Thanksgiving Turkey Craft for Kids

Need a simple craft to do with your kids to celebrate Thanksgiving? This will only take a small amount of time and you probably already have everything in stock.

This project is great for kids from kindergarten to fourth grade. For the older kids add a writing element by asking them to write what they are thankful for on each feather. Younger kids can even draw a picture on each feather of what they are thankful for.

Start by cutting out a circle using brown construction paper. then have the kids cut various feathers out of colored construction paper. I drew the first feather for the child and had them stack the papers to cut the feathers out all at once. But you could easily create a template for them to follow or have them create their own feathers. The possibilities are endless!
Using yellow construction paper cut out a triangle for the beak. Draw the eyes on with marker. The child could either glue the feathers to the back of the circle or use a small paper fastener to make the feather movable.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Chinese Drum Craft

Let's make some music!

All you need is:
2 paper plates per child
1 large craft stick/ tongue depressor/ popsicle stick per child
yarn
beads
white duct tape
hot glue gun and glue
hole punch


*Prep the activity by hot gluing the large craft stick to the bottom of one paper plate for each child.

Have the kids decorate the bottom of the paper plates and then place the paper plates facing each other so that the bottoms are on the outside. I handed out slivers of white duct tape and the Bee Yoga Fusion YogaKids taped their plates together. Then they hole punched 2 holes in each side of the plates across from each other. Tie about a 6inch piece of yarn to each hole and string 4 beads on each side. That's it- you are done and ready to make music!
  

Christmas Ornament Organizing

I know you are not even thinking about Christmas right now! I know, I know. But hear me out.
You know those plastic containers that the Costco apples come in? I personally hate recycling them…I just know that they have to have another life. And here is a great way to re-use those plastic apple holders to give them more life and to help you organize your Christmas decorations. Glass ball ornaments fit perfectly in each apple holder or place several delicate ornaments in each space. The options are limitless! Then you can easily stack them in a rubbermaid container to store in your attic/garage/basement.
Happy Spring Cleaning!

Real Simple Sewn Valentine's Heart

The Bee Yoga Fusion YogaKids are excited to share their Valentine's with the ones they love. I used the PDF supplied by Real Simple. Click here to print the PDF.

I printed the hearts on white card stock and I prepped the craft activity by punching the holes along the heart with the tip of sharp scissors so that the plastic needles could easily slip through.
The YogaKids loved this craft and made several Valentine's creating a different design for each one. We used various colors of acrylic yarn, each child choosing the color they wanted to use.

This craft is a wonderful tool for fine motor development. It's perfect for children just beginning to learn how to write letters, four years old to second grade.

Apple Filling Crescent Rolls

The next time that you make crescent rolls try adding a little bit of goodness to it. Slice apples into small bite sized pieces and place in a skillet over medium heat with a little bit of oil and water until the apples are soft. Leave them as is or stir in a small amount of brown sugar.
Unroll each crescent roll and place a small amount of apples in the corner of the roll and then roll up as you would normally do.
Cook as directed on the crescent roll package.
I'm sorry I didn't get an after picture. They were gone so fast that I didn't have time to grab my camera. Be warned: there will not be leftovers!
ENJOY!

LOVE- A New Spin on Fingerprinting Art

We have all experienced and enjoyed creating a painting with our fingerprints as children. Kids gets so excited when you give them the opportunity to get their hands dirty, completely cover them with paint and produce art. Well why not put a spin on it and instead offer them to paint with their toes?

The Bee Yoga Fusion YogaKids created absolutely stunning artwork by painting with their feet. At first they were hesitant, dipping only a big toe in or a heel and then they took the plunge and covered their entire foot in paint. It was a lot of fun!

First I printed the words LOVE on card stock, here is a PDF for you to print and cut.
https://drive.google.com/a/cocktailmom.com/file/d/0B-0MoU6EgXKidk9hcGNTcmJ0Y2s/view?usp=sharing

I prepped the activity by cutting out each of their letters first but if you have older kids try having them do it themselves. I taped the letters to look similar to the LOVE statue in Philadelphia, PA on white card stock using washi craft tape so that it wouldn't ruin the paper when I peeled the letters off later. We used tempura paint but any craft paint will also work well.

Once the entire paper is covered in foot prints, set it aside to dry. Once the painting is dry you can slowly peel off each letter to reveal the word LOVE in white.
This would make a great Valentine's gift! And is a great craft for kids in kindergarten through fourth grade.  

Felt Ornament Wreaths

Combining fine motor activity with a craft is thrilling for me! Seriously…I love being able to have the kids create a craft while building the muscles in their hands that will lead to better penmanship. This beautiful felt wreath will keep your kids entertained longer than you might expect. So who cares that it's after Christmas…stock up for next year!

Here is what you will need:
various colors of felt
yarn
plastic needle, found near the knitting and crochet hooks at your local craft store
jingle bells
heavy duty hole punch

I prepped everything for my Yoga Kids so that they could get right to work creating and I will warn you that depending on the number of kids that you have this might take a while. Cut each piece of felt into 1 inch squares and then using a heavy duty hole punch put holes in the center of each square. This is the brand of hole punch that I use, Crop-A-Dile and it can go through tin! Highly recommend getting one to have in your crafting closet.

