Project 8: Paper Animals

Basic idea from here: http://madebyjoel.blogspot.com/2010/06/wooden-slot-animal.html 

Image from madebyjoel.blogspot.com

The kids came up with so many fun animals! We had cousins over when we did this project which was wonderful! Thank you for joining us girls!

Supplies needed: Colored card stock, Scissors, Glue, Pens, Any embellishments desired (such as the craft eyes)

How To:
Step 1- Draw and cut out animal body shapes

Step 2- Cut 2 triangles the same size for legs

Step 3- Fold the triangles in half

Step 4- Cut slits down the middle of the triangles about half way

Step 5- Cut small slits in animal where you want to put the legs and slip the triangles on

Step 6- Decorate your animals

Prep: EASY
Clean-up: MEDIUM
Time it took: They did this for at least an hour, but you could do it as a quick activity as well.

Notes:
Motivated boys to do chores: YES
Kept their attention: YES
Easy: YES
Stress Level for Mom: LOW

Required supervision: NO
Messy: YES
Breakable: NO
Harmful/ Dangerous to play with: NO

Project 7: Bubble Painting

Adding food coloring to bubbles can make some pretty pictures!

Supplies needed: Bubbles (you can make your own, link to recipes included in "How To" section), Food coloring, Paper, Things to use as bubble wands (such as the fly swatter)

How To:
Step 1- You can use store bought bubbles or make your own http://bubbleblowers.com/homemade.html

Step 2- Add lots of food coloring to the bubbles (wear your painting clothes!)

Step 3- Spread out your papers. Here we put them on the stairs, but later we put them in a circle and stood in the middle of the circle which worked the best! (My camera battery died so I didn't get a picture.) If the wind is blowing then put something on the papers to hold them down. (I said get rocks, but my kids used chalk. Hey, whatever works is good with me!)

Step 4- Blow bubbles! Our fly swatter was really fun! Really, though, do this on the grass! It didn't stain the stairs but them really soapy.

Step 5- Let the them dry and you have some pretty papers to use for another craft project. (Yes I have something in mind :)

Prep: HARD
Clean-up: EASY if you do it on the grass.
Time it took: From prep to finish was about an hour.

Notes:
Motivated boys to do chores: YES
Kept their attention: YES
Easy: Not bad
Stress Level for Mom: MEDIUM

Required supervision: YES
Messy: YES
Breakable: NO
Harmful/ Dangerous to play with: NO

Project 6: Building Discs

Here is the craft we did today: http://madebyjoel.blogspot.com/2010/02/slotted-building-discs.html

These were really fun to play with. The kids helped make them too, but there was a lot of cutting involved and they got bored after a while. We made them the hard way; here is a much easier way to do it:

Supplies needed: Card stock or other sturdy paper, Mod Podge, Paintbrush (for Mod Podge), Scissors, Blow dryer or fan if you want to speed up the drying time

How To:
Step 1- Copy and paste the above link for the downloads. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page.)
Step 2- Re-sized them to 8x10.
Step 3- Print 2 of each picture on card stock or photo paper.
Step 4- Cut them out.
Step 5- Glue matching sides together (or non-matching sides if you want).
Step 6- Cut slits.
Step 7- Build!

This is the hard way to do it. We had no card stock or photo paper so I made do with what I had. Here's what we did:

They took a long time to dry! (Try to ignore the very dirty floor. I will definitely be mopping tomorrow!)

Oh, and they are pink because my printer was running out of ink. Pink is just as fun as red though!

Prep: HARD
Clean-up: EASY
Time it took: It took us a long time because they had to dry for a long time the way we did it, but I bet you could make them in 30 min. or less if you did it the easy way. They can play with them for as long as they want. Plus you can save them for later- we did!

Notes:
Motivated boys to do chores: YES
Kept their attention: Not making them, but playing with them did. With young kids I would suggest making these beforehand and just letting them play with them.
Easy: NO
Stress Level for Mom: MEDIUM

Required supervision: YES (making), NO (playing)
Messy: NO
Breakable: Not really
Harmful/ Dangerous to play with: NO

Project 5: Wet Chalk Drawings

Another super easy project! This was so much fun! You can draw on the sidewalk with wet chalk too!

Supplies Needed: Chalk, Water, Black poster paper

How To:
Step 1-Put chalk in a container of water

Step 2- Get out your paper

Step 3- Draw on paper

Don't forget to keep your chalk wet though! It's really fun to watch the chalk dry right before your eyes on a hot day

We even got Daddy to participate with this one!

Prep: EASY
Clean-up: EASY if you do it outside!
Time it took: 30 min. maybe

Notes:
Motivated boys to do chores: YES, They got done early again!
Kept their attention: YES
Easy: YES
Stress Level for Mom: LOW

Required supervision: NO
Messy: Their hands were!
Breakable: NO
Harmful/ Dangerous to play with: NO

Marshmallow Blocks

Here is a super simple, easy idea for kids of all ages.

Supplies Needed: Different sized marshmallows, Plates or paper towels, Scissors

How To:
Step 1- Cut marshmallows in half and set on plates (older kids can help with this step)

Step 2- Let kids build!

Prep: MEDIUM
Clean-up: EASY to MEDIUM
Time it took: As long as they (or you) want! My boys played for about an hour.

Notes:
Motivated boys to do chores: YES, They even got done early!
Kept their attention: YES
Easy: YES
Stress Level for Mom: LOW

Required supervision: NO
Messy: Not really
Breakable: NO
Harmful/ Dangerous to play with: NO