Project #191: A Book for Mama

Make a Mother's Day book for Mama by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

This is one of the most touching crafts I’ve ever made with kids. Not only because it’s about the most precious people in the world (mothers) but also because it’s so interesting to hear what kids come up with about their mums.
A book about MAMA! What is she like? What does she do? Kids have their answers. Let’s devote a couple of hours to document them together and believe me, you will treasure this craft forever.

This activity is for kids who can write, however you can team up with the smaller kids and write their answers for them.

What you will need:

* 3 A4 sheets of paper
* Colourful paper
* Markers/ pencils/ crayons
* Glue
* A pair of scissors
* Needle and thread

Step 1: Fold three A4 sheets of paper, and then nest them together, so that you have what looks like a little book. Fasten the pages of this book together by running a needle and thread through the folded portion, or spine, of your book.

Step 2: A book about mama: let’s start with the cover. We made a little portrait of mummy using green paper and marker and a multicoloured title. How are you going to design your cover? Everything is up to the kids!

Step 3: Now we are going to work on the pages. There is a question for each page that kids should answer. If they come up with another question, it’s even better! Let them express themselves as much as they want. 

Page one: what is your mother’s name? Use colourful paper, markers and crayons to decorate your book page by page with drawings and shapes illustrating the answers.

Step 4: Page two: tell us how many kids your mum has, and make drawings to illustrate them.

Step 5: Page three: mamas are busy ladies! Tell us what your mama does (it could be her work, free time or maybe something you do together as a family).

Step 6: Page four: what is your mother’s favourite thing (or thing to do)?

Step 7: Page five: mothers are strong, loving, helping people! They are superheroes! Tell us: why your mama is a super-mama?

Step 8: Last page: share why you love your mama as much as you do.

Give it to your mama on Mothers day, or if you made it together, why not share with other family members right now? - Yuliya

.. Yufrukt 

Project #183: Funny Family Portrait DIY

Make your own funny family portrait by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

Do you have a big sister or a little brother? Does anyone in your family have a moustache? 
Today we’re going to make a fun family portrait collage using a bunch of colourful paper shapes and some imagination. Don’t be offended mamas and papas, you don’t really have square noses and triangle eyes!

What you will need:
* Colourful paper
* A pair of scissors
* Glue stick/glue
* a plain sheet of paper
* A marker
* A ruler

Step 1:
Cut out lots of different paper shapes. The more you cut out, the more fun you will have constructing funny faces. 

Step 2:
Take your plain sheet of paper and draw a frame. Use the ruler to make straight lines.

Step 3:
Cut out face shapes (circle, oval or maybe even square?). You will need a face shape for each member of your family. Once you have your face shapes, start playing around with mini shapes and constructing different kinds of faces.

Step 4:
To make this activity more fun, don’t glue your shapes straight away, take your time to discuss facial features and what is different/similar about them in different people (papa has a big nose, little sister has bushy eyebrows, etc). 

Step 5:
Once you’ve constructed your funny family portrait, go ahead and glue all the details together. And now lets add the last touches with the marker! 

Step 6:
Show your portrait to all the family members and have a laugh together! - Yuliya

.. Yufrukt 

#175: Halloween Pumpkin Witch DIY

Make your own Halloween Pumpkin Witch by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

It’s almost Halloween time! While carving Jack-o-lanterns is a classic activity, here is an alternative pumpkin craft. It’s quite simple and doesn’t require carving yet is very entertaining for the little ones. Pick up a small pumpkin at the nearby market and lets make a Pumpkin witch!

What you will need:
* A medium pumpkin
* Thick paper (suitable for painting)
* Gouache/poster paint
* A pair of scissors
* Pencil
* Paintbrush
* Skewers (or toothpicks)
* Glue

Step 1:
Draw scary arms and a witch hat. Cut them out. Now make an outline to duplicate each item (you have to have two witch hats, two left arms and two right arms).

Step 2:
Squeeze a fair amount of glu on one of your hats, glue a toothpick in the middle then cover with a second hat and press to make it stick together. Do the same with the arms.

Step 3:
Take gouache and paint the witch hat and scary arms. We painted the hat with black and the arms in green with red nails - what colors did you choose?

Step 4:
Now give that witch a face and paint her eyes,nose, and mouth on the pumpkin. Don't use water for this one, because we want the paint to be very thick.

Step 5:
Force the sharp ends of the toothpicks into the pumpkin (if the pumpkin is too hard, make little cuts with the knife first). The witch has arms a hat now!

Step 6:
When the first layer of paint is dry, give her face more details if you like. We painted white teeth and a scary shine in her eyes.

