Make Tin Foil Sculptures and Jewelry

If you care for school-aged children, keep them busy by making inexpensive tin foil sculptures. We made a game out of this project by trying to make sculptures and jewelry without using any tape or glue. The aluminum foil is easy to sculpt with just a little practice. What You Need: Tin FoilScissors What to […]

“Winter Trees” by Carole Gerber and Bubble Wrap Painting

Have the kids paint with bubble wrap to make a snow covered tree after reading “Winter Trees” by Carole Gerber. In “Winter Trees” a boy and his dog stroll through the winter forest discovering seven different types of trees. This book is a fun early introduction to tree identification and a great way to encourage […]

“Winter Dance” by Marion Dane Bauer and Coloring Page

“Winter Dance” by Marion Dane Bauer is a fun winter book about a fox trying to figure out what to do when winter comes. Snow is coming, and it’s time to get ready! The squirrel gathers nuts, the geese soar south, and the snowshoe hare puts on its new white coat. But what should the […]

Make a Sled after Reading “Snow Day!” By Lester L. Laminack

Going to the library with children weekly is fun. The parents you work for and the children you care for will love doing crafts projects that correspond to the children’s books you borrow from the library. After reading “Snow Day!” by Lester L. Laminack make a sled out of craft sticks with the kids. In […]

Cardboard Winter Wonderland

For last few years I have been cutting out 3-D crafts for the children in my care from cardboard found in their recycling bins. I found this amazing winter wonderland idea from the Mr Printables web site. Although the child who decorated this project only wanted to decorate the trees with green paint, one star […]

Standing Thanksgiving Turkeys

The school-aged children I care for loved decorating these standing 3D sculptures I make from cardboard for them. I just grab cardboard boxes from the recycling bin and cut out characters from cardboard. For this activity they used paint, pastels, and tissue paper squares to decorate their Thanksgiving turkeys. You Will Need: Turkey Template, remove […]

Halloween Masks to Print

I found these super quick and easy Halloween masks on the itsalwaysautumn website. Use card stock paper and either staple elastic to the masks for the kids to wear them or paste them to jumbo crafts sticks for the children to hold the masks up to their faces. You Will Need: Card Stock Paper Printer […]

3D Autumn Tree Pointillism

In “Meet Georges Seurat,” Seurat the artist describes his unique approach to art. He describes pointillism and how to use math, logic, and lots of dots to make beautiful paintings. I had the children I care for use the idea of pointillism to make autumn leaves for 3D cardboard trees. Also be sure to read […]

Pasta Jewelry

There are two ways to color dry pasta with holes that can be threaded to make jewelry. Either color dry pasta using food coloring and a little water in a ziploc bag or paint the pasta with acrylic paint and allow the pasta beads to dry. Let the children help with any step coloring the […]

Favorite Train Tables

Train tables and train sets provide hours of open ended fun for children of all ages. Playing with trains helps children build fine motor skills, problem-solve, and foster their creativity. When choosing a train set and train table first consider the manufacturer’s age recommendation. Next, consider the size of the train table for the space […]