If I had a penny for every empty food container that I’ve saved for a craft project, I’d be a very rich woman. Here at Projectkid.com, we are serial (and cereal) upcyclers…both for the ecological impact on our planet and for the convenience factor (use what you have!). More than ever during this quarantined time, we’ve hoarded all the boxes, caps, lids, tubes and containers that have passed through our household. When you have a bin of these things in your house, it invites kids to inventively build three-dimensionally; they can innovate with their hands and don’t need to rely on craft kits.
When Stonyfield asked me what I could make with their quart-sized yogurt containers, my creative juices went on overdrive. Hats! Pencil cups! Drums! The tubs are sturdy and waterproof…so yes, a vase or planter would be perfect! I wanted to make vases that felt sculptural—something where you could recognize that the base is a simple quart size container but the boundaries of the basic cylinder were broken. Since duct tape is also waterproof, it was the perfect, colorful option to use on the outside.
These duct tape vases were so much fun to make. You can create people, animals, or just various abstract patterns. They make a great DIY gift idea this holiday season to make with your kids!
Cover the container with strips of duct tape, working from the top down.
Cut another strip of tape and stick a cotton ball to the back. Adhere the strip to the container, making sure that the cotton ball lands where the eye would be. Repeat for a second eye. Smooth the tape down around the eyes.
To make the eye lids, attach a piece of tape to parchment or wax paper and cut out crescent shapes. Attach to the top of the eyes.
Use a sharpie to draw the outlines, lashes, and pupils of eyes.
Cut a triangle from thin cardboard, about 2-by-2 inches and cover with duct tape. Fold in half and tape to the container as a nose, right in between the eyes. Draw on nostrils with sharpie.
To make the mouth, fold a piece of red duct tape to the center, and then to the center again from the opposite side. Cut out a top and bottom lip and use folded-over duct tape to attach just under the nose.
Now that you have the face, it’s time to add the features:
Ears: Cut two matching ears out of cardboard and cover with duct tape. Tape to either side of the head.
Short hair: Cut swoops of duct tape out and attach them along the top of the yogurt container.
Ringlets: Tear off a piece of duct tape, about 10 inches long. Lay a pipe cleaner down the center horizontally and fold tape over towards the center. Twirl the pipe cleaner/tape around a thick marker to make the ringlet and use a small piece of duct tape to tape the curl to the yogurt container.
Straight hair: To make bangs, adhere two 4-inch pieces of tape to each other. Fringe the ends and trim to the correct length. To make the hair, cut three pieces of duct tape: 6, 8 and 10 inches long. Fold each in half lengthwise. Make a loop with the shortest piece and tape ends together. Loop medium piece over the smallest loop, and the longest over the medium one. Use matching duct tape to secure to side of yogurt container. Repeat for the opposite side.
Make the body:
Peel the wrapper off of a single-serve Stonyfield Farms yogurt container and cover with duct tape.
Add details like collars, stripes or buttons to make the body.
Use a piece of folded duct tape to attach the body under the head.
There are few craft supplies I love more than a yarn pom-pom, but to make them en masse can get a little time-consuming…wrapping, trimming, shaping. When I saw that Oriental Trading had this mega pack of yarn pom-poms in great colors, I knew I just needed them near me. (You can also buy them in individual colors if you want to pick and choose.)
The DIY ornament possibilities are endless I tell you! Here are 5 different yarn pom-pom DIY Christmas ornaments that I made for Oriental Trading’s Fun 365 site. Head over there for the full how-to!
Back in August, due to the pandemic, our cousins and closest friends, Jane, Micah, and their son Harvey, (we call them frousins) moved out west to Seattle—none of us are from Brooklyn, but we were the only family that each other had here. It was also a bonus that we adored one another, travelled well together, and loved the same cocktails. After quarantining upstate for the early part of Covid, they realized how much they loved having space and the outdoors, especially for their 3-year-old son, Harvey. It was a heartbreak for all four of us, to say the least. Just one more pill to swallow from this tough time.
We always used to talk about how one day my kids, Sommer and Oliver, would babysit Harvey, teach him how to build the best train set, and show him the choice playgrounds of Brooklyn. It was especially heartbreaking for Sommer, as she had really forged a beautiful companionship with him.
