Spring is a wonderful time of year because it symbolizes rebirth and new beginnings. Plants are springing back to life after the long, harsh winter and people begin to venture out to enjoy outdoor activities. Springtime is also the perfect time to renew or strengthen bonds with loved ones!
Families with small children who are looking to bond and enjoy each other's company can try doing some festive spring crafts together. Crafts are a great way to nurture your child's creative/ imaginative side and they bring people together. What is better than an afternoon of crafts with the whole family?
I have compiled a number of craft projects like muffin cup flowers, a chenille butterfly mobile, a flowery spring lamp, wind chimes, a kite and much more! Try a few of these spring time crafts this weekend with your children and watch your bond strengthen!
Muffin Cup Flowers
These muffin cup flowers are great to hang on a wall or door for pretty spring decorations! This is also a fairly easy craft to do!
Materials:
A printer or you can draw your own stem and leaves, glue, scissors, a piece of construction paper, two muffin cups, something the color with (paint, crayons, markers, etc)
Directions:
- Color the two muffin cups various colors (they will be the flower head). You might want to make the centers yellow and the outsides a rainbow of flower colors... be creative! This step should be first, especially if using paint, so it has a chance to dry while you're doing the other steps. When finished set these aside to dry.
-Draw or cut the flower stem, you can use brown construction paper for the stem and then you can cut leaves from some green construction paper and glue them to the stem.
- Once you have glued the stem and leaves together Glue the two muffin cups onto the top of the stem (one on top of the other) to form the flower. Flatten out the bottom cup a bit more than the top cup so you can see the petals. You can use more than two cups if you want... the more cups you use, the more petals your flower will have.
- You can decorate the paper further by coloring in grass, sky and clouds. Also, you can use balled up pieces of green tissue paper as grass and cotton balls as clouds or you can decorate the paper further by drawing a flowerpot under the flower. Try coloring the muffin cups with pastels, the stem and leaves with regular crayons and the sky with watercolor paints. Or just put out a variety of mediums and let your kids pick which to use.
Chenille Butterfly Mobile
You can hang these butterflies by the antenna with fishing line from a paper plate to crate a butterfly mobile. Paint a sky with clouds on the plate to make your butterflies look like they are flying under the plate! This is a super easy craft to do!
Materials:
Black chenille stem, Any color bumpy chenille stem (for butterfly body), 4 Pom poms, optional, Wire cutters, Needle nose pliers, Tacky glue (if using pom poms).
Directions:
-Cut the black chenille stem in half. (You will only use 1 piece for this project) -Bend the bumpy chenille stem in half in a V shape. -Fold down one end of the bumpy chenille stem to the base of the V. Bend around the V. The end should be pointing up.
-Bend the bumpy chenille stem down to the base again. Bend around the V. This will form one side of the butterfly.
- Repeat with other end of the bumpy chenille stem.
- Be sure to use the needle nose pliers to hide any sharp ends. - Fold the black chenille stem in half.
- Twist the bent end about 1/2" from the bend.
- Slide the butterfly in-between the black ends of the chenille stem.
- Twist the black chenille stem above the butterfly to hold it in place.
- Separate the ends of the black chenille stem.
- Bend one end of the black chenille stem over about 1/4". Bend again.
- Repeat with other end. This makes the antennas.
- If desired, place pom poms in the openings of the wings and use tacky glue to hold in place. Let dry. If desired, hang with yarn or fishing line to make a mobile.
Baby Food Jar Garden (found some cool photos of this craft at: http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/cegif/gardenjar_larg e.jpg)
These are basically pretty little silk flower gardens that sit inside an upside down clear baby food jar.
Materials:
Baby food jar with lid, small silk flowers, rolling pin, white craft glue or hot glue gun, green play dough or green modeling clay.
Directions:
- Roll out the play dough or clay with rolling pin.
- Using the mouth of the jar as a cookie cutter cut out a circle. (If you use the lid as the cookie cutter you will not be able to close your jar when the time comes.)
- Glue the play dough or clay into the lid.
- Stick flowers into the dough or clay. If using play dough, set lids aside to dry and harden over night.
- Screw the lid onto the jar, carefully inserting the flowers into the jar.
- Decorate the lid with felt or ribbon to make a pretty bow.
