Candy Melts Crafts for Kids

I love the versatility of Candy Melts (affiliate link). Not only can you use them on their own, but lots of different foods can become the base of a fun craft by adding Candy Melts. They're available in a wide variety of colors, which can in turn be mixed to make an infinite number of shades. I consider Candy Melts a staple when it comes to kids craft supplies. I've made dozens of crafts using Candy Melts over the years; below are some of my favorites. 

Candy Melts Crafts for Kids

Pac-Man Marshmallow Treats - These retro treats are ridiculously easy to make and are perfect for an 80's themed party or for everyday fun. 

Pretzel Raccoons - I'm really proud of these raccoons. They're so cute and I had a blast making them. Which version do you like best? 

Edible Roses on Ice Cream - Celebrate Mother's Day or another special occasion with edible roses served on top of ice cream. They're so easy to make and you can match them to any color scheme. 

Marshmallow Bunnies - I love these marshmallow bunnies! Each is slightly different, which gives them their own personality. 

Pretzel Monarch Butterflies - These monarchs take some patience and decent fine motor control, but most teens should be able to be successful with this project. The effort is worth it - they're gorgeous (and delicious)!

Edible US Flag - This patriotic dessert is easy to make and features different flavors for each of the three colors. 

Graham Cracker Owls - Make edible owl snacks that are packed with personality! Candy corn makes the perfect beaks. 

Rice Krispie Treat Pig with Chocolate Mousse Mud - This pig is so cute and tastes delicious, especially the chocolate mousse mud. Click the link to see his adorable curly tail!

Candy Melts Campfire - Create a gorgeous campfire treat for a Scout event, camping trip, or outdoors-themed party. The combination of sweet and salty is delicious. 

Pretzel Elephant on a Stick - What's more fun that dessert on a stick?! This elephant craft is fun to make and is a tasty treat. 

---------

This is only a small number of the many Candy Melts crafts I've made. Visit my Edible Crafts page to see the rest, along with all of the other edible crafts I've done over the years. 

Invertebrate Crafts for Kids

Did you know that there are around 1.3 million different species of invertebrates?! This includes approximately: 

• 1 million species of insects 
• 100,000 species of arachnids (spiders, scorpions, ticks, etc)
• 85,000 species of slugs and snails
• 47,000 species of crustaceans
• 20,000 species of bivalves 
• 72,000 other species (everything from sand dollars to jellyfish to octopuses)

Those are staggering numbers! And when you consider how many individuals of each species there are, it is simply mind-blowing. Invertebrates are absolutely fascinating. Pair a study of invertebrates with a series of kid-friendly crafts. Below are nine of my favorites. 

Invertebrate Crafts for Kids

1. Cardboard Tube Honey Bee - Where would we be without bees? Craft a model of this vital pollinator using a cardboard tube.

2. Pretzel Monarch Butterflies - Make a gorgeous edible treat, inspired by the monarch butterfly. This craft is best for teens and tweens.

3. Ladybug Under a Magnifying Glass - What better way to study a tiny animal but under a magnifying glass?! This craft lets kids focus on all the details of a ladybug. 

4. Peanut Picnic Ants - Ants are absolutely amazing. Sure, they can be annoying, but when you learn more about their strength and teamwork, you can't help but be impressed!

5. Glue Resist Spiderweb - Create a beautiful spiderweb with two kid-friendly items you likely already have at home. It's a lot of fun to make. 

6. Lobster Drawing - Learn how to draw an American lobster, step by step. Then add watercolors to give it mottled coloration.

7. Crayon Resist Swallowtail - Use a fun crayon-resist technique to color accurate pictures of your favorite butterflies. This is an Eastern tiger swallowtail. 

8. Cardboard Tube Firefly - Fireflies are such interesting insects! Make your own firefly using a cardboard tube. Lights are optional, but totally cool. 

9. Painted Dragonflies - Create a beautiful painting featuring lots of colorful dragonflies. This mixed media project is really fun to do. 

-----

Be sure to check out the rest of the invertebrate craft tutorials! If you're looking for ideas for other animal crafts for kids, I have those too. Click on the links to find bird crafts, mammal crafts, fish crafts, reptile and amphibian crafts, and even crafts featuring mythical creatures!

Puzzle Piece Crafts

There are some people who don't mind if a puzzle is missing pieces (Karen Puzzles famously doesn't care), but it bothers me. If I open a brand new puzzle and there are pieces missing, I contact the manufacturer for a replacement. If I get a used puzzle with missing pieces, the remaining pieces become a craft supply. There are a lot of fun things you can make with puzzle pieces. Here are 7 of my favorite ideas.  

Puzzle Piece Crafts for Kids

Puzzle Piece Monarch : Create a beautiful monarch butterfly from a puzzle piece! You can use the same idea for any species of butterfly.

Puzzle Piece Alien: Start with puzzle pieces, paint, googly eyes, and wires, then let your imagination go wild as you imagine what aliens look like!

