Kids Crafts | Woo! Jr. Kids Activities Network

May 20, 2009 By Wendy Piersall 96 Comments

This article is one of the most popular ever written on Sparkplugging. It then grew into it’s own blog, and now it has grown into a whole new network of kids activities websites here at Woo! Jr.:

Craft Jr.
Crafts for Kids, Paper Crafts, Easy Crafts & Craft Ideas

Animal Jr.
Animal Printables, Games and Teacher Worksheets

Fantasy Jr.
Mythical Creatures, Princess and Fairy Coloring Pages, Printables, Games and Puzzles

Space Jr.
Space facts, teacher resources, coloring pages, and science fiction for kids

I’ve had a couple of readers bemoan the fact that summer break is coming soon. I must admit that though I love my children dearly, I’m not exactly jumping for joy that I will have 3 rambunctious, screaming kids + a friend posse running around my house for the next three months.

But regardless, I have run a home business 3 times now from when my first daughter was 5 months old to today, when she is almost 13 and can do a little babysitting herself.

So here’s the good news:

You CAN run a business from home no matter what age your children are.

The bad news?

The smaller your children are, the smaller your business To Do list should be.

Plain and simple, until your kids are 3-4 years old, don’t expect yourself to be super-mom. Kids this young just need too much attention and the business will have to fit in between nap times and play dates – oh, and get used to starting your most productive work at 10:00pm.

Home Business Productivity Tips for All Ages

Get the kids their own computer – when you can get a new CPU and monitor
for less than $500 total, it’s hard to say no – plus, they will need it for school eventually, anyway!
Have high speed internet access – so you waste no time when you actually can get work done.
Own a laptop with wireless internet – so that you can move around the house or yard as needed.
Get a Blackberry or PDA – so you can stay connected even when you’re at the zoo.
Use a Chore Chart – give the kids some structure and responsibility during the day.
Schedule play time just like you do your work time – I try to stay off the computer on Fridays to ensure we get to enjoy the summer months together.
Use the Future Post option (for bloggers) - you can maintain a regular publishing schedule by future-dating your posts(when you’re likely writing in the middle of the night!!)
*Find other parents in the neighborhood and swap play dates* - critical to the sanity of both of you!
Make it easy for your kids to be independent – set up an area for them to do their own thing, and keep it well stocked with projects and games.
Buy grab food or make healthy snack packages – that way they can feed themselves when they get hungry
Set up a schedule for ordering out – both you and the kids can look forward to it!
Segment and schedule your days – the younger the kids, the more you want to ‘chunk’ you days into activities, downtime, work time and TV time, but it’s a great productivity tool no matter what the ages of your children.
Load up on popsicles – it always keeps them quiet for a few minutes for an important phone call and there are plenty of healthy kinds to choose from (or make your own).
Get cheap movie rentals – most older titles can be rented for way less than new releases.
Buy a pool pass – you won’t get anything done at the pool, but you’ll wear your kids out and they will nap longer!
Download and print ’78 Parent Child Activites’ – formatted for 3×5 index cards!

Summer Activities for Children Age 1-4

If your kids are in this age bracket – I feel for you! Really, I had a hard time getting anything done without a part time sitter or a “mother’s helper”. If you really want to have a successful home business and you have very little kids, I would really recommend you consider hiring some help.

But for the days that you have to work and the little ones are right there with you, here’s a few ideas:

Buy age appropriate computer games – my kids started at the age of 2
Set up easy to find bookmarks for kid-friendly sites – I have my kids’ sites set up with the rest of my shortcuts right on my FireFox toolbars:
Stock up on workbooks and coloring books, along with crayons, markers, stencils, etc. and plenty of plain paper
Create an activity ‘station’ where the kids can go to make a mess whenever they want
Create a baby-proofed room and barricade yourselves in - baby plays while you answer emails!
Rotate toys – kids get bored quickly, so once or twice a month, hide the old and bring in the new!
Get a baby sling or baby backpack – my kids never made a peep when they could sit in their backpack and watch what mom or dad was doing

Summer Activities for Children Age 4-7

Keep the kids moving and active (in my house, I have a harder time keeping them still!!)
Take trips to the Library – and do business research while you’re there!
Download fun worksheets and sneak in some learning.
Make or buy a flower press and let the kids weed the garden for you.
Get a sandbox – just make sure you also get a lid so that it doesn’t turn into the neighborhood litter box!
Order cheap craft project kits from Oriental Trading (they have great stuff for older kids too)
Teach your kids how to make a fortune teller.
Buy a cheap digital camera for your budding photographer
1. Let them create their own scrapbooks
2. Teach them to create their own PowerPoint presentations
3. Download a free screen saver maker and let them create their own slideshows
4. Throw the images into Photoshop and create ink jet t-shirt transfers
Keep on hand at ALL TIMES:
1. Bubbles
2. Sidewalk chalk
3. Water balloons
4. Board games (with all the pieces!!)
5. Working sprinkler or kiddie pool (preferably both)
6. Art supplies
Bookmark these activity web sites:
Lest I miss stating the obvious:

