Hey mamas,
I am hoping some of you creative geniuses can help me out! We are celebrating my one year old's bday this weekend but I will have about 6 older children there as well ranging in age from 3.5-7. I was going to let them go play outside with some sidewalk chalk etc, but of course we are in an artic freeze so I don't think that will work out. So I am thinking of doing a craft for the older kids while the babies play in this ball pit I got for my baby son. The idea I have so far is to give them a paper plate and let them decorate it with stickers, sticky foam, crayons, yarn, etc, and cut eyes in it to make a mask. But I would like some other ideas as well that don't involve paint or glue! I have my two teen sister in laws to help the kids do the craft and it will only be going on for like 30 minutes, just a little something for them while the babies play in peace, plus that will give them a keepsake to take home. Any ideas would be great!! Thanks :D
If the kids are girls then the mask should be fine-IME girls like to do anything crafty. However I cannot see my boys doing that for any longer than 5 minutes and getting bored. Go to Michaels and get some of those foam houses that you can put together and decorate. They had a lot of valentines day ones when I was there on Monday.
paper bag puppets? they can put on a puppet show for the little ones. Get a short book with just a few characters and assign each kid a character to make. The someone can read the book out loud to narate while they put on the show.
You could make some homemade playdough, give them some cookie cutters, and let them make ornaments. I like the mask idea, too.
Try checking out '365 Kids Games' and '101 Birthday Party Tips' at
http://www.justgreatkidswear.com/Toys.html. I got great ideas from both. Hope this helps
When we lived in Atlanta we went to Lakeshore Learning for their weekly craft sessions. We did it for several years & they did awesome stuff. You can go to their site & get some easy ideas.
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/general_content/free_res...
My son did everything from bookmarks, mobiles, treasure boxes, magnets over the yrs & always enjoyed it.
Older kids, both boys & girls like making necklaces. Hobby Lobby, Michaels & sometimes even Dollar Tree have buckets of beads, even glow in the dark ones. Also you can by cardboard trinket boxes at those stores & the kids can paint, glitter & sticker them. My son has several that still to this day contain some of his fave things.
Good luck!
Here's a great link to a company called Oriental Trading Company: http://www.orientaltrading.com/craft-hobby-supplies/craft... They have great, cheap craft kits and a lot of them don't involve the use of glue. I've used this company to fill goody bags and to provide holidays treats. Hope this helps.
