Cardboard Box Robot Costume

Homemade costume for Halloween or anytime!

What You Need: A cardboard box, Silver spray paint, Razor/Box Cutter, silver pipe cleaners, roll of duct tape, brightly colored buttons & gems, glow sticks, anything else you can find, glue


What To Do:  ADULTS Measure and trim the cardboard box to fit your child, making sure to make arm and head holes that will not obstruct child's movements. You may need to cut the pieces and tape them back together to get the right fit. Once you have the right fit them spray paint it silver and let dry -  make sure you spray in a well ventilated area and away from children!! 

Once the base is dry, let children help you determine where the robot's buttons, knobs, screens, lights, and switches will go and glue the decorations in place. SOME MAY NEED TO BE HOT GLUED!  Also make sure you activate the glow sticks- if using them- before gluing them on.

Note: You can make the back with a slit, so that children can put it on without putting the box over their heads

The hat and shoes are a spray painted party hat and a shoe box top.

Happy Dragon/Lion Mask

Turn a Paper Plate into a fun Chinese New Year Mask!

 What You Need: A Paper Plate, Crayons/Markers, Colored Paper or Construction Paper, Scissors, Tape/Glue, other decorations

What To Do: Help your child create a Dragon face on the bottom (outside) of the paper plate. Since dragons are fictional let their imaginations run wild!

Adults: Cut out the eyes. 

Cut the construction paper into strips and glue or tape them on to the back of the paper plate. To create a curl like in the picture just roll the paper around your finger.

Use a hole punch and ribbon or glue a craft stick to complete your mask.

Dragon Stick Puppet

A simple and easy craft that you can make almost anywhere!

What You Need: Construction or Colored Paper, Scissors, Glue, Tape, 2 Straws, Crayons/Markers, Decorations

What to Do: ADULTS, draw and cut out the head, tail and body strip. Let child decorate with crayons, markers, glitter, feathers, etc. Fan fold the body strip like an accordion. Glue or tape the head on one end of the body strip and the tail on the opposite end. Turn over and tape the straws in the first fold of the body strip.


* You can use unsharpened pencils or craft sticks instead of the straws. And feel free to make any animal you kid likes. 

*We made this Dragon in honor of the Chinese New Year, but Lions, Tigers, Alligators even Kangaroos are fun to make!
 

Snake Decorations

This is a simple and easy craft activity that kids can make anytime and makes a wonder party craft because once they are done you can use them as decorations!

What You Need: Construction Paper, crayons/markers, decorations, ribbon

What To Do: Draw a large spiral on the construction paper at the end create an egg shape for the head. (If making decorations you needn't create the egg shape) Let children color and decorate BOTH SIDES how ever they choose. Don't forget the eyes. ADULTS carefully cutout the snake/spiral and put a small hole in its tail for the ribbon.

Hang & Enjoy!

Felt Roads

Here is a simple way to help give your little ones Matchbox' and Hot Wheels a place to drive - that's not the edge of furniture, your leg, or expensive plastic track sets.

These customizable felt roads are easy to make and inexpensive. They can be arranged and re-arranged over and over in any combination your child can imagine.


What You Need: Black Felt, Yellow/White felt, scissor, craft glue, cardboard

What To Do: Cut the black felt into strips wide enough to drive a toy car on. Cut the yellow felt into thin strips and then cut those into strips about an inch long. Glue the small yellow strips onto the black felt roads and Viola! You're done. Use the cardboard as backing to make them extra durable. 

Tips: Because you're making them you can cut out whatever kind of roads you want: soft curves, corners, Y-shaped merges, 4 laned highway,  S-shaped zigzags. 

Store your roads in an hard pencil case or an old wipe container. 

Use them with train tracks, lincoln logs, plastic trees etc.

Stick Raft

A great craft that you can do with items from the backyard!  Have the kids gather the supplies, construct rafts and find a puddle and race!

What You Need:
Sticks, twine/thread, leaf/paper

What To Do: Gather enough twigs and sticks to make a raft base, one longer twig for a mast, and four to help steady and brace the raft.  Break or snip the branches for the base with garden shears to make them almost even - doesn't have to be perfect.  Lay the twigs side by side, holding them firmly, lace the thread around the edge of  the sticks, weaving over and under until they are secure. Repeat on the other edge. Take the four twigs you gathered for bracing the raft and split into two groups of two. Tie the two twigs of each group together. Attach one group onto the base at the back on the other to the front going across (opposite) the twigs of the raft. The raft should now be firm and steady with relatively little wiggle. Turn over and work the longer mast twig in between the twigs of both the base and the front brace. Use a large leaf or a piece of paper to attach to the mast as a sail.

You now have a stick raft, that floats!