Build Self-esteem with Fashion Freedom

Fashion Freedom can help build self-esteem in Kids.

Girls (and boys) need to feel like they can do things on their own. They have little control over their own life. As parents, we can help build their independence and self-esteem by letting them choose their own clothing each day. The smile on their little faces shows a sense of pride when someone compliments or notices their outfit. I know it is difficult for some parents to let go, but as long as the clothes are clean, I say give your kids fashion freedom. 

I'd like to introduce my friend Rachael to the world of blogging. This is her very first post...ever. I'm happy to have the debut of a future blogging diva.  In the coming weeks, look for her own blog on fun fashion for girls and their mommas too! 

Lainie, my daughter is only 8, but you can't tell her that when it comes to her fashion sense! Gone are the days of mommy picking out her everyday required collared shirt and pant for school. Oh no, she's not having that, but at least she is subtle about it.

Showing her style.

She has taken to bargaining with me. "Weelll... Mommy, I could wear that shirt, but what if I wore it under this dress?"  Who am I to say no to my little mini-me when all she is trying to do is imitate her mother??  Now that the chunky statement necklaces are such an "in" thing for "grown-ups", Lainie has to pick out a necklace of her own everyday. With the accessories comes the occasional sneaking of the lipgloss, eyeshadow, and blush.

Oh boy... I think I've created a diva-nista!!

For a casual day of fun.

On a positive note, on the weekends, I no longer have to drop what I am doing to pick out clothes for her now that she is so into matching outfits herself.  Surprisingly enough, she does a fantastic job for her age! She has an uncanny ability to pick out clothes for me too! On a recent shopping trip, she was colorblocking and pointing out necklaces to wear with the outfits.  

Impressive, I tell ya!

Probably, her proudest moment in fashion was when she "designed" her own shirt online.  She had a smile from ear to ear and a twinkle in her eyes when it arrived. I have high hopes she will continue to have a unique style she can call her very own.  

You might also like our What She's Wearing Wednesday Series.


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Purple Tutu, Pink Leggings, and Combat Boots: She's back! What's She's Wearing Wednesday to Build a Chicken Coop

What she wore to work on our Chicken Coop

Chickens! Who doesn't love a good purple, Target tutu with a pair of combat boots? Pink leggings and a fancy shirt (worn backward) tie it together. This pairing was planned to help the Daddy build the chicken coop/duck pen. "Cause, it's cold and I need pants and boots."

These don't look very heavy.  I can help build a chicken coop and duck pen.  I've got my boots! (Okay, Jake's boots.)

Later, she added a pair of grippy work gloves. No diva can be without fancy work clothes, right? There's nothing quite like Mayhem fashion. We need to start our own kid's clothing line, don't you think? Maybe, she'll make the pages of J. Crew someday?

Oh! That's heavier than I thought.

"Mommy, Grandma doesn't know that I'm not a girly girl who  likes to wear fancy clothes and keep clean." -Mayhem

I can do this!

Our coop is up, but it isn't ready to been published for the world to see. In the meantime, read about a beautiful chicken coop my friend built: Red Barn Chicken Coop.

Recommended Reading:

Backyard Chickens for Beginners

Building Chicken Coops For Dummies

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How to Make a Rooster or Chicken Hat Band Mask or What She's Not Wearing Wednesday

Looking for an Easy Chicken Hat Tutorial?

Chickens: Rooster, Hen, Pullet, Cockerel or Cock. Whatever you call them, we're on a kick. Our baby chicks are six-weeks-old, and we adopted three duckling companions for them. We're still waiting to see if they turn out to be girls or boys. The waiting is the hardest part. Enjoy!

In the meantime, we are crafting chickens. We've made a chicken hat/ mask for the littles. It's an easy craft for preschool kids. Pair it with The Little Red Hen for a fun companion class lesson. Hopefully, they'll be happy to wear their new cap. You could even perform a little chicken play skit.

Baby Pekin Ducks, four weeks old. 
They don't want to wear a chicken hat.

Mayhem was not in the mood to wear a chicken hat. So, this post is what she's not wearing. Shh... I'll tell you what she is wearing. She marched upstairs and found a pair of hand-me-down khaki shorts which she paired with last year's favorite rainbow striped dress. This year, it is more like a polo shirt. Maybe she'll be back to her DIVA self next week. In the meantime, hope you enjoy crafting construction paper chicken or rooster hats with the kids.

Chicken hat for Little Red Hen play skit.

• Cut two, two inch strips down the length of the construction paper. 
• Measure one strip band to child's head. Glue ends together. 
• Now fold the other strip in half to form the chicken's beak. 
• Bend in half until ends meet, glue together, and attach beak to hat band strip. 
• Cut out the comb and wattle as pictured 
• Paste wattle to beak, draw two black circles for nose holes. We cut out two paper "chicken combs" and glued to a piece of cardboard to make the comb stand tall. 
• Score a slit in each end of the comb and slide into hat band. Ta da!

