Craft in a Minute!

 

You Need:

Scissors, Crayons, BLACK Duct Tape, Box

I am forever getting packages in the mail and looking for creative ways to use the boxes. Today after Roman and I gave the water table a good scrub down and waited for it to dry, I decided to start something new! I am putting together a busy bag to keep handy everywhere we go and I like practical everyday things for our bags that can easily be replaced if lost or broken!

I took 1small box and scissors, BLACK duct tape, white crayon and got to work!

First I cut the box apart at all the creases and then put tape on the pieces anywhere we wanted, then I handed Roman the white crayon and he dotted the roads! ALL SET! A match box road that can easily be moved and switched around, since there are so many pieces!!

Roman having a blast with just one part!!

He played for an hour when I first finished and after school when he showed Gabriel, they played for HOURS!! On cardboard and tape! Best part? If it gets broken it's no big deal we can make more!! I love sharing crafts with the kids that cost next to nothing to make and showing them just how much they can enjoy them!

Gabriel joins in on the fun!!

I am hoping to do one of these in a shoe box, with velcro sides that fold down and then they can add the extensions still the box can hold the cars, some houses and trees and signs and the extension pieces! I will then add a handle to make it portable. This is our next project when we get a bigger box around! My supplies always comes in tiny boxes.

Tape can be found at Michaels for under 4.00, go to ww.mycraftcoupons.com and get a 40% off coupon for the tape! Save more!!

*NOTE* We tried chalk, but it just wore off with use, which is why we went with crayon!

Thrifty and Easy Sand Box on the Go!

 Roman and I were dying to get out and play in this perfect weather, yet it was too chilly to be at the water table and I didn't want to start on the garden without the big kids there. We put our thinking caps on while sitting on the grass waiting for Gabriel to get out of school and came up with a fantastic idea, SAND!!

 Let's backtrack and talk about the big sandbox that the kids could fit in from last year (Step2) it was nice and luxurious, but the kids were always all sandy when they came in and it was a pain when they wanted to play quick and we had places to go. I wanted something EASY and Portable that could come with us when we went to grandparents homes and other visits where they get bored or antsy after 10 minutes of sitting there staring at eachother!

First, I had a large under bed storage container that was just sitting around empty. (Sal got it at the Salvation Army when he went and donated items, a man asked if he wanted to trade bins with him! haha) Next, a trip to Menards got us 2 bags of sand and random pieces that I found while strolling up and down the aisles! (toys can be made from ANYTHING!!) Finally I poured in the sand and tossed in the toys and we were ready to party!! I like this, because we can only use 1 half if that's all we want to play in OR the entire lid comes off! It's also on the wheels to make it easier for the kids to wheel around the back patio if they want to move it out of the way.

My Spin and Spell!

 I wanted to make my kids some fun spellers that they could build their word vocabulary with and went through many ideas. I wanted a more industrial chic look that could be modern and fun. I started at the hardware store with a rough idea of what I wanted in my head.

I rummaged through my craft supplies for rub on letters from Michaels .99 and my Mod Podge. 

I added these supplies to what I picked up from the hardware store (5 hex nuts, 1 carriage bolt and 1 lock nut). Make sure that your hex nuts are larger than your bolt so that they slide as opposed to screw up and down the bolt. This makes them easier to turn, the more nuts you add on.

I added the letters onto each side of the nuts and then put the mod podge on top of them to adhere them to the nut. Since my kids are at different vocabulary levels, I knew I needed to make it a game that they all could play! This was perfect! They could easily play the game with 2,3,4 and 5 letters (Just add or take away the nuts as needed) and when they think they've spelled them all, take them all out and mix around the order!!

For my youngest, I go down to 3 letters at times when he is learning new words and sometimes we just use 1 letter and  I have him find the letters that I ask for, that way he gets a better understanding of letters. This is a game that we have all gotten into and tucks away easily into a busy bag or even my purse!! I've made about 12 different nuts of letters and we have 5 bolts so that there can be multiple games going on at once and the letters can be switched up often.


LETTERS USED:
For beginning readers try
F, L, M, N, R, S on the first hex
A, E, I, O, U, R on the middle one
B, D, G, P, T, S on the last one
For 150 pronounceable combinations

For More advanced combinations:
4th: s,t,e,d,r,n
5th: t,h,d,e,y,n




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