Showing posts with label how to make stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to make stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to make stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to make stuff. Show all posts

Fun Indoor Activities for Kids

Indoor Activities To Do With the Kids


When we leave summer behind and approach the colder months, kids want to stay inside. That means, it’s time to pull out the indoor activities to keep the kids entertained after school and on the weekends. Just because you’re stuck inside doesn’t mean the day has to be wasted! There are loads of great family-friendly activities to do indoors.


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IndoorActivitiesforKidsRainyDay


Be sure to click through the links to find all the fun indoor kids activities we've discovered.

If you're looking for great ways to keep kids entertained when the weather’s got you stuck indoors, look no further! Some or these activities, you might do regularly, others you may never have tried before, but they’re all great ways to keep the kids entertained while encouraging them to learn new skills. 

Baking 


How can you not love an indoor activity where you and the kids get to eat a tasty treat at the end? When the weather isn't very nice, baking is a great way to bring the family together, and you can learn some amazing new skills while you’re at it. 
Don’t worry if you’re not a great cook, the fun is in learning the new skill, and there are some great recipes for beginners out there. Even if you are a beginner, these recipes will have you baking up a storm!
Everyone wins when you get to do a fun family activity and eat some tasty baked goods at the end of the day.

Arts and Crafts


Keep everyone entertained for hours on end with a few well-planned arts and crafts projects. These might take a little bit of pre-planning on your part, but they’re sure to give your family an amazing day of creating things with their hands and bonding with each other. 

Any project with epoxy resin is bound to get the kids excited, and the results you can get with this product are awesome and perfect for a cold or rainy day.

Don’t worry if you’re not an arts and crafts pro, there are plenty of beginner projects to get you going like a pro. 

Kids CRAFTS from our blog.

Board Games


In the modern world of ultra-realistic video games, the old-fashioned board game still has its place. In fact, the classics are often the best, and there’s no better time to pull out the board game collection that when it’s raining outside. 
No matter how much technology moves on, the likes of Monopoly, Cluedo, Jenga, and Uno are always family favorites for a good reason. Once you get everyone together and involved in a game of Monopoly, you’ll find the time just flies by, and you won’t even remember that the weather is terrible outside. Make sure you’ve got a trustworthy banker, and you’ve got an afternoon of fun indoor activities for everyone. 




Rainy Day – Don't Worry


As we approach Fall, the weather might not allow for as many outdoor activities as usual, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to end. There are lots of fun indoor activities that you can enjoy with your family on a rainy day.  For more inspiration, check us out on Pinterest!

What looked like a boring weekend stuck inside, might just turn out to be a weekend full of joy and family fun. You can eat, drink, create, and play games with your family and friends while bringing everyone closer together. Just do a search in our blog for games, crafts, kids recipes, family field trip ideas, and fun indoor activities for kids. Stick with us, and you'll never run out of fun things to do!


Recommended:



Fun PE Activities for Outdoors

Stay in your Car Holiday Activities



Homemade Pan Fried Fish and Chips

How to Make Pan Fried Fish and Chips

Did you catch up a mess of fish? Maybe you just found a great deal at the fish market, er, grocery store. Either way, you'll need an easy recipe for homemade fish and chips. We've got it! In this recipe, Lisa shares how to make pan fried fish and chips at home. Enjoy!

Spring Break! My son had the opportunity to clean his first fish this week. And, I got the opportunity to cook them. Two big firsts for our nature-enjoying, convenience-loving family. This pan fried fish recipe was a hit for the fresh, black crappie. It would be good with your store bought fish, too. The homemade chips round out the meal.

Homemade Fish and Chips Recipe.
Homemade Fish and Chips Recipe.

Spring Break Pan Fried Fish and Chips


Ingredients:
Fresh fish
almond flour (other flours may be used but all-purpose gets doughy)
Milk
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Ground mustard
Salt and pepper
Olive oil for frying
Large potatoes
Parmesan Cheese
Italian Seasoning
Cooking Spray


How to make fish and chips at home.
How to make fish and chips at home.