It’s ready! Decorate your room for Halloween with a scary Pumpkin witch and some candles! - Yuliya

.. Yufrukt

Project #172: Party Envelopes DIY

 

Party envelopes DIY by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

 

Birthdays, home parties, letters for friends – we need envelopes for all of of that! And even though you can probably find some nice envelope designs in the shops, they mostly come in white. This is the perfect chance to practice your creativity and design your own envelopes, I’m sure it will be lots of fun and make your friends feel extra special when receiving such an envelope. Don’t worry about your painting skills, this activity is about creative thinking and is suitable for very little ones too!

 

 

What you will need:
* A couple of envelopes (as many as you want to use for inviting your friends)
* Watercolours or gouache
* A painting brush
* A black marker 

 

Step 1:Pour a glass of water and set everything ready for painting. Start painting abstract or geometrical shapes on the envelopes without thinking what it is going to be upfront.

 

 

Step 2: Once the paint has dried, paint over the other side. Let all the envelopes dry completely. 

 

 

 

Step 3: When dry, take a good look at all your shapes: what do they look like to you? Use your creativity and add little details here and there with the marker to transform shapes into characters and objects.

 

Step 4: Envelopes are ready to put your letters or party invitations in and to be sent off to your friends!

Hope your characters will make your friends smile, and the postman too! - Yuliya

Project #170: DIY Mushroom Theatre

Make your own Mushroom Theatre by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

Young children learn by imagining and doing. When a child engages in pretend or dramatic play, he is experimenting with the social and emotional roles of life. That's why all kinds of puppets and theatre crafts are so popular. Today I decided to make a simple cardboard puppet theatre with a mushroom family for the troupe of actors.

What you will need:
* A piece of paper (for sketching)
* A cardboard box
* A pair of scissors
* A pencil
* A needle and thread for sewing
* A couple of bright colours of gouache paint
* A paintbrush
*A square of cotton fabric (or other thin fabric)
* 5 skewers

Step 1:
Take a pencil and paper and sketch designs for your mushrooms. I made a family of four.

Step 2:
When you have decided on your designs, draw them on the cardboard (try to use your box economically) and cut them out.

Step 3:
Now cut out a frame that will become our "stage".

Step 4:Dress up your puppets with colours. Paint in layers: first, colour the body; and when the paint is dry enough, paint the details.
Decorate your stage too.

Step 5:
Take your piece of fabric and cut it to the size of a frame — it's going to be your stage curtain! Stitch through the top of the curtain so you can "open" and "close" it, but don't cut off the thread (you will need it to attach your curtain to the frame). Make a little cut on each side of the frame and attach the curtain by hooking the thread edges in the cuts.

Step 6:
Carefully stick the skewers in between the layers of cardboard on your puppets. If you are using a cardboard that is too thin, attach the skewers with the tape on the back side of the puppets and the frame.

Step 7:You are all set for the performance!

Have fun playing with your little ones! - Yuliya

.. Yufrukt

Project #167: DIY Veggie Creatures

Make your own Veggie Creatures by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

Playing with food is famously fun among kids but we tend to not encourage this when a family gather around dinner table for a meal. But why not to let your little helpers play with fresh colourful veggies while you are cooking? This activity is proved to be lots of fun by children and myself and it's full of curious discoveries too: how do different vegetables smell? do they have seeds inside? why does the juice come out when we prick the skin of the vegetable? Your children will surely come up with much more questions. Have fun!

What you will need:
* Aubergine
* Bell pepper
* Carrot
* Two tiny potatoes
* Ginger
* Scissors
* Skewers (or toothpicks)
* Knife
* Ribbon (optional)
* Chopping board

 Note: you can replace, mix and match vegetables according to your fridge stock and colour choice. Just make sure those are not soft/juicy vegetables.

Step 1:
Using scissors cut your skewers into small pieces.

Step 2:
Chop up ginger into 4 bits (it's going to be your creature's legs) and carrots into multiple bits (it's going to be eyes, noses or perhaps a mouth). Now take your little vegetable parts and little potatoes and skewer them all one by one.

Step 3:
Then stick the "body-parts" onto the big veggies.

Step 4:
We made a creature that looks like a mole and an alien mouse! What have you got?

Step 5:
Play with your creatures while dinner is simmering :)

Have fun in the kitchen! - Yuliya

.. Yufrukt

Project #162: DIY Animal Laterns

Make your own Animal laterns by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

Kids are not always keen on going to bed so we have to lure them in with bedtimes stories, lullabies and other kind of things. Lighting their own lantern before getting into bed could be one of them! Make a spooky looking cat and a colourful mouse together with your little ones and tell your bedtime stories with the lights off and the lanterns on!

