crafts
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Easy Snowball Pompoms
Yarn pompoms are one of my all time favorite crafts, I’ve been making them since I was in elementary school! You can’t deny how much these white poms look like snowballs, which makes them absolutely perfect for this time of year. Yarn pompoms are so easy to make that even young preschoolers can do this with a little help. Follow these steps and make sure to scroll all the way down to see all of the different ways that the finished pompoms can be used in the classroom! You need three simple supplies to make these poms: Start by taking one end of the yearn and wrapping it around the…
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Paper Snowflakes – Elevated!
It’s been COLD here, so I’ve been spending all of my time inside. For me, that always leads to crafting! My daughter wanted to cut paper snowflakes, so we got out the paper and scissors and went to town. I feel in love with a couple of my surprise designs and wanted to take them a little farther. It turned into a fun, calming project that would be great for children of any age, so of course I had to share it here. I started with a simple paper snowflake, here’s one before opening it up – which is always the best part! And the the dramatic reveal of what…
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Making Leprechaun Traps
Designing and building leprechaun traps has become one of our favorite traditions. I think the planning and creating is just as much fun as the anticipation of seeing if they’ll actually catch anything! This is one of those projects that really evokes my favorite memories of the kinds of activities that I loved as a child – the opportunity to use any and all materials to create something that I can see in my mind. That’s definitely a major reason that this stays on my plans year after year. Here are some of the supplies that I make sure to have available when it’s time to build our leprechaun traps:…
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EASY Preschool Valentine Boxes
Over the years I’ve tried ALL of the different ways to make valentine boxes in the classroom – from the brown paper bag to over the top crafty cut-outs. There are pros and cons to all of these, so let’s talk through those as we work towards the absolute easiest option if you’re making preschool valentine boxes in the classroom. First, I like to use this as a class activity because families are busy! They don’t always have the time or supplies that they might need, and if I put out supplies for all of the children then they start with a level playing field. Making Valentine boxes also meets…
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DIY School Spirit Scrunchies
I was looking for a quick and easy little gift for all of the girls in my life who are enjoying “mini cheerleader season.” You know, where schools raise money by getting all of the elementary school parents to come to high school football games by giving their daughters the opportunity to look cute on the field for five minutes. Every cheerleader needs a scrunchie, so I scooped up some Dollar Tree ribbon in school colors and busted out an old-school craft. Enter the ribbon scrunchie. I made these so many times as a kid – we had scrunchies for every possible holiday and event. It’s only fair that my…
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Goodbye Summer!
I’m definitely looking forward to the structure of the school year (and I might be ready for pumpkin spice season…), but it’s always hard to say goodbye to summer! I put together a really easy craftivity that you can use in the classroom to help children focus on the very best parts of their summer as you all move into fall together. It would be the perfect activity for a last day of summer party, just like the one I shared on Wednesday. Click HERE to download the Goodbye Summer Sunshine Freebie!
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Easy DIY Birthday Party
We celebrated my girl’s birthday while camping last weekend and it was low-key, while still being everything she wanted! Kid’s birthday parties can get expensive really fast – especially if your child requests a character theme – but they absolutely don’t HAVE to be expensive. I was able to give her a Gabby’s Dollhouse Birthday Party using supplies from the Dollar Tree and craft stores, without breaking the bank. All of the decorations were DIY – banners that I designed, printed, and cut, and lots of yarn tassels and balloons. We did paper products in the color scheme, but not printed with any characters, which also saved a lot of…
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Easter Art Projects
Here’s a collection of the art projects that we’ve been working on for Easter. The classics are classics for a reason, and the woven placemats were especially a hit! We used a mixture of shaving cream and white glue to paint these soft bunnies. For the bows we added a little food coloring. We also mixed some shaving cream and food coloring, then dipped paper egg cutouts to create swirled patterns on the eggs. Finally, we used the leftover strips from our placemats to make a paper chain. The colors are all super happy and the finished products remind me of my favorite projects from my own childhood. That’s what…
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Valentine Crafting for Kids
We had a snow day this week! As a teacher, that’s always welcome – as a parent it’s a bit of a scramble to find things to keep my girl busy all day. I had a good feeling that this particular snow day was coming, so I tried to plan ahead. Art projects are always a good option! After working on some of my own projects on Tuesday, I put my leftover supplies (along with some others from our craft stash) together so that they’d be all ready for some Valentine’s Day crafting. I started with this tray. It’s been one of my all-time-favorite purchases – it’s a heavy melamine,…
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Easy DIY Valentine Wreaths
There are so many beautiful wreaths out there, but I have such a hard time paying for them. Here are a couple of easy, inexpensive DIY Valentine’s wreaths that would be perfect for gifts or decorations for your home or classroom! These two are the same, but I switched up the yarn around the wire wreath form, so one is pink and the other is red. Wrapping yarn around this frame is the perfect activity for while you’re watching TV – it’s mindless and you can totally zone out. You can also decide how thick you want the yarn to be. I kept these pretty thin, but I did another…
