Simple American Flag Craft for Kids

Patriotic crafts for kids ~ Simple American Flag Craft

Are you looking for a simple craft perfect for July 4th or Memorial day? Check out this simple American flag craft. It’s a perfect way to sneak in a little scissor skill practice, and create something adorable for your fridge. Plus all you need is 5 minutes and a few simple supplies. Love that!

Could the bottom 2 flags be any cuter?

Full sheets of paper can be tricky for little ones maneuver with scissors in hand. Often I will cut the paper into more manageable sizes, depending on the project. Although as you can see, this little cutie was doing just fine.

If your little one loves cutting, then you may want to try our simple circle rainbows, our adorable counting carrots activity and my favorite…silly spring chicks.

I also have a bin with scraps of paper, newspapers, old magazines etc set aside just for cutting. Some kids what to find pretty images to cut out, and others will be content cutting paper into teeny tiny pieces. Either way they are learning valuable fine motor skills that you want to encourage.

American Flag Materials:

Red, blue and white construction paper
Glue
Scissors
White paint
Q-tips

The kids started but cutting long strips of red paper. They glued them onto the paper to make simple stripes. Then they cut and glued on a blue rectangle. Easy peasy. Finally the kids made stars by dipping a q-tip into white paint and dotting. Quick and simple!

For more Patriotic crafts, check out our:

Fireworks in a Bottle

Poppies

Pretend Play Tea Party

Sensory Activities for Toddlers ~ Pretend Play Tea Party

If your kids are anything like mine, they love any excuse to have a Tea Party. Dressing up and pretending to be somewhere far away…an enchanted castle, fairy garden or an imaginative land. Ready to whisk your little prince or princess off on a fun imaginary ride? Check out our simple sensory activities for toddlers, and the best part is…it is free!

As I set up a little table in the back yard, the girls got all decked out in their special outfits.

According to my kids, you can’t have a tea party with out the proper princess attire.

Unlike our usual tea parties, todays began with a bag of shredded paper. Yep thats right…a bag of our recycling. Seriously, who would have thought that recycling could be so fun.

I simply emptied the shredded paper into a large bin, and set out the tea set.

The easiest Tea Party set up ever!

Immediately the kids dove right in…creating imaginative cups of tea overflowing with paper.

The pom-pom cherries were my favorite addition.

Sparkles, sparkles and more sparkles. Love it!

Our little shredded paper tea party was a smashing success! The kids LOVED it!

When the girls had drank they fill of tea, they ended with a friendly paper fight.

I mean really…who can resist a bin full of paper…not my girls!

The kids had so much fun, and I have to admit I had a blast joining in as well.

Sensory activities for toddlers and kiddos are so important. I love that this simple activity requires no recipe, and is totally free (you just need to raid the recycle bin).

Pretty sure she is ready for tea with the Queen!

Looking for more fun ideas to incorporate shredded paper into your play, check out our:

Shredded Paper Snowmen

Paper Plate Sheep

Halloween Sensory Play

Fall Leaf Craft

Winter Sensory Bin

Painting on Salt and Glue

Raised Salt Painting ~ Simple Kids Art Projects

Have your kids tried painting on salt and glue? If they haven’t, you may want to add it to your summer bucket list. Seriously…it is that fun! If you are looking simple kids art projects, then this is for you. I love that it only uses 3 ingredients, plus they are ones that I always have on hand. Read on for the full tutorial.

Today we revisited one of my very first posts…Raised Salt Painting. This was back before I really knew what I was doing, and when my mom was the only one reading my blog 😉

Painting on salt and glue is so cool, I can’t believe that it has taken us so long to try it again. If you haven’t tried it yet, you are going to love it!

My kids are always amazed by this simple technique and love watching the colors travel across their painting. The first time we played with this simple techniques, the kids drew simple designs. Lots of dots, squiggles and a few hearts. This time the kiddos were excited to create bugs. Love!

Raised Salt Painting:

White School Glue
Salt ~ we use regular table salt
Watercolors
Sturdy board ~ we used matt board.

Super easy instructions…

Draw a simple design with glue on your board.

Cover the entire gluey picture with salt, shaking off the excess.

Gently touch a wet paintbrush to the salt and watch the colors travel across the painting.

For more detailed instructions check out our original post!

Polka dots! Love them.

I love how the salty art dries!

It sparkles like little tiny little crystals.

I love this little caterpillar. Totally reminds me of a the hungry caterpillar, love it!

