Ink It Up! Kids

Kids Birthday Party Activities

The girls and I attended a fun birthday party for a 6 year old yesterday.  The mom split the kids up into two groups.  One group stayed downstairs to stamp some Halloween cards...

 
while the other group went upstairs to decorate pumpkins.  Then they switched.

The activities kept the kids busy and avoided the chaos of sixteen kiddos running around wild.

Tips for decorating pumpkins:

• Carving and gutting is just too much for young kids.  Keep the pumpkins intact. 
• If you're daring, give them fine-tip permanent markers to draw with.  If you're not (I'm not!) give them dry erase markers.  It will wipe off, but they can decorate the same pumpkin over and over!  
• Halloween stickers - regular, sparkly and foam were all popular!
• Need more sparkle?  Add some glitter glue.

What's your favorite Halloween craft?  Leave a comment!

Let them Be Creative!

The thing I love about kids is that they don't have some of the inhibitions that adults do.  When they craft they don't worry about it... they just do it!

Yesterday Rachel was home "sick" from school.  Sick enough that I couldn't send her to school, but not too sick to be bouncing off the walls with a need for entertainment.  So I let her loose in the stamping room while I was setting up for club and here's what she came up with...

Rachel was very proud of her artwork and took it to school today to give to her teacher. 

KID TIP: Let your kids know what items they are allowed to use and what things are "off limits".  I make sure that Rachel has plenty of accessories and papers of her own to use so that she doesn't use something of mine that I have for my own projects.

Want more tips for crafting with kids? Become an Ink It Up! Kids Facebook Fan!

Paper Bag Puppets

The girls and I made some paper bag puppets this weekend, thanks to our recent back to school sale shopping.

This alligator puppet was one of the more difficult ones, but the girls love to attack each other with it.

The Big Shot made this puppet a snap and I did use sticky strip for extra hold.

Supplies used: Big Shot die-cut machine, Baskets & Blooms bigz xl die (for eyes), Pennant bigz xl die (for large snapping mouth), extended cutting pads, Glorious Green card stock, white computer paper, black marker, paper bag, glue stick and sticky strip

Contact me for more information about the Big Shot or to order supplies to make your own puppets.

Keep the Kids Busy

This is a craft that I have used multiple times this summer to keep the girls busy while I finished a project.  So, pull out your paper scraps!

My girls enjoyed making these placemats and are so proud every time we use them at supper.  Here's Emily's...

and Rachel's...

Supplies needed: Contact Paper, masking tape, paper scraps (my bin contains some die cut shapes and stamped images), stickers, etc.

How to make a Placemat: 

1. Cut two sheets of Contact Paper the same size. (Whatever size you want your placemat to be.)
2. Peel off the paper backing of one of the sheets of Contact Paper and tape STICKY SIDE UP to the table. (I used a piece of masking tape on each corner.
3. Put card stock, die-cuts, stickers, etc all over the contact paper to decorate. You'll want to remind them to keep items about 1/2" in from the edges of the contact paper.
4. When they are finished decorating their placemats, attach the second sheet of contact paper on top.  Tip:  Only peel the backing off the second sheet a little bit at a time.  Match up two of the side corners first and then use one hand to smooth the bubbles out as you slowly move to the other side.
5. Trim edges if needed.