Quick and Easy Christmas Gift

I know, it is just now May (not even July) and nowhere near Christmas time, but as I have said before, I write as they come to me. There is no rhyme or reason, just that if I don't write it down when it pops into my head, I will forget it!!

A few weeks ago I talked about making Christmas wrapping paper. Well today I am going to share a really easy and meaningful Christmas gift that your kids can make. This can also be use simply as a holiday decoration.

SUPPLIES:
burlap (this can be purchased at a fabric store or Walmart stores in the fabric dept)
2 wooden dowels (the thickness doesn't really matter)
Craft Paint (NOT WASHABLE) - Red, Green and Yellow
old paint clothes (since the paint is not washable, protect your clothing)
hot glue gun with glue sticks
Christmas Ribbon


To begin, make sure that your work surface and child is fully protected as this paint is NOT WASHABLE. Cut the burlap to fit the wooden dowels. Lay the burlap out. Place a bead of hot glue along the edge and center one wooden dowel on top of glue. Continue gluing until the dowel is wrapped completely in burlap. Repeat for the bottom.

Once you have your "wall hanging" you are ready to paint. You are going to want to paint "upside down" meaning you are going to be painting with the fingers up but when hung, the fingers will be pointing down. To do this, you simply place the "top" of the burlap closest to your body and the "bottom" of the burlap away from you.

Starting with the green paint, paint your child's hand completely and paint a row of hand prints near the "bottom" of the burlap (furthest away from you). Make sure that you reload your child's hand with paint often. Making a pyramid, move up one row and repeat, the number of hands getting smaller and smaller. Repeat until you have only one hand print at the top. (see picture for clearer understanding). Wash the green paint completely from their hands and move on the next task.

With the red paint, simply paint the fingertips or the thumbprint in red and have the child paint the "ornaments" on the tree.

For the star at the top, you can either paint freehand with a paint brush or you can use your child's hand print (this time with the fingers facing UP, opposite than the tree). Simply cover the hand in yellow paint and place hand on top of tree. You can also use a star sponge.

After the painting is completely dry, you can write the child's name and date on the bottom of the hanging with a sharpie and glue some Christmas ribbon to the dowel to create a way to hang this wonderful Christmas surprise.

Paper Bag Crafts - Pumpkins

Paper bags are such an easy and inexpensive tool when it comes to crafts. You know the ones I'm talking about. We used to take our lunches to school in them if we weren't cool enough to have the latest super hero or princess lunchbox. The ideas are endless when it comes to using these for crafts. It is, however, best to use brand new ones instead of recycling the ones used for lunch.

For now we are going to talk paper bag pumpkins. These are really great and easy decorations for the fall (I know, it is no where near fall yet, but I just write as they come to my mind). You can line the driveway or the porch with some of these or hang them from the ceiling for a party. Either way, they are really easy and kid-friendly!!

SUPPLIES:
Paper Bags (lunch sized)
black construction paper
green tissue paper
orange paint (tempera or washable paint is best with small kids)
glue stick or white glue
scissors
paint brushes
newspaper (just a few sheets per bag)
rubber bands

To start simply have your child paint the paper bag with orange paint leaving about 1 inch brown at the top. Remember to open the bag so they paint the whole thing. The bottom can be painted or left as is. Remember this is kid-art, it is ok if there are streaks or missed spots. Let them do it!!!

While the paint is drying, use the scissors and cut out a few triangles and crooked mouth from the construction paper. Smaller children will need help with this. It might be easier to use basic shapes instead of trying to cut out a "jack-o-lantern" mouth.

When the paint is all dry, it is time to glue the face on. Using the glue stick (or white glue) have the children place the eyes, nose and mouth onto the pumpkin. Remember, again, this is kid-art. The face doesn't have to be perfect and unless your child is a perfectionist at the age of 2, it will NOT be perfect. It is OK!!!! Let them do it!!!

After the glue has dried, wad up the newspaper and fill the paper bag pumpkin leaving some room to close it at the top. Close the bag and secure with rubber band leaving a "stem" at the top.

Take the green tissue paper and create a "leaf" out of it. You can do this by cutting the tissue paper into the shape of a leaf with a long stem or go abstract and just have some green tissue paper sticking out of the top of the bag. Insert the leaf into the bag so that it is hanging out of the "stem".



For large pumpkins, use brown paper grocery bags, most grocery stores have them. These are great decorations to add to any yard or porch and are a great family fun project!!!

