The Artful Parent

Yarn Paintings :: A Fun & Tactile Art Activity for Kids

Have you tried yarn paintings yet? The combination of yarn, glue, and paint makes it an especially fun and tactile art activity for kids. Plus the three-dimensional aspect makes it stand apart from most kids' painting projects.

13 Fun Indoor Activities for Kids

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February, as during much of the winter, I am always looking for fun indoor activities for kids to keep them engaged. I seek arts and crafts, educational ideas, simple science activities, and anything with a bit of wow factor. Sure, my kids do plenty of pretend play, building, drawing, and other low-key activities on their own. But sometimes we need projects that are extra interesting and extra FUN.

Like those on this list of fun indoor activities for kids:

Glitter Stars :: A Simple Christmas Craft

Maia and I made these little hanging glitter stars last week, inspired by the large lighted stars we've fallen in love with. While the larger ones were made from yard sticks, these were made from little popsicle sticks. Plus generous amounts of glitter, of course, to sparkle in the glow of the Christmas lights. 

They were easy to make and use materials that you probably already have around the house: craft sticks, glue, paint, and glitter. Here's how we did it:

How to Tie Dye Playsilks

We made tie dye playsilks a couple weeks ago with friends. The same friend for whom we made the baby mobile, in fact (and she's since given birth to a beautiful baby girl!). Tie dying the playsilks was a lot of fun and the results are just beautiful. Since we didn't find instructions online and had to cobble together our own from a couple of different sources, I thought I'd give you the step-by-step instructions on how to tie dye playsilks.

Kids' Art Activities :: 11 Parenting Bloggers Share Their Favorites

Every family has their favorites when it comes to kids' art activities, but most of us (surely I'm not the only one?) are always on the look out for new fun art activities.

With that in mind, I asked 11 great parenting bloggers to share their favorite art activities with us. Their answers ranged from milk paint and suminagashi to a rainy day doodle game and duct tape flowers. Note: Make sure to click through on the links below for their blog posts on the art activities mentioned and any further description or tutorial.

Melting Ice Science Experiment with Salt & Liquid Watercolors

Melting ice with salt and then adding liquid watercolors is a simple kids' science experiment that we've done before. But sometimes you have to try something more than once to really get it right. Last time our melting ice science experiment was so much of a salt and watercolor free-for-all that we couldn't see what was happening to the ice under all the salt.

This time we got it right. And it truly is a beautiful and fun learning experience.

Creative Drawing Ideas & Prompts for Kids

As one way to encourage creative drawing and the continued use of our chalkboard, I occasionaly add a drawing prompt and wait for the kids to find it. (And by kids, I mean Maia and possibly any friend she has over. Daphne is yet oblivious to such suggestion.)

It almost always results in a thoughtful and unique drawing that veers from the usual drawings that I see them make.

Melted Bead Suncatcher :: A DIY Baby Mobile

We have made several rounds of the melted bead suncatchers since first posting about them and Maia wants to do even more! This has been such a fun and popular crafty activity in our house.

A good friend is about to have a baby so we decided to take advantage of our current melted bead suncatcher craze to make a baby mobile out of them —one that is colorful and catches the light beautifully.

So Many Arts and Crafts Ideas for Kids! (A Directory Update)

 

 

 

I finished the Collage category of the Arts and Crafts Directory over the weekend, which brings me up to six categories completed. Woohoo! (You can click on the images above to see each page.)

I'm getting there... Slowly but surely. I still have a few more categories to work on, including painting, which I'm rather dreading because I'm sure we've done at least 300 different painting activities.

Let's hope I'm exagerating.

Besides, It's been fun to see old photos of my girls and art that I had forgotten.

Kids' Art with Geoboards (they're not just for math!)

My kids, and everyone else who has come over lately, have been LOVING these geoboards. They use the rubber bands to create shapes, lines, pictures, scenes, ART.

They like them because they are fun. Because the options are endless. Because creating with them is a challenge. And maybe because they had never created art with rubber bands before.