April Showers? Color an Umbrella Craft for Kids

April showers! Spring Umbrella Craft for Kids

Finally, after all the April snows, Mayhem was able to color her
ALEX® Toys - Craft Color A Yumbrella. It took Spring forever to... er sprung- and patient she ain't. Anywho...

Coloring an umbrella with permanent markers.

This cute umbrella craft comes with permanent markers. We used some of our own Sharpies too. She colored one triangle, got tired, and took a break for a week. Now, she can color whenever she gets bored. The craft that keeps on giving! 

You know, she'll be modeling this with her latest rubber galoshes. What am I saying? It's Mayhem, she'll probably wear ballet flats when she goes skipping in the rain.

Mayhem colors a lollipop on her Yumbrella.

The Umbrella is decorated with cute, yummy sweets.

Recommended Reading:


Let It Rain*

Monster Paper Bag Puppets

Activities for Circle Time

Ring in the New Year Bell Craft Activity for Kids

Recycle Paper Cups and Plastic Spoons for Easy Kids New Year Craft Bell Activity

Ring in the New Year with this easy New Year's Eve Craft Activity for Kids to Make. Make the craft and then at midnight everyone rings their bell. Enjoy!

New Year Bell Craft Activity.

Recycle a paper cup, plastic spoon, holiday ornament or that jingle bell necklace into a fun, kid-crafted bell noisemaker for the year-end celebration.

Make a bell to ring in the New Year with a paper cup and ball ornament.

• Paint a paper cup. 
• Paint the NEW YEAR on cup with glitter glue.
• With scissors or a box cutter, slice a 1" slit in base of cup.
• Cut a triangle pattern out around the top of the cup.
• Bend the triangles out to make a star.
• Wrap a sparkly pipe-cleaner around the spoon's handle (make a loop for hanging at top).
• Insert spoon in slit on base of cup.
• Tape may be necessary to keep spoon aligned.
• Attach a short string to a mini-ornament or jingle bell and attach with tape.
• Hang for display on mantle.

At midnight, grab those bells and make some noise! 

Recommended Reading:

New Year's Party for Kids

Make a New Year Care Package

Kitchen Kids Series: Holiday Recipes*

How to Celebrate Chinese New Year: With Fireworks, Dragons, and Lanterns*






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! :)

Mariah Carey Christmas Book Puppy Crafts and Activities

All I Want for Christmas is You, Children's Book Companion Craft

It was bound to happen. The most popular, modern day Christmas Song by Mariah Carey is now a beautifully illustrated book for children. If you know the Mariah Carey Christmas song, All I want for Christmas is you, then you almost know the story. Just insert a puppy! We've created some companion book puppy crafts for you. Scroll down for cute puppy craft activities and free printables. Enjoy!

This post contains affiliate links.

All I Want for Christmas Book with Companion Crafts.

Colleen Madden brings the puppy story to life with vibrant, fun illustrations.The pictures tell the story. The "You" in the story is a brand new puppy for Christmas. Forget sugar plums, this little girl wants a puppy!

The best part is... you can sing the story together! It makes for a great bedtime story that will become a cherished family tradition. To make your tradition more memorable, we found some companion book  puppy craft activities you can do during the holidays.

Over at Sweets and Brains, you'll find these adorable PUPPY COOKIES. Hop over and get the recipe and then bake some up with your kids.

In the story, the little girl is making a Puppy. If you look carefully, you'll see that it's a Christmas stocking. So, we made a similar Christmas puppy stocking out of construction paper. Made from simple shapes, it was super easy paper craft to make!

Puppy Paper Craft for Christmas.

                                    Upside down, he becomes a stocking! The ears become the feet.

We also found some cute, Christmas puppy printable coloring sheets at Coloring Home.

Recommended:

More Christmas Books about Puppies

All I Want for Christmas Book by Mariah Carey

Christmas Activities and Games for Adults

Barack Obama Paper Bag Puppet: Hey When is President's Day Anyway?

When is President's Day? 

In the United States President's Day is always celebrated on the third Monday in February. We combine the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington into one special day. Here's an easy craft for President's Day or Black History Month. A Barack Obama Paper Craft for kids. Enjoy!

GET Printable Obama Puppet (Face).

Click here to print tie for Barack Obama Craft

Mayhem is a huge fan of Barack Obama so when tasked with the assignment to make a "worker" puppet for  Social Studies class she said, "Barack is a worker for America." Thus, the paper bag puppet below. In one hand he has a microphone for giving speeches (she loves to watch). In the other hand, he has a ring for his wife, Michelle Obama, because "they are married together". 