Flowery spring lamp shade
I found this fun craft for those older kids/ teens. You simply make or buy decorations of your choice and glue them to a plain, flat lampshade. You can get instructions to this craft and see pictures on The Better Homes & Gardens website: http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jsp?storyid=/templateda ta/bhg/story/data/coolpersonalstuff_05292002.xml&catref=T16
Homemade wind chime
This peaceful homemade wind chime will gently chime at the slightest breeze
Materials:
Scissors, clear plastic lids, clear plastic lids, X-Acto knife, hole punch, fishing line, stick or dowel, jingle bells.
Directions:
- Cut the rims off the plastic lids, then help your children cut out seven (or as many as you like) leaf shapes from the clear plastic. If you want, you can create "veins" on the leaves by lightly scoring each one with an X-Acto blade.
- Punch a hole in the top and bottom of each leaf. Tie a 7- to 10-inch length of fishing line to the top of each leaf, then hang the leaves, evenly spaced, from the stick or dowel.
- Using short lengths of fishing line, hang a jingle bell from the bottom of each leaf.
- To make a hanger, tie the ends of a 6- to 8-inch piece of fishing line to each end of the stick.
Homemade Dragon Kite
This fin craft is constructed of bags, a hanger, and a dowel.
Materials:
Plastic trash bags, Cellophane tape, Ruler, Pencil, String, Permanent markers, 3/16-inch dowel (14 inches long), Wire clothes hanger (light gauge), Kite cord, Heavy needle, Large snap swivel
Directions:
- Slice open a trash bag lengthwise and tape down the plastic sheet. Draw a 14-inch-diameter circle with a centerline and squared-off bottom. (You can use a foot-long loop of string as a compass. Anchor the loop in place with a pencil's eraser end, insert a marker, pull the loop taut, and draw the circle.) Draw a 1-inch margin around the top and sides for tabs. Decorate with markers, if desired. Cut out the pattern and the tabs. Tape the dowel to the centerline of the kite's back.
- Straighten the hanger, bend it around the top of the dowel and then down along the perimeter of the kite. Use bricks or books to hold the wire in place.
- Starting at the top of the kite, tightly fold and tape the tabs around the wire, alternating from left to right. Trim the excess wire with wire cutters.
- Place two pieces of tape (for reinforcement) across the centerline on the front of the kite, 1 inch down from the top and 3 inches up from the bottom. Use a needle to poke the bridle - a 3-foot length of cord - through the upper piece of tape, alongside the dowel.
- Loop the cord around the dowel, send the needle back through the plastic on the opposite side of the dowel, then thread the cord back through and around the dowel again. Secure the cord to itself with a triple knot. Repeat this process with the other end of the bridle at the lower taped point.
- Attach the snap swivel 1 inches above the bridle's midpoint. Use a lark's head knot: fold the cord and thread it through the swivel's nonopening end; draw the loop of cord over the entire swivel, then pull tight. Tie the kite cord to the swivel's clasp.
- For the tail, tape together five plastic strips (2 inches by 4 bag lengths each), tape them to the kite's bottom and decorate.
Puddle Boat Craft
This craft is great for pool, bath time or puddle fun after the spring rain showers!
Materials:
Fome-Cor or Styrofoam, craft knife, acrylic paints and brushes, nails, rubber band
Directions:
- Use a utility knife (parents only) to cut a 10 by 5 inch rectangle out of 1/2-inch Fome-Cor. Contour one of the shorter ends so that it resembles the bow of a boat.
- Starting 1 1/2 inches in from the opposite end, cut a 4 by 3 inch opening for the paddle wheel. Use the removed material to make a cabin. Then cut out a half circle 3 inches long at the flat end and glue it to the top of the bow.
- Fashion the paddle wheel out of 1/2-inch Fome-Cor. Cut out two 3 by 2 inch rectangles and make a notch (1 by 1/4 inch) in the center of each of them. Fit the two pieces together to form a cross.
- Decorate the boat and the wheel with acrylic paints and seal them (top, bottom and sides) with a coat of acrylic gloss.
- Tap a small nail partway into the Fome-Cor on both sides of the wheel opening. Tie an overhand knot at both ends of a rubber band to form two small loops. Then slip a loop around each nail and fit the middle of the band around the center of the paddle wheel.