crafts for kids – kerricreates

DIY Rustic Christmas Tree Banner

Published on December 11, 2021 by kerricreatesblog2 Comments

Each year, I try to incorporate some type of Christmas craft into our Advent activities. When my kids were younger, we would often take nature walks and collect all sorts of natural treasures. My kids are older now, and nature walks are a distant memory, but this remains one of my favorite DIY Christmas crafts that we made together.

This simple and inexpensive Christmas Tree Banner will add a rustic touch to your holiday decor and kids will have so much fun collecting sticks and twigs to use for their creations. You will need to pre-cut white or off white card stock in rectangles or pendants and purchase some wooden stars, gold paint, twine, and glue. Before your nature walk, take a few minutes to paint your wooden stars with the gold paint. #CommissionsEarned

Bundle up, grab a bag, and go on a stick hunt. Look for sticks in a variety of lengths, but try to find ones in a similar width around. Once you get home, hand each child a piece of the pre-cut banner and let them sort through the sticks, breaking pieces off to for their Christmas Tree, and working their way from bottom to top, while leaving a bit of room for a star.

Glue the sticks in place, including a vertical twig for the trunk and add one of your gold stars to the top of each twig tree. Once all of your banner pieces have dried and you have hole punched the top, thread your twine through and find the perfect place to hang your rustic Christmas Tree Banner.

For more fun Christmas ideas check out the following blogposts:

Advent

The Polar Express & Graham Cracker Trains

Turn Dad into A Snowman

Glittery Christmas Silhouettes

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

DIY Shadow Puppets

Published on September 20, 2017September 20, 2017 by kerricreatesblogLeave a comment

A couple weeks ago our family went camping, which is a really big deal, because we are NOT campers! Two of our kids attend a school where they have a Fall Campout each year so we committed to staying one night…and although my husband and I both agree that we are more “glampers,” than campers, we ended up having a ton of fun and our kids loved the whole experience. I have a feeling we will be camping again!

My daughter was super excited because her daddy bought her a pink flashlight and she was really looking forward to making shadow puppets in the tent with her big brothers. Of course, when we got home, she wanted to create some animal shadow puppets to play with. One evening, last week, we went to work creating these cute little popsicle stick puppets that have provided a ton of content for imaginary play and story telling for little miss.

I used my Cricut Expression 2 to cut out the animals and other shapes, but if you do not have a Cricut, simply create a document with templates that you can cut out of card stock. Here is one I put together that you can print off and use to make your own animal shadow puppets without using a Cricut. animal template pdf

The possibilities are endless with these little puppets. You can create seasonal themes, print off silhouettes of your child’s favorite story book or movie characters, weather puppets, dinosaurs, garden, farm, cars, princesses, fairies, and so much more.

One thing that I realized, after creating so many characters, was that they were hard to hold onto. So with an old shoebox and a pair of scissors, I created a diy holder for all of the puppets. This made a perfect “stage” for my daughter to put the puppets on as she told her story. The great part about using a shoebox, is that it doubles as storage to hold all of the characters and a flashlight so they are contained & easy to find for future use.

Check out my video tutorial above for tips on making some shadow puppets with your own children.

Back to School Word Bracelets

Published on August 13, 2017August 13, 2017 by kerricreatesblogLeave a comment

My daughter starts 2nd grade this week and she is beyond excited to go back to school. She can’t wait to see all of her friends and meet her new teacher. She is full of confidence and joy and counting down the days.

But this was not the case two years ago when she started Kindergarten. She was scared. She was starting at a new school. She didn’t know any of the kids in her class, and she had never been away from me for that many hours a day. In pre-school, her teacher let her bring a stuffed animal to school that she could snuggle with if she felt sad or missed mommy, but I knew that we couldn’t expect that to be ok in Kindergarten. That is where the “word bracelets” idea came from.

I told Karis that we would sit down and create some bracelets that she could wear to help her remember that mommy loved her and would pick her up right after school. We talked about how when she felt sad or missed me, she could touch the bracelet and be reminded of my love. The idea sparked more conversation about what other things she might want to remember at school, so we brainstormed other words and these are what we came up with…

love
joy
confidence
kindness
brave
peace
calm

These words provided great conversation for kindergarten preparation as we talked about what each word meant. I told her that she could choose one or more bracelet to wear each day depending on what she felt she needed to be reminded of.

I wish I could say that the first few weeks of school were a breeze for Karis, but it was not an easy transition for her. Thankfully, she had a very kind teacher and sweet classmates who helped her to become comfortable at her school. And I’m sure her word bracelets also helped to reassure her in those sad moments of missing her family.

Maybe you have a child starting a new school and you are looking for something to help them with that transition. Or maybe there is a word that would help your child with a character trait that they are working on. Pick up some plastic beads, letter beads, and stretchy string and spend time making bracelets with your child. Not only with they love their creations, but they will also love the quality time spent with you.

For another “Back to School” idea, check out my post: DIY Visual Schedule For Kids

DIY Magnetic Marble Track

Published on July 30, 2017July 30, 2017 by kerricreatesblogLeave a comment

At the beginning of this summer, we spent a day at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, CA. If you’ve never been there, it is such a fun experience with tons of hands on exhibits. One of my daughter’s favorites was a wall with plastic magnetic tubes to create a “marble track” and little balls to test it out on. She spent quite awhile rearranging the tubes to make different tracks and trying them out. As I watched her, I started thinking about how I could make something similar at home, and this idea was born.

