Category: Kids Crafts
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Tissue Paper Easter Egg Project
Watch out! Messy preschool project alert. We just had a blast with this one, and it’s one of those projects where I could see Beckett’s brain absorbing information. Not literally. But he just. Became. Smarter. You know what I mean? When you can see the progression from beginning to end in a project and they’re…
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Cool Sprayed T-Shirt Project
We’re big fans of making art on t-shirts, because, hey, wearable art! This is a fun, non-toxic way for kids to get a spray-paint effect and outfit themselves with a new t-shirt in anticipation of Spring. I was originally going to make this project using spray paint, and was so excited to find a product…
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Popular 1970s Toys
Were you eagerly anticipating reading about the most popular 1970’s toys? If you need a big dose of nostalgia today, here’s your post. Then I want to hear what your favorite toy was as a kid. The trend toward games of a more electronic bent continues in the 70s. It feels so funny to talk…
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African Mask Project
As a teenager, I had a brief obsession with African masks. I’ve always loved faces in art, and I suppose the graphic beauty of African masks appealed to me as a stylization of regular faces. I couldn’t even believe my luck when my family visited the National Museum of African Art in D.C. I was…
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Anatomy Art Projects
Oooh, science and art make me all happy. What happens when kids make art based on the human body and perhaps absorb some of that information? I recently heard from Aruna from Young Yoga Masters. She incorporates an art project into her kids’ yoga camps and was wondering if I had any anatomy art projects…
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Golden Ratio For Kids
Let’s blow some kids’ minds today learning about the Golden Ratio. When I first learned about the Golden Ratio in my freshman art history lecture, I knew I had made the right decision to go to art school. It was the single coolest thing I had ever learned in my life. I’m going to summarize…
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Mini Houses- Recycled Cardboard Art Project for Kids
Raise your hands if you go through eight million cardboard boxes a week. We do. Between the cereal, Diet Coke and delicious coconut La Croix, we usually have an overflowing recycling bin by about the 3rd day after garbage pickup. And there are only so many times you can cut off a side and…
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1960s Toys
This post is part of a series I am writing about the most popular toys from the past 60 years. You can read my toys of the 1950’s post here. For the most part, 1960’s toys were similar to those of the 1950s, but some new additions jettisoned the toys into the modern realm of…
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Toys of the 1950’s
Toys! I love toy design- the psychology behind it, the toys themselves, and what kids glom onto. Who can tell what those crazy little hooligans are going to like, anyway? Let’s look at the most popular toys from the past 60 years. We’ll start with the 50’s. 1. Play-Doh: Did you know that this was…
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Nature-Art Scavenger Hunt
We had some long, uninterrupted hours of no school going on around here, and unseasonably warm weather, so….. to combat whines of boredom, I made up an art scavenger hunt. Materials: Printer paper Crayons Markers Glue Chalk Thin wire – like florists wire or thin art wire 1. Find five leaves. Bring them home and…
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DIY Scratchboard Art Project
It’s totally easy to DIY scratchboard, so let’s get down to it. Recipe: 1/4 cup black tempera paint 1/4 cup dish soap That’s it! Mix it up and paint it on some heavyweight paper, like watercolor paper. Let the first coat dry and then slather on the second coat. I really do mean slather,…
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7 Super African Culture Children’s Books
When I grew up, all of my picture books starred white kids (or animal characters). It was all very familiar- I can’t remember reading anything about people from other cultures, so I knew nothing about how they lived. I knew very well how white middle class American families lived. And I learned all about how…