Using a mix of household, recycled, and traditional craft supplies, your kids will feel so proud of the work they’ve done when they see this colorful penguin holding up her books!

What you’ll need:

• One 17-ounce plastic drink bottle

• 2 to 3 cups of sand

• Funnel

• 1 baby sock

• 4 to 5 cotton balls

• White and yellow felt

• Scissors

• 2 tiny black pom-poms

• Tacky glue

• One 2.-inch piece of wire

• One 2 cm felt bead 

• 1 Tyvek envelope

• Washi tape

• 2 colors of yarn

1. Clean out the bottle and remove all labels. Fill it with sand and replace the cap.
2. To make the penguin’s head, stuff the baby sock with cotton balls and slip it over the top of the bottle.
3. To make the eyes, cut two circles about the size of a plain M&M from white felt. Glue a tiny black pom-pom to each. Glue the circles onto the sock.
4. To make the beak, fold a piece of yellow felt and cut a 1⁄4-inch triangle on the crease. Glue the crease onto the sock about 1⁄2 inch below the eyes.
5. To make the earmuffs, bend the wire into a headband shape. Cut the felt bead in half and glue a piece to each end of the wire, rounded side facing out. Slip the earmuffs onto the penguin’s head and glue to secure.
6. Cut two wing shapes (pointed at one end, cut straight across on the other) from the Tyvek envelope, about two-thirds the height of your bottle and about 3 inches across at the widest point. Cover the wings with strips of washi tape and glue the top, straight edge of each wing around the neck of the bottle.
7. To give the penguin a scarf, braid three 20-inch strands of yarn (the finished scarf will be about 16 inches long). If the yarn is thin, you may want to double or triple it (as shown) to give it some thickness.
8. Finally, to make the feet, fold a 3-inch square of yellow felt in half and cut a 2-inch-tall half heart shape on the crease. Glue it to the bottom of the bottle, rounded points facing out.

Excerpt from Project Kid. Photo by Alexandra Grablewski. 

Whether your kid is playing Kermit in the school play or you just have a big ole pile of green cupcake liners laying around, this frog-mask craft is so cute and fun to make. Here are the step-by-step directions that are as easy 1-2-ribbit.

Step 1: Make the Base

Make a base for the mask by drawing two slightly overlapping 3″-diameter circles onto green cardstock; cut out the shape without cutting through the intersecting lines.

Tip: Use a jelly jar or similar size jar to trace the circles. Fold two matching regular-size green baking cups in half. Attach the folded cups to the bottom half of each mask circle using glue dots.

Step 2: Form Face

Flatten a mini green baking cup, and fold it in half for the nose. Mark two black dots for nostrils on the center, unpleated portion of the baking cup. Cut a regular-size green baking cup in half, then fold one piece in half to make the mouth. To make a tongue, cut two 3/4 x 2″ strips from a red baking cup. Adhere the pieces together with right sides facing out. Round one end, and glue a black pom-pom to the end. Cut a small heart from white paper, and glue it to the pom-pom to make a fly. Adhere the nose, tongue, and mouth together with an adhesive squares as shown. Attach the pieces to the center of the mask using adhesive squares.

Step 3: Add Eyes

Fold four regular-size green baking cups in half. Attach the pieces to the mask as shown using adhesive squares. Add details using a black marker. Place a mini white baking cup inside a standard green baking cup. Cut a circle through the layers in the center. Then, use a marker to outline the hole with a thick black line. Join the pieces using adhesive squares to make an eye. Repeat to make a second eye.

Step 5: Finish Mask

Attach the eyes to the top of the mask using adhesive squares. Trim the mask base to prevent it from blocking the eyeholes. Attach a crafts stick to the back of the side of the mask base for a handle.

Crafted by Project Kid; originally published at Better Homes and Gardens. 

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Just a week ago when I heard that schools had closed in Japan, I was flabbergasted and thought there is no way that can happen here in the United States. But now it appears that a quarantine of sorts is upon us and while chatting at the school bus stop this morning, my fellow parents were really panicking about what they were going to do with their kids for weeks on end, with all after-school activities closed and no kids’ entertainment venues open.

So today I put together this list of craft supplies — some you may already have in your craft cabinet and some might surprise you a bit. We’ve got the basics…a glue gun, paint, buttons…and some that are way more random like shaving cream and clothespins.