Summer Activities for Children Age 8-13

Get a metal detector and let the kids explore the yard
Cut up some wrapping paper and let your kids loose on this Origami site
Keep common ingredients in your pantry for kid friendly cooking projects
Bite the bullet and get them their own phone in their room
For the brave parents, let the kids do science projects
Buy a cheap sewing machine and make kid’s sewing projects
Turn your junk mail into a recycled pulpy mess and make paper
Bookmark these sites
1. SingShot - online Karaoke
2. Summer.About.com
3. National Geographic Kids
4. NASA Kids Activities
5. DIY Network Kids Page
6. The EPA (yes, the Environmental Protection Agency!) Kids Club
7. Animal Planet
8. Discovery Kids

Craft Project Resources for All Ages

EnchantedLearning.com – extremely comprehensive list sorted by holiday, theme, materials, or topic
AllCrafts.net – free crafts listing
FamilyCrafts.About.com
ChildParenting.About.com – Summer arts and crafts
CraftForKids.com
The Best Kids Book Site – also has a huge crafting section
OneHourCraft – for older kids (and, erm, their moms!)

Craft Supplies

Find Local Family Activities

ActivitiesForKids.com - National US
KidsGuide.co.uk – UK
Families with Purpose – National US
GoCityKids – all major U.S. metropolitan areas
Australia for Kids - For my friends down under
Scribbit on her hometown Anchorage, Alaska

April 7, 2009 By Wendy Piersall 4 Comments

My favorite part of the blogosphere are the incredible crafting blogs. I’m known as a business blogger, but I seriously could spend all day, every day in the craftosphere. My first try at entrepreneurship was a crafting business, so I guess it makes sense that I would come full circle to do more crafty blogging at some point.

Some recent changes caused me to rethink how I ran this Seasonal Kids Activities blog, and I decided to develop it way more than I had originally intended (I’m in fact spinning it off into it’s own network!). Then I decided to hunt down a few kids crafting blogs to connect with, and found way more than I bargained for. I’ve mostly stuck to reading Craftzine in the past, but these blogs I’ve found recently are special because they all focus on content that are craft projects specifically for kids to make. Some are easy preschool level crafts, some are definitely for older kids. But they all are beautiful to look at, creatively inspiring, and produce what I believe to be the some of the best kids craft content on the web.

Support these Great Kids Craft Blogs by Independent Crafty-type People

Craft Jr.	Craft Jr. is my new blog (OK, I’m biased that mine is one of my own favorites!) where I will be posting all of Sparkplugging’s craft projects from now on. I’ve been a little OCD about it, I think I have a lot of pent up craftiness to let loose over there!
Crafty Crow	The Crafty Crow is a ‘Children’s Craft Collective’ in which they gather up great craft projects from around the web and post them all in one place. They find some of the coolest stuff on the web!
One Pretty Thing	One Pretty Thing is also a collection of crafts from around the web, but it is mostly crafts kids can make – some of them are things adults can make for kids. Total eye candy here, plan on getting stuck at the site for a very. long. time.
Fem Manuals	Fem Manuals is written in Spanish, but I’m just blown away by the creativity of their projects and use of everyday materials to make absolutely beautiful things! They also post a lot of photos to Flickr so that you can mostly figure out how to make their projects without needing to read Spanish.
Little Birdie Secrets	Little Birdie Secrets has adorable kids crafts sprinkled in with some really yummy looking recipes, including pies and cupcakes in jars!
Zakka Life	Zakka Life shares gorgeous crafts made with the most surprisingly simple materials. Who knew paper bags and toilet paper rolls could be so chic!
Dollar Store Crafts	Dollar Store Crafts – a woman after my own heart! I hate going to my local crafts store and dropping $100, especially when I know I can make great stuff from the dollar store for less than $10!
Croq Zine	CROQ Zine is written by the same people behind Dollar Store Crafts, and is the companion blog to the CROQ Zine print magazine. Just the illustrations on the covers are worth a visit!
Kiddio	Kiddio is a combo craft project and craft collective bog, and another one that finds ways to make everyday objects into lovely bits of awesomeness.
Kids Craft Weekly	Kids Craft Weekly is more of a newsletter than a blog, but you can get a taste of the coolness they have to offer both on their site and in their Flickr photo pool.
Plaid Kids Crafts	Plaid Kids Crafts is the kids craft blog by the people from Plaid craft supplies. They may not be an indie blog, but their creativity makes up for it!
Make and Takes	Make and Takes is a well established blog written by a crafty mom who seems to have a never-ending stream of creativity. She also has some super-cool recipes tucked in here, including one for Root Beer Cookies. Don’t tell my son – he won’t leave me alone until I make them!
One Crafty Place	One Crafty Place is one of my new favorites on this list. This is a craft collective blog, and also includes some irresistible adult crafts too. As if I need more things to do right now!
Wee Life	Wee Life is full of crafty creative stuff along with some local things to do with kids for several major cities. Plus they have a scrumptious section of printables. Yay!
Skip to My Lou	Skip to My Lou is so beautifully designed that it makes me feel happier just to see it. She also does frequent giveaways of crafty cool stuff, what’s not to love??

