DIY

Toddler Halloween Costumes Not as Frightening as the Terrible Twos!

October 26, 2020 by Jessica Moore Leave a Comment

Toddler Halloween Costumes | Toddler Halloween Costume Ideas | Halloween Costumes for Toddlers | Halloween Costumes | Halloween | Toddlers

At least for one day, a two-year-old should look cuter than he acts sometimes. {We can hope!} Today we have some of the most adorable toddler Halloween costumes you can find, plus some DIY ideas if you like to make your own. This Halloween, your toddler’s costume won’t be as frightening as the terrible twos!

This dashing little Dracula is too cute! All you would need to sew for this costume is a little black cape with black ribbon ties. I don’t think anyone is going to be too afraid of this toddler Halloween costume!

Fashion a face mask out of felt for an easy superhero costume. Add a cape in a coordinating color and your toddler is set. You could take this toddler Halloween costume a step further and add a felt letter to the front of a t-shirt in a color that matches the face mask.

Is this the most terrifying shark you’ve ever seen? Well, it’s definitely the most adorable shark I’ve ever seen! You can find this plush {and warm} costume at Amazon for under $25. This is one of the comfiest and coziest toddler Halloween costumes on the market.

Loving this Wonder Woman costume in toddler girls’ sizes! It comes with everything you see in the picture–headpiece, dress & cape, arm bands and boot covers. Girl power!

Any little guy will feel pretty awesome wearing a cowboy costume. The set includes the hat, vest and chaps. Add a bandana from Dollar Tree in his favorite color, and this toddler Halloween costume is complete!

Now here’s a little witch who’ll stand out from the rest! The Disguise Storybook Witch costume is available at Amazon in size 2T, 3T or 4T for less than $30. It’s going fast, so don’t miss out if you want one!

Sock Monkeys are still cute–and even cuter as a toddler Halloween costume! It includes the costume jumpsuit, headpiece, boot covers and a detachable tail. You’ll also find this one at Amazon. Again, this is one of the coziest and comfiest toddler Halloween costumes out there, so it’s probably a great fit for your fussy two year old.

Happy Halloween!

12 DIY Christmas Gift Baskets for Kids

October 15, 2020 by Jessica Moore Leave a Comment

Book Basket

Of course I start with a book basket! Get your children caught up in the magic of Christmas by sharing all your favorite holiday books in their very own basket. Idea source.

Movie Night

Make it a cozy movie night at home with this holiday gift box. Your kids will love opening their favorite holiday movie, complete with a new pair of pajamas and favorite treats. Perfect for a snowy night at home! Idea source.

Advent in A Basket

Advent calendars are a favorite tradition in my home. Make your own “advent in a basket” by stuffing these adorable bags with all sorts of holiday cheer. Your kids will love the little surprises throughout the month! Find the bags here.

Baker’s Basket

Baking is such a wonderful way to spend time together during the holidays. I love sharing my mom’s secret recipes and baking tips with my children. They love hearing stories from my childhood. Continue these traditions and support the little baker in your family with a baker’s Christmas gift basket. Via.

Coke & Cocoa

Bring all of Santa’s favorite drinks into one gift basket for the soda sipper in your family. Combine glass bottles of Coca Cola with little mixers of cocoa and marshmallows. Candy canes and evergreens pull the whole gift together. Get more details here.

Gingerbread House Kit

Another favorite tradition we have in our home is decorating gingerbread houses. My little Lego enthusiasts have so much fun using their engineering skills to come up with some pretty unique house designs. But decorating is always our favorite part! Rather than buying a generic store-bought gingerbread house kit this year, surprise your kids with a DIY basket instead. Via.

Snowman in A Basket

Help your kids be all set to bring Frosty to life again this year with a ready-to-go snowman building kit. Just add water for hours of wintertime fun! Source.

Winter Cold Survival Kit

Help your little one get the better of those pesky flu symptoms with a winter cold survival kit. Get all the details from The DIY Mommy.

Elf ~~On the Shelf~~ In A Basket

Haven’t started the Elf on the Shelf tradition yet? Or maybe it’s just time to add some new fun ways to share in this cute holiday tradition? Here’s your chance! Your kids will be absolutely delighted with an Elf on the Shelf gift basket this Christmas! Find this kit from The Dating Divas.