Twisteezwire Girl with Flowers: You can make all sorts of cool sculptures using Twisteezwire and puzzle pieces. My girl is holding flowers, but she could just as easily be holding anything else!

Puzzle Piece Ladybug, Crab, Bug, and Spider: Fashion the cutest ladybug ever out of a puzzle piece, beads, and wire. This link has instructions for a crab, bug, and spider as well. 

Puzzle Piece Flower Bouquet: I love this cheery bouquet of flowers, made from puzzle pieces, pipe cleaners, tissue paper, and pom poms. It's so pretty!

Puzzle Piece Reindeer Ornament: My son and I made these ornaments when he was 6. They're still one of my favorites. They look so cute on the Christmas tree each year!

Puzzle Piece Minions: When I made my puzzle piece minions, I experimented to see if I could make them from a bunch of different piece shapes. Some work better than others, but I think they're especially fun all together like this. 

-------

Click here to find a few more puzzle piece crafts I've made, as well as all of my other puzzle content. Enjoy!

Tissue Paper Crafts for Kids

I am a tissue paper hoarder. Not only do I save the used tissue paper from all the presents our family receives, but if I go to a party and it looks like the recipient is going to throw out their tissue paper, I jump in and save that too. I've been doing this for decades and I manage to stay in equilibrium - I use as much as I bring in. How? Tissue paper crafts! 

There are so many fun things you can make with tissue paper. Over the years, I've shared more than 40 different tissue paper crafts. You can find them all using that link. Below are some of my favorites. 

Tissue Paper Cardinal
     This project is one of my all-time favorite bird crafts. I love cardinals and this one is so cute. 

Paper Taco
    Tissue paper acts as the lettuce in this all-paper version of a taco. 

Decoupage Flower Bouquet
     These colorful flowers are so much fun to make!     

Tissue Paper Stained Glass
     It's amazing how much tissue paper resembles stained glass in this project. 

Paper Plate Salad
     Once again, tissue paper plays the role of lettuce. This time, it's in a salad. 

Tissue Paper Ocean Art
     The secret to this project is bleeding tissue paper. 

Fall Tree with Tissue Paper Leaves
     Celebrate fall with this tree craft, featuring tissue paper leaves in yellows, greens, reds, and oranges. 

Volcano Art
     Tissue paper acts as lava in this unique craft. 

Strawberry Piñata
     Homemade piñatas are so much fun! This strawberry is beginner-friendly. 

Snowman Crafts for Kids

After sharing yesterday's snowman craft, I was thinking about all the snowman crafts I've made over the years. There are dozens. I put some of my favorites into this roundup. 

I particularly like the snowmen that are made from humble supplies: the plastic spoon, the cork, and the burned-out light bulb. But I love the other ones as well. All of these projects bring back lots of happy memories. You can find these, and all of the other snowmen projects I've made, on my Winter Crafts and Christmas Crafts pages. 

Creative Ideas for Decorating Easter Eggs

Here's the roundup with all of my animal/character ideas for decorating Easter eggs. All of the tutorials are now linked on my Easter Crafts page.  

Which egg is your favorite? Do you have requests for decorated eggs you want me to make in the future? Let me know in the comments!

Religious Easter Crafts for Kids

For the past few days, I've been sharing ideas for Easter crafts that relate to the religious aspect of the holiday: Jesus' death and resurrection. Crafts like these are a lot less common than secular Easter crafts featuring jelly beans, bunnies, and chicks, so I put together a roundup to help parents and Sunday School teachers find project ideas for Lent and Easter. 

You can find all of these crafts (and more) on my Easter Crafts page. Scroll down to the bottom and you'll see all of the religious crafts grouped together. 

Snake Crafts for Kids, Plus Thoughts on State Snakes

I put together a graphic highlighting some of my favorite snake crafts for kids, including my latest project, the rattlesnake. 

 

I mentioned in that post that two states have named a rattlesnake as their official State Reptile. I don't know nearly enough about reptiles to know if, out of every single reptile species native to Arizona and West Virginia, those two rattlesnake species best represent their state. So I did a little digging and found the delightful Life is Short But Snakes Are Long blog by Andrew Durso. It hasn't been updated since 2018, which is a shame because it's really interesting. Most interesting to me, and most relevant to my own blog, is Durso's 2-part series What the State Snakes Should Be.

You should read the entire article. But in case you don't, I'll give a few spoilers. First, Durso feels that both Arizona and West Virginia got it right - their respective State Reptile rattlesnakes are what he would choose as State Snake. Second, Durso thinks Alabama, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming should also have rattlesnake species as their State Snake. He names other harmful-to-humans  snakes for some of the other states. Third, Durso feels the racer is a good candidate for a National Snake. I'm not opposed. 

Here are some other articles from Durso's blog that I enjoyed reading:

• Basics of Snake Skulls
• How Many Snakes are Venomous and How Many Are Constrictors?
• What the Provincial Snakes of Canada Should Be
• Are There Any Countries Without Snakes?