For the holidays, we wanted to give him something that marked this moment of time both for him and for us, and we knew we wanted to do it in the form of a custom photo something. When I scrolled the designs that Mixbook has to offer, the ABC book by Ampersand Design Studio had me at hello. We could make an alphabet book for Harvey all about New York and our sweet three years together.
So Sommer and Oliver made lists of words…we knew that S would be for Sommer, O would be for Oliver, etc, but we had so much fun brainstorming all of the other letters of the alphabet. We finally settled on the 26 words and then went hunting through all of our photos to find the best pics (and for some we actually went on a literal walk down memory lane to shoot them).
The Mixbook software was so easy to use that Sommer was able to upload the photos and drop them into the pages. I helped her move around the layouts and letters—she felt super proud to be able to say she designed her own ABC book! The designs and colors of our template were so delightful that there wasn’t anything major for us to change. And honestly, it was screen time spent with my daughter that I wasn’t mad about! (Moms, you know what I’m talking about, right?) We got to work together and laugh at memories and awwww over all of the sweet pics.
With Mixbook.com you don’t have to be a designer to produce a beautiful product. You can customize as much as you want, or just follow the huge variety of templates that they offer for books, calendars, cards, or wall art. Order for a someone that you haven’t been able to see for this holiday! Use code PKID50 for 50% off your first book now through December 30, 2020!
When Harvey was born, it was the closest I would come to having a third child. I jumped at every chance to hold him, feed him, even change a diaper in the early days. And nothing makes me happier than Harvey learning his ABCs from this special book we made.
Normally the range of the gifts that mom might want would be vast…maybe a new piece of jewelry, a purse, bath salts are always nice, or even an edible gift. But this year, there is only one category that matters—anything that can be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home!
This year, moms in quarantine, which essentially is all moms, need any and all things that bring light, hope, comfort—basically any morsel of joy.
I put together this list with me in mind…and my best friend, and my sister, and our school principal. I’d say this mom gift guide is “one-size-fits-most.”
It always takes me a bit of time to transition between Halloween decor and the December holidays, and sadly that means Thanksgiving usually lives in my house for, oh, about a week. So, first, let me apologize that I have inflicted my procrastination on you!
But this beauty is one that you can make and hang from year to year. Send the kids out in the backyard to collect acorn caps and then order your wool felt pom-poms and wreath forms from Oriental Trading.
Typically we are so psyched for the first big holiday break of the school year. During the Thanksgiving time off, we normally get to unwind with our kids, visit with family, catch up on shopping and errands, but this year we are basically doing none of that (except for the excessive time spent with our kids)! You have probably exhausted every arsenal in your bag of tricks for keeping your kids busy, entertained, and hopefully off screens (yeah right).
I’ve gathered a few goodies together that might help with the Thanksgiving ennui…both yours and your kids! Click the links below to shop!
1|Rainbow Wall Hanging Weaving Kit. I’ve seen these adorable crafts all over Instagram and here’s a kit to make one for yourself!
2| The Handmade Charlotte Playbook will keep your kids busy through next spring! Handmade Charlotte has been serving up delightful crafts and treats for years, and now it’s your turn to own this amazing craft encyclopedia. If you need to stock up on your crafts supplies, I’ve saved my faves to this Amazon list!
3| Stay in the Thanksgiving spirit with this adorable Thanksgiving Craft Kit from Cottonwood Home. It comes with 6 activities to get your gobble on! (Their words, not mine!)
4| Another craft craze that I can’t get enough of is the punch needle activity. This Wool Queen Punch Needle Kit comes with everything you need to make this beautiful, colorful landscape. You may even want to take over once the kids go to bed…it’s SO satisfying! If you are interested in more punch need projects, check out Rose Pearlman’s book, Modern Rug Hooking. She’s the queen of this skill!
5| Get the littlest of hands started in the fiber arts with this Little Explorers Play Bead Sewing Kit. It comes with al the basic supplies to help your little one experiment with his or her first sewing project.
6| Take some time for yourself and start up a project! I fell in love with these sweet mittens; and you can buy the pattern and the yarn on Etsy.
7| I am ready to add this Woven Beaded Ring kit to my shopping cart! This is a great activity for the phone-obsessed tweens and teens in your life.