Barack Obama Craft for preschool kids.

Make a President Obama Puppet in honor of President's Day.
This one inspired the printable .

So, when I was a kid in elementary school I remember the big election doings of Jimmy Carter. He was my favorite President for years. A real life cartoon character with peanuts and Billy too boot. Shh... I guess he still is today, but don't tell any political analyst or anyone like that. I love all of the humanitarian work he does, his sense of humor, his forward thinking on going GREEN, and his smile. Hmm... I think I see a pattern here.

Who is your favorite President? Remember a particular election?  Now, if you will pardon me for rushing off... I've got to go make a Jimmy Carter paper bag puppet.

It's so cool to see your projects across the web! I love how the Paper and Glue blog turned our Obama printable into a stick puppet.

Recommended Reading:

Who Is Barack Obama? (Who Was...?)

Activities for Black History Month

100 African-Americans Who Shaped American History (100 Series)

Panda Craft Ideas: Companion Book Pom Pom Panda

Pom Pom Panda Gets the Grumps and Companion Crafts

Who doesn't love a cute, cuddly Panda! Maybe another grumpy Panda. Pom Pom Panda Gets the Grumps is a new book by Sophy Henn. What happens when you don't want company and you tell everyone to leave you alone? Read the book to find out and then make some companion Panda Crafts with these ideas. Enjoy!

This post contains Amazon and other affiliate links for your convenience.

Panda Craft Ideas: Companion Book Pom Pom Panda.

Pom Pom Panda is grumpy. Help young children understand that it is okay to feel grumpy. Everyone has a bad day now and then. Read the story, make some crafts, and start a dialogue on the grumpy panda inside all of us.

In the meantime, make some cute Panda Crafts with these fun ideas!

Panda Footprint Activity.

Cute Footprint Panda for Preschool from the Pinterested Parent.

Panda Bear Ornament Craft. Photo from LittleBirdee.com.

Make a Panda Bear Ornament for your Christmas Tree. Just change out the white cotton balls on the ears, arms, and feet for black pom poms. 

Paper plate panda craft. This panda is happy!

Paper Plate Panda Bear Shaker from Krafty Kid.

Recommended:

Get Pom Pom Panda Book

Preschool Activities

Valentine's Day Ladybug Activity for Preschoolers: Tic-Tac Toe Game

Cute Ladybug Craft for Valentine's Day for Preschoolers

This adorable ladybug paper craft was made by Mama Mia (she no longer blogs). It is a fun paper project to make with preschoolers or a buggy Valentine to make for your little ones. Get them involved in the process for some hands on learning and fine motor skills. Enjoy!

Ladybug Valentine Paper Craft for Preschool Kindergarten.

Companion Lesson

Draw one heart and one square to use as a template. Have preschoolers trace squares and hearts and then let them cut them out. This focuses on hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.

As the children glue the legs on, discuss the differences between spiders and insects. How many legs does a ladybug have?

How to Make Ladybug Tic Tac Toe Game

2 large sheets of red construction paper (or craft foam).
1 large sheet of black construction paper (or craft foam).
1 scrap or half sheet of pink construction paper (or craft foam).
2 googly eyes
1 glue stick

Cut 2 tiny hearts for  the antennae
Cut 5 pink and 5 red hearts for game pieces
Cut 6 long strips of black for legs. Cut these straight and then fold as shown above.
Cut 2 long strips of black for the antennae.
Cut 9 Squares for game board.
Cut 1 half moon from black paper for head.


Recommended Reading:

Ladybug Girl Party Ideas

Preschool Circle Time Ideas

The Grouchy Ladybug*

Ladybugs by Gail Gibbons*













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! :)

Diy Christmas Gift Bag Ideas

Make Christmas Gift Bags at Home

These gift bags are the perfect things to make at home. Purchase plain bags at deep discount and then do these DIY Christmas Gift Bag Ideas to personalize them for friends and family. Whether you decorate with a Christmas Tree, Santa Claus, Reindeer, Elf, Gingerbread Man or even a Star of David for Hanukkah, these bags are sure to get a smile. Enjoy!

Diy Christmas Gift Bag Ideas to make at home.

DIY Santa Gift Bag Decoration.

For this Santa Claus gift bag, we used an oversize gift tag, sticky stars, and cotton balls. Total Cost is under 25 cents! We bought the tags and bags in bulk.

Gingerbread Man Craft Decoration for a DIY Gift Bag.

This Gingerbread Man is a foam form that came in a pack of 100 different holiday characters. We added glitter glue, mini pom poms, and sticky stars.