You've got a preschool chicken costume in less than 15 minutes! 

Here's an idea for a kid's flower hat band or did you ever wonder how to make a chef's hat for kids? Or maybe a Phineas Birthday Party Hat for kids...




Recommended Reading:

Big Red Barn Chicken Coop Idea

How to Raise Chickens

Kids' Crafts: Crochet

Elizabeth, our "marches to the beat of a different drummer, "Wyandotte Chicken - 4 months old.

Bake Shop Costume, Cardboard Stove, Chef Hat Video: What She's Wearing Wednesday

Creative Play Baking Sweet Shop with Cardboard Stove

In this edition of, What She's Wearing Wednesday, catch the KCC Kid, Mayhem, in "Sweet Shop". A video in the "Little Rascals" style. She's baking bread in her upcycled cardboard kitchen stove, wearing her chef hat tutorial, and having fun with her best kitty friend.  Enjoy!



The toys in the video were donated by Alex Toys. You might also like our KCC Kid's Spy Video, "Monster Trouble" that highlights their super sleuthing toys. We had lots of fun making these videos. 


Recommended:

Fun Ideas for Cooking with Kids

Kids Creative Chaos Cooks*

Chef Costume for Pretend Play*

Make a Chef Hat












ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

What She's Wearing (Kid Creations) Homemade Ninja Spy Costume?

What She's Wearing is dirty clothes off the floor (scroll to see the horror), her own homemade Ninja Spy Costume with snow boots, a little brown marker on her hands and face, and a dangling spy badge of some sort. Again, I'm just a victim. I was minding my own business trying to go to sleep when this spy girl popped into my room. "I'm gonna throw Ninja stars at Jake." Ninja Stars? "Yep, see this glow-in-the-dark star that fell off his ceiling? It's perfect. Shh... I have to sneak up on him." Okay, goodnight.

Ninja mask, somehow very disturbing.

Ninja pose.

Hey, but look at those mad fine motor skills. She cut those eye holes out all by herself! She also sized the mask to fit her head without help from anyone else. Fashion model? Print model? Fashion Designer? Ooh, I'd love it if she turned out to be a costume designer someday!

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What IS she Wearing? Express Imagination with Creative Play Activities

What's she wearing? Today, even I had to ask. Apparently, she is expressing herself with an Imaginative warrior costume for Creative Play Activities which include stalking her brother and then a battle round of dart defense. You know he had to shoot.

She comes up with this stuff all by herself!

This wasn't enough protective gear.

 

What She's Wearing: Valentine's Craft for Kids_Make a Doll Purse by Upcycling Gift Bags

How to make a purse from a gift bag for dolls or girls it makes a cute classroom valentine tote too.

She's wearing red for Valentine's Day, and so is her Teddy Bear with its upcycled gift bag purse craft. Ready to recycle? Grab a gift bag, (we like the shiny ones) and make a clutch hand bag for your favorite Valentine. It's easy and it doubles for a classroom valentine goody bag. Enjoy!

This purse or gift envelope was cut from the bottom of a large, gift bag.

Five Fab Classroom Valentine Crafts

Cut the bottom of a large bag to recycle the existing lines as a pattern or use an easy cheat and make your own pattern with a gift card envelope, separate it where it's been glued, lay it out flat, and trace it onto your gift bag. PDF pattern here tomorrow.  Fold the paper on the lines where the envelope had been glued folding a 1" section at the bottom of the envelope to serve as a base for your doll's clutch bag and also on each side.

Poke holes in the sides and insert ribbon for the purse strap. Tie a knot inside the purse at each hole. Get crafty and add a sticky gem or gems from the dollar store. Any American Girl Doll would kill for this purse, now if we could just find her some ruby slippers to match. Yep, I'm a matchy poo-poo.

Mayhem prefers high-top sneakers to ruby red slippers 
and teddy bears to "girly" dolls.

Recommended Reading:


Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! (If You Give...)*


Valentine Recipe for Kids










ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

What She's Wearing Wednesday - Christmas Fashion

Just walked out of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas with candy cane stockings and Santa cap.

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What She's Wearing Wednesday: Pirate Princess Costume: Searching for Toy Treasure

Mayhem Loves to Engage in Pirate Pretend Play

Homemade DIY Princess Pirate Costume? She's a whiz when you need to know how to make a costume from nothing. She threw on her beloved Pink Cowboy Boots , made a pink eye patch (think pipe-cleaner and foamies), and pulled a pink peasant shirt from the costume trunk. 