Art is in the eye of the beholder, but this artist is undeniably adorable! This quick and easy costume is a great last-minute choice for the kid who can’t make up her mind! You likely have many of the crafty items at home, and you can pair them with these perfect pieces from Primary.com to give your artist that extra je ne sais quoi! I love the french striped look alongside the more funky star pant, giving this little painter an edgy vibe.
When we were trying to think of Halloween costumes that could naturally sport a face-mask (because, let’s face it, if your kids are doing anything with other kids on Halloween, even trick-or-treating, face masks are a must!), the idea of a beekeeper came to mind. No, they don’t typically require the face mask, but you can double up with a face mask and face shield if you want to be extra safe (both from imaginary bees and bugs of the viral type).
We started with our clothing pieces from Primary…all you need is just two simple pieces that your kid will be comfortable in! And again, one of the best parts of this costume is that nothing is attached permanently, so they can wear the clothing IRL, post-Halloween.
And of course this beekeeper needs to show off the honey (CANDY!) that he’s collected, so you can make these easy honey-jar candy-carrier from an upcycled oatmeal container.
This is a great DIY Halloween costume to make with your young kids. They will love bringing pom-poms to live as buzzing bumblebees!
Glue the small black pom-pom to the end of the yellow pom-pom as the bee’s head.
Cut small teardrop shapes from the peach felt and glue onto the top/back of the bee as the wings.
Attach bees to clothing with glue dots.
MAKE THE HAT
Paint the hat white (optional).
Hot glue a 6-inch wide piece of tulle all the way around the lip of the hat with the opening in the back.
Use glue dots or hot-glue to attach bees to hat.
MAKE THE HONEY CANDY CARRIER
Cut 3 long strands of yellow/orange rope or yarn and braid them together. Knot them at each end and hot-glue inside the oatmeal container.
Cut drips out of one color of cardstock and glue them to the top edge of the secondary color.
Now you need to add the word HONEY to the front. You can write it with a marker, use letter stickers, or cut out the word using your Cricut. Here’s my template here if you’d like to use it (ours was 6 inches wide).
In 2020, I’d say the newest verb to hit the lexicon is “to zoom.” Kids, executives, and college friends…we all zoom. All. The. Time. What was just an onomatopoeia word back in February, is now a non, a verb…a whole new way of living!
So when I embarked upon a 2020 Halloween Costume project with Primary, I knew that I needed to tackle Zoom as one of my costumes. And what is Zoom? It’s business up top, party on the bottom…am I right? Primary has so many amazing basics that feel so soft and cozy, you’d actually never know you were wearing a button-down.
Download our printable to make the color-yourself Zoom frames, and iron-on the “mute” symbol onto a Primary mask.
Create a 1/2″ border of black tape around the cardboard. Fold the tape over to cover the edges.
Print out the template 1 and template 2 (each template has a mix of different face styles); cut and color the frames to match your classmates. Write the names in the lower left-hand corner.
Glue the frames to the cardboard, leaving the center clear (for most, you’ll need about 18 colored frames.)
Measure the height and width of your child’s head and sketch their head-shape on a piece of cardstock. Cut it out. Trace this shape onto the top of the cardboard.
Carefully cut out the head shape from the cardboard with the x-acto knife.
Cut a piece of elastic that stretches over the back of the face opening, measuring it against the child’s head. Glue it to either side of the opening
To make the mask, print this template onto iron-on material or using red vinyl on your Cricut (we sized ours to 3″ tall). Iron the design to the mask following the instructions on the materials’ packaging.
This is such a fun DIY Halloween costume because your kids will really get into helping you with the coloring and naming the members of the Zoom! Thanks to Primary for the amazing clothes that made this happen!
If one good thing came out of this crazy 2020, it’s that the public-at-large recognized the true importance of the Essential Worker. This year, at Project Kid, we could have made 83 different essential worker costumes, from doctors to nurses to grocery store clerks to fire fighters.
But since healthcare has been the real focus of the year, we are honoring the people that work in the hospitals—the doctors, nurses, hospitalists, physician assistants—all of ’em with this essential workerHalloween costume.
We were excited to get to work with Primary again this year on our Halloween 2020 costumes! They have the best, most durable basics that fit and last until your child grows out of em. And with these costumes, your kiddo will get to wear, play, and quarantine in these clothes long after Halloween.
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