DIY Reindeer Gift Bag Idea Craft.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is a cardboard cut out. We bought them in packs of 50 at Michael's. They make great traceable patterns for kids. The tree below is traced from the Christmas Tree pack. We added glitter glue, sticky stars, and mini pom poms.

Christmas Tree Gift Bag Craft Idea.

Trace a Christmas Tree on felt and cut it out, add some glitter glue and sticky starts and then pop on some cottonball snow to make this gift bag decoration.

Recommended:

Christmas Ribbon for Crafts*

Fun Crafts to Make at Home

Make a Cardboard Gingerbread House

Christmas Tree Cards





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! :)

Unique Classroom Valentine Craft: Pig Valentine Decoration

Pig Valentine Classroom Craft

Looking for a unique classroom valentine decoration? We made a cute pig (or turn it into an Angry Bird) from a recycled satin Christmas bulb ornament. This is an easy and fun Valentine craft for elementary or preschool kids. Enjoy!

Hang the craft on a Valentine tree or make a mobile. When Pigs fly...  Oink you excited to get started?

Unique Classroom Valentine Craft: Pig Valentine Decoration

To Make Valentine Pig Ornament, You Need:

Felt, Foam, Feathers, Pipe-cleaners, Glue, Ribbon, a Straight Pin, and a Satin Christmas Ball Ornament.

Note the spiraled pipe-cleaner for his tail.

Use the straight pin to 'pre-drill' (punch) holes into the ball where the tail and feathers will go.  Add glue to the tip and insert into holes.  Cut out eyes, ears, and nose and attach with glue. Tie a ribbon through the hanger. Design your own Valentine Tree with a wire hanger or attach to a back-pack zipper.

Creative Tip:

Attach a note that says, "I'll stop loving you when pigs fly" or "Oink you going to be my valentine?"


Recommended Reading:

OLIVIA and the Perfect Valentine: She's a Pig!*

Valentine School Parties 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! :)

SHAMROCKS Wand Rocks your Saint Patrick Day Parade Craft activity for kids

Easy craft activity for kids Shamrock HAT and WAND for your Saint Patrick Day Parade

Not feeling crafty? If you can fold paper in half and cut out a heart, you can make this easy St. Patrick's day shamrock craft. Yep, you can do it. Enjoy!

Wand shamrock craft for Saint Patrick Day.

Shamrocks are so easy to make; just fold a piece of paper in half and cut out a heart- three times. Paste these together, give them a stem, voila! Instant Shamrocks. Next, make a rainbow link chain to decorate your hat or wear as a boa. You can even hang them from the ceiling for a fun, festive room!

 Simple: 3 hearts glued together, taped to a straw with shiny ribbon =  instant magic leprechaun wand to carry and wave in your very own parade! We painted ours with glitter glue for added sparkle. Paint your straw green too!

Shamrock Hat with Rainbow Links for St. Patrick's Day.

Silly: The hat above was once a paper plate. We cut the center out but left a rectangle to use as a stem. Next, we painted it all with green paint mixed with glitter.

After it dries, add your shamrock hearts to top and bottom of the "stem".  The bottom shamrock make the bill of your hat and the top one makes a silly finial. We glued a rainbow linky around the back because every leprechaun loves a good rainbow.

Be careful... our paint was too watery and our plate went limp. You might want to use a styro-foam plate and paste your hearts to cardboard so your hat doesn't WILT like ours did. Above all, have fun....

Kids can't wait to begin the parade. They don't care how perfect the hat turns out! Now start marching around the house or classroom and have a scavenger hunt for a POT of GOLD. Happy St. Patrick's Day!


Recommended Reading:


Greening of Indy Canal

St. Paddy's Preschool Craft

The Night Before St. Patrick's Day*














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! :)

Handprint Turkey Craft Thanksgiving 8

8 Easy Handprint Turkeys

Looking for an easy, quick Thanksgiving activity to do with the little ones? Try a Handprint Turkey Craft for Thanksgiving. We're sharing Eight of our favorites from Kid Bloggers and Pinterest. Enjoy!

8 Easy Handprint Turkey Crafts for Thanksgiving.

• We like how this handprint turkey from Meet the Dubiens used the entire hand for the feathers. It allows for lots of fun, messy handprints!

Easy Handprint Turkey for Preschoolers from Meet the Dubiens.

• How cool is this unique handprint turkey? They are thinking outside of the box at floortjetekent blog? But, maybe their turkeys look different than ours? Turkeys don't have combs... do they?

Unique handprint turkey or is it a rooster?

• Easy Paper Footprint Turkey Craft

• Over at 123Peppy, they spruced up their colorful handprint turkey by pasting it to a plate and adding a decorative border.