Chips
1.  Heat oven to 450 degrees F.
*2.  Microwave large potatoes about half on the microwave recommended time.  The potatoes should still be firm.
3.  While potatoes are in the microwave, mix 1/2 c. parmesan cheese and 1 t. Italian seasoning in a large bowl.
4.  After the potatoes have cooled to the touch, cut them into wedges.
5.  Coat the potato wedges with the cheese mixture and transfer to a baking sheet.  Spray with cooking spray.
6.  Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.  Turn the potatoes and continue baking another 10 minutes.


Pan Fried Fish Recipe.
Pan Fried Fish Recipe.


Fish:
1.  Prepare 3 shallow dishes as follows:
a.  Mix 1/2 c. almond (or other) flour, 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper, and 1/2 t. ground mustard in one shallow dish. (Note: Depending on how much fish you have, you may need to make multiple batches.  Make multiple batches, however, instead of doubling the size of the batches because the breading can get doughy after awhile.)
b.  Add 1/4 c. milk to the second shallow dish.
c.  Add 1/2 c. seasoned break crumbs to the third shallow dish.
2.  Pour enough olive oil into a skillet to cover the bottom.  Apply medium heat.
3.  Coat each fish fillet in the flour mixture, followed by the milk, and finally the bread crumbs.
4.  Fry the fish about 5-10 minutes until golden brown, turning once to cook both sides.  Fish should flake easily.  Add additional oil as needed.​











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! :)

7 How to Preschool Easter Crafts for Kids: Plastic Easter Egg Decorating

Are you looking for Preschool things to do for Easter? 

These Crafts are the Bunny's Hop!


Milk Jug Easter Bunny Basket Things to do with Plastic Easter Eggs
Let your preschooler make an Easter Bunny basket from a milk jug.


This post contains Amazon affiliate links, if you click and make a purchase, 
I may get a small commission.

These 7 preschool Easter crafts for kids using plastic eggs are fun for a kid's birthday or toddler Easter party. Make it a play date and have fun crafting these easy egg decorating projects. Don't worry, you can do all of these project in about fifteen minutes. Enjoy!


How to Make a Unique Easter Basket Craft 

Grab a glue gun, a pair of scissors, and gather all those mismatched plastic Easter eggs. This is an easy Easter basket craft the kids will love. Mine were fighting over who got the plastic egg basket, until I made the bunny basket. When they saw the rooster Easter basket my son said, "Wow, Mommy you are a genius!"  Aww... thanks, I like to think so!  ;)


Check out these Easter Basket Stuffers on Amazon.


how to make a milk rooster
Make a Rooster Easter Basket with a milk jug.
plastic egg animal craft: rooster milk jug Easter basket
This rooster art makes a nice basket or sculpture.

How to Make an Easter Basket from a Milk Jug:

Decide where to cut the opening. See the images below. Try to cut so the milk jug's handle can also be the basket's handle. You could also glue one end of a brightly colored string to the base of the handle, and wrap it until the handle is completely covered to give your basket a more finished design. Glue the end down once wrap is complete.

plastic egg Easter basket decoration with milk jug
Decorate a milk jug with plastic Easter eggs.

Back of Milk Jug.

Aerial View of interior.
For the rooster, follow the center-line of the jug at an angle to make your cuts. We added two short egg ends as feet, and then cut out orange chicken feet bases attaching with hot glue.

How to make an Easter basket from a milk jug.
Back of Bunny Easter Basket.

How to make an Easter basket from a milk jug.
Bunny Easter Basket Milk Jug.

















Make your own Action Figures from Plastic Eggs

That's right, Easter action figures. Make a cute egg soldier army man, a funny bunny, or a feisty flying duck. These guys are durable when you use hot glue. How to make plastic egg animal crafts and characters is self-explanatory if you look at our pictures of Easter eggs. The duck and bunny are just two large ends of the eggs glued together and laid sideways on two short egg ends.

How to Make Action Figures Decorate Plastic Easter Eggs
Easter Army Egg Men, Funny Bunny, and Duckling action figures.

Bunny Art Lesson: Primary Colors


Plastic Egg Animal Crafts Duck and Bunny Craft for Kids
Bunny and Duck Plastic Egg Action Figures.

Egg Army Man
Egg Captain.
Egg Army Man Action Figure
Army Egg Soldier.

Make a Plastic Easter Egg Duck Figure How to
Plastic Easter Eggs: How to make a duck action figure.
So, I was off to get ready to run errands, and the littles were so engrossed playing with their new Easter action figures they didn't want to stop. They played for a good thirty minutes and wanted me to create more creatures.