Lego Advent Basket

Lego advent calendars are an absolute MUST in our home! We’re even guilty of buying one of each version because we love them so much! Have even more more fun building some unique kits with this Lego advent calendar basket. Source.

Activity Gift Basket

Keep your kids happily occupied with an activity gift basket while Santa and Mrs. Claus are busy wrapping presents in the other room. Pile in holiday coloring books, art supplies, toys, and treats to bring it all together. See the idea here.

Ice Cream Sundae Gift Box

It might be cold outside but it’s never too cold for ice cream! Put in everything you’d need to make the perfect ice cream sundaes. My favorite part is the topping-filled ball ornaments! Get more info here.

Popsicle Stick Crafts For Fall

October 5, 2020 by Jessica Moore Leave a Comment

Looking for fun crafts and activities to do with your kids this Fall? Popsicle stick crafts and engineering projects are the answer! Read on for some fantastic ideas to STICK it to boredom.

Gobbling Fun

Gobble up some fun with these friendly popsicle stick turkeys. Use sticks for the body and feet and construction paper for the face, head, and feathers. Source

Stuffed of Fun

This scarecrow project will stuff your afternoon full of creativity and fun. Use permanent marker, wiggly eyes, and craft paper for the hat and hair. Candy corn makes a cute nose and a perfect treat to snack on. Scare up some more details from Activated Nest.

Jack Be Nimble

Jack be nimble. Jack be quick. Jack jump over the ~~candlestick~~ crafting-stick. These cute Jack-O-Lantern popsicle stick crafts are great for more Halloween fun after you’ve already carved your real frightful gourds. See the original ideas and more here.

Caught Up In Fun

These popsicle stick spider webs will have your kids all caught up in fun. Simply paint popsicle sticks black, orange, and white before winding yarn of the same colors around the sticks to make spider webs worthy of the best eight-legged arachnids. Source.

Boo To You

Boo to you with this ghostly view. Buttons and wiggly eyes bring these haunted apparitions to life using eight black popsicle sticks to frame out a window. Orange paper is used as a background to make the white ghosts pop into sight. Take a peek at The Pinterested Parent for more information.

A House of Sticks

Even the Big Bad Wold will agree that this house of sticks will scare up some Halloween fun! Older children in particular will really enjoy putting their engineering skills to use with this one. Source.

H Is For Haunted House

If younger kids are too little to build a 3D popsicle house with their older siblings, this alphabet inspired haunted house is a boo-tastic solution. What other house designs will they be able to spook up? Source.

Picture Perfect

For a non-holiday Fall project, this popsicle stick schoolhouse frame is picture perfect! What an educated idea for sharing all your kids’ best back-to-school photos. Get schooled on the project here.

He’s Alive!

This Frankenstein popsicle craft is electrifyingly amusing. What a perfect way to shock some fun into this Halloween season! Source.

Something To Crow About

This happy scarecrow craft is something to crow about. The body is made almost entire of popsicle sticks while the head and hat are made of paper, straw, and wiggly eyes. Source.

R.I.P

Rest In Popsicle with this creative haunted graveyard project. Paint small popsicle sticks black and wrap them with thin wire to make the fence. Dig up some more info from Lil Blue Boo.

Up It With Puppets

Up the fun with these simple Halloween puppets. Use different colors of paint, wiggly eyes, sharpie, pipe cleaner, and more to create your spooky starring cast. Source.

Popsicle Pilgrims

Teach your kids about the Mayflower Voyage and First Thanksgiving before making these cute popsicle Pilgrims. Source.

Look No Feather

Here’s another turkey craft to help you count your blessings. After making a body and head from craft paper, use colorful popsicle sticks to make a full tail of feathers. Write one thing you’re grateful for on each feather to celebrate Thanksgiving in true holiday spirit. Cluck out the idea from Preschool Alphabet.

How to Make A Kid-Approved Lava Lamp In 3 Groovy Steps

August 31, 2020 by Jessica Moore 2 Comments

Science is one of my favorite activities to teach. This surprises me because as a child, science and I did not play nicely. I always felt one step behind or, sadly, just bored. For as much as there are some who don’t like the Common Core as it is applied in public education, I personally find much value in these curriculum standards as a teacher. I feel that they set a precedence in classrooms that helps bring learning away from worksheets and into hands-on learning. One of my favorite science experiments to conduct with my students (and theirs as well!!) is to make lava lamps. They are really simple to make and are a great way to get kids excited about science! Here’s how to make a lava lamp in 3 groovy steps.