If you’re still in need of creative inspiration, check out these art websites for kids, too!

Filed Under: Kids Crafts, Websites for Kids Tagged With: art for kids, art projects, Crafts for Kids, Kids Crafts

March 30, 2009 By Wendy Piersall 4 Comments

Spring is here, and I’ve been getting my craft on lately. I decided I wanted to make some pretty paper kites, ones I could use to decorate my daughter’s room, hang in front of windows, or make into a mobile. I also didn’t want to take a lot of time to make them either. ‘Cause I’m impatient like that. This is what I came up with – start to finish, less than 15 minutes.

Easy Kids Craft: Origami Kites

These kites are super-easy to make, even 3 and 4 year olds can make them with a little help. And you can probably make them with whatever you have in your house right now.

What you Need to Make These Easy Origami Kites

1 Sheet of origami paper, or 6″ x 6″ piece of wrapping paper, patterned scrapbook paper, or even plain paper your child has colored

1 Toothpick

2 2′-3′ Pieces of raffia, embroidery floss, yarn or ribbon, plus 4 pieces about 6″ long

4 Pieces of scrap fabric, cut into 1/2″ by 3″ pieces (tissue paper could be substituted here, too)

Transparent tape

How to Make Easy Origami Kites

Easy Origami Kite Step 1

First, fold the paper as shown. Then tape one of the ends of your raffia, ribbon, or whatever you’re using, into the crease at the bottom of the kite.

Easy Origami Kites Step 2

Next, fold the kite back up, and tape a toothpick to the back flap of the paper. Now fold it down flat and tape the toothpick to the other flap. It will look like this when you’re done:

Easy Origami Kites Step 3

After you’ve taped both flaps to the toothpick, tie your second piece of raffia around the toothpick. Trim off the short end so that it tucks neatly inside the kite.

Easy Origami Kites Step 4

You’re almost done! Grab your fabric scraps and your extra raffia pieces. Get ready to tie them onto your kite tail.

Easy Origami Kites Step 5

Now all you have to do is tie them on to the tail! Raffia holds knots well, so I was able to keep these in place with little tying. But if you’re using ribbon, tie them on a little tighter. Do this three more times and space them out to make them relatively even on your kite tail. But don’t worry if they are uneven, that just adds to the charm. Snip off the ends of the short pieces of raffia, and viola! You have a kite!

Easy Origami Kite

See it large on Flickr, and add your own kids craft photos to our Seasonal Kids Activities Pool!

For other ways to celebrate Spring, check out these coloring pages to print and Spring crafts!

Filed Under: Kids Crafts, Spring Tagged With: Kids Crafts, origami, paper crafts, Spring Crafts

February 24, 2009 By Wendy Piersall 2 Comments

Ever since the movie Happy Feet, penguins have become part of mainstream culture! So here is a simple kids’ craft that involves making a penguin out of a paper plate.

What You Need to Make a Paper Plate Penguin:

Two paper plates
Scissors
Glue
Orange and black paint, crayons or markers
Googly eyes (optional)

How to Make a Paper Plate Penguin:

1. Cut up a paper plate as shown. This craft uses every piece you cut out so don’t throw anything away!

Paper plate penguin craft template

2. Paint the two wings black and the three triangles orange.

3. Paint a black v-shaped ‘hairline’ on the penguin’s head as shown.

4. After the paint has dried, glue the two wings onto the top rim of second paper plate, the big orange triangle onto the penguin face for it’s beak, and the two small orange triangles onto the bottom rim of the plate for it’s feet.

5. Glue two googly eyes above the penguin’s beak, or just color them onto the face if you don’t have any googly eyes laying around.

For more winter ideas, check out these winter crafts, or the penguin coloring page in this set of winter bird coloring pages.

Filed Under: Christmas, Winter Tagged With: Christmas crafts, easy Christmas crafts, easy Christmas crafts for kids, Kids Crafts, penguin crafts, preschool crafts, winter crafts