.95.  The Family Pass covers up to 4 adult family members. You may have 1, 2, 3, or 4 adults on the family pass. The price of the pass covers all 4 members.

Go forth and bowl!

Use the molds for making hard candy, the white ones NOT the clear.

Place a few chopped crayons into molds .

My daughter is really into writing letters. She wants to write all by herself  and told me that I could just say each letter and then she would be able to write her own thank yous. Well… I worried that process might take a very LONG time so I came up with this…

I found this great font called Quicksand. It can be downloaded for free here.

I printed two thank yous on a page. On the inside she dictated what she wanted to say and I printed the cards again with the messages on the inside and then cut the cards in half and folded.

She was busy and felt so good!

Here is a round-up of printable thank yous from around the web.