How To Make A Lava Lamp

Gather Materials

Before you get started, you’ll need to gather some (simple) materials:

Cooking Oil (Canola or Vegetable work just the same)
Food Coloring (liquid, not gel)
An Empty Water Bottle or Glass Jar (the more unusual the shape, the better!)
Water (of the liquid sort)
Fizzing Antacid Tablets such as Alka-Seltzer (as many as you’d like to keep you entertained)

DIY Lava Lamp, Homemade Lava Lamp, Lava Lamps for Kids, Make Your Own Lava Lamp, Crafts for Kids, Craft Projects for Kids, Popular Pin, How To Make A Lava Lamp

Learning Topics

I don’t like teaching something in my classroom just to pass time or because it “looks fun”. We always have a learning objective. Here are some ideas of topics you can teach your children with your lava lamp experiment:

Use senses to make and record observations and interpretations of data.
Identify properties of solids, liquids, and gases.
Investigate and record changes to the properties of matter.
Investigate and record the interactions between liquids, solids, and gases.
Practice measuring and calculating math with metric units (HUGE concept for 3rd graders!).
Conduct “next steps” experiments. In other words, what else could you do to this experiment to possibly change the outcome? Have children record their hypotheses and outcomes/data. (Suggested Next Step: Use a glow stick instead of food coloring. Crack the glow stick, cut off the top, and empty the gel into the water bottle).

DIY Lava Lamp, Homemade Lava Lamp, Lava Lamps for Kids, Make Your Own Lava Lamp, Crafts for Kids, Craft Projects for Kids, Popular Pin

Image

Step 1

Fill your empty bottle or jar about 1/2-2/3 of the way with the cooking oil and the rest of the way with water. BE SURE to leave about an inch of air at the top. Image.

Step 2

Add 10 drops of food coloring. Warning: May require some patience as the food coloring makes its way through the oil and water. Image.

Step 3

Break the Alka-Seltzer tablet(s) into quarters or halves. We like to “go big” in my classroom so we go with half a tablet at once. Then just watch and be dazzled! The food coloring will start “erupting” all sorts of grooviness in your bottle! Kids have so much fun watching the the food coloring as it bubbles and moves. As soon as the Alka-Seltzer has dissolved, you can add more or more for as long as you’d like. Image.

Now that you know how to make a lava lamp, it’s time to get started! For more fun ideas to do with your kiddos, check out my post on seriously cool 5 minute science projects for kids!

10 Musical Instrument Crafts for Kids

August 22, 2020 by Jessica Moore Leave a Comment

Kids, easy crafts for kids, and noise go hand-in-hand. Children love when things make noise, and while this can be annoying for parents, it’s a good way for them to use their creativity. Professional musical instruments are expensive, and kids may be too rough with them. Fortunately, instruments can be made. Here are 10 musical instrument crafts for kids.

1. Container Drums

Empty oatmeal containers make the best drums, but potato chip containers work too. Encourage your kid to decorate the containers with construction paper. Then, add skins to the homemade drums. Pencils or wood dowels make perfect drum sticks.

2. Metal Washer Chimes

Easy crafts for kids include making a metal washer chime. This one may be easier on the ears. To make it, collect metal washers that are different sizes. You’ll also need yarn and a ruler. Cut the yarn and tie it to the ruler. Be sure to keep space between the yarn strings. Then, tie the washers to the yarn strands, forming a chime.

3. Easter Egg Maracas

If you have old plastic Easter eggs lying around, turn them into maracas. Instruct your kids to gather pebbles from outside. The next step is to put them in the plastic eggs and tape them shut. Once your kids have decorated the eggs, they’ll be ready to play their maracas. If you don’t have any old Easter eggs, you can get them at Michael’s.

4. Shoebox Guitars

Crafts for kids include making guitars out of shoeboxes. The only materials needed for this project are an old shoebox, rubber bands and glue.