I began saving toilet paper and paper towel rolls and waiting for just the right time to create our DIY Magnetic Marble Track. This Saturday was the perfect day! My oldest was away at camp with his youth group and my two younger kids were having a pajama day. My husband was taking a nap and the kids were getting “bored,” so together we created this super fun “boredom buster!”

Check out my daughter’s “Craft Time With Karis” video tutorial (above) to learn how to make these with your own kids. It took some trial and error, but we figured out the best way to keep the tracks up and the best balls to use. Here are a couple of tips:

make sure your magnets are strong enough…we tried some at first that would not hold
use light weight balls: we found my son’s Nerf Rival Bullet Balls to be the perfect balls for this project. Small bouncy balls were a close second. Marbles were too heavy and knocked the tracks right off. Experimenting with different options is part of the fun!
even though we used magnets that were sticky on one side, it is best to hot glue them as well for a stronger hold

For more “Craft Time With Karis” videos click on the following:

DIY Kids Magnetic Puzzles

Colored (RAINBOW) Rice

Tricky Hopscotch (with a twist)

Valentine Craft: Cookie Cutters & Paint

DIY Kids Magnetic Puzzles

Published on April 22, 2017April 22, 2017 by kerricreatesblog1 Comment

Coloring pages, painting, and puzzles…three things my girl loves, all combined into one project. This is a super simple craft that your kids can do at home and you only need a couple of items, most of which you probably already have.

To make DIY Magnetic Puzzles, you will need:

adhesive magnetic tape
white card stock
paint, crayons, or markers
scissors or a paper cutter

Your child can print a coloring page from the computer or create their own art. The possibilities for unique puzzles are endless! This activity can be modified for very young children by cutting fewer puzzle pieces, and can be made challenging for older children by cutting a variety of shapes.

Watch my daughter’s “Craft Time With Karis” tutorial (above) to learn how to make some DIY Magnetic Puzzles of your own.

For more “Craft Time With Karis” fun, check out these other blog posts:

Colored (Rainbow) Rice

Tricky Hopscotch (With A Twist)

Valentine Craft: Cookie Cutters & Paint

Colored (RAINBOW) Rice

Published on April 14, 2017April 14, 2017 by kerricreatesblog2 Comments

I love setting up sensory bins for my kids. Over the years, we have done white rice, beans, popcorn kernels, shaving cream, salt, and more, but we have never made rainbow colored rice. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make!

This week, my kids are on Spring Break and the weather forecasted several rainy days. Since we were staying home this week, I decided that I’d plan a couple of fun activities to keep us busy. I picked up a large package of inexpensive white rice and some Wilton’s Gel Food Colors at Target and began looking at recipes for colored rice. Some recipes called for rubbing alcohol, but I wanted to make ours without, so I found that vinegar was a great alternative for setting the colors without the alcohol.

My daughter and I had so much fun making this rice! She actually made it almost all by herself! We created this little video tutorial (below) as part of her kid’s series “Craft Time With Karis.”

In the past couple of days, “Colored (rainbow) Rice” has provided hours of sensory and imaginary play. Karis added some little bunnies and plastic eggs for Easter play. She put plastic dolphins and other animals in too, and yesterday we included some cardboard with holes cut out and a funnel for pouring rice. This inspired Karis to create an imaginary town called “Flowerville” while she played with her animals and rainbow rice.

Watch our tutorial to learn how to make some “Colored (rainbow) Rice” with your kids!

More “Craft Time With Karis” Fun:

Tricky Hopscotch (with a twist)

Valentine Craft (Cookie Cutters & Paint)

Valentine Craft: Cookie Cutters & Paint

Published on February 3, 2017February 4, 2022 by kerricreatesblog5 Comments

Today I’m introducing a new series on Kerri Creates called “Craft Time with Karis.” So many of my crafting inspirations have to do with my kids, so I thought it would be fun to bring my daughter in as my little crafting sidekick! She’s always up for an art project and I love providing creative opportunities for her.

“Craft Time With Karis” debuts with a simple and inexpensive Valentine Craft that we put together with a few things we already had around our house…cookie cutters, paint, and paper bags. Enjoy this little video tutorial we created, and subscribe to our youtube channel for up and coming “Craft Time With Karis” videos. #CommissionsEarned

For more Valentine fun check out the following blogposts:

Valentine Marshmallow Pops

Valentine Paper Garland

Valentine Words of Affirmation for Kids

Valentine Hearts Cake

Thanksgiving Turkey Place Cards

Published on June 14, 2016October 29, 2021 by kerricreatesblog3 Comments

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I love the food, the family time, and all the yummy desserts. Involving the kids in the preparations makes the anticipation even greater. Each year, I give my kids an activity to do before we pack up and make the trip to visit family for Thanksgiving. We made these place cards several years ago, and I have to say, they are still one of my favorites. To make these cute turkey place cards for your Thanksgiving table you will need card stock in plain colors, scrapbooking paper in various fall prints for the feathers, and buttons or googly eyes. Cut out rectangles of card stock and fold in half for the cards, cut out the basic turkey shape, small orange triangles for beaks, red squiggly gobbles, and feathers in various prints. Hand out glue sticks and let your kids get creative with the design of their turkeys. Leave some room on one side to place the names. I just printed a list of names off of the computer and then backed them with dark brown card stock to make them pop. These little place cards looked perfect on our Thanksgiving table, and my kids were very proud of their creations! #CommissionsEarned

My daughter and I recently added a tutorial for you to enjoy and you can find another fun kid friendly Thanksgiving idea by clicking on my most recent blogpost Thanksgiving (Turkey Handprint) Kids Table. Happy Thanksgiving!