How to make Bunny Whiskers Tutorial

The bunny whiskers pictured are made from construction paper. Fold a piece of white paper in half (you determine the size needed), start at the OPEN end and cut down toward the fold. Our whiskers are about 1/4" wide. Leave about 1/4" uncut near the fold. Now, fold them over in half lengthwise to give thickness. At the folded end of each whisker, hold and push to open the whisker in a bowed shape. Glue folded ends together and glue to your bunny. This is a great technique for a kids's bunny mask too.

I started with a simple idea: Glue plastic eggs to a milk jug to recycle, renew, and reuse. I ended up with an afternoon of family fun and some of the most original Easter baskets I've ever seen. I'm sweet on the rooster. I'm gonna enter him into the Hen Craft Challenge.

What's your favorite creature? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Recommended Reading:

EASTER BUNNY  BASKET SKIT

The Biggest Easter Basket Ever

Easy Unique Egg Carton Crafts 

How to make French Toast Recipe: Kids Love It!

Wondering How to make french toast kids will love? 

This Recipe for French Toast is easy and kid-tested. Cut your french toast into sticks or fun cookie cutter shapes.


Use Cookie Cutters to make cute French Toast Shapes.
Use Cookie Cutters to make cute French Toast Shapes.
scramble eggs
Stir up some eggs.
First of all, the type of bread used makes a big difference. Texas Toast works best, but any bread used should be toasted first. This helps prevent if from falling apart when dipping.


To make French Toast, Toast in toaster first.
To make French Toast, Toast in toaster first.
stack of toast bread slices picture
Prepared Toast waiting for egg bath.

How to Make French Toast Recipe

To prepare the dipping batter:

Preheat Griddle to high setting, coat with non-stick spray.

Grab a bowl and add 4-5 eggs. Stir the eggs to scramble them. Sometimes, I start with 12 eggs and then divide into two separate bowls- 1 for French Toast and 1 for scrambled eggs.

Next, I add a capful/1 tablespoon of vanilla and a splash of milk. I like to add the milk so they don't look to eggy. I even stir in a 1/ tsp. of cinnamon. Then, cut cute shapes from your toast or slice it to make FRENCH TOAST STICKS. Now, grab your tongs and get busy. You have to work fast, so the toast doesn't get too wet. Dip into batter, turn over to saturate, and remove quickly.

Add Vanilla to your eggs.
Add a splash of milk.


Fun animal shaped french toast breakfast for kids
Cut into fun shapes with cookie cutters.
The kids ate the shapes so quickly ; I had to make french toast scraps!
How to make french toast sticks from bread.
Cut for French Toast Sticks.
Dip in quickly and pull out before they get too soggy.


Flip once while cooking.
Fun French Toast Shapes Easy Recipe for Kids
French toasts strips are done when golden brown and crisp.
Cooking the scraps.


Remove when golden brown.




How to make Powdered Sugar French Toast Recipe Easy Kid-Tested
We added powdered sugar, maple syrup, and caramel sauce. 
I know you shouldn't, but it is SO good!
Must be good, sure was fun for them. 
Here they devour the french toast trimmings.
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Recommended Reading:

New Junior Cook Book: 1955 Classic Edition

Ice Cream Snowman Party Treats

How to make washing soap or safe homemade dish detergent recipe

Make Homemade Dishwasher Detergent at Home

It seems like everyone has a recipe for how to make washing soap or homemade dish detergent. Everyday, at least one pops op on Pinterest. I'm a little concerned by the ingredient list. Almost every recipe calls for Borax. Borax is toxic, it's bad enough we use it on our clothes or to make putty for a kid's craft. 

Yikes! I don't want that on my dishes (especially on those plastic items your aren't supposed to be washing due to chemicals being released at high temps). I imagine some toxins leach in too. What's a poor, stressed mommy to do? Make your own safe green detergent recipe. Enjoy!

How to make washing soap or homemade dish detergent
Washed with homemade dish detergent we made.

Homemade Dishwasher Detergent Recipe


1 Tbs. Table Salt, 1 Tbs. Ice Cream Salt, 1 Tsp. (capful) Lemon Juice, 1 Tsp. Hydrogen Peroxide, 1 Tbs. Vinegar

I premix the salts and store them in an airtight container near the dishwasher and then scoop them out as needed into the dishwasher tray. 