Colorful handprint turkey from 123 Peppy.

• It isn't a handprint, but this footprint, turkey feather Native American Headdress is a cute activity for Thanksgiving.

• Dress your handprint turkey for the occassion, by giving him a pilgrim hat for Thanksgiving, like this one from Lonestar Knits.

Paper Handprint Turkey with Pilgrim Hat.

• These felt handprint roosters are stuffed, and they stand up. Just add a gobbler, colorful feathers, and drop the comb to make a felt handprint turkey craft. 

Make felt handprint turkeys for the Thanksgiving table.

• Mayhem designed this paper and pipecleaner turkey craft all by herself. She twisted the yellow pipecleaner into feet and then looped the orange one through the middle in the shape of a J. Then, she traced her handprint, cut it out, and attached it to the pipecleaner with hot glue. She twisted a loop in the top and hot glued the head to the orange pipecleaner.

Paper and pipecleaner handprint turkey.

To make him even more special, have your child write what they are thankful for on each feather!


Recommended:

Turkey Song for Thanksgiving

Jumbo Pack of Pipecleaners*

Edible Marshmallow Turkeys

Turkey Trouble Thanksgiving Book*

Over the River and Through the Woods Thanksgiving Poem

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! :)

Pineapple Valentine Day Craft Idea for Kids Classroom Box

Make this Easy, Valentine Day Classroom Craft Idea for Kids from a 2-Liter Plastic Bottle: Recycle!

For this, classroom Valentine Box, we transformed a 2-Liter plastic bottle. Use this Pineapple Under the Sea for a Spongebob Theme Party or Valentine's Day classroom craft. Enjoy!

2- Liter Plastic Bottle Pineapple Classroom Valentine.

 Valentine Day Craft Idea for Kids Classroom.

The requirements for his classroom Valentine mailbox called for a shoebox.  Mommy's idea of using a 2-Liter bottle was extremely unsettling for Jake, but he thought the end result was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Looking for Pineapple Recipes or Clipart?

Sure, there was a little crying and a lot of pouting as he made his point. Apparently, the teacher's flyer had made it clear the project was to be no smaller than a shoebox.  And, "Mommy a shoebox is the perfect size; you just cut a slot in the top and glue on some hearts!" (Said in deplorable frustration.)  

Got a stickler for the rules? You might like Jake's Journey in Art.

Mommy did not have a shoebox to spare nor the extra cash to buy a new pair of shoes just for the coveted box. The cereal box, briefcase-looking mailboxes on Pinterest were tantalizing, but I wanted something different.

"Why can't we cut a slot out of a bottle and glue hearts on it or make it a rocket or something?" 

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Do you hear that? It is the sound of Jake jumping up and down on the kitchen floor in desperate refusal. "We'll talk about it later, Jake." And with that, we were off to purchase Classroom Valentines.

One box of Spongebob exchange cards later, and Jake decided said detested bottle would make an awesome Pineapple. Genius.

How to Make a Pineapple Valentine Box

We cut a slit in the middle of the bottle to represent a window, cut wavy, one-inch strips from brown paper lunch sacks, and covered it with glitter. Then, Jake took a toilet tube, cut green leaves from construction paper, glued them to the tube, and stuck it on top of the bottle. Foamy stickers spell his name just above the window and a construction paper heart glued to the end of a straw decorates Spongebob's house for the Valentine holiday.



Recommended Reading:

Easy Classy Valentine 

SpongeBob's Secret Valentine *

Pig Valentine Idea










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! :)

Meet One of Ireland's Top Craft Bloggers: Molly Moo a.k.a Michelle McInerney

Best Craft Blogs for Kids: Fun Bunny Puppet

We're featuring a top kid blogger, Michelle from Molly Moo. In the 2012 Ireland Blog Awards, she was awarded the best craft blog, best personal blog, and best designed blog. She writes about the "special stuff" and tries out all the ideas she shares. In the real world, Michelle work as a graphic designer. Enjoy!

Paper Mache Circus People mollymoo.com.

These two fun crafts for kids from Molly Moo fit in nicely with our readership. Imagine a day filled with circus creative play. This bunny rabbit hand puppet, Mr. Foofles, is an easy no sew project. He's made of felt, fabric scraps, and a paper mache face. 

Molly Moo's Mr. Foofles Bunny Rabbit Hand Puppet Project. 
It's a fun craft for Easter.

You'll find tons more crafty ideas at mollymoo.com. Hop over and check it out!    


Recommended Reading:

I Am a Bunny by Richard Scarry*

How to make paper mache










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! :)