In this post, I’m highlighting three of the materials that might not be as obvious to you, in hopes that it inspires you to craft, and perhaps invent your own creative uses for these things.

Clothespins

Clothespins usually come in packs of a gazillion and seriously that’s okay! They are useful for so many things beyond hanging the sheets out to dry or closing up the pretzel bag. Here are some of my fave crafts to do with clothespins.

Clothespin dolls

I made these cute, colorful ones for a story in Make It Yourself magazine—instructions are below!

What you’ll need:

• Clothespin
• Black and red markers
• 2 colors of yarn
• Scissors
• Felt
• 1” wood doll head/knob
• Colored wooden beads
• Aleene’s® Tacky Glue

1. Color the  bottom “feet” 1/2” of the clothespin black.
2. Make a pom-pom by wrapping yarn approximately thirty times around an object about 1 ½” inches wide. Cut the bundle from the skein, slip it off of the object, then cut and loosely tie a 6-inch piece of yarn around the bundle. 
3. To get the clothespin in the middle of the pom-pom, wiggle it down through the middle top of the loops until it comes out the bottom. Tightly tie the center tie, and snip through all loops until a pom-pom is formed. Trim pompom to form a tutu shape.
4. Wrap yarn around the clothespin just above the pom-pom, leaving about ½” of the tip of the clothespin exposed. Add a dot of glue to secure end.
5. Fold felt in half and cut a 1”-long wide heart shape. Glue on the back of the wrapped yarn as wings. 
6. Paint hair onto the wooden doll head and let dry. Draw eyes and mouth on, then glue bun bead to the back top of head. Push head onto the closed end of the clothespin.

Clothespin Family Magnets

Design each one to look like a member of the family and use them as an old-fashioned message center…no texting required! You can find the instructions here.

Clothespin Watermelon Fan

As we are nearing warmer weather, we gotta get our gear in gear! This accordion-folded fan uses a clothespin to keep it all together.

What you’ll need:

• 2 sheets of thin pink scrapbook paper
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Green, pink and thin light green washi tape
• Black marker
• Pink clothespin

1. Cut each piece of paper to 8” tall.
2. Stripe the top edge with dark green washi tape and then a light green strip just below.
3. Accordion fold the papers into about ½” segments. Glue stick the two ends together.
4. Draw watermelon seeds on the pink paper.
5. Clip the clothespin to the gathered side and wrap pink washi tape around it to secure.

Wood Blocks

I know this sounds like a random supply, but wood blocks are such a simple material and kids can get really excited and inventive when presented with a 3D solid wood shape. And…don’t feel left out! You can get in on the fun too with this fun decor DIY below!

Painted Blocks

You can paint them with abstract patterns on the blocks, with letters and numbers, windows and doors to create buildings, or paint little pictures on each to make story-telling blocks. (If you are looking for the basic cubes, those are also available.)

Painted Block Pendant Light

This painted wood block pendant lamp hangs in my kids’ room and I still love it as much as the day I made it! The instructions that are linked in this post are super easy.

Painted Box Car

This craft is made with paper boxes, but imagine how sturdy and awesome it could be with a few tweaks when made with wood?

Cupcake Liners

Aside from the obvious baking use, cupcake liners are a great craft supply! They come in bright colors, adorable patterns, and they hold paint and marker pigments really well! Here are three projects that were featured in Better Homes and Gardens many years ago.

Award Ribbons

We could all use a little encouragement these days, so go ahead and make award ribbons from cupcake liners, celebrating all of life’s little accomplishments. Stack your faves and trim the inner ones down to let the outer ones show. Use ribbon or paper or even strips of cupcake liners as the pieces that hang down. We used glue dots to hold it all together which keeps this craft super clean.

Frog Mask

I have no memory of what possessed us to make this craft, but I love it! Follow the step-by-step photos here to turn you little one into your own living Kermit the Frog using cupcake liners!

Cupcake Liner Butterflies

Cupcake liners AND clothespins! This craft wins the prize for using two of my favorites. Use paint or markers to add some color to the wings.

1. Fold four cupcake liners in half, then in half again. For younger kids, draw a scalloped line with a pencil, then have them cut each baking cup into rounded edges.

2. Dampen a foam paintbrush before dipping into watercolor pigments. Paint the edges of each wing using watercolor paint, or grab a marker and get coloring! You can use glitter and glue, markers, stickers, and more to make each butterfly unique.