 
For making your very own game you will need:
* Thick paper or card (we used black paper for the scary cat and the light yellow one for the colourful carnival mouse)
* colourful tissue paper
* paper knife
* cutting board
* scissors
* pencil and eraser
* glue
* two tea-light candles

Step 1:
Draw an outline of the ears of a cat and a mouse on your pieces of paper and cut them out (see the picture below).

Step 2:
Now draw their faces (make shapes easy and bold, you will have to cut them out).

Step 3:
Using a paper knife and a cutting board cut out eyes, mouths and noses.

Step 4:
Now take your tissue paper and glue bits of it behind the cut outs. Use any colours you like!

Once you've stuck the coloured tissue on, flip the cards over. This is how it should look from the "face side".

Step 5:
Glue two sides of the latern together so that the card forms a cylinder. Make sure that the cylinder isn't too tight - there needs to be some room between the paper latern and the flame of the candle!

Step 6:
Wait until it's dark and light the tea-light candles, placing the laterns over them carefully to see your laterns come to life!

Enjoy you bedtime stories! - Yuliya

.. Yufrukt

Project #159: Make your own memory game

Make your own memory game using colourful shapes by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

Kids (and adults) love games — on the table and on the screen. But as we probably look at screens more than enough, let's try and make our own memory game. Memory games are good fun but what is even more important – they improve our… memory! What I especially like about this craft activity is that children will be creating their own characters for the game by using geometrical shapes.

For making your very own game you will need:
* a pair of scissors
* card (or thick paper)
* colourful paper (different colours)
* glue
* pencil (possibly eraser)
* marker
* ruler

Step 1:
Using a ruler and a pencil make a grid of 20 squares (or less if you are making it for a very young child — we did 6 X 6 cm squares) and cut them apart.

Step 2:
Now take your favourite colours of paper and cut out different geometrical shapes. It's going to be good practice for children who have already started with school and an opportunity to introduce shapes to the very little ones. Try to make all shapes in pairs as you will need to use the same shape twice to create exactly the same image on two cards.

Step 3:
When you cut out enough shapes, have fun creating funny characters together! Use your imagination and turn squares and circles into animals or monsters. Some children will probably enjoy making abstract images which is cool too.

Important: don't make images too complicated, you will have to recreate each of them as in memory games every image has a pair.

Step 4:
Use a marker to draw the details. (give your characters faces, buttons or big sharp claws). Try to make each pair look as similar as possible.

Step 5:
This step is optional. As we were using brown card we decided to cut out and glue on backs for our cards to make them more colourful when they are face down.

Step 6:
When you have enough cards to start a memory challenge, it's time to play! In case you don't know, here are the rules:

Shuffle the cards. Lay out the cards face down in rows on the table or floor. Make sure the cards are not touching each other. They need to be able to be flipped over without disturbing any cards around them. Decide who will go first. Typically it is the youngest player that goes first.

The first player chooses a card and carefully turns it over. The player then selects another card and turns it over. If the two cards are a matching pair (for example, two robots) then they take the two cards and start a stack. The player is awarded another turn for making a match and goes again.

If the player does not make a matching pair, play continues for the next player, who tries to match another pair of cards. Use your memory to collect the most card pairs!

Have fun :)  - Yuliya

.. Yufrukt

Project #158: DIY Jam Jar Gnome Terrarium

Jam-jar gnome terrarium by Yuliya  from Yufrukt

Nature crafts are one of my favourites as touching bugs, smelling moss and collecting sticks is essential for ones childhood. Jam jar terrarium craft is lots of fun for both making and collecting materials for, so get ready for a lovely walk to a nearby park/forest/beach.

What you'll need:
* moss / grass / flowers / leaves
* pinecones / needles / bits of bark / acorns
* shells / sand / pebbles
* short thick stick (for making a gnome)
* jam jar
* scissors
* a bit of rope / ribbon
* poster paint (gouache)
* thin paintbrush
* box cutter

Step1:
take your jar and fill it up with nature's treasures arranging it nicely in layers. (for example put a layer of sand then a layer of moss then a pinecone, etc)

Step 2:
Carve the end of the thick stick with a box cutter in a cone shape (pointy end will be gnome's hat) and make sure you carve off enough bark to be able to paint the gnome's face and beard.

Step 3:
paint the pointy bit to be the gnome's hat

Step 4:
paint the eyes, nose and beard

Step 5:
put your gnome inside the jar - it's his own little hideout

Step 6:
decorate mouth of the jar with a rope or a ribbon

It's done!!! Hope you enjoyed it.

 

Craft contributed by: Yuliya