5. Musical Anklets

With musical anklets, you’ll know where your kids are at all times. Your toddler is sure to have fun wearing them since they make a thrilling jingly noise every time he or she moves. To make them, you’ll need felt, glue and bells.

6. Popsicle Harmonica

When it comes to easy crafts for kids, you won’t find many easier to make than this popsicle harmonica. Made from popsicle sticks, paper, toothpicks and a few rubber bands, a popsicle harmonica is sure to keep your little ones happy for hours.

7. Hardware-Inspired French Horn

An online visit to a hardware store like Hoss Tools is all that it takes to get the supplies for a hardware-inspired French horn. A funnel, some tubing and your favorite connectors can be turned into a French horn, one that will have your kids playing their own tune.

8. PVC Xylophone

You’ll have to help build a PVC xylophone, but this craft for kids is the real deal. To make it, you’ll need PVC pipe along with some wood for the frame. Consider marking the top of each pipe with colored tape to indicate the different cords.

9. Toilet Paper Roll Kazoos

Kazoos are noisy fun, the kind that inspire young musicians. Making toilet paper roll kazoos is simple since all you need are empty toilet paper rolls, rubber bands and wax paper. This homemade instrument is one that your kids can decorate, so be sure to break out the markers.

10. Singing Straws

Singing straws are a homemade musical instrument that is easy to make and affordable. At the store, pick up a box of multicolored straws and some yarn. Cut the bottom of the straws at an angle and be sure to cut each one a different length. Then, form holes lengthwise across the top of each straw. String the yarn through the holes and let your kids make beautiful music.

Homemade musical instruments were found at Mom Junction, Moms and Crafters and Play Ideas.

10 Fun & Easy Christmas Tree Crafts for Kids

August 12, 2020 by Jessica Moore Leave a Comment

Are you ready for some fun Christmas tree crafts for kids? These are great to help entertain the kids during the holidays, including your child’s class or preschool group. Kids of any age love Christmas tree crafts!

Christmas Tree Crafts for Kids

I think most people agree that the Christmas tree is the highlight of holiday decorating. Somehow it represents years of memories, giving, togetherness and love. Sometimes we don’t want the kids touching certain ornaments or parts of the tree, so Christmas tree crafts are a great way to make them feel more involved.

3-D Felt Christmas Tree

These are some of the cutest Christmas tree crafts around. Some easy embroidery is involved, and the kids will love embellishing their tree with buttons from the button jar.

3-D Paper Christmas Tree Crafts

This 3-D paper Christmas tree is easy to put together. Cut two trees out of construction paper, fold in half, and glue them together in the center. It would be fun to add glitter and ornaments to the branches!

Edible Strawberry Tree

What’s more fun for kids than a craft they can also eat? If you can find some where you are, strawberries stack into a pretty Christmas tree shape! Add powdered sugar or whipped cream “snow” for fun.

A Christmas Tree for The Wall

This is a great idea for your child’s bedroom wall, and she can do it herself if she’s old enough.

Christmas Tree Yarn Art

Kids love yarn art, and this is a fun one perfect for Christmas time. All they need to do is cut a triangle out of heavy paper, then wrap it in colorful yarns. A few beads make pretty ornaments for the yarn tree!

Wine Cork Christmas Tree

Wine corks make plenty of fun crafts, and that includes a wine cork Christmas tree the kids can glue together by themselves.

Fold a Christmas Tree Napkin

With this Christmas tree craft, the kids can help with the Christmas dinner table.

Pine Cone Tree Crafts for Kids

These trees are so unique! If you have a pine tree, let the kids go outside to pick up pine cones, and then glue them into Christmas tree shapes. I think these are so cute.

Cookie Christmas Tree Craft

These cookie trees prove that not all Christmas trees have to be green to be festive! Use different sizes of star-shaped cookie cutters to make gingerbread cookies. Let the kids stack the cookies and drizzle with Royal icing.

Button Tree

Kids love this one! Get out the button jar, or purchase a pack of colorful buttons for crafting. Clear glue is all you need to glue the buttons into the most adorable Christmas tree!

Which of these Christmas tree crafts for kids do your kids like best? Need some more holiday crafts for kids? Try 10 Paper Plate Christmas Crafts for Kids.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in December 2017. It has been updated for content.