More Painting Ideas

Tired of the painting with a paintbrush? Try these fun and unusual objects to make really cool designs.

old toy cars and trucks
marbles
old comb
drinking straw
old toothbrush
old cookie cutters


Suggestions:

Drive the cars and trucks through the paint and then drive them around on your paper.

Roll marble in paint and then using a shoe box top roll the marble across the paper. This is create for stimulating hand-eye coordination. For a fun Halloween decoration, use black construction paper and white paint. Using a plastic container or old coffee can, cut paper to fit inside and roll marble around on the paper creating a "spider web". Simply add a plasic spider ring with the ring part cut off and hang.

Use the comb to create texture in your picture.

Water down some paint and put drops on the paper then have the child blow those drops around using the straw. Watch as the paint dances around the paper leaving really fun streaks.

Flick paint specs onto paper using an old toothbrush. Dip the toothbrush into the watered down paint and using your thumb or finger, run it along the toothbrush with the bristles down toward the paper. Watch as the paint drops in small dots all over the paper.

Dip the cookie cutters in paint and create fun villages or holiday pictures. This is also a great and easy way to make your own wrapping paper for Christmas. Simply use a roll of brown or white butcher paper. Spread the paper out and paint away with various Christmas cookie cutters. Let dry completely. You can do this outside on the sidewalk or driveway in the summer and roll it up ready to use at Christmas.

Look for more unusual things to paint with. Find things around the house that have different shapes and textures.

Watercolor Painting & Magic Pictures

Remember how much fun it was to paint with watercolors? Remember those pictures that all you needed was water and a paintbrush and they magically turned a black and white picture into a colorful painting? Here are some easy ways to paint with and make your own watercolors and magic pictures.

Make Your Own Watercolor Paint

Supplies:
food coloring
water

Simply mix a few drops of food coloring into the water and paint away. Mix different colors and amounts of each color to create a rainbow of choices.


Make Your Own Magic Pictures

Supplies:
Pre-drawn Coloring Sheets (coloring books or print off a few from your computer)
washable markers or watered down washable paint
cotton swap or chopstick

Simply dot the picture with the washable paint using the cotton swap or chopstick making sure that each space has color. You can also do this by dotting the picture with the washable marker as well although this can be time consuming if you have a large picture to cover.

Allow this to dry completely and then set aside for a rainy day. All the child needs to do is pull out a paintbrush and some water and paint away. The dried paint or marker will come back to life and spread when it is painted over with water.

Marbleized Painting

Another fun way to paint cool designs is using Shaving Cream. This gives the picture a marbleized look and is very fun to play with afterwards. Talk to kids about textures.

Supplies:
Shaving Cream
washable paint
card stock paper or construction paper (works best)
plastic tray or other large flat surface
paper towels


On plastic tray or other flat surface, spread shaving cream in a thick layer. Add paint to the top of the shaving cream in strips or other fun designs (not too thick). Add more colors to give more texture and layers to your art. If you want, you can also use a chopstick to swirl the paint together in even more fun designs.

Remember the paint doesn't need to be thick or it won't turn out properly.

When you are happy with the paint, lay a piece of paper (the heavier the better) on top of the paint. Pat the paper lightly to make sure it is covered with the paint.

Take the paper off the shaving cream and place on the table.

Wipe the shaving cream and paint off the paper with paper towels in one direction. If done properly, this will create a fun marbilized effect on your paper.

Let dry and hang. Experiment with different paints and thicknesses.

Suggestions for using the shaving cream after you paint:

Use as bathtub painting: You can paint on the walls of the bathtub and then wash it off. Just mix the paint up into the shaving cream and paint away.

Make fun sculptures: Play with shaving cream making fun shapes, like a snowman. Just mix the paint up into the shaving cream and have fun. You can also write your name or draw pictures on the tray in the shaving cream.

Painting with Bubbles

Tired of plain painting? Want some fun ways to paint beautiful pictures with your kids? Here is one fun way to paint while learning things like surface tension, circles, etc.

Supplies:
cup half-filled with water
paint
liquid detergent (hand soap or dish soap) a few drops will do
straw
paper

Mix the paint, liquid detergent and water in the cup. Using the straw, blow bubbles in the water (if child is doing this, make sure they are able to blow and not be tempted to drink the paint). If you aren't making many bubbles, add more soap.

When your cup is overflowing with bubbles (not running over the side of it), take straw out of cup and pop bubbles with the paper by placing the paper onto of the cup and move up and down. You should have circle shapes in paint on your paper. If not, add more paint and try again.

This is a fun way for kids to paint cool looking pictures. Do this with several different colors to make some colorful art.