Earth Day Every Day

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In case you missed it Earth Day was this past Monday. But why not make every day Earth Day? Teach your kids or class to celebrate and appreciate our planet by including earth friendly crafts and activities on a regular basis. Earth Day crafts also make great lesson tools too.

Coffee Filter Earth
Simple and fun: use a coffee filter and food coloring to create pretty version of the earth to display or use in Earth Day lessons and activities.

Handprint Apricot
Another fun handprint painting idea: create a picture of apricots for Spring with your little hands and share the finished project with special friends.

Earth Resource Wheel
Create a fun learning tool with 2 paper plates, crayons and brads. Your kids will enjoy making and learning about the earth and the weather!

Handprint Flower
Construction paper, paint, your hands and imagination are all you need to create a pretty handprint flower painting to hang up or share.

Edible Earth
I love this tasty spin on regular rice krispie treats. Go to the kitchen, get your ingredients and get ready to make your very own edible earth!

Need more Earth Day projects or Spring themed ideas for your class or homeschool? Visit The Idea Box for tons of games, crafts and snacks to create with your kiddos! Connect with us on Facebook where I share more ideas from other crafty bloggers and sites or follow us on Pinterest and create your own pinboard full of kids crafts!

Beautiful Butterflies

Spring Butterflies

Are your kiddos going a little stir crazy as they wait for the weather to warm up and the sun to stick around? Celebrate Spring with an easy-peasy butterfly craft! Make this cute little flyer with a sandwich bag, glitter and construction paper.

Here are some other super cute and fun butterfly themed crafts and snack ideas to get you ready for Spring!

Butterfly Puppet
With some cardboard and imagination, your class can make personalized butterfly puppets to play with, perform with, or decorate your room with.

Butterfly Flyer
Collect a straw, some yarn, construction paper and a few other bits from your craft cupboard - and create a butterfly flyer, perfect for your little ones to fly high.

Butterfly Surprise
Using craft sticks and creativity, make some cute little butterflies to play with and use in all sorts of decor for Spring time.

Very Neat Butterfly Feet
I love this artsy painting project for preschoolers and even little tiny ones too - paint the bottoms of their feet and create a painted butterfly to share or display!

Butterfly Sandwich
Turn a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich into a yummy butterfly snack with a little ingenuity and imagination!

Find more spring themed crafts over at The Idea Box to create with your class, kids or homeschool group. Connect with us on Facebook where I share ideas from other crazy-cool crafters too! Find us at Pinterest too for more imaginative inspiration!

April Showers Bring Spring!

Budding Spring Tree

Start your Spring lessons with a happy Budding Spring Tree created with Q-tips or fingertips - whichever is handy! Then hang your trees on a bulletin board or around your classroom to enjoy.

April Fool's Hamburger
This snack will tickle the funny bones off your toddlers and preschoolers as they help you create "hamburgers" made from cookies and colored frosting!

Animal Matching
A simple game to create and play with little kids to teach them about different animals and the sounds they make. Use magazine images and supplies you already have on hand.

April Showers Umbrella
This craft project is easy to do and great for preschoolers learning about the weather or seasons. When it's all done you'll have a colorful umbrella to show off!

Butterflies!
This is a fun activity that's great for little hands still mastering their fine motor skills. Create this pretty butterfly with your little ones to display and enjoy.

Number Salad
This healthy and yummy fruit salad snack is fun to make and teaches little kids their numbers by mixing the counting in with the preparation. Yummy!

The weather and the outdoors are starting to show definite signs of Spring. Take advantage of the season change by trying more fun Spring activites from The Idea Box. Connect with us on Facebook for kid-inspired ideas and crafts!

Leprechaun Love!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

An Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.


Leprechaun Gifts
This is a fun gift (and easy craft) for kids to make to share with someone special in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

Gold Stone
A fun way to decorate small stones and then hide them for kids to find either around the class, home or even in a sandbox.

Leprechaun Search
A fun game of hide the leprechaun gifts and letting kids seek them out by following festive clues you leave around the class or home.

Handy Shamrocks
A cute handprint craft to create a shamrock and share with parents or grandparents and perfect for March, St. Patrick's Day and good luck!

Leprechaun Treats
This is a fun edible craft that kids will enjoy creating and then eating at snack time. The ingredients are simple and you may already have them on hand.

Irish Soda Bread
Make a traditional Irish soda bread with your kids to enjoy at snack time or as part of a lesson about St. Patrick's Day, Ireland or even bread making. Enjoy!

Need more craft ideas for March or St. Patrick's Day? Visit The Idea Box where we have tons of great holiday crafts, games and snack recipes. Or connect with us on Facebook to join our community and get daily inspiration and even more great ideas for your classroom or homeschooling.

Shamrocks Rock!

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Inspire your little ones at home or in the classroom to enjoy spring by creating some easy shamrock crafts.

Bakers Clay Shamrocks
With some pantry ingredients and craft paint you can help your little leprechauns create some festive clay shamrocks to display or share!

