Around here the days are starting to get darker a lot earlier and the weather is colder. This means that I am looking for easy ways to fill the time with the kids. Ways that they can be creative without it costing a fortune in supplies and having the entire house covered in glue and glitter. Here are two easy projects that we have done recently-I hope you like them!
Project 1:
Pipe Cleaner Decorations!
Start with pipe cleaners. I found some red, green, and silver sparkly ones at the craft store for Christmas. Blue and silver could be used for Chanukah. You could also do this for any other holiday/time of year.
Cut them into thirds. The more you use for each bunch the fuller the ornament/decorative piece will be. Notice the tomato soup I forgot to clean off of the stove. Move onto the next step.
Have your child choose one piece.
Take the chosen piece and lay the rest across it. Then use the single strip to twist around the whole bunch. The tighter the better. The kids can help, but adults may want to double check to make sure it’s really tightly twisted.
Have the kids separate the strands out so it looks like a star, snowflake, etc.
More pieces make for a fuller ornament.
Place in a vase, bowl, candle holder, etc! We are keeping ours in a vase on the table as our centerpiece, but you could also hang them from an archway/doorway, or on the tree-really anywhere. Super easy to prep, do with the kids, almost no clean up. Give it a try-have fun!
Project 2:
Crinkle Paper Cut Outs
I don’t have any action shots, but the directions should be pretty self-explanatory.
Step 1: Have your child/children cut smallish sized pieces of paper. Any shape they want to. We did this around Thanksgiving, hence the orange, red, yellow, and brown paper, but any colors would work.
Step 2: Have the kids crinkle up the pieces of paper-the crinklier the better. After they have been properly squished place the pieces in a large bowl.
Step 3: When the kids have decided they have enough, have them mix all the pieces up in the big bowl with their hands.
Step 4: Fill a bowl, vase, or other clear container and enjoy!! We used ours as a centerpiece around Thanksgiving and during the fall and my 3 year old really loved that she had made this all by herself.
View of the finished project from the front. This a great project because the kids are pretty much in charge the whole time-they choose what shapes to cut, what colors to use more/less of, they get to mix it all up, and they can do as much or as little as they want. Extra bonus for parents? No glue, glitter, or big clean ups after! And yes, that is our Cookie Chicken in the background.
View from the top. The crinklier the paper scraps the fluffier it is. I got this idea for Fall/Thanksgiving because I thought the crinkled paper would look like leaves. Give it a try for Christmas/Chanukah/Solstice!!
I hope you guys have as much fun with this as we did!
TalkingToGrownUps 