Easy DIY Pirate Princess Costume.

Mommy added a vest and skirt from past years Halloween costumes and hoped to add a Princess crown. The girly crown was quickly vetoed, and we settled for a red bandanna headdress, homemade cardboard sword, pirate flag, and a shovel for treasure digging.

Pirate Princess for outdoor play.

She searched high and low for the perfect digging spot, collected "golden" leaves for treasure, and then staked her claim by positioning her pirate flag on the big red "X" on her trusty treasure map. 

It was hard work, but she knew it was worth it. You see, her treasure map described the treasure as this Princess Chest for Girls.

The Treasure chest closes up and makes a great carry along for car trips or quick visits to Grandma's house. Mayhem especially likes the animal figures included in the set. Tesco direct offers all kinds of great gift ideas for toys for girls and boys as wells as gifts for the entire family. 

Mayhem is busy digging up many more toys for her wishlist and letter to Santa on the Tesco toy page. We hope you enjoy all of her coming adventures in fun and fashion. In the meantime, dig into your own life, and go create some fun, family memories with an impromptu session of dress up and creative play.

Recommended Reading:

Things to Make at Home

Play Out: How to develop your outside space for learning and play

Simplicity Pattern Pirate Costume

Jake's Art - Homeschool Weaving Lesson - Make your own Loom - DIY Arts and Crafts

How to make a loom for weaving scrap fiber: A Homeschool Art Lesson

Jake's Journey in Art goes under the sea in this DIY weaving Homeschool Art Lesson we learned to Renew. Enjoy!

Our loom has both warp and weft framework to better illustrate 
the concept to young children.

To weave a textile, threads (or scrap fabric) are woven on a frame called a loom. The first vertical threads on the loom are called warp threads. Threads that are woven horizontally in and out of the warp threads are called weft threads.

Cut notches in the cardboard frame to keep yarn in place.

Recycle a piece of cardboard from a cereal box or a foam tray to make your loom. You might also like Native American Paper Bag Dress

Cut small notches into the top and bottom of your cardboard(ours are about 1/2", but 1" works well). Make them about 1/2" inch apart. Alex Toys has a great PDF on weaving here.

Spongebob Fabric for Toddler bed tent.

Warp your loom with yarn or string by taking the thread and taping one end to the back middle of your board.  Now, starting with your first notch on the left, begin wrapping through each top and bottom notch without skipping a notch until you get to the right side of the board.  Only the warp frame is required.

Now your are ready to weave your weft. Cut or tear scraps of fabric into strips. Your strips of fabric should be about 1" thick and at least 12"  long. You will need about 20 strips. 

The cat enjoyed the tearing of fabric strips so much 
he needed a nap after playing with them.

For extra ease for smaller children, we added a weft frame as well. Now the scraps of fabric can be pulled through the little squares for guidance. Pull your scrap fabric under the first warp, over the next, and so on. The yarn guide will help younger children see any mistakes made.

When you have completed your weaving tie off all scraps in groups of two at the edges of your cardboard loom, then you can cut your your thread/yarn framework.

Spongebob has his eye on you.

This is an easy way to get littles started in weaving. It is also helpful to cut a piece of cardboard about 1" by 3" with a notch in the end. Attach your scrap fabric by inserting it in the notch and use as a tool to weave the fabric through the loom, this is called a shuttle.

Alex Toys Native American Bead Loom Kit for weaving bracelets.

Once you advance your skills, you can weave many beautiful projects. Alex Toys has a Native American Loom for weaving bracelets.  It is a professional quality loom that makes incredibly authentic bracelets.  We are working on our patterns and will share them soon.

Kid's room cartoon character theme (that way we don't have to worry about matching or new fads).Check out the automobile sun visor we used as a headboard. 
It is simply nailed to the wall.

Jake loved the idea of using his toddler tent cover as scrap fabric for this project. We renewed an item that was dear to his heart. It had been ripped from rowdy play and was no good as a tent, but we saved it anyway in hopes to repair it or transform it into a pillow or some other creative endeavor. The SpongeBob fabric was the perfect accent for his room. 

Yep, we need a hanging stick, but the kids love it.  
Use favorite t-shirts, pillow cases, or doll clothes for your scrap fiber.

To display your beautiful work of art weave a "weft" stick horizontally through the top row and hang on a wall.  Jake loved his creation and couldn't wait for the stick. He wanted to see how it looked right away, so we hung it by a nail. A little droopy, yes, but he loves it.

Did he love the process?  Not so much.  Much patience is a necessary requirement of weaving. So, Mommy made the loom, got it started and Jake weaved the inner pieces to gain an understanding of the process.  Mommy tied and cut it off making sure Jake watched and understood. This is somewhat time consuming, but the end results are worth it.

