Christmas Games with Bows!

This was one of our activities for our "Presents" - themed week. Was so easy and fun, just like our Candy Cane Hunt, and 

And don't forget to check out this post where we show you how to use practically any Christmas wrapping paper to make cute file-folder Christmas games for kids!

Keep reading to find out how you can create some super fun and easy games with gift bows! 

These Christmas games would be great for parties or even as Birthday party games! All you need is a bag of bows and kids who like to have fun. 

You will need:

• A bunch of gift bows (You can buy them fairly cheap this time of year. I actually bought this big bag of bows 3 years ago and have barely made a dent in using them---so finally I can put them to good use!)
• 2 big bowls or buckets or bins.
• A child or children with lots of energy!

Here are a few easy game ideas:

1. Bow Run:

• Place 2 buckets each at opposite ends of the house. Fill one of the buckets with the bows.
• Have the child pick up one bow at a time and run it to the other bucket, then run back to get another one. Continue until all the bows have been transferred. Then do it again!
• OR you can have the child place a bow on their head and walk slowly to the other bucket and drop it in.
• OR you can have them balance a bow on their arm(s).
• AND/OR you can have them find 2 matching bows at a time and take both of them. (Here's LB(3) playing):

2. Bow Pick-up Race

• Have your child grab handfuls of bows and throw them up in the air. Then time them to see how fast they can pick up all the bows and put them back in the bucket.
• OR you could choose a color and have them just pick up bows of that color. (Here's LB in action!):

3. Bow Hunt

• Just like an Easter egg hunt---only with BOWS! Hide all the bows in a room, or all around the house and have your child(ren) search for them.

4. Bow Fight

• Place a long jumprope or string or line of pillows in the middle of the floor to section the room into 2 equal halves. Have team A on one side, team B on the other.
• Each team starts with an equal number of bows. Set a timer for 2-3 minutes and say "go!" Everyone picks up the bows and throws them to the other team's side of the room! 
• When the timer beeps everyone drops all the bows and counts how many bows are on their team's side. Whichever team has the least amount of bows wins.
• Then play again!

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originally posted 12-3-12

ABC Ghosts - Halloween Game for Kids!

Our final "Ghosts" preschool theme activity for the week was a hit. (Much like our Pop-out Ghost Card, and our easy to make Ghost Matching Game!) This was such a fun and easy Halloween activity for kids and is a great way to teach kids the Alphabet. Especially since LM(6) was home from school to enjoy this fun game with us!  It's a great way to add a little learning and fun to your Halloween this year. :)

Supplies:

• 4 sheets of white craft foam (mine are half-size sheets like these)
• Scissors
• Marker

Prep Work:

• You can draw lines (or just cut by eye) each sheet into 8 rectangles:

• Then, with each rectangle form it into a ghost shape by cutting the top to make it round, and bottom to make it zig-zagged, like this:

•  You can even stack a couple rectangles and cut 2 at a time!
• You'll have 32 rectangles, but you only need 26 ghosts for the alphabet. You can either cut them all into ghosts and use the extras for something else, or just leave the others as rectangles for something else later.

• Draw faces on the ghosts. Just 2 eyes and a smile. :)
• Then, write all the letters of the alphabet on each ghost. I decided to write them in lowercase to help LB(4) work on recognizing them.

Time to Play!
There are many ways you can use these cute little ABC ghosts. Here's what we did:

• I laid all the ghosts on the table face-down.
• LB(4) and LM(6) took turns:
• One of them would pick a ghost and say the letter and the sound the letter makes.
• The other one would then think of a word that starts with that letter. Then they'd switch.

The boys really loved this activity! It was great practice for LB(4) to recognize letters and their sounds. Thinking of words for him was a bit tougher. Sometimes he needed help, and sometimes he thought of some good words all on his own. It was a fun way to learn!

LM(6) also had fun. Eventually instead of just saying the word he thought of, he wanted to act it out and have us guess. This was a fun addition that I never even thought of! He came up with some great words that were tough for us to guess!

All in all, fun & learning was had by all. :)

**Click HERE for more fun Halloween activities we've done!**

In need of craft supplies--like craft foam for this fun activity?? Check out our post on the best kid-craft supplies for great prices on Amazon! We've got some good recommendations. :)

Happy Halloween!

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originally posted 10-11-2013

CANDY CORN MAN

originally published 10-14-2011

I found this idea on this blog: Mrs.Schmelzer's First Grade

I thought it was so cute. We just had to give it a try!

We ripped up black, orange, & white construction paper and glued them on the paper candy corn. 

Then we took strips of black paper and folded them accordion-style.

We glued them on, and glued on hands and feet.

Then we added some googly eyes and a nose & mouth!

All done! 