3. Overlap two wings so the scallops are staggered and don’t line up exactly. Glue the wings together and repeat with the remaining pair of wings. Hold the wings together at the inner folds using a clothespin. Cut a single piece of twine for antennae, and insert it into the clothespin above the wings. Bonus points if you color the clothespin, too!

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Clothespins are a staple in my craft room. While they work wonders to keep my pretzels from going stale and make for a gorgeous, old-fashioned scene of hanging the white sheets out to dry on a breezy summer day, they are also a super fun craft supply that can be made into a gazillion things.

I made these fun magnet clips for my first book, Project Kid, and they still remain one of my faves. You can find the instructions below, and check out this post for a way to turn them into one of our favorite furry friends!

What you’ll need:

• Clothespins

• Fine-tip markers

• Self-adhesive magnets

• Large, medium, and small wood circle cutouts

• Embroidery thread in the colors of your family members’ hair

• Scissors

• Aleene’s® Tacky glue

• Various ribbons

• 1 toothpick

1. Color one side of each clothespin with a marker. Adhere a magnet to the uncolored side of the clothespin.

2. Draw faces on the larger circles for adults, and the medium ones for kids. Glue to the top of the colored side of the clothespin.

3. Create hair by wrapping embroidery thread around your fingers eight to ten times: one finger for a baby’s tuft, three for short hair, and four or more for longer hair. Cut the thread from the skein and twist once in the middle. Glue onto the circle at the point of the twist.

4. To create a necktie, tie a knot in a 1⁄2-inch-wide ribbon, leaving about 2 inches below the knot. Cut the bottom of the ribbon into a V shape. Glue it below the face.

5. To create a neck or hair bow, simply tie a bow with ribbon and glue it to the face.

6. To create a lollipop, draw two swirls of contrasting colors onto a small wood circle. Cut the toothpick to 3⁄4 inch and glue it to the back of the circle. Glue to the face.

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I think we are all moving through this scary, confusing time with so many questions. How will the coronavirus pandemic affect me and my kids? Will my kids get sick? And what am I going to do with my kids all day long indefinitely if schools are closed because of Covid-19? This is a legit concern, and while I’m not a doctor here to dispense any knowledge on the reality that upon us, I can speak to that indefinite stretch of time that you may see ahead of you with your kids at home due to school closings.

Ok, so first, you need to have supplies on hand (and I’m not talking hand-sanitizer—though you should have that too). Start there. I’ve made this nifty Amazon list of materials that are open-ended enough to give your kids so many options for crafting. You can check out this post for different ways to use those materials, for the ones that might feel a little more mysterious to you.

Here are some of my favorite projects that will keep your kids busy and unplugged during all of this open-ended time at home!

Stuffed Animal Superhero Cape

I think my kids might choose their stuffed animals over their actual parents in a true emergency. They love and revere these stuffed creatures beyond imagination. Grab for that felt, ribbon, and Aleene’s® Fabric Fusion (I love the pen version for kids!) to make these precious super-hero capes for their favorite furry friends. Decorate with pompoms, rhinestones, buttons, or whatever you have on hand.

Marbleized Paper

Making marbleized paper with shaving cream and food coloring is addictive (I swear you’ll find yourself wanting a tray all to yourself to make notecards and gift-tags!). Spread shaving cream  evenly on a plate (for small projects) or cookie sheet (for large projects) and drop a few dots of food coloring around the surface of the shaving cream. Use a toothpick to swirl the color around, and then press the paper onto the shaving cream. Visit the original post for more detailed instructions.

BFF Rainbow Necklace

I love this project (and this pic of my daughter) so much! This easy craft is made just from felt and string. And truly, you could do any design and just cut it in half to make a BFF necklace!

No-Sew Scrunchie

Nothing makes me happier than the return of the 90s scrunchie craze! You can make your own with a skinny strip of fabric and some of this amazing Fabric Fuse tape. (I’m loving this fruit-inspired fabric bundle!)

DIY Cork Bulletin Boards

These DIY bulletin boards are super fun to make! We chose three designs that all had pointy surfaces, but you could really make any shape! Start with cork squares and cut them into any shape your heart desires! Acrylic paint works really to cover the brown and get into the nooks and crannies of the surface of your bulletin board.

Honestly, you will not regret getting a craft supply reserve going! It allows your kids to experiment and play…and maybe you’ll discover some of your own creative gifts at the same time! Click here to find my favorite (and sometimes totally weird) craft supply faves!

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