For more simple Kids Art Projects, check out our:

Pig Crafts for Kids

P is for Pigs ~ Simple Pig Crafts for Kids.

We have been having a blast learning about animals the last little while. Pigs have been the kids current obsession. Do your kids love Pigs? Then you are going to love this set of creative pig crafts that I scoured Pinterest looking for. I have to say, there were so many adorable ideas that I had a hard time keeping it to just 10.

These adorable crafts are perfect for your farm unit, or to go along side your current story book. The Tree Little Pigs, If you Give a Pig a Pancake and Charlottes Web are three of our favorite books starring adorable pigs.

Oink, oink oink!

Plastic Egg Piggies ~ Perfect for all those left over pink plastic eggs from Easter. Click on the link for more adorable egg animals…including cows, bunnies, lady bugs and so much more. Totally adorable!

Polka Dot Pig ~ This one uses all my favorite materials! I totally can’t wait to make this simple little cardboard tub piggy. The button nose is the icing on the cake! Love it.

We Made Piggies in Preschool ~ You know we love paper plate crafts! Check out these simple and adorable paper plate pigs. Prefect for creating with little fingers.

Cotton Ball Pigs ~ Simple textural craft your kids will love. Turn them into masks, puppets or hang them on a wall. Anyway you choose, they will look adorable!

Painting a Muddy Pig ~ Mud and pigs go hand in hand. Help a pick take a tool in the mud with this simple painting technique. The kids will love it!

Mrs Blair’s Pig Pen ~ I love that these little piggies can stand on their own. I fell in love with these little piggies the moment I saw them. Their clothes pin feet are totally perfect!

Golf Ball Pigs ~ I don’t golf, but now I have a fun idea to put all those stray golf balls to good use.

This Little Pig Went Wee, Wee, Wee ~ I can’t tell you how much I love these little pigs! They are so adorable, and a great way to work on simple circle cutting skills.

Pig Piñata ~ How adorable is this little ruffly pig piñata. They even took all the guess work out by adding photo instructions.

The Perfect Pig Ensemble ~ Check out these adorable pig costumes, complete with curly tail. Totally adorable. I think the little Daddy pig is my favorite!

For more Animal Crafts, check out our:

Easy Craft for kids ~ Wax Boats

Summer Crafts for kids ~ Wax Boats

Kids love designing and building boats. It is one of those classic summer crafts for kids that spans so many ages. The best part is…boats are easy to make, and can be created from pretty much anything. A few of our favorite designs include an origami paper boat, boats built out of corks and the classic plastic container boat. Today we are exploring a new material for us…Wax Boats. Read on to find out where we scavenged our wax from. You may be surprised to learn where it originated!

Have you guessed the source of our mysterious wax?

Here are a few hints to help your figure it out…

It can be purchased it in the refrigerator section of the grocery store.

It is normally something you discard.

The wax comes in a few colors, but red is the most common.

Any guesses?

Thats right…Babybel Cheese!

Babybel Cheese is wrapped in a brightly colored wax coating. My favorite part is pulling the little tail to open the wax and reveal the yummy cheese. However, the wax is just too cool, and is begging to be played with.

If you have bought this type of cheese, you have probably realized that it makes the perfect sculpting material.

Since I love recycling, up-cycling and all things free, this little discovery made me really happy. Free, fun sculpting material…sign me up!

All you need to do is simply warm the wax in your hands and begin molding.

Wax Boat Materials:

Wax ~ from Babybel Cheese
Toothpick ~ for the mast
Triangle of paper ~ for the sail
Water to sail your little boat ~ we used a shallow pan filled with water

The color is so inviting and begging to be made into something cool.

My kids love these little cheeses in their lunch box. When they are done eating the yummy cheese, they have a fun sculpting medium to play with. Don’t tell me when you were a kid, you never made cool creations from your wax covered cheese.

The kids have made a number of really cool things from this simple moldable wax. However, these little boats are my favorite. Simple, free and oh so cute! Plus if you want to make a new design, just squish the wax and rebuild your boat.

The kids added a little tooth pick mast and a paper sail.

Quick, simple and so much fun!

The best part, is that the wax is water proof. Making it perfect for a little friendly race in water! Off to find a larger container for the kids simple boats. Love it!

We chose to sail our little boats in a shallow pan of water. However, they would work pretty much anywhere.

If you want to sail your little boat in a pond or a large area of water, make sure to add a little string. This simple tip will save you lots of tears. No more boats floating away. Simple tug on the string to retrieve your boat. Love it!