We have done a lot of crafting lately. The question of the week on the Multiples and More blog is all about crafts, so I decided to take a few minutes to write about ours. Some are more fall-like than others, but all have been fun! Most of them have been with our moms of multiples group; and what could be more fun that crafting with your own multiples? Well, of course, crafting with lots of multiple friends and their mommies!
First, we did a Grandparent’s Day craft. We hosted it in a park where I knew we would have easy clean up and plenty of space to do our masterpieces. I got this idea from this web site http://www.activityvillage.co.uk. I just stumbled upon them looking for crafty ideas for grandparents, because, what grandparent doesn’t want something handmade by their grandkids? We used sponge paint brushes to paint the kids’ hands and then helped the kids make a circle to form a flower, and then later drew in the stem and attached a little poem for each grandparent. The web site had lots of poems to choose from. They have a few autumn art projects I think we’ll try this week, too!
The foam brushes can be picked up at your local hardware store for pennies and clean up for reuse. Much easier for getting on all the nooks and crannies of hands and feet.
For a quick and easy crafty/fun activity, why not take a moment to paint some masks or leaves, pumpkins, or ghosts on your kiddos faces? We had fun doing just that at an “entertaining” play date. Just note, that even if a face paint says it is washable, it does not mean it easily washes off…I finally had to use rubbing alcohol to remove the blue ring around the boys eyes. If anyone out there has a brand they love, or any other removal remedies, I would love to hear about them! We’ll be doing this again when one of the moms in our group hosts a “superhero” play date next month. Great way to have fun, be creative, and reuse some of those Halloween costumes and props before they outgrow them!
More fun, again, not really crafty, but along the same lines, how about a Halloween cookie decorating party? That is what we did with about 20 little ones. We all just met up at one of our houses, brought our own premade uncooked dough, rolling pins, and some even brought our own tables, and then we helped the kids cut, bake, and decorate their very own cookies. Most of us have two year olds. For sanity purposes, I would recommend having the cookies already baked and cut out into Halloween shapes, and then just do the decorating with the littlies, but live and learn, or be like us and have something to laugh about in retrospect!
My own art project while still involving the twinkies was to half-fill a vase with acorns and a pumpkin scented candle, and voila, instant fall decor! Smells and looks good! Now, every time we go for a walk, the boys are continually collecting acorns. Maybe we’ll have enough for a second display before Thanksgiving! Of course, it would be helpful if I would remember to check their pockets for acorns before I wash their shorts…we have some really clean acorns in this jar!
We worked on one last art project last week, making cheetah masks, inspired by a craft from our monthly magazine, Wild Animal Baby. Here is a link to the mask template – although, our printer is broken, so I just drew ours freehand. http://www.nwf.org/Kids/Wild-Animal-Baby/Fun/Crafts-and-Activities/Mammals/Leopard-Mask.aspx
Here is what the final product should look like…ours is not yet finished. The boys really liked sponging on the paint, we just have not added the nose/mouth/whiskers…yet! Great tip is to use sponges with a clothespin attached, or rather, pinned to the sponge, so they don’t even have to dip their fingers near the paint. It should cut down on mess, although, I personally think that is half the fun, right?
Afterward, we tried some leaf printing and fall artwork for the fridge using fall-ish colors of red and brown. This one, well, it was messy, very messy! Looks great on our refrigerator.
Have fun, I hope to read about more ideas from other moms, too!
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