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Crafts |
Crafts
It's easy to make a bigger bib that's dignified, durable, and absorbent using guest towels or smaller bath towels. Fold the towel in half, lengthwise. 3 to 5 inches from the edge, cut into both layers, along the fold, in a semi-circle to create a neck opening. Serge or zig-zag around all cut edges. Turn edges toward wrong side and sew down. Sew or glue velcro tabs to the two square edges. This bib covers the neck, shoulders, and front. You can also turn up the bottom edge and sew the sides to create a catch-pocket if needed. Since towels come in so many colors, you can get ones that match favorite outfits, or vary for the seasons. If you know someone handy with a sewing machine, you can also embroider initials, or anything else on the towels. Cloth and craft stores also sell decorative patches that can be sewn/hot glued/ironed on as well. - S.C., St. Louis Park, MN
Use old TV Guides or Readers Digest size magazines at Christmas to make Christmas trees. Just fold the top of the page into the center, forming a triangle. You can spray paint it green, gold, or silver and decorate it with glitter. - C.U., city and state unknown
I work with multi-handicapped blind/visually impaired children and I am constantly looking for ideas for them. Finally, I found this idea on how to make a simple puppet that was highly tactile and fun to make with them. All you need is an old clean sock, cotton batting, fabric paint (the kind in tubes), elastics, and other fun stuff like glitter, foam shapes, old buttons, etc., as well as craft glue to stick the pieces on. All you need to do is let the child decide what animal they are making and then make the body sections by adding the cotton batting and tying the sections off with the elastics. To make a more defined head on the puppets you can use those styrofoam egg or sphere shapes. After they've made the different sections, decorate at will. This project works well with kids as young as 6 years old and they love feeling the end results, and showing off their own home made puppets - L.C., city unknown, Canada
I'd like to add to the idea shared about shaving cream in a Ziploc bag. I put hair gel inside the bag; it is a little bit firmer than shaving cream. I also reinforce the sides of the bag with clear packing tape. If you want to go a step further, I put a letter or shape drawn big on a piece of paper that fits under the bag, so the children can trace the letter or shape in the gel. - C.V., San Antonio, TX
Fill a 1 gallon or 2 gallon Ziploc bag halfway up with shaving cream, add desired amount of food coloring (dropping in two colors to blend into one, such as blue and red to create purple), squeeze the air out and seal it. Place on the table and let your "little one" push and squeeze and mix as he or she watches the colors blend. - W.P., Ocean City, NJ
I am working on photo albums/memory books for my three kids. I was getting really bored with square pictures, and I discovered that if I put a cookie cutter on a photo, traced around it and cut it out that I got a photo with a unique shape that added great visual interest to the books. Cutters come in such neat shapes: hearts, teddy bears, boats, houses, even Barney. I also use the cutters to get paper shapes to add to photo pages - it's a lot cheaper than buying them ready made! - K.M., Melbourne, FL
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