Each week I bring you a kids craft that is fun, frugal, and educational!  I know we just did a rocket craft a couple of weeks ago, but since National Aviation Day is the 19th, I couldn’t let the day pass without doing a craft related to it! 

Paper Towel Roll Airplane

Materials:
2 Paper Towel Rolls
Craft Knife or Scissors (adult use)
Markers, Stickers, Paint (whatever you would like to decorate with)

Directions:

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Each week I bring you a kids craft that is fun, educational, and frugal.  For the remainder of July and August, I will be concentrating on kindergarten skills.

All About Me Book

Materials:
2 sheets construction paper
5-10 sheets of white computer paper
Paper clips
Crayons, markers
Yarn, string, or ribbon
1 ruler or tape measure
Hole punch

Directions:
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Each week I bring you a craft that is fun, educational, and frugal. For the remainder of July and August, I be concentrating on preschool and kindergarten skills.  This week marks the anniversary of the day that man first walked on the moon (July 20th is Moon Day) so I thought making a rocket ship sounded like a great idea!

Materials:
Paper Towel Roll (use )!
Aluminum Foil
Tape and Scissors

Directions:
1.  The adult should cut 4 slits in one end of the paper towel roll.  Space them evenly around the roll and make each slit about 2 inches.
2.  Cut out 2 large red triangles from the construction paper (about 5 inches tall).   Cut a slit into the top of trianble and the bottom of the other (about 2 inches long).

3.  Insert the triangles into each other and then put them into the slits on the paper towel roll.
4.  Cover the paper towel roll with aluminum foil.

5.  Using a cup, trace a circle on the red construction paper. Then cut a line to the center of the circle.
6.  Fold the paper circle until it becomes a cone shape and tape together.  Then tape it to the top of the rocket.
7.  “Fly the rocket to the moon!” (Those are Will’s directions!)

 

Educational activities:
1.  Language Arts:  Teach your child nursery rhymes that talk about the moon.  (Hey Diddle Diddle, Man in the Moon, I See the Moon, etc).  One of the Virginia Standards of Learning is for children to be able to recite poems and rhymes and to be able to recognize rhyming words.
2.  Math:  Discuss the shapes used in this craft. (triangles, circles, rectangle (foil), and cylinder (paper towel roll).  Recognizing shapes is another kindergarten skill.
3.  Science:  Discuss the moon and talk about when you see it (nighttime), where you see it (sky/space), etc.

Each week I bring you a children’s craft that is fun, educational, and frugal!  This week’s craft is perfect for a rainy day and can be applied to many skills that a child should know before entering kindegarten. For the rest of the summer I will be focusing on important pre-kindergarten skills.

Materials:
1 big sheet of paper
1 sheet of sandpaper
5-10 small shells (you can draw and cut some out if you do not have any available)
Cotton balls
small amount of toothpaste
goldfish
glue
crayons/markers

Directions:

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Each week I bring you a kids craft that is fun, frugal, and educational.  July 7th is Macaroni day so this week’s craft will focus on using macaroni noodles for some learning fun!

Macaroni Ladybug Plate

Materials:
Macaroni Noodles(use to save on these noodles)
Paper Plate (use coupon here to save on Chinet)
Markers or Paint
Glue

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Each week I bring you a craft that can be done with your children that is fun, educational, and frugal!  Since school is out for the summer, you may want to check out my previous crafts HERE to give you other ideas that will keep your child busy and learning for hours! This week’s craft is one that once created, can supply fun all summer! There are a gazillion craft ideas for cereal boxes, but this is one of my favorites!

Cereal Box Puppet Theatre

Materials:
Empty Cereal Box (use coupons HERE to score some cheap ones!)
Scissors
Paint, ,or Wrapping Paper
Scrap Fabric or Construction Paper
or Straws
Glue

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Each week I bring you a craft to do with your kids that is fun, educational, and frugal. Since Sunday is Father’s Day, I couldn’t let that holiday pass without a cute and inexpensive craft made just for dad! This craft is combination of 2 other crafts I have seen before. 

**Flag Day is also this week and if you’re looking for a fun craft for that holiday, visit my flag craft HERE.

Dad Rocks Business Card Holder

Materials
Cassette case
Hot glue gun (obviously for adult use only)
rocks
index card
picture
scissors

Directions:

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Each week I bring you a craft that you can do with your children that is fun, educational, and frugal! 

June 7th is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day so I thought ice cream cones would make a cute craft today. I also have a recipe for making ice cream in a bag HERE.

Materials:
Construction paper
Scissors
Crayons

Directions: 
1.  Using brown construction paper cut triangles out to make “cones”.
2.  Draw an ice cream scoop shape on various colors of construction paper to create your “ice cream”.
3. Decide what topic you would like to reinforce and write on the shapes (different topics listed below). I chose to use A, B, C and common words that begin with those letters.  Will can mix up the “scoops” and then match the words to the correct beginning letter.
4.  After making your game, enjoy some real chocolate ice cream!

There are endless learning topics you can use with these ice cream cones:

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Each week I bring you a kid friendly craft that is fun, educational, and frugal!  June 1st is a little known holiday-“Flip Coin Day”.  There are so many activities that can be done with coins but I have picked my favorites and listed them below.

Piggy Bank

Materials:
Oatmeal container, coffee container, pringles can, etc
sturdy cardboard
Knife (for adult use)
1 penny, 1 nickel, 1 dime, 1 quarter
pencil
white paper
crayons

Directions:
1.  Cut a sheet of paper to wrap around your “bank”.  Have your child decorate it.
2.  Glue or tape the paper to the container.
3.  Have your child “rub” an impression of each coin by placing paper over them and coloring over them. Glue the pictures to the lid of the container. 

4. Cut holes next to each picture for coins to be inserted.
5.  Cut 2 pieces of cardboard to fit standing in the containter.  Arrange them so that there are 4 divided areas in the container.
6.  Place the lid on top of the container so that each hole is over one of the divided areas inside.
7. Start saving!

 Educational applications:  1.  Have a discussion with your child about each coin, their worth, design, size, etc.  2.  Talk with your child about what saving means.  If they are old enough, you can talk about an item they may want to purchase and how they can use the bank to save for it. Money Mobile

Materials:
Coin printouts-you can print some HERE
String
Hanger
Crayons

Directions:
1.  You can either print out the coins or have your child color some of their own.
2.  Examine each coin and discuss the size, color, worth, inscriptions,etc.
3.  Punch holes in each coin and tie string thru them.
4.  Attach each coin’s strings to the hanger.

Educational application:  Use the mobile to help your child ID coins.

“Flip For Probability“-game
Teaching probability to children is a difficult skill.  A game my students used to love to play was Flip for Probability.  All you need is a piece of paper and a coin.
1.  Show your child a coin and examine them sides.  Discuss that one side is known as heads and the other side is known as tails.
2.  Tell them you will be flipping a coin 20 times today.  Have them predict what side will land the most during the game-heads or tails?  Why do they think this?  Discuss that since there are only 2 sides, the probability is that the coin will land on each side pretty equally.
3.  Flip the coin 20 times and record each time what side the coin lands on-heads or tails.
4. Discuss the results.

Educational application:  This game helps your child understand probability (the likelihood of something happening), making predictions, and recording results on paper.