Thanks to Brother for sponsoring this post and providing us crafters with a new tool for our trade!

Every parent knows that long car rides, waiting rooms, and delayed flights can be torture on the nerves. It’s easy to hand over a digital device these days, but here’s a creative, unplugged idea to keep their brains active! Switch out the smartphone for a smart-toy and get your kids excited about writing. To make a portable update of this fridge classic, fill a metal, mint tin with DIY poetry magnets. When your little poets put together sentences, they’ll have so much fun they won’t realize they’re learning. Who knows…maybe you can slip in a vocab word or two!

It literally couldn’t be easier to make this poetry-on-the-go set with the help of the P-touch Embellish Ribbon and Tape Printer. The best part? It’s completely customizable—your kids can include their names, the name of their school, favorite animals, foods, activities—whatever they want! With 9 patterned tapes, and more than 10 solid colors, plus 14 fonts and over 400 symbols, you can mix and match in a million ways.

What you’ll need:

• metal mint tin
• contact paper
• marker
• scissors
• magnetic sheets
• P-touch Embellish
• P-touch Embellish tapes in a variety of patterns and colors (we used berry pink, lime green, mint chevron, yellow with white stars, blue and pink diagonal, pastel blue, pastel purple, and pink hearts)

Make it!

1. Trace the top of the mint tin on the back of the contact paper and cut out. Then, carefully peel and press contact paper to the tin top and trim off any excess.

2. Write down a list of words you want to turn into magnets, making sure not to forget pronouns, prepositions, and articles! Have fun trading out tapes and experimenting with different fonts, sizes, and symbols. Make sure to print out names of your kids, friends, and family so your kids can customize their poetry.

3. Trim words and stick them to magnetic sheets. (If you have adhesive sheets pull back the paper first for a doubly strong bond.) Cut out words to create individual magnets.

4. Store magnets inside the tin and have fun sticking sentences all over!

Do you remember when the Olympics used to be every four years? When the summer and winter versions were in the same year, and we’d have to wait four long years for another exciting Olympics? (I just searched and learned that 1992 was the last year that the games were held in the same year.) Well, I remember it (age reveal!), and I’m so glad that now we only have to wait two years for the next installment of global sporting fun.

And it also means that I only have to wait every two years to exercise my Olympic crafting muscle!

What you’ll need:

• Square gift box
• 2 strong magnets
• Clothespin
• Cupcake liners
• yarn
• Pipe cleaner
• 2 small beads
• One 1/2″ bead
• Paint
• Paintbrush
• Pens
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Wooden doll head

Make it!

1.Paint hair on the wooden doll head and paint the ends of the clothespin white. Let dry.

2. Paint the magnet sides and top white. Let dry.

3. Draw face on the head and hot-glue the 1/2″ bead to the top of her head. Set aside.

4. Fold cupcake liner in half and cut a small half-circle from the center; cut slit up to the center hole. Trim off edge of liner to form ice skater’s skirt. Repeat with the second liner if you want a layered look.

5. Glue cupcake liners around the middle of the clothespin.

6. Glue head to the top of the clothespin.

7. Wrap exposed clothespin with yarn and glue ends to secure.

8. Cut a 3-inch piece of pipe cleaner and glue to her back. Stick small wooden beads on the ends as her hands.

9. Cut a small tiara from the scraps of cupcake liner and glue onto head.

10. Hot glue the feet of the clothespin to the top of the painted magnet. Place the other magnet underneath the box and place the skater on top. Drag around the bottom magnet so she skates!

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What’s better than 2 for 1? What about 4 for 1! When we started thinking about fun ways to make hearts for V-day, we couldn’t choose just one, and luckily you don’t have to either!

The secret to an armload of hearts is a silicone mold pan – it’s perfect for transforming all sorts of supplies into Valentines treats. Maybe your kids want to make gifts for their teachers and need candy-free cards for their class, or maybe you want to share self-care treats with your girlfriends for Galentine’s Day. Below are how-to’s for heart shaped crayons, perler bead pendants, toy-filled soaps, and sprinkle bath bombs. Make just one or try all four and take advantage of all the options your tray offers!

Heart Crayons

What you’ll need

• Heart shaped silicone mold pan
• Assortment of crayons  

How to make them

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Peel all paper off crayons and snap them into small pieces.
3. Fill cups with approximately 3 to 4 crayons or until the cup is full.
4. Bake for approximately 15 minutes.
5. Take out and allow to fully harden and cool before popping crayons out of mold.