Mayhem saw the weaving on his wall and wanted it for her room. Score! This project journey ended on a very happy note.   


Recommended Reading:


Learning How to Weave*

Party Time: SpongeBob SquarePants*






ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

What She's Wearing Mayhem Fashion: Things to do with a Paper Bag: Native American Indian Dress Tutorial

How to Make an Indian Costume from a Paper Bag

Paper Bag Indian Costume.

She's wearing a paper grocery bag. We turned it into a Native American Indian Dress, an easy costume for kids.


Hiding somewhere in my garage is a bag with a Pocahontas dress (I hope) or maybe some kid walked away wearing it one day. At any rate, I was short one little Indian costume for our "movie." What's a crazed mom to do? I've made a ton of those Indian Vests and Hula Skirts in after-school programs, so I decided a dress couldn't be too difficult. Right? I guess it depends on  your standards and mine are low.

Native American Shirt from Paper bag.

First, take a paper bag- and good luck finding one. Talk about a tangent. Why, in this day of recycling are plastic bags everywhere, but no one has paper any more? Remember when the sacker used to ask paper or plastic? Now it's plastic or bring your own.

Once you've found the bag, turn it inside out and crumple it into a big paper wad. The more crumples the more it looks like leather. Next, unfold it and pop it open on the table, laying it on the side. Now, cut the sides all the way to the bottom of the bag. The center fold of each "arm" makes a perfect sleeve. Cut fringe about 3" at the end of each sleeve.

Native American Indian Dress.

At the bag's opening or the bottom of the shirt, cut out triangles/zigzags for a decorative edge. At the bag's base or the shirt's top, cut out a "u" or "v" for the neck. Decorate the shirt with Native American symbols. When done, insert kid and tape sleeves at wrists.

Paper bag fringe Indian Skirt.

For the dress skirt, turn bag inside out, wad and crumple, cut the bottom rectangle out, and cut down one seam. Now, cut fringe like a Hula Skirt. Wrap to fit and tape or staple.

We've also made these by punching holes in the waist and weaving yarn through to form a belt which can be tied for a perfect fit. If you want to get fancy, take another bag and cut the panels and then attach inside the sides of the shirt for full coverage.

Native American Indian Dress from Paper Bag.

This was good enough for our day of pretend play. Afterward, Mayhem gathered rocks and twigs to make a fire.


Recommended Reading:

Things to do with a Paper Bag

Sacajawea History Lesson

Native American History for Kids: With 21 Activities *

















ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.

*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)

What She's Wearing Wednesday ~ Santa's littlest Elf ~ Helping Raise Money for Christmas Gifts

Teaching kids how to participate and help other with Community Service Projects.

This past Saturday, we attended a Craft Fair and Rummage Sale to raise money for Santa's Elves of Indy. A friend organizes the event and often has more families in need than incoming donations.

The organization is young and struggling. Last year, I didn't feel we could take on a family or even a child, so we donated gift bags, tape, and wrapping paper.  

Every little bit helps.

This year, things are a little better for us.  We have "adopted" a family. That's what it is always been called, adopt a child or family for Christmas. When I posted this on another website, someone sent an angry message. It seems, they found the phrase "adopt a child for Christmas" offensive. Organizations have been collecting wish lists for needy children for years and using this terminology. We certainly don't want to offend families who are adopting children forever into their homes. 

We are in no way adopting a child or even meeting a child. To be clear, each volunteer takes a child's wish list which includes clothing and shoe sizes and shops for items for the child. Then, Santa's Elf volunteers wrap the gifts and deliver them to the children's parents or caregivers prior to Christmas Eve so no children miss out on a visit from Santa.

The craft fair wasn't bustling as we'd hoped. It is difficult to spread the word. Even for such a good cause, people have little money to spare. Donations are used to purchase gifts for families that haven't been "adopted" by a volunteer.

We manned the booth for Santa's Elves matching volunteer shoppers with families in need. We were also offering deep discount gift cards for Incredible Pizza, but no one was buying. For just $10 you could/can purchase a gift card valued at $20.

Here's your sign.

Mayhem asked if she could wear the sign and walk around the vendor area selling the gift cards. I agreed. She went from person to person and received many a no thank you. The little elf came back with a sad face and a great idea.

"Can I take the cookies and offer a bag of cookies with every card sold?"

What a great idea!

She sold 3 (the fair was almost over) and had a blast.

If you'd like to donate or purchase a gift card visit the Santa's Elves of Indy Facebook Page. There is still time to ADOPT a child's Wish List and play Santa for a family needing a little extra help this season.

Happy Holidays!

I am so Thankful for this magical little Mayhem.

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