Welcome to day 2 of Toys In The Dryer 14 Days of Valentines! From February 1-14 we'll be posting non-stop Valentine's posts to celebrate this lovely holiday. Today we're making Surprise Valentines! I hope your kids have just as much fun as mine did while making these! Here's what you'll need to make Surprise Valentines: Cereal boxes or some other kind of thin cardboard Paper in Valentines colors Glue Scissors Candy Tape Step 1) Cut your cardboard and some paper into pieces approximately 3 x 3 inches. You'll need 2 pieces of cardboard and 2 pieces of paper per Valentine. Step 2) Glue the paper to the colored side of the cardboard to cover it up. Set them aside for later. Step 3) Take an 8.5 x 11 in piece of paper and cut it evenly into 4 strips the long way. (Yes, I realize there's only 3 strips above. My daughter was using the 4th strip.) Step 4) Accordion fold each strip into 8 sections. Step 5) Cut a half-heart out of the folded accordion … [Read more...]
Marble Painting
My girls LOVE to paint! Sometimes, however, they get "bored" with the same-old paints over and over. That's when marble painting comes in! Marble painting is a TON of fun and creates some pretty unique pictures. None are alike! To do it with your kids, you'll need: paints marbles paper tape cookie sheet (or shoe box for smaller kids) Step 1) Tape the paper to the cookie sheet or the bottom of the shoe box. Step 2) Dip a marble in paint then roll it around the cookie sheet or the shoe box. Shoe boxes work better for younger kids because they have high sides. Younger kids may have trouble keeping the marble on the cookie sheet. For older kids, that's half the fun! That's really it! For some more fun, dip a few marbles in different color paints and roll them around at the same time. See what fun paintings your kids can make! What have you done to spice up your kid's painting fun? … [Read more...]
Shaving cream and glue
My kids LOVE playing with shaving cream! (I mean let's be real...you know you do too.) When they came home from preschool with these great puffy snowmen I had to investigate what they were made out of. Sure enough----shaving cream (and a little glue). Here is what you will need: Shaving cream (cheap Barbarsol works perfectly) School glue (ya know Elmer's) Construction paper Glitter, beads, buttons, or gems (optional) A bowl A paint brush (also optional) Squirt half (or all if you are having a blast) of the shaving cream into a plastic bowl. Next add the glue and mix. (There is no real recipe to this but half a can of shaving cream and a whole bottle of glue worked perfect for us) Have your child scoop out the shaving cream mixture and "paint" with it all over the paper. A little tip for you- the thicker they lay it on the better and the more puffy it will dry in the end. Paintbrushes work great....but hands are even better!!! (P.S. see that shirt my daughter is … [Read more...]
Borax Crystal Snowflakes…FAIL
I have no idea why this week turned out to be a FAIL week for our projects but sometimes life just is that way. We promised to share our failures along side our successes. So here is another FAIL. This is what you SHOULD end up with photo courtesy of About This is what I got What I did wrong---I estimated rather than measured Here is what you will need measuring cup and spoon Borax 20 mule team bowl (pint size) boiling water pencil string pipe cleaner food coloring (optional) Cut a pipe cleaner into three equal parts and twist together Attach string to each snowflake and hang using a pencil, make sure they do not touch the side or the bottom of the jar Fill the jar with 1 pint of boiling water and carefully MEASURE 3 tablespoons of borax and stir until disolved. (you may add a drop or two of food coloring at this point). Set them aside for 24 hours and when you come back to them you WILL have pretty crystal snowflakes. Just in case you … [Read more...]
Coloring WITH Your Kids
The tag line of our Toys In The Dryer blog is "ideas for living in the moment with your kids." The whole purpose of this blog is to get you interacting and doing things with your children. We have a ton of fun and crafty ideas around here and we hope they inspire you. However...sometimes it's not about the super cool, crafty stuff...sometimes it's just about time with your kids. When was the last time you sat down and did something simple--nothing fancy, not a ton of supplies, not a lot of thought required? When was the last time you did a craft or activity with your children instead of supervising them. When was the last time you let your inner child out to play? (Thanks to Hubby for taking this photo while I enjoyed time with my girls) Early in this blog I did a post about cloud watching. It's a great, free and fun activity that allows you to spend time with your kids. Today, I'm encouraging you to color. I'm not talking about getting out the crayons/coloring books and … [Read more...]
Snowflake Suncatchers Using CDs
Early last month I posted a tutorial on how to make rainbow fish sun catchers using old CDs. We had them hanging by our patio door for an entire month and go tons of compliments from people who saw them. December came, however, and the rainbow fish really didn't fit into my winter/Christmas decorating scheme. I got the brilliant idea to make snowflake sun catchers using old CDs! Those have now replaced the fish and fit perfectly into my current decorating! Here's what you'll need: White paper 2 CDs per snowflake Glue Scissors String/ribbon This is super easy to do yet my girls had a ton of fun with it! Step 1) If you are using regular 8.5 x 11 paper, fold one corner to the edge. Cut off the non folded edge to make a square. From that square you can make a circle or just leave it square like my girls chose to do. Step 2) Have your kids fold their circle or square however they want. You'll want them to fold it at least 4 times. (At this point in time, my … [Read more...]
