Earth Day Craft: Recycled Robot

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Cathy O

I saw this pin on Pinterest and thought that making a robot out of recycled items we had around the house would be a fun family project.

Here’s what we used for our robot:

8 tin cans
1 large kiwi plastic container
1 shoe box – bottom and lid
1 paper towel roll, cut in half
2 circle magnets
1 magnetic strip
Alphabet magnets
1 egg carton
4 screws
Plastic stuffing
Tape

It was really interesting helping the kids and Daddy O. figure out how to best build our robot. I am a fan of excessive taping of any homemade project, but we were having problems with the cans staying in place. Daddy O. decided to drill holes into the bottoms of the cans to screw them together vertically. This also helped attach the head, body and feet of the robot, so it was very stable. The kids helped with taping the cardboard tube arms on. Big sister invented the control panel, using the lid of the box and part of an egg carton.

Here’s our finished product in all its glory!

Here’s our robot and egg shell carton “control panel” in the lid of the shoebox

How I would change it up for next time – The flat magnets don’t stick terribly well to the round cans, and we were forced to spell words vertically vs. horizontally. I would flip the box next time and perhaps have a bigger tin can torso, so we could do more with the magnets we have.

All in all this was a fun, family activity that is easy and eco-friendly. Happy Earth Day!

Last Minute, Easy Valentine’s Day Craft

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Cathy O

Given the extreme cold and general winter-blahs (as I wrote about here), we had fun crafting today! Little brother made an awesome wax paper heart sun-catcher this morning, so naturally, when big sister came home and saw it, she wanted to make one too. I loved this project because it only required materials that we already had at home. Take a look:

Supplies needed: wax paper, glue, variety of tissue paper, and sparkly gems / buttons.

I just used random tissue paper that we had left over with our gift wrapping supplies and cut it into shapes per my daughter’s request. I also traced the heart on wax paper, using little brother’s as a template. I cut it out myself instead of letting big sister do it, since the paper is so thin and delicate. Our glue sticks tend to dry-out too quickly, so I just squirt some glue into a cap of a recycled container (I think this is from a spice jar) for my kids to dip the paper into. Voila! That’s all you need! Here’s our finished product:

Cute, colorful wax paper sun-catcher decor brightening up our view

This is what my dining room table looked like after our major crafting:

one big creative, crafty mess

You can see a scrapbook type box in the middle of the table, which we use for holding my kids craft supplies. It all jams in there nicely and cleaned up pretty easily. All in all this was a fun, last minute, and easy Valentine’s Day craft.

Childproof Christmas Decor and Crafts

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Cathy O

As I decorated this Christmas, I broke out the same Scrap Fabric Tree that is now 2 years old! It’s hard to believe it survived a few holidays and being in storage. These were some easy crafts to make with little kids. Enjoy!

At 15 months old, my son is just at that age where we really need to watch him to make sure he doesn’t get into something he shouldn’t. He really is quite good, but we had a few incidents with him pulling down our Christmas stockings (and holders) that were placed on a bookshelf, where he routinely will pull books off of the shelf to “read.” This led me to re-do some of our Christmas decorating to make it more childproof. First and foremost, I moved the stockings up to higher ground.

Second, I created a kid-friendly tree out of felt. I probably spent less than $4 on several sheets of felt from Wal-mart. I just made it up as I went along, gluing pieces of felt to a paper grocery bag (probably could have cut it closer to the tree’s branches), and cut up ornaments while practicing shapes with my 3 year old.

Childproof Felt Christmas Tree – so easy to make & was fun for them to play with. (Though I was the one putting the ornaments back on constantly!)

I have been taking down some of our everyday pictures hanging on our walls, and replacing it with holiday decor. This was another project I did with my daughter, gluing scraps of fabric to scrapbook paper. An avid quilting relative gave us these scraps, and Christmas time was the perfect inspiration for this project!

Scrap Fabric Tree picture – still hangs up 2 years later in our home!

Last, but not least, we ended up with a smaller Christmas tree than last year, so we had many more leftover ornaments that did not have a place on our tree this year. I saw this pin and was inspired to display some of my own ornaments on our chandelier.

Chandelier decor with pretty ornaments

I also have made some of my own cardboard Christmas trees that are not nearly as beautiful as the ones on the link I provided. They ARE, however, a lot of fun for my 3 year old, who uses them as pretend trumpets! Here is another link to a Christmas tree project that I thought looked cool. The framed ornaments also looked like something worth trying, but I haven’t found the right materials yet. If you have any childproof or child-friendly crafts, please share! Happy decorating & happy crafting!

Easy Animal Thank You Cards

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Cathy O

Here are the thank you cards I made with my kids. We used scraps of wrapping paper to cut out the cute animals. (The kids picked them out, and I did the detailed cutting) They helped glue them onto blank cards and told me which card should go to which relative. It was an easy and fun activity.

Childproof Christmas Decor & Crafts

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Cathy O

As I hung up the quilt-scrap Christmas tree craft this year, I thought I’d share some of last year’s Christmas crafts. Enjoy!

go mama o

Second, I created a kid-friendly tree out of felt. I probably spent less than $4…

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