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Fluttering Butterflies
I made these butterflies for my stepdaughter to enjoy while visiting. I used
painted feather butterflies I found at the craft store. They come in all
different shapes, sizes and colors. Usually, they come with a little wire
attached to the bottom. Just make a good strong loop around the butterfly with
the wire and tie a string through the loop on the butterfly. Make a loop in the
other end of the string and use a white thumbtack to secure it to the ceiling.
Make more butterflies with strings of various length. It is a good idea to keep
the length of the strings relatively short because kids will want to pull them
down and play with them which usually is not a great idea because they are so
delicate. The best part about them is that they will move and flutter with the
slightest breeze.
Felt Storyboards
I remember this fun toy we used to have in elementary school that we were,
regrettably, never allowed to play with. The teachers used them to tell stories
and moved the characters around the board. I always wanted one and now I am
happy that I have the ability to make felt storyboards for my own children. You
will need felt from the craft store in every color possible. To create a scenery
board, cover a piece of thick poster board with blue felt. Across the bottom
half of the poster board, glue a piece of green felt to look like grass. This
will be the backdrop for your kids' stories. You will notice that when one piece
of felt cloth is placed on another piece, they stick together quite well. Felt
is also not made by weaving cloth together, but by matting fibers so the edges
of your pieces will not fray. Using the other colors of felt, you can create all
sorts of shapes. You can glue together people for characters, animals, trees,
rivers, clouds, and a whole slew of other scenery items. Kids can use felt
storyboards to play out stories in books or to create their own stories and
puppet shows. For a simpler type of felt board, you can use a piece of colored
felt for the background and cut out colorful geometric shapes to use on the
board. Kids can have lots of fun learning about shapes, colors, and how things
fit together to make pictures with a geometric felt board. Be sure to keep a
shoebox or other storage container handy to keep all of the felt characters in.
Bedroom Mural
Many parents have an artistic eye and would love to create a mural on their
child's wall. Even if you have no artistic talent, it is not at all difficult to
create a simple mural of your own. Begin by deciding what you want the picture
to be. Next, measure the wall and cut a piece of white paper that is the same
size in inches as your wall is in feet. Draw the picture you want onto the piece
of paper. It is best to start out simple. If you want to add more things to it
later, you can add it directly to the wall. I prefer drawing scenes that
children can use for play such as hills, forests, lakes with ducks, castles,
caves, etc. Remember that if you use any dark colors, they may be difficult to
paint over later if your child grows up and decides they want something
different. Begin by drawing a graph on the piece of paper right over your
design. Draw a line horizontally and vertically for every measured inch so that
you have one inch squares drawn. Next, you will need to paint the wall white if
it is not already painted white. This first coat should be of matte paint. If
the wall is already painted with a gloss paint, you will need to paint over it
with matte white. Gloss paint is very difficult to paint over and will cause
streaks. Matte paint will take other paints quite well. When the paint is
completely dry, use a pencil to measure out square feet exactly as they are
measured in square inches on the paper. Basically, you want an exact grid on the
wall just like you have on the paper, only with bigger squares. Once the grid is
drawn, go from square to square on the paper and transfer what you see in each
square onto the squares on the wall with a pencil. You will only need a rough
outline. If you make a mistake, don't worry. You will be painting over it. Now
you are ready for colors. You will probably want to use gloss paints to paint
the mural. Gloss paint is easy to clean in case your kids get it dirty or decide
to go wild with the crayons. Always remember to paint dark colors over light
colors, so start by painting all of the light colored areas first and work your
way to the darker ones. It is very hard to paint over a dark color with a light
one. To make a straight line, lay a piece of masking tape down along the edge
you want to be straight. Paint to the edge of the tape and then pull the tape
off. You will have a perfectly straight line.
Belly-Cast Shelf
A new craft that has been steadily gaining popularity is
belly-casting during pregnancy. If you have created a belly-cast or are
planning on creating one, here is an interesting idea on what to do with your
cast. When making your cast, you should make sure that your arms are lifted off
of the sides of your body so that you can wrap the plaster as far around the
sides of you as possible. This will allow you to make a shelf out of your cast
that can be placed in your child's room. Once the cast is completely dried,
paint or decoupage the outside however you want it. On the inside of the cast,
glue down photos of yourself pregnant, and photos of the child after it has
emerged. To make a cloth shelf, you will need netting or cotton cloth. Cut one
edge approximately to the shape of the inside of the belly. You can glue the
edges of the cloth all the way around the inside and along the two sides so that
the cloth hangs to create a kind of pocket. This neat little shelf is a great
place to store little notes of how much you love your child and little reminders
of them and their birth. using a Dremmel, saw the sides down so that the edges
are straight and level. You want them to be even when you lay the cast against
the wall. Next, secure one or two hinges on one edge of the cast. Be sure that
the hinges are on the outermost parts of the cast and are exactly parallel or
the cast will not open. Secure the hinges to the wall. If the cast shelf will
not stay closed against the wall, you can use a hook and eye closure to keep it
shut. The shelf should swing open to reveal the shelf inside. If you don't like
the idea of a shelf, you can glue a round mirror to the inside of the belly.
When the child opens the belly to see what is inside, they see themselves in the
mirror.
Make-Believe Costumes
An important part of play is learning to pretend to be and interact
with different people and characters. Kids love costumes, so I like to make it a
point to keep as many pieces around as possible. Many costume ideas are easier
to make than you think. Pretty scarves can become hats, hair, skirts, or capes.
Two scarves can be wings. You can also make costume accessories from cardboard
and paper. Try your hand at creating crowns, hats, and masks. Other easy costume
pieces to make are capes and cloaks since you only need one rectangular piece of
cloth. A little imagination and a few rhinestones can really go a long way.
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