Filter Paper Shamrocks
Use coffee filters and food coloring to create pretty paper shamrocks that make adorable bulletin board or classroom decorations.

Clover Chain
Use real clovers or paper ones to form a clover chain and hang it around your class or home to celebrate St. Patty's special day!

Easy Shamrocks
Turn green paper hearts into a festive shamrock picture, perfect for a greeting card or to hang up and display.

Follow The Leprechaun
Get your creative juices flowing and use "Follow the Leader" game to make St. Patrick's Day a little luckier
for all your little leprechauns!

Visit The Idea Box for even more St. Patrick's day craft ideas, projects and snack recipes. Or connect with us on Facebook for more spring time inspiration!

Hoppy Easter!

Miss Bunny

If you like to crochet or need an Easter mascot for your class, visit our sister site for the free crochet pattern to create your very own Miss Bunny.

Egg Toss
This activity is a fun game using simple supplies, that almost every age group can play.  Since it involves tossing, be sure to use the plastic eggs!

Eggstraordinary
This craft is a creative way to decorate eggs with out the mess of dyes, stained fingers, and disaster cleanup. Well...there is still some cleanup but it's pretty manageable.  Even little hands can do this craft.

Fluffy Rabbit
Since rabbits tend to be alot of work and most parents would prefer you not send their kid home with a new pet, how about helping your kids create their own fluffy rabbits?  They are cleaner and don't require food!

Spring Lilies
This is a very sweet craft for even the littlest peeps, since it uses their handprint to create an Easter lily to share with their parents and grandparents.  This one is a quick craft with simple supplies.

Visit our Easter page for more activities and craft ideas.  We love feedback and photos so send us some!

Fingerprint Spring Flowers

Fingerprint crafts are always cute and kids love making them. This colorful project is perfect for spring!

Get the instructions for Fingerprint Spring Flowers!

Paper Kite Craft

We know you are always looking for easy craft ideas for kids, so we work hard to bring you plenty of fun ideas that are simple to make. There are plenty of craft ideas out there, but many of too hard for little ones.

This paper kite is simple to make, uses only a few supplies, and you can vary it in color to suit your child's preference. Get the instructions for the Paper Kite Craft!

Make a May Basket

Celebrate spring with this pretty little May Basket!

We are adding photos to our site little by little. Have you made anything from our site you'd like to share? We would love to publish your photos! Let us know by leaving a comment here or emailing us at editor@theideabox.com

Spring Butterflies and Flowers

Today I'm sharing a couple of the crafts from our site, but this time we have pictures! I know that The Idea Box does not have any pictures, and I will be working on that each week. For now, here are two you can do with your kids to celebrate the arrival of spring! Check out all of our spring ideas here.

Note: If you already checked out the butterflies, I had uploaded the photo to the wrong instructions! So sorry about that, they are in the correct place now.

Oh and don't forget to become a fan of our new Facebook fan page!

Celebrate Spring Butterflies

Cupcake Spring Flowers

Friday Activity: Fingerprint Spring Flowers

Each Friday we'll bring you a fun activity to do with your kids!

This week's activity is...

Fingerprint Spring Flowers

poster/tempera paint for stems & flower petals
paper

Create varying shades of color of choice (i.e.: lavendar & purple, light & dark pink, etc.)Have child paint stem(s), then using his/her fingers, create hyacinths (or similar spring flowers) by dipping fingers in paint, and pressing on either side of the stem, starting w/ a wide base of prints at the bottom, and working toward the top w/ just one or two. It looks great when larger fingers are used first, graduating to pinky prints at the top. - - - create a beautiful spring scene with several, or create just one & cut it out to enjoy solo!

Visit The Idea Box for all of our activities for kids

Crafty Wednesday: Cloud Dough

Each Wednesday we'll bring you a fun craft to make with your kids!

This week's craft is...

Cloud Dough

Flour
Vegetable oil
Powdered tempera paint
Large bowl
Water

Mix 6 cups flour with the desired amount of tempera paint in a large bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups oil and 1 cup water and knead well. If necessary, add more water, in small amounts, until the dough is soft and fluffy. More flour can be added if the dough becomes too sticky. Have Fun!

Visit The Idea Box for all of our crafty ideas

Friday Activity: April Showers

Each Friday we'll bring you a fun activity to do with your kids!

This week's activity is...

April Showers

Bubble wrap
tempra paint
construction paper
oil crayons

Spread out a section of bubble wrap (small bubbles preferably)with slightly over half of the bubbles popped, cover the bubbles with a thin coat of light blue paint. Place a piece of light blue construction paper over the bubbles and rub gently. Remove paper and let dry.

While paper is drying students can write a spring saying such as "April Showers Bring May Flowers" on a cloud shaped cut out from white paper.

Glue the saying on bubble print and add oil crayon drawing of flowers, sun, etc.

I use this in my kindergarten class as a motivating writing lesson. A bulletin board intitled "What Do April Showers Bring?" is a sure hit!

Visit The Idea Box for all of our activities for kids

Crafty Wednesday: Robins Nest With Eggs

Each Wednesday we'll bring you a fun craft to make with your kids! 