Need paper? Get this huge pack of construction paper for a great price! Use it for this craft and all our other fun Halloween Crafts!

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Scrapbook Paper for an AMAZING Price!!!!

Scrapbook Paper is so much fun to use for crafts. 

It adds another fun element of color and design to any creative creation. Sometimes, however, pretty papers can be pretty expensive. BUT, I found some AMAZING DEALS for some SUPER CUTE paper on Amazon. 

Each of these come with around 50 sheets of 12" x 12" papers. So many fun designs and colors it's hard to choose which to get! 

So get some cute papers and get crafting!

Also check out our post on the 10 basic and essential craft supplies we recommend for crafting with kids!

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

10 BEST Craft Supplies for Kids!

We have made a LOT of kids' crafts.

And done a LOT of kids' activities.

And about 90% of these can be done with 10 basic supplies:

1. Construction Paper
2. Craft Foam
3. Paint
4. Glue
5. Glue Sticks
6. Yarn
7. Googly Eyes
8. Craft Sticks
9. Scissors
10. Hole Punch

I've looked all over Amazon, and have found some great deals on these craft supplies.

You will get a LOT of use out of these, and will have a good supply on hand for when your children want to be creative and have fun!
And these products on Amazon are a great price for the quantity and quality you get.

So get Creative and have FUN! :)

  

    

And check out these cute crafts you can make:

    

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Pop-Out Ghost Card

I wanted to make some cards to send to Grandmas & Grandpas and came up with a fun idea to do an accordion-folded-pop-out-ghost-card. (Say THAT 10 times fast. haha) This turned out to be such a cute homemade halloween card, and a great Halloween craft for kids! And goes along well with some of our other Ghost themed activities, like our easy to make Ghost Matching Game, and our cute and educational ABC Ghosts. 

originally published 10-22-11

Here's how we did it (as shown above):

1. Cut out a wide ghost shape. Draw on eyes and smile.
2. Fold it accordion style. Then glue one side down on the inside of the card. Put glue on the other end of the ghost and fold the card. Wait for glue to dry.
3. Open card.....Boo!
4. Add words/message.

The one in the picture is one that I made to test out the idea. I had the boys make their own accordion-ghosts and they turned out really cute. A fun craft for old and young alike. :) You can use any type of paper for the card. Also, check out some cute Halloween scrapbook paper!

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Apple Squares Craft for Kids!

Here it is! The last of our apple crafts for kids--for the Back to School season! It went great with all our other fun Apple crafts! (Like our Apple Buddy craft)

And don't forget to check out the fun Back to school crafts in my BOOK!)

This one is was so fun and easy. My little 3 year old loved going all around the apple shape gluing all the squares on. And the prep is a piece of cake. Or pie.

Apple Pie that is. :) Check it out!

Supplies:

• Construction Paper (white, red, brown, green)
• Scissors
• Glue

How to Make it:

1. Fold a white paper in half and cut out a "D" shape. Then cut a smaller "D" shape inside that. Then you've got the Apple shape for this craft, and the smaller white apple shape can be saved and used for THIS CUTE GREEN APPLE CRAFT!
2. Cut out red strips of from construction paper, about 1" thick.
3. Then cut these into squares.
4. Put glue on the white apple shape and let your child place all the squares on the glue!
5. When it's dry, cut out a brown stem and a green leaf, and glue them on.

All done!
My little ones had so much fun with this fun back to school craft and we hope you do too!

Happy Back to School Year!

Here are some more fun things to go along with the Back to School-- apple theme! I especially love these plastic apples that you can fill with goodies, or even use for a fun educational activity to teach numbers or letters! 

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Zig Zag Green Apple Craft for Kids

We've had SO much fun getting in the Back-to-School groove with all our super easy apple crafts! (Like our fun Pop-up Apple craft!)

And this one was an especially big hit with my little 3 year old toddler.

Check it out!

Supplies:

• Construction Paper (Green, White, Brown)
• Scissors
• Glue

How to Make it:

1. Fold the white paper in half and cut out a "D" shape. Unfold it and there's your apple!
2. Cut out strips of green paper, however wide you want!
3. Help your child fold the strips using the "accordion fold" technique.
4. Cut out a brown stem, and a green leaf.
5. Put glue on the white apple shape, and have your child place the folded strips of paper on the apple from top to bottom.
6. Let it dry, then trim the green papers that hang over the apple shape, so the edges are nice and even.
7. Add the stem and leaf. 

All done!

The design looks really cool with all the zig-zag folds of the paper. A fun and unique way for kids to craft an apple as they get excited for school!

And this is also a great craft to hang up on your wall!

P.S. I just came across the cutest Apple necklace and earrings on Amazon. I especially love the light green apple ones. Aren't those just so cute!! These would be so fun to get to wear on your kids' first day of school. OR even better yet---to get as a gift for their TEACHERS! 