Enjoy!

350+ Animal Crafts for Kids

I counted recently and discovered there are just over 350 animal craft tutorials on my blog. Some of them have gotten a good amount of pageviews, but others have barely been seen. I decided to make a graphic featuring my six categories of animal crafts to try to drive traffic to the posts that could use more visibility. 

The graphic I made (using PicMonkey, of course) is very much my style.

I decided to challenge myself to make a second graphic NOT in my usual style, but still something I really like. My rules: it needed to be the same size as the first (optimized for Pinterest), must have a black background like the first, and would use the same six photos. I couldn't add any additional text. 

This is what I came up with:

That was so much fun that I made another. Same rules. 

I’m curious to see which of the three performs best. If you have a favorite, let me know in the comments. Or, better yet, pin your favorite to Pinterest so others can see it. Thanks in advance!

11 Fun Math Games and Crafts for Kids

Over the years, I've shared a bunch of my favorite fun math games and crafts for kids. It's time to compile them into one place! Most of these activities are appropriate for different ages, or are easily adapted to teach more basic or advanced skills. 

Fun Math Games and Crafts for Kids

Tic-Tac-Toe Dice

Need a great way to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts? Or, just looking for a fun travel game? Tic-Tac-Toe dice is one of my favorites for 3rd grade and up. (Parents will love it too!)

Tessellation Art

This art project is a wonderful introduction to the geometric concept of tessellations. Kids are fascinated with tessellations and making your own is so much fun! 

Magazine Symmetry Art

I liked having this activity on hand as a choice for early finishers. It challenges kids in a way they aren't used to thinking and helps develop observational and fine motor skills.  

Greater Than Less Than Alligator

We all learned about the alligator wanting to chomp the larger number. This fun craft reinforces the greater than and less than symbols. 

Compass Art

Kids are obsessed with using compasses. This art project familiarizes them with how to hold use it to draw circles and arcs of all sizes. 

Multiplication Fact Bracelets

Memorizing multiplication facts is really, really important in order to be successful in virtually all of the math that comes after it. These bracelets are better than flash cards, because they're fun to make and they're with you all the time!

Symme-trees (Symmetrical Tree Art)

Butterflies are great for symmetry lessons, but making symme-trees is just as fun. Kids love a good math pun!

The Percentages of Me

This autobiographical project is a great icebreaker and teaches multiple math skills. As a twist, you could make a version based on a famous person. Or make "The Percentages of Us" to learn all about the class as a parts of a whole. 

Cereal Math: Prime Factorization

Most kids absolutely love prime factorization, but it takes up a lot of room on paper. By solving the problems with cereal, you can practice a bunch of problems with ease!

Newspaper Math

Challenge kids to design their own math homework using a newspaper! This assignment is super flexible and can be used with any grade of students.

Lucky Numbers Place Value Game

This is one of my all-time favorite games and is also easily changed for different grade levels. Give it a try!

Construction Paper Animal Crafts for Kids

I don't usually post on Saturdays, but there is nothing usual about anything right now. With all of California ordered to stay at home, schools closed, and social distancing in effect throughout the country, many parents are looking for ideas for things to keep their kids entertained using what they have on hand. Quite a few of my friends have contacted me specifically for ideas for construction paper crafts. 

I went through all of my animal craft tutorials and pulled out the ones that are made exclusively, or predominantly, with construction paper. You'll find these below. In most cases, they can be made with scrapbook paper, cardstock, copy paper, or whatever else you have on hand.

Click on the link below the photo to go to the tutorial. Happy crafting!  

    

* Torn Paper Panda * Tiger Face * Pringles Can Beaver *

    

* Origami Dog * Bendable Monkeys * Paper Mice *   

    

  * N is for Nest * Q is for Quail * Coffee Filter Peacock *  

    

* Mixed Media Lions * Footprint Giraffe * Bunny Envelope *  

    

* Glue Resist Spiderweb * Firefly Art * Construction Paper Ostrich * 

    

* Footprint Zebra * Torn Paper Footprint Horse *  Two-Piece Origami Dog *

    

 * Koala Puppets * Paper Elephant * Paper Punched Pig *

    

* Snail Name Art * Canada Goose * Dimensional Beaver Cards *

    

 Handprint Bunny * Paper Strip Yak * Bunny Banner *

    

* Elephant Sunset Silhouette * Horse and Buggy * Cut and Color Giraffe *

    

* Queen Bee * Life-Size Grizzly Bear Paws * Origami Bunny *

    

 *  Woven Paper Fish * Monarch Butterfly Paper Craft * Paper Strip Seahorse *

    

* Paper Punched Sheep *  Paper Llama * Pull a Rabbit Out of a Hat *

    

* Footprint Bee * No-Scrap Fish Art * Scrap Paper Turtle *

    

* 'You're Amazing' Bunny Card * Oriole Craft * Handprint Chick *