This week's craft is...

Robin's Nest With Eggs

You will need
1 Cup of flour
1 Tablespoon salad oil
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Salt
2 Teaspoons cream of tartar
Food coloring

Garlic press

Combine all of these ingredients in a large saucepan. Use a wooden spoon to stir over medium heat. Stir constantly to prevent sticking. The mixture will be soupy for several minutes and then suddenly it will stick together and can be stirred into a ball. When it thickens, remove from heat and continue stirring. Turn the hot ball out onto a floured surface, and begin kneading as it cools. This recipe makes nice soft dough that can be colored brightly with food colors. Color 3/4 of your dough with equal amounts of yellow, red and blue food coloring (to make brown) and the remaining dough with blue.

Squeeze the brown dough through the garlic press to create "straw" to build the bird's nest. Shape the straw pieces into a rounded nest. Roll small lumps of blue dough into egg-shaped balls. Moisten the bottom of each "egg" and stick it into the nest. Let air-dry until hard.

Note: This dough keeps in the refrigerator or freezer in a covered container. Use it to play around with or to make small objects whiich can be air-dried until hard. When dry, they can be painted and sprayed with an arcylic sealer.

Visit The Idea Box for all of our crafty ideas

Friday Activity: Rainy Day Fun

Each Friday we'll bring you a fun activity to do with your kids! 

This week's activity is...

Rainy Day Fun

Warm, rainy, summer days are great for exploring puddles. Put on rain gear or clothes that will not be harmed by water and go puddle stomping. Young children delight in splashing. Build a dam near the curb of a quiet street to create your own mini-lake. Float leaves down the gutter. Study reflections in the puddles. 

Look for special shapes in the clouds--animals, bug, etc. Measure puddles--length, width, depth. Use chalk to outline a puddle. Return to puddle later and compare its size with outline you made earlier. Learn a song or poem about rain. Many are available in childrens poetry book and song books. Have fun!

Visit The Idea Box for all of our activities for kids

Idea Box Daily: Spring Has Sprung

We know it's hard to find time to search out fun activities and crafts for your kids, so we thought we'd help you! We'll be posting something each day from our archives. One day might be a craft, another day a game or song, or maybe an activity or recipe! Hopefully you'll find some fun goodies for your little ones!

Today's idea: 

Spring Has Sprung

Supplies:
Frog pictures
pipe cleaners
pencils
crayons
scissors

Bulletin Board Idea:
I make a unique bulletin board using frog pictures the children make by coloring one. Then the children cut the pipe cleaner to the desired length and wrap it around the pencil to make a spring-like shape. I attach one end of the spring to the frog and the other end to the bulletin board. It looks like the frogs are jumping out. The children love them and when walking past the bulletin board the frogs move or bounce. Sometimes the children blow on the frogs just to see them move. This is a great way to discuss frogs and sequencing such as how a tadpole becomes a frog. We also review the color green and even take a walk near a pond to see if we can find any frogs or tadpoles. I usually write the words "Spring Has Sprung" on the bulletin board.

Search for more spring crafts, games, songs, recipes and ideas!

March 20th is the First Day of Spring!

Yay, spring is here and we are ready to share all of our springtime activities, crafts, songs and more. When we think spring, we think of flowers, rain, sunshine, rainbows, nature, and more. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Here's just a sampling of what you will find in our spring section!

Butterfly Feet

Construction paper
paint (any color)
black pen

This is a great craft for infants who are too young yet to do crafts on a regular basis. Paint the bottom of the child's feet. Make imprints of each foot with the big toe facing outward and the outer edge of the feet touching each other. You will notice the results looks like a butterfly. It helps to clean one foot before you paint the other. Can't seem to keep the little ones still? I do this project while they are in high chair eating a favorite snack. They are occupied, but still giggle alot when you paint their feet. I then write this poem on the paper:

Beautiful butterfly,
precious and sweet.
Strange how it looks,
Just like (child's name)'s feet.

I really get a wonderful response from parents on this craft. They know their children get great care when even the infants can participate in art from time to time.


Paper Dot Rainbows

colored construction paper
glue
hole punch

Have the children make several paper dots using the hole punch in the colors of the rainbow. Then have them glue the dots onto white paper in the form of a rainbow. You may want to have a picture of a rainbow to show as an example. Have fun!


Spring Lilies

Construction Paper (Any color)
Green Chenille Stems
pencil
stapler and staples
glue or scotch tape

Have children trace hands on the paper, cut out the hand prints. Place the chenille stem at the bottom of the hand print and then roll the paper around the stem and attach with glue, staples or tape. Once you have that completed, take a pencil and curl the fingers down to form a lily. You may want to make a bunch in different colors. You can also cut some leaves from green construction paper and attach them to the stems of your "lilies". You can make a container for your bouquet of "lilies" by taking an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of construction paper, roll it to form a cone, fasten the end with glue, tape or staples. Makes a wonderful Mother's Day, Grandparent's day or Father's Day gift also.


Check out all of our activities, crafts, recipes, games and more by visiting The Idea Box