String a piece of yarn onto each needle and tie off the end so that the kids can begin putting the squares on the yarn. Encourage them to create a pattern with the various colors of felt. When thy have determined that their wreath is big enough tie the two ends together and secure the jingle bell at the top. With the remaining yarn make a loop to hang on the tree. Enjoy!

Snow Globe Kids Craft Ornament

If you have small kids then your tree is probably decorated with various handmade ornaments that they had such pride in creating and presenting to you. Well I have one more to add to your tree….snow globes!

Here is what you'll need:

clear plastic cups

colored pencils

glue

card stock

cotton balls

glitter

Using card stock make a circle slightly bigger than the clear plastic cup, cut out. Then cut a 2 inch x 3 inch piece of card stock for the center of the snow globe. Have your child draw a picture on the rectangle shape and fold down ½ inch from the bottom and glue to the center of the circle. Then let your child glue down all the cotton balls that they can get to fit on the circle. Punch a hole in the bottom of the plastic cup and thread some yarn through it. Sprinkle some glitter in the bottom of the cup and then put glue around the rim of the plastic cup and secure to the circle. 

Hang on your tree and enjoy!

25 Gift Ideas For Kids (That Don't Involve Bringing More Plastic Crap into Your House!)

Yes, kids love to open gift on Christmas day but as a family who has often lived in small spaces, we have had to invite other ideas for gifts that grandparents, aunts and uncles could send the boys. Gifts that don't take up any room in our house. Gifts that were more experience driven rather than consumerism of stuff.
Here is a list of ideas that we have enjoyed in our house.

1. Membership to a children's museum. For several years this was our #1 gift request because when we would visit the grandparent in their state we used the affiliate program and was able to go for free. We would often also go to a children's museum while traveling or on vacation. We got a lot of bang out of that buck!
2. Aquarium membership. 
3. Subscription to a children's theatre. 
4. Spring break camp (we don't normally do spring break camps so this is special in our house).
5. Season pass to minor league baseball games.
6. Season tickets to college women's basketball games, we are close to the University of Maryland and the women's basketball games aren't as crowded as the mens' games which works well for our family. And the tickets are less expensive.
7. Night at Great Wolf Lodge.
8. Adopt an animal at the zoo, http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Support/AdoptSpecies/
9. Tickets to an amusement park.
10. Movie tickets.
11. Gift card to a place where we wouldn't normally go that is an experience, for example a Pump It Up or a trampoline gym or a climbing wall facility.
12. Magazine subscriptions. When the boys have finished reading them I take them to their school to use in their positive behavior school store.
13. Online video game coding program, my youngest has really enjoyed this one. Learning how to make his own video game has taught him to look at all video games differently. http://www.tynker.com
14. Online video game like https://minecraft.net
15. Minecraft Homeschooling game, we haven't tried this yet but it's on our wish list for this year. 
16. Gift card to an arcade.
17. DVDs.
18. CDs.
19. Video game.
20. Gift card to purchase Apps for iPhone/Ipad.
21. Art classes.
22. Cooking class.
23. Paint your own pottery type of experience.
24. Subscription service  that comes in the mail: http://www.greenkidcrafts.com/join/ delivers STEM and creative projects for the child to do at home.
25. Gift card to book store or comic book store, I would personally rather be overrun by books than plastic crap any day of the week!

Simple Candy Corn Painting

Need a quick and easy craft that will keep the kids occupied for a little while? This is it! Great for kindergarten through fourth grade students. The supplies are minimal so it's great for a classroom project.

All you will need is:

• white construction paper or white card stock
• orange and yellow paint
• clothes pins
• craft pom pom balls

Cut the paper in the shape of a large candy corn, you can do this or have the kids do it if they are comfortable with scissors. Then place orange and yellow paints on paper plates in the center of the group for everyone to share. With the clothes pins grasp a pom pom, I chose to use coordinating colors so that no one would mix the clothespins in the wrong paint. 

yellow pom pom = yellow paint

Have the children dip their pom pom in the paint and dab on the paper repeatedly creating a candy corn design. Hang and let dry.

This craft is perfect for the fall and Halloween time, especially for the kids who might be a little scared of Halloween themed crafts that involve ghosts and skeletons.  

Halloween Bat Craft for Kids

What kid doesn't love bats? Making these Halloween bats are super easy and you will be upcycing, and that's just plain awesome!
Before my BeeYogaFusion Yoga Kids began this project we read the book Stellaluna.
(How cool is that website, right?)

As for the craft, cut up a paper egg carton so that each child has a cup. Have the children use markers or paint to color their bat. Click on the second bat wing picture and print. Then cut out the bat wings and tape a twist tie to the back of each wing. Using the tip of the scissors create a small hole in the side of each egg cup and place the twist tie in the hole.
Your done!
Either leave the bat as is to sit on a shelf or place a hole in the top of the head and put a string through so that the bat can hang upside down.
Happy Halloween!

