Butcher Paper

Butcher paper is always a good thing to have on hand. On a rainy day you can roll it out on the floor and just let the kids go nuts. In the summer you can tape it to a fence outside and let the kids paint it. It's great for making holiday banners, and of course for tracing each other. You'll notice in the picture, this little guy wanted to wear a football helmet!

Mud and Bugs Cake

Everyone makes mud and bugs pudding, but to put a twist on the idea, we decided to make a mud and bugs cake. We just made a chocolate cake (from a box) and frosted it with chocolate icing. (from a can) Then we sprinkled crushed up oreos on top and stuck on the gummy worms. Mmmmm gross!

Octodog

I will never again serve a plain old hot dog. A couple years ago I saw a commercial for this fancy gadget that cuts your hotdog into an octopus. I decided that it was a waste of money and I could make an octodog myself. I was right. Just lay the hotdog down flat and cut it lenghwise about halfway up, turn it 90 degrees and repeat. Now you should have four little tentacles. Carefully cut each tentacle in half and you've made an octodog! I recommend cutting before cooking. If you cook it in boiling water, the tentacles will curl up and look really cool, but the microwave works fine too. The one in the picture was done in the microwave. I wish I had a better picture. I like to serve octodogs over a bed of blue mac and cheese. (Kraft with blue food coloring) Of course these are for the older kids. ALWAYS cut up your hotdogs into tiny pieces for toddlers.

Nuts about you

You are probably looking at this picture wondering what the heck it is. It's actually peanut card that is unfolded. I took a picture of it drying, but never took a picture of it folded later on. This was made for someone who really likes peanuts. I simply took a large piece of brown card stock and folded it in half and drew a peanut shape, leaving the rounded parts of one side hanging over the folded edge. Then I cut it out, folded it half and let the kids have at it. They wrote on the inside first and then came the fun part. They ate a bunch of shelled peanuts and saved the shells in a zip lock bag. Then they crushed up the shells in the bag and and painted the whole outside of the card with glue. They shook the shells on like glitter, and let it dry. (This a job that will be done outside next time) When it was all done it was actually pretty cute, and free since we already had the card stock, peanuts, and glue.

Inside we wrote something like "We know it gets pretty nutty around here, but we are nuts about you. We'll try hard not to drive you nuts this year!"

Fall Wreath

This is a really easy fall craft. (I know, more plates) Every year, they sell bags of fake leaves at the dollar store and craft stores. Last year, we used some to make wreaths. You just cut out the center of a paper plate, give the kids a pile of leaves and some Elmer's glue and let em have at it. Then you can punch a hole in the plate and attach a piece of string to hang it up.

Chicks

These are some cute little chicks we made with paper plates. (I told you I like paper plates) The kids painted the plates yellow and glued on the google eyes, beak, and feather. The beaks were made from a piece of paper. Just fold it in half, cut out a triangle, and unfold. We didn't have any orange construction paper at the time, so we had to use white paper and color it orange. The legs were made from pipe cleaners. I twisted them around my finger to give them some curl and taped them onto the plates. These are a great Easter or spring craft.

Beanie Baby Bed

I have two little friends who have two little cats that they once loved almost as much as their blankies. They found some styrofoam bowls and started using those as cat beds. The cats looked most uncomfortable though, so I decided to spruce up their sleeping quarters. Now I don't sew, but I made a trip to the fabric store and bought a large piece of red fabric. I cut out two large squares and stuck cotton balls in the center. Then I took the edges of the fabric squares and bunched them up around the cotton balls. I first tried hot gluing them shut which didn't work so well, so I resigned to the needle and thread. I sewed them shut and when I was done, it looked like something a first grader did. It didn't matter though because I covered the whole sewed up mess in hot glue and stuck it inside the bowl. Now, only the good side was visible and I was pretty proud of my work. I added some decorative ribbons and wrote the cat's names on their beds to avoid confusion. Nipper and Moon Light slept like babies that night.