Perler Bead Pendants/Pins

What you’ll need

• Heart shaped silicone mold pan
• Assortment of perler beads
• Optional: pin back, magnet, string or ribbon
• Hot glue

How to make them

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Separate beads by color for a monochrome look or mix together.
3. Fill cups with beads until bottom surface of mold cups is covered with beads.
4. Bake for approximately 45 minutes, checking on them every ten minutes or so.
5. Take out and allow to cool before popping out hearts.
6. Glue magnet, pin back, or necklace string to the back.

Bath bombs

What you’ll need

• Heart shaped silicone mold pan
• 8 oz baking soda
• 4 oz Epsom salt
• 4 oz corn starch
• 4 oz citric acid
• 2.5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• About 1 tablespoon water
• 4-6 drops of soap colorant
• Small toys (we used magic grow capsules)
• Large bowl
• Small jar or bowl
• Spoon
• Measuring spoons
• Optional: sprinkles or biodegradable glitter  

How to make them

1. Add all the dry ingredients (baking soda, Epsom salt, cornstarch, and citric acid) together in a large bowl. Stir until the mixture is clump-free. Add sprinkles or glitter if you’d like and continue to stir.
2. Next add all wet ingredients (oil, water, and food coloring) to a clean jar and shake them up. Add more food coloring for a brighter hue.
3. Slowly add the liquid to the dry mixture, stirring as you go. If things start to fizz, go even slower! You should end up with a mixture that just barely clumps together, like damp sand.
4. As soon as you have the right consistency, fill each mold cup halfway with the mixture and pack down firmly. Add the toy and continue to fill the cups, pressing firmly again at the top.
5. Let the bath bombs dry a full day or overnight before popping them out of the mold.

Heart Soap

What you’ll need

• Clear Glycerin Melt & Pour Soap Base (2 lbs)
• Small plastic toys or erasers
• Glass measuring cup
• Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol 
• Soap Colorant
• Knife
• Spoon
• Plastic Cutting board

How to make them

1. Start by cutting soap base into cubes and then small slices and filling the measuring cup. NOTE: It’s easier to make in small batches so start with 8 oz of glycerin at a time. If your glycerin came in a grid, 8oz = 10 cubes. The amount of soap base you need to fill each cup will depend on your mold size. Our mold had 8, 2.5 oz cups which required approximately 4 oz of liquid soap per cup.
2. Microwave measuring cup for 30 seconds, take out and stir. If necessary, continue in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until glycerin has become clear liquid.
3. Add colorant to the measuring cup, 4 drops at a time, and stir until you reach the desired shade.
4. Pour the soap into molds, filling them halfway, and then spritz with alcohol to remove bubbles. Let set for 5 to 7 minutes. Spritz toy with alcohol then place in soap and spritz once more.
5. Leave for twenty minutes to make sure toy is secure then spritz again with alcohol, remelt soap and fill the remaining space. Spritz one more time and leave until completely hardened.

I am certainly no master at origami, but these hearts make me feel like a real whiz! They are super-fast to make and your kids will get the hang of it very quickly, sans frustration, I swear!

Check out this video that we made that shows you how easy and cute they are!

What you’ll need:

• Origami paper
• Scissors
• Letter stamps
• Ink pad
• Glue dots

MAKE IT:

1. Place a 6″ x 6″ square of origami paper colored-side down. Fold paper in half on the diagonal, bringing top corner to bottom one. Unfold. Fold in half again, bringing right corner to left one. Unfold.
2. Fold top point of paper to meet center crease.
3. Fold bottom point up to meet top fold.
4. Fold right side up diagonally to align with center.
5. Repeat on left side to meet center crease.
6. Flip over folded paper; fold side and top points in 1/2″.
7. Flip over and insert a slip of paper with a message into pocket of heart.
8. Cut 3/4″ strips from origami paper.
9. Stamp names in the center of each strip.
10. Fold the ends around the name and trim off about ½”. Cut out triangles on the ends of the strip.
11. Glue-dot the name strip to each heart.

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Do you knot have time for labor-intensive class valentines? Are your kids knot making it easy on you? Do you knot want to give candy? Do you knot want to have to think about it any more?

Here is a very easy, sugar-free, stress-free class valentine that you can make for 30 kids in 20 minutes flat.

Step one: Buy these pencils.

Step two: Download this template and print.

Step three: Cut, punch a hole, tie the pencil. Done.

Your kids can KNOT say no to this Valentine!