Halloween Pumpkin Luminaries

We are getting ready for Halloween at the Bee Yoga Fusion yoga studio and the yoga kids celebrated today by making pumpkin luminaries.

Supplies needed:

• orange and black construction paper
• Elmer's glue
• craft foam paint brush (something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Value-Pack-10-Pc-Foam-Paint-Brush/dp/B003UHJDAS)
• scissors
• canning jars
• Finishing spray sealer (something like this: http://www.michaels.com/mod-podge-clear-acrylic-sealer-matte/10194372.html)
• battery candle lights to put inside the jar when finished

I had the yoga kids rip the orange construction paper into small pieces and then glue each piece onto the wide mouth canning jar using a craft foam paint brush. I instructed them to use just a little bit of glue, which was hard for the wee ones to resist gooping it on. Then with scissors they cut out their eyes and mouths using black construction paper. After they were finished I went back and glued down and pieces that were sticking up and smoothed the surface with my fingers. Once the glue was dry I sprayed each one with a glossy finishing spray and put a battery candle light in the jar. 

It's a wonderful craft for the kids to make and feel as though they are contributing to the fall decor in your house or in their room. This also makes a great gift for the grandparents!

Free Range Kid Craft Project

It's amazing what the Bee Yoga Fusion Yoga Kids come up with when I give them supplies and a theme. On this particular day I told them that we were going to make "Ghosts". In the center of our craft area were paper plates, a roll of toilet paper, stack of white paper, glue, tape and markers. What they each came up with on their own was pretty incredible.

One covered the plate with toilet paper and then carefully tore the center open to reveal a scary face, another drew a cat ghost with paper ears attached to a paper plate and toilet paper limbs, another taped toilet paper around the whole paper plate and that was it.

Allowing kids to decide for themselves on what the result will be is part of the fun of being creative and enjoying imaginative play.

Try it with your kids. Abandon the Kids Craft Board you created full of ideas from Pinterest to create these perfectly looking crafts and instead give the children a few supplies and a theme and see what they think of on their own without any directions. Then share it on social media using the hashtag #CocktailMomCrafts

Halloween Craft for Kids- Spiders and Web

This is a wonderful craft that is easy and really fun to do.
You'll need: embroidery hoops, embroidery floss, glue, pipe cleaners, egg carton, markers, goggly eyes and a hole punch.
Start by cutting the egg carton up into single egg holders. Have each child color the egg carton with markers to make their spider and then with a hole punch make two holes for the 4 pipe cleaners to pass through the body of the spider. Glue on the goggly eyes and your spider is complete.

Moving on to the web. Take the outer ring of the embroidery hoop off and have the kids wrap embroidery floss around the hoop making a pattern as they go. This is a lot of fun and each of my yoga kids got really quiet to concentrate on the task. When they are finished making the web, tie the final end to the hoop and place the outer ring of the hoop securely on, this will hold the floss in place.

Put a final hole punch in the spider to secure a piece of floss through so that you can tie it to the hoop, Hang the hoop on your wall with the spider dangling down.
This is a great craft for Kindergarten to fourth grade students.
Happy Halloween!

Chocolate Tasting

This past summer we went on vacation with my wife's family to the beach and had a fabulous time! I wanted to surprise everyone with a special dessert night- a chocolate tasting!

I decided that I wanted to do a blind tasting for the adults and the kids separately. For the adults I purchased six, various brands of chocolate bars that were truly unique. The kind of chocolate bars that I would never purchase for myself because I deem them too expensive or so unusual that I don't know if I want to commit to eating an entire bar. Among them were peanut butter and banana, orange peel, candied rose petals, spicy red peppers and quinoa!

I cut each bar into bit sized pieces and placed on a cutting board with a number next to it. We sat around the table and tried a bite of each chocolate one at a time, everyone tried to guess what it was that was unique about that chocolate bar, what flavor was standing out to them and which one was the best. The overall process took some time but it was a lot of fun to hear the unique ideas of ingredients and made for some interesting conversation. We made sure to drink water or wine between each numbered piece of chocolate to cleanse our palates.

For the kids chocolate tasting I purchased three different brands of milk chocolate that happened to be made in various locations around the world. A Hershey's bar from the United States, Cadbury from London and an Israel milk chocolate bar. For the kids they tried a bite of each chocolate bar and then voted on which one tasted the best.

Try hosting a chocolate bar tasting with your family this holiday season and see what flavor is crowned the winner!

Family Traditions- Easter Egg Hunt

One of my favorite family traditions is having an Easter Egg Hunt at our house on Easter morning. Some years we've had it within the house, other years we moved it outside. For the last two years we have been blessed with having visitors on Easter to help us celebrate this favorite tradition. I might actually like doing the Easter egg hunt more than I do Christmas….possibly.
I think as long as some of the eggs have money in them, my boys will continue to play along.
What do you do for Easter?
Does your family have any traditions that you hold dear? Share in the comments on the blog.