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Layered Apple Craft for Kids!

Back to School season is such a fun time to do crafts! All the school supplies and art & craft supplies on sale are a great time to get inspired and excited about crafting with kids! 

Here is a super fun and easy apple craft you can make with your kids. (And check out another fun apple craft: our Pop up Apple!)

Supplies:

• Construction Paper (red, green, brown)
• Scissors
• Glue

How to Make it:

1. Using the red paper, cut out 2 apple shapes of the same size. Set one aside.
2. With the other apple shape, fold it in half and cut 3-4 layers, going from big to small.
3. Take one cut out at a time and scrunch it up with your hands, careful not to rip it. This will give some cool dimension to the craft.
4. Then take each of the apple layers and glue them onto the flat apple shape from outside in.
5. Glue on the stem and leaf.

All done! You can hang up this apple craft in your house as a fun decoration for back to school!

Also, have you seen these cute First Day of School Chalkboards?? All you have to do is fill it in and take a picture of your kids every year. What a great way to save memories of our children as they grow. :)

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Pop Up Apple - Back to School craft for kids

Here is a SUPER EASY apple craft to celebrate the Back to School season with your kids. I love easy to make crafts (that look like it takes a lot of work). 

All you need is paper, scissors and glue!

Supplies:

• Construction Paper (red, green, brown)
• scissors
• glue

How to Make it:

1. Fold 5-6 pieces of red construction paper in half and cut out apple shapes (like in this other super fun apple craft we did!)
2. Cut out a brown stem, and a green leaf.
3. Lay one of the apple shapes flat, and fold the rest.
4. Glue the folded apple to the side of the flat apple that matches. Then take the next folded apple, and glue it to the back of that one.
5. Glue the sides of these folded apples all together until you get to the last one, then glue that to the other half of the flat apple.
6. Glue the stem and leaf on and you're all done!

This was so easy and the end result is an awesome 3-D apple! And if you want it more full, you can add as many layers of the apple as you want!

And here is another super fun apple craft we've done recently. 

Check it out!

And if you like things that POP! here are some super cute Pop-up books that have great reviews on Amazon, and kids will love!




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Simple Green Apple Craft for kids

Since "Back-to-School" time is in the air, apple crafts are everywhere!

At least around our house. We've been coming up with some super fun and cute apple crafts so stay tuned to see them all!

This one is especially fun and cute....and gets my mouth watering for a big juicy green apple!

PLUS it also functions as a fantastic and fun way to practice counting with your preschooler. LD(3yrs) surprised me with how quickly he caught on to counting all six of the black seeds inside this juicy apple craft.

So grab some paper, scissors and glue and have some fun!

Supplies:

• Construction paper (green, white, brown, black)
• Scissors
• Glue

How to make it:

1. Fold a white piece of paper in half and cut out an apple shape. Then cut the another smaller apple shape inside of that. (Put aside the bigger apple cut-out for the craft I'll be posting about tomorrow!)
2. Fold the green paper in half and cut out a bigger apple shape than the white one.
3. Glue the white apple onto the green apple.
4. Cut out as many black apple seeds as you want your preschooler to practice counting and glue them on. Have them count as they put them on. Once they are all on, let them practice counting them again and again!
5. Cut out a brown stem and a green leaf and glue them on the top.

All done!

We've got a lot more super fun crafts and activities that go well with the Back-to-School time of year. Check them out HERE. And there are more you can find exclusively in my book!

And don't forget to like LittleFamilyFun on Facebook!

Happy Crafting!

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Scrunchy Apple Craft for Kids

School has been in full swing for a few days now in our neck of the woods. 

So LD(3yrs) and I are getting our crafting-juices flowing while the big kids are enjoying the back-to-school-life.

This craft was so easy and fun for my little preschooler. It's been a fun addition to our Green Apple Craft, and our fun Pop-up Apple craft!

And best of all it is SO EASY! All you need is paper, scissors and glue. Check it out!

Supplies:

• Construction paper (red, green, brown, tan)
• Scissors
• Glue

How to Make it:

1. Fold the tan paper in half and cut out a shape of a C. Unfold it and this is your apple shape!
2. Rip a bunch of pieces of the red paper. Hand them to your child to scrunch up (this is the super fun part!)
3. Cut out a stem shape from the brown paper, and a leaf shape from the green paper.
4. Put glue all over the tan apple shape and let your child place on the scrunched red papers all over the glue!
5. Let it dry, then add the stem and leaf. All done!

We've got a lot more fun Back to School crafts and activities for kids. Check them out HERE!

And you can find even MORE and crafts for year round Holidays in my BOOK!

Happy Back to School Season!

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