At Project Kid, we love bringing you fun crafts with easy steps for holidays, birthdays, and every day. Sometimes though even simple steps can feel overwhelming when your goal is quality family time (not prep time). And while we pride ourselves on offering new ideas, there’s something to be said for unplugged activities that are classic. There’s a reason after all, that “Throwback Thursday” and “Flashback Friday” are some of the most popular tags on social media. Instead of showing kids your memories through a screen, share in person the things you used to love. This is the first post in an ongoing series where we’ll talk about ways to slow down, as a family….

Around the Project Kid household, letter-writing has become a very popular pastime. Oliver has been slowly working his way through his birthday thank-you notes (two months and counting!), and since starting kindergarten, Sommer can’t put down the pen and paper, drawing pictures and sounding out words.

Living in an age of instant gratification where communication is sent and received within an instant, it can be hard to convince kids that some things are worth waiting for, and that anticipation itself can be part of the fun! Before your kids are old enough to dread email, engage them in letter writing.

A few ways to get the ball (-point pen) rolling:

1. Make Postcards

Print out this blank postcard design from Kate’s Creative Space, complete with address lines and a square for the stamp, and let your child create a masterpiece on the front. Or, we love this idea by Yesterday on Tuesday of whipping up a stack of postcards from scratch by reusing cereal box cardboard.

(image via Kate’s Creative Space)

2. Learn about Pen Pals

It might be hard for your child to imagine that there was a time before skype, or even phones, when to talk with a far-away friend you had to send a letter. Pen Pals originally referred to people from different backgrounds writing to each other to learn about other cultures, countries, and even languages (via Albert Flynn DeSilver). Pen pals don’t have to be international though! One famous pair of pen pals was President Ronald Reagan and six year old Rudy Hines from Washington DC who exchanged letters for five years. The picture below shows the President and First Lady eating with Rudy at his home in 1984.

                                                         (image via Reagan Library)

Your kids can be pen pals with relatives, friends who’ve moved away, or even friends who live down the block—hand delivered mail still counts! If they are feeling a little more adventurous, sign them up for Mr. Boddington’s Secret Society of Letter Writers. Can we join too?

Here are a few easy pen pal prompts from Making Mondays to help your kids introduce themselves (or update relatives about evolving tastes)…

3. Send Something Unconventional

Getting personal mail you weren’t expecting is always a treat, getting personal mail that is actually surprising is even more fun! After exploring 2D options, blow your kids’ minds by showing them how to send some extra special snail mail. As long as the item is under 13 oz you can use first class stamps. Frisbees, flip flops, plastic eggs, or plastic bottles filled with art supplies – there are so many possibilities. For bigger items (i.e. coconuts, pinatas – yes it’s possible) you’ll need to have a postage label printed.

(egg and art supplies via improvised life) (frisbee and flipflop via allwomenstalk)

Fun Fact: For nine years Wired magazine held a “Return to Sender” contest during which they asked readers to send in the strangest “permissible objects of postability” they could get through the mail.

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One of the things I love about Halloween is how widely interpretive it is. You can go gruesome, silly, imaginative, and even the harvest look can compete. This year Woman’s Day asked me to interpret the holiday in three different ways…Classic, Monster, and Country.

While I loved them all, the classic really has my heart. Here are the projects from that story, and you can visit Woman’s Day to get the how-to’s and templates!

(Above) If you have any pool noodles laying around your garage, shape them into legs with duct tape and throw on some tights and shoes to make these hilarious witch legs!

To make this wreath, paint a square boxwood wreath black, and turn leaves into ghosts.

Do you have a black lamp in your living room? If yes, you can turn yours into a Day of the Dead inspired skull.

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Turn a rainy day into a ray of sunshine!

This happy rainbow-raincloud costume is all about the head-gear—just add raincoat and boots. We thought about making pasta raindrops, but we got so excited when we saw how these rainbow penne strands transformed into lightening bolts when they were hung from the hat.

Scroll down below the photos for the how-to!

What you’ll need:

• Box of penne pasta
• Bag of pillow batting
• Adhesive spray
• Pirate, cowboy, or other big brimmed hat
• Fishing line
• Scissors
• Hot glue
• White straw
• Masking Tape
• Red, yellow, green, blue food dye
• Five resealable sandwich bags
• Hand sanitizer
• Wax Paper

Outfit suggestions:

• Yellow rain jacket
• Jean leggings
• Yellow rainboots

Make it:

1. Add one teaspoon of hand sanitizer and six drops of red food dye to a resealable bag.
2. Pour approximately 20 pieces of penne into bag, shake until all are covered and then lay out on wax paper to dry.
3. Repeat with yellow, orange, green, and blue dye and pasta.
4. Spray the top of the hat, including brim, with adhesive and add one layer of batting. Spray again and add second layer of batting. Continue until you achieve the cloud shape you want.
5. Once pasta is dry, thread onto fishing line creating three strands for each color – four noodles, six noodles, and eight noodles – leaving at least three inches of extra line .
6. Use tape to evenly mark fifteen spots on the underside of the hat brim where the pasta rain will hang, leaving space at the front for your child’s face.
7. Cut fifteen pieces of white straw, approximately ½” each, and hot-glue them in place of the tape marks.
8. Thread the fishing line strands through the straws in alternating colors to create a rainbow hanging from the cloud.

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Robot costumes are among my favorite to make because the creative freedom is endless. Knobs, buttons, antennae, switches—you can go crazy with all of the fun pasta shapes out there to create a gorgeous control panel.