Then, I pour in a capful of lemon juice, add the hydrogen peroxide to the prewash container and the vinegar to the rinse compartment. 

I have also added a Tsp. baking soda which helps keep your dishwasher clean and fresh, but sometimes it leaves a residue on the dishes. So, if you want to clean your dishwasher, add baking soda and run it without any dishes inside. 

Tip: (From Dishwasher Repairman) If you run the hot water in the sink before and a minute or two after you start the cycle it helps prevent soap and lime build up on the coils of your dishwasher. Also, I like to keep a spray bottle of equal parts vinegar and water handy to spray on dishes with dried on food. It seems to help. Now your safe. As for your dishwasher, IDK- read the manual. Not using regular store bought soap could void your warranty.


Recommended:










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! :)


How to make play dough at home and 12 Fun Things to do with Play Dough

Looking for fun things to Make at Home?

Maybe you need an easy recipe for how to make dough or you're wondering how do I make play dough at home? How to make clay dough for older kids Here are fun clay and dough recipes to make at home with kids of all ages.

How to make play dough recipe:                                                         

2 c. corn starch, 1 c. salt, 1 1/2 c. boiling water, 2 tbs. cream of tartar, 2 tbs  oil (vegetable oil to keep it edible or baby oil to make it fun and a pleasant scent) Mix all ingredients together, then add a couple drops of your favorite food coloring. You can also separate into individual baggies, add a different drop of food color to each bag, and knead to mix. Let the kids do this for extra sensory play! You can make it without cream of tar tar too; the oil will fill the void it just might not stay fresh as long :)
 Sensory Guest Post from Krissy Sherman Bonning, Mama of 3, and Blogger  at B.Inspired, Mama!  (Connecting moms with kid-friendly arts & crafts, easy recipes, and preschool learning fun.) Hop over to Krissy's blog and check out all of the cool  fun from a Mommy with a Master's degree in Art Education.


I found an exciting feature on her blog, she accepts Submissions from other bloggers! Get your fun ideas posted and earn yourself some much deserved recognition.


How to make play dough at home and other fun sensory activities for things to do
Fun things to do with Playdough at home.
My kids’ go-to sensory activity is definitely play dough.  The ways you can play with it are endless.  And adding unusual objects and art supplies to it make it even more fun.  Here are some of our favorites:
  1. Stencils – Use them to place on the play dough and trace around, press into the play dough to make impressions, and for imaginative play, too. 
  2. Recycled Bottles – Next time you drink something out of a plastic bottle, check out the bottom.  It will probably make a really cool flower-like impression in play dough.  (from B-Inspired Mama)
  3. Cardboard Boxes – Play dough details can turn boxes into buildings and even an entire city.  (from Inspiration Surrounds, Creativity Abounds)
  4. Muffin Cups – Silicone muffin cups are perfect for making pretend cupcakes and muffins for an impromptu Birthday party or picnic.  (from B-Inspired Mama)
  5. Fake Flowers – Plant them in play dough to make a beautiful flower garden for imaginative gardening fun. (from The Imagination Tree)
  6. Animals – Green play dough makes the perfect jungle for little animal friends. (from Picklebums)
  7. Googly Eyes – Bright your play dough to life and make silly monsters with lots of googly eyes. (from Pink and Green Mama)
  8. Candy Molds – Use chocolate play dough to make pretend candies and fun shapes with candy molds.  (from Learning 4 Kids)
  9. Laminated Play Dough Mats – Laminate images and learning worksheets for kids to add play dough details, letters, and snakes to.  (from Planet of the Apels)
  10. Alphabet Cookie Cutters – Make play dough fun a learning opportunity by adding letter cookie cutters.  (from No Time for Flash Cards)
  11. Glitter – Add lots of glitter to turn play dough into a glistening glob for galaxy fun.  (from Poppytalk)
  12. Trucks & Cars – Play dough makes fun hills for driving over and tires on toy vehicles make awesome impressions.  (from B-Inspired Mama)
Do your kids like playing with play dough? Have you ever used anything unusual to make it more fun?




Recommended Reading:

Fun-tastic Clay Critters to Make

Modeling Clay Animals

Sensory Play Dough Recipe