Frugal Fun Crafts

With EVERYTHING skyrocketing in prices lately, it’s hard to be frugal. It’s also hard to have fun with our kids when everything is so expensive. Here are some things we've done for fun on the cheap!

1. Air Pressure science experiment - What you'll need is a potato and a straw. First, try to stab the potato with the straw. You might get a little dent,but most likely it won't work too well. Now, cover one end of the straw with your thumb. Make sure you've covered the entire hole on one end. Stab that potato again. The straw will go completely through! It's all about the air pressure. Now take that straw out and make some hashbrowns:-)

2. Self Blowing Balloon - You'll need 1/2 cup vinegar, 4 Tbsp baking soda, 1 medium-sized balloon, and 1 empty water bottle. Pour the vinegar into the empty bottle. Then pour the baking soda into the balloon. If you can't get all 5 Tablespoons in, just fill the balloon as much as you can (it's easiest to use a funnel to fill it with). Then put the balloon onto the top of the water bottle. Get it on good. Lift the balloon up and allow the baking soda to fall into the bottle. Voila! That balloon will start blowing up all by itself!

3. Cooking activity Homemade Tortillas – gather and mix the following:
2/3 cup warm water
½ tsp salt
3 Tbsp canola oil (or vegetable oil)
2 cups flour
Mix together to form a dough. When formed, separate into 12 small balls. Roll each ball out flat (if you have a tortilla press, don’t roll them out). Cook in a lightly sprayed hot skillet (to avoid sticking) for a few seconds on each side, or until each side starts to brown. Serve plain warm, or add cheese or anything else for a fun snack!


3. Love the computer? Check out these web sites for free and often educational games:
http://www.pbskids.org
http://www.pbskidsgo.org
http://www.pixiehollow.com
http://www.disney.com
http://www.handipoints.com (GREAT motivator to get kids to do their chores!)

A LOVEly Purse!

We decided to make purses last week. Really easy; just cut out two pieces of construction paper into heart shapes, punch holes around the edges, and "sew" the two pieces together using yarn. It's sure to be the hit accessory this coming season...just look at Munchkin!

Bucket Fillers

Ever read the book Fill A Bucket? If not, it's a must read. It teaches children and adults about being kind to others by "filling their buckets". In honor of the bucket fillers, we decided to make our own paper buckets for filling. It was really easy! We simply cut out bucket shapes out of paper, colored and decorated them, and hung them up! Now we have a great reminder to be kind to each other, and we have fun trying to decide what we will do to fill someone's bucket. It's been fun to write down compliments and put them in each others buckets!

Fun in the Sun!

Here's what you'll need to make this:

*Some foam paper - maybe a third of a sheet or so for each
*Scissors
*Black marker
*Googly eyes (optional, you could always just draw the eyes on!)
*Pipe cleaner, 2 pieces cut into thirds
*hot glue gun or a stapler

To start, cut out two circles from the foam paper. We made 3-inch circles and traced them, but you can make it any size you want!



Cut your pipe cleaner into thirds, simply to save! You won't use as much this way:-)

Now start on the pipe cleaner...you can see in the picture below how to do it with straight pipe cleaner. Just lay them on the circle to look like sun rays.


If you want to curl the "rays" like we did, then wrap each piece of pipe cleaner around a pencil or your finger to curl them.
Then put the other circle over top of the rays that you've set up and glue the two circles together, with the pipe cleaner in between the two pieces. Or, if you don't want to wait for the glue to dry, you can staple it. Be sure to get a grown up's help for this part!

Last, but not least, you'll want to glue the googly eyes on! Once they're on, you can draw a smiley face on it. If you want a "double sided" sun, do the other side too!

You can keep it like this just for a fun toy, or you can punch two holes in it and put string through it to wear as a necklace. Munchkin decided to hang it up from the ceiling, so we just put one hole through the top and strung it up!
Fun and easy!

Home Depot and Lowe's - Easy and FREE!

Munchkin, Buddy Boy and I are all big fans of the FREE clinics at Home Depot, Lowe's, and other places. They offer free crafts/projects for your kids, and they are FREE! Lowe's does ask that you preregister, though it's not always enforced. Today, however, the Lowe's we were at was turning away people who hadn't registered in advance, so I'd recommend it! Here's a sampling of some of the projects Munchkin has made:
Message Center

School Bus

Potted Plant for Mother's Day!

Some of the assortment


Home Depot offers their clinics on the first Saturday of each month, usually from 10 am - 12 noon. Lowe's offers clinics on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month from 10 am - 11 am.

To look at the upcoming Home Depot classes, go here!

To sign up for a clinic at Lowes, go here.


Another fun place to go and make free crafts EVERY Saturday is Lakeshore Learning. Here's what they're working on this next Saturday, August 29th:

Check out their website and upcoming crafts HERE!

Happy crafting!

Random Painting

Here's Munchkin painting and glittering up some paper. We later cut the paper into strips and glued them onto a toilet paper cardboard ring to make pom poms!

WELCOME

WELCOME all, to the Dede's Crafty Kids blog. My daughter, Munchkin, has been begging me for months to create a blog displaying any and all crafts she makes, and so here it is! We'll post instructions for making fun and easy crafts at home. Enjoy!!