We decided to think outside the box (literally) and not put my son Oliver in a cardboard box. Instead, we created his control panel on an 11×14-inch canvas. If you don’t have one of those laying around, you can just cut a piece of cardboard and attach the ribbon around the neck like we did (scroll down to see how-to below).

What you’ll need:

For the control panel

• Rotelle (wagon wheel), ziti, penne, rings, orecchiette, flat lasagna and dried ravioli pasta
• 11”x14” canvas
• Small cardboard jewelry box
• Silver and blue paint
• Red and yellow food dye
• Three resealable bags
• Hand sanitizer
• Silver ribbon
• Two flat thumb tacks
• Wax paper

For the helmet

• 1 quart sized metal Colander
• Silver pipe cleaners
• 1 ½-inch-diameter foam pipe insulation
• Scissors
• Felt
• Adhesive velcro

Robot gear

• silver/grey hoodie and pants
• Grey felt

How to make control panel

1. Paint canvas and jewelry box silver
2. Paint the front and back of two pieces of lasagna blue then let dry
3. Put one teaspoon of hand sanitizer in a plastic bag
4. Add six drops of red and pour in a variety of pasta types. Shake bag until noodles are covered then lay out on wax paper to dry.
5. Repeat with yellow dye and orange dye (four drops of yellow and two drops of red)
6. Glue silver box and two blue lasagna pieces to canvas. Glue smaller pasta on top in grids, v’s and other patterns
7. Tack one side of the ribbon to the back top corner of the canvas. Measure so that the canvas hangs in front of child’s chest and tack second end to other corner. Cut off excess

How to make helmet

1. Fold a pipe cleaner in half and thread it through the middle of the top of the colander. Slip colored ziti onto the two sides and twist on wagon wheel pasta at the top. Hot glue colored wagon wheels on the front of the colander for more “buttons”
2. Cut two 3-inch segments of pipe insulation. Use pipe cleaners to wire them to the inside bottom of the colander (top of the helmet).
3. To create the helmet’s chin strap, cut a 1-by-14 inch piece of felt and adhere a tab of the rough Velcro to either end on the same side of the strap. Two inches down from the rough Velcro on either side of the strap, attach a 3-inch strip of soft Velcro (to allow the strap to be adjustable). Thread the strap through the colander’s handles.

How to make wristbands

1. Cut 2 strips of grey felt, approximately 2 inches wide, to fit child’s wrists and add Velcro to the ends
2. Hot glue matching pasta design in the middle of each wrist band

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This pasta costume was born out my continued and everlasting love of the classic macaroni necklace that I pray my kids will make me sometime. (And I will be that mom at a cocktail party wearing it with pride. For realz.)

This hip-hop dancer slash rapper slash tough chick costume can be made out of what you can find in your closet (but if you love our look, the links for purchasing our ensemble are below).

And don’t even get me started on the boom box candy collector. If you live in Brooklyn, NY, you’ll be seeing me sporting this on Halloween ’17!

Scroll down for the how-to!

What you’ll need:

For the jewelry

• Rigatoni, Rotelle (wagon wheels), Ditalini,
• String/Elastic cording
• Gold Spray paint
• Scissors
• Cardboard box

For the Boom Box

• Shoe box
• Two to-go cardboard soup cup lids
• Silver, white, red and black paint
• Red pipe cleaner
• 12” long dowel
• Exacto Blade
• Hot Glue
• Black Marker
• Orecchiette, ziti, medium rigatoni, rings, lasagna, rotelle
• Two resealable bags
• Hand sanitizer
• Red and yellow food dye
• Small screwdriver or sharp object (a sharpened pencil will work)

Rapper Outfit

• Leggings/joggers
• Tank Top
• Furry Vest
• Beanie
• High Top Sneakers

How to make the jewelry

1. String patterns of pasta to make chains. Play with different lengths and combinations. Create bracelets out of shorter chains.
2. To make a medallion, glue wagon wheels together in circular shape and add ditalini accents.
3. Once you are finished, put pasta jewelry in a cardboard box and spray paint gold. Once it’s dry, flip it and spray the other side.

How to make the boom box

1. Paint shoe box, lid, and 2 pieces of rotelle pasta silver, and soup-cup tops black. Paint dowel red and let dry.
2. Cut off the end of a piece of flat lasagna to create a rectangle approximately the size of a deck of cards. Paint both sides white and let dry.
3. Put one teaspoon of hand sanitizer in a plastic bag and add six drops of red. Add orecchiette, ziti, and rings. Shake bag until noodles are covered then lay out on wax paper to dry.
4. Repeat with yellow dye and ring and rigatoni pasta.
5. Cut a rectangular hole in the center of one long side of the box (top of the boom box) for candy.
6. Hot glue top of box onto base and soup lids onto the front corners of boom box. Glue one silver wagon wheel into the center of each lid to make speakers.
7. Glue the lasagna rectangle in between lids and paint on two circles and a rectangle in black.
8. Glue on pasta to form buttons and knobs. (We used 4 red ziti pieces, 4 red orecchiette pieces, 6 red rings, 4 yellow rings, and four medium rigatoni pieces.)
9. Cut pipe cleaner in half and fold each half in half then feed each half through a piece of red ziti.
10. Slide the loops over the ends of the dowel, tighten by pulling ziti up and add drop of hot glue to secure.
11. Poke a hole at each end of the box, next to the rectangular opening, and push pipe cleaner ends in.
12. Open ends of pipe cleaner inside of box to secure. Use hot-glue where needed to add strength.

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