Button Bookmarks

This craft idea is so easy that your child might not even need your help.

Grandma Shari loves to read, so Kira decided to make her some new bookmarks. We spent about 30 minutes making this, but only because we made several. Kira was having so much fun making her bookmarks that Marisa insisted on joining us to make a couple of her own.

What you need:

popsicle sticks
glue
buttons and jewels

What you do:

Spread glue on the popsicle stick.

Let your child line the popsicle stick with various buttons and jewels. This is a pretty open project. Your child can use whatever they like to make their bookmarks. Small, flat buttons tend to work best, though.

Lay the decorated popsicle stick on a flat surface and let dry overnight.

Rubbings

Children are delighted by crayons and paper. One simple project that you can teach your child how to do with paper and crayons is rubbings. Once your child knows how to do rubbings, she will happily entertain herself trying different surfaces and different color combinations.

What you need:

Various crayons without the paper wrappers (colored pencils are good, also)

Several pieces of paper

Several surfaces with designs (kitchen and bathroom floors are usually good for this)
**You can also purchase plastic surfaces at any art store for this project.**

What you do:

Lay a piece of paper over the surface. Use the side of the crayon to color the paper while pressing down slightly to rub the surface design into the coloring. Experiment with different colors and different surfaces.

You can use flowers, leaves, sandpaper or any object with an interesting design. Lay the object under the paper and use the side of the crayon to color the paper as stated above.

Gravestones, building signs, and other places with raised lettering can provide new and unique surfaces for your project. Use your imagination.

Let your child practice with every surface in your home and with different levels of pressure applied to the crayon. Then, if you feel particularly motivated, you can use this art project as an introduction to a lesson on textures. If not, you've at least managed to entertain your kids for a while.

Creative Collage

To entertain your child and provide creative opportunities, let your child make a collage.

What you need:

Clear contact paper

Pictures from magazines, cut out and ready to use (you can also use extra snapshot photos)

Silk flower petals

Confetti, glitter, string, any small items that you feel would be useful

What to do:

Remove the backing from the contact paper and place the paper sticky side up. You can use tape to secure the paper to the table for stability.

Let your child pick and choose what she wants to place onto the paper. The sticky backing of the contact paper will act like glue.

After your child has finished creating her masterpiece, place another piece of contact paper onto the artwork in order to create a "frame". Press the paper together to seal the sticky sides together.

Trim the excess contact paper from your masterpiece and then display your child's artwork.

The Shaky Bottle

This is an art project idea that I have read in many different locations over the years. Children will enjoy making and then shaking their very own shaky bottle.

Below is the instructions to create your very own shaky bottle.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 or more clean, empty plastic drink bottles (20 oz soda bottles are perfect)

Water (or baby oil to make the things inside fall slower)

Glitter and/or confetti

Glue

Small objects that can fit inside the bottle. (buttons, coins, beads)
Try to vary the weight of the objects so some will sink and some will float.
Also, be sure to use a variety of colors and designs for added interest.

Dish Detergent / Food Coloring (Optional)

WHAT YOU DO:

Gather all your supplies in one place. Consider doing this outside in the driveway or laying a sheet on the floor and doing this on the sheet. Glitter does tend to be messy and difficult to clean up.

Let your child pick which items he wants to put in his bottle. For a young child, limit the choices to 4 or 5 options because he will likely want them all. For an older child, you can have just about as many options as you can come up with and then tell your child to pick 4 or 5 big items and 4 or 5 small items. This gives your older child a great deal of control over his creation and we all know how children love to be in control.

Let him put all his chosen items into the bottle. Do this BEFORE you add the water to minimize the mess. The items should only fill the bottom of the bottle. With this project, using fewer items is best. Just be sure what you make available has very interesting features and varies in size, color and shape.

Let your child choose one or two colors of glitter / confetti to add to the bottle. It is best to limit the amount of glitter added to the bottle to maintain visibility when the bottle is shaken.

After your child has placed all of his items in the bottle, fill the bottle to the top with water.

You may also add a drop or two of dish detergent to make bubbles when the bottle is shaken, or a drop or two of food coloring to change the color of the water (light colors are best).

I recommend adding a bit of glue to the inside of the bottle lid before you close the bottle. This will keep your child from opening the bottle and shaking the contents all over your carpet, furniture and walls. (Not that our perfect little angels would EVER even consider doing such a thing...)