Related Pages: Snowflake crafts, winter coloring pages, winter kids activities

Preschool Winter Crafts

Preschool Penguin Craft	Rainbow Ice Winter Craft	Preschool Ice Skate Craft	Pinecone Birdfeeder Craft

Winter Crafts for Kids

Sock Puppet	Winter Igloo Craft	Glove Puppets	Lacy Ice Craft

Winter Crafts for Teens & Tweens

Make Fizzie Bath Balls	Felted Sweater Mittens	Easy Felted Slippers	No Sew Slipper Socks

Be sure to check out our awesome Valentine crafts, too!

For more Christmas crafts, check out this penguin keepsake plate, Christmas handprint crafts, and our snowflake crafts!

Pinecone Gnome Ornament	Pinecone Snow Bunnies	Elegant Pinecone Ornaments	Pinecone Placecard Holders
Pinecone Gift Tags	Pinecone Votive Craft	Christmas Pinecones in a Pot	Pinecone Christmas Tree
Fabric Button Pinecone Trees	Pinecone Christmas Carolers	Pinecone Christmas Angels	Christmas Pinecones

Check out all of our Christmas crafts, coloring pages and activities for kids from Woo! Jr. Network sites!

We had a friend coming over recently, and she was so impressed by the fact that we had made cider for her.  She walked in the house and said it smelled “mulled.”  I asked what that was, and she told me she meant the way some people warm it with spices and everything.  So, I was all, “Yeah, that’s the kind we’re having.”  Seriously, I looked like a total Suzie Homemaker, and the whole process from start to finish took about ten minutes.

What You’ll Need to Make Homemade Mulled Apple Cider

• Apples – We used about a dozen (If you want to cheat and do really easy version, just use pre-made apple juice.  Your kid will totally not care.)
• Juicer
• Apple slicer or knife
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Cloves

I've looked into the difference between "apple juice" and "apple cider," and even though the juicer filters it to some degree, I'd say what comes out still qualifies as cider.

Wash your apples. If you happen to have a ladybug around, it makes this part more fun. ;-)

Slice your apples.

Run the apples through the juicer right into a sauce pan. Add about a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon each of ground nutmeg and ground cloves.

I didn’t get a picture of it, but the spices left kind of a scum on top after the apple cider was warmed, so I just skimmed it off.

It tastes delicious and totally made my house smell like the holidays!

This pine cone bird feeder craft is easy enough for kids to make

The hardest part of making this pine cone bird feeder craft was finding bird seed in bags of less than 5-zillion pounds!  My daughter loved it and was actually able to help quite a bit.

Related Pages: More Pinecone Crafts, Stick Crafts, Make Fairy Houses

What you need to make a simple bird feeder:

• A pine cone
• Peanut butter
  (Note – use soy butter instead if your child has a peanut allergy!)
• Ribbon
• Bird seed
• Plastic baggie

How to make a pine cone bird feeder

Start by cutting a ribbon about 24″ in length.  The idea is to make it so that squirrels can’t easily reach your delicious bird seed.  I think it’s better to attach the ribbon first so that you don’t get peanut butter and seeds everywhere later on.

Move a couple of layers from the top of the pine cone and tie the ribbon around tightly.

Next, smear peanut butter all over your pine cone bird feeder.  This part is kind of messy.  We worked to make sure we got some peanut butter in between the various layers of the pine cone for maximum bird seed coverage.

Peanut butter will make the bird seed stick to your pine cone.

Place your gooey pine cone into a bag of bird seed, hold the top shut, and shake.

(Leave the ribbon sticking out of the top of the bag so it doesn’t get covered in peanut butter.)

The seeds stick to the peanut butter to cover your pine cone.

Take it outside and hang it from a tree with the ribbon loop you created.  We put ours right outside the kitchen window so we can see if any birds come to enjoy a snack.

ETA: I may just need to face reality and rename this post “Squirrel Feeder Craft for Kids.”  *sigh*

The view that greeted me from my kitchen window this morning.

Our extra-long snake draft blocker.

We recently moved into a very old house and immediately found ourselves in the midst of the snowiest November in as long as they’ve been keeping records on such things.  As you can imagine, it was cold and windy outside.   We sometimes found that it was also cold and drafty inside.   A good deal of air was coming in through the bottom of the fireplace, so we made this fun draft blocker to help keep us cozy.  My daughter is too young to use the sewing machine, but she helped with the parts of the craft that she could.

Door Draft Blocker Project Materials

• a long piece of fabric, or some shorter ones sewn together
• a piece of red felt with a triangle cut out of the end for a nice snake-y tongue
• six buttons
• scissors
• sewing machine
• rice
• hot glue

Most people use draft blockers at the bottom edge of their doors, so start by measuring the width of the door.  Add a half inch to that amount (for your 1/4″ seam allowances), and cut your fabric to that length.  I found a width of about five inches worked great, but you can adjust it if you have a larger gap at the bottom of the door.  If you don’t have one fabric that is long enough, stitch a few complementary fabrics together to get it to the right length.

Sew the long edge and one short edge, right sides together.

Sewing the fabric together for your snake draft blocker.

You’ve just created a tube.  Turn it right-side-in, and fill with rice.  My little one was able to help with this part.

Leave a bit of empty space in the top so that your draft blocker is bendable.

Turn the unfinished edges under with the red felt tongue sandwiched between and sticking out.

Sew the end together, remembering to backstitch at the beginning and end.

Finally, glue your buttons together to make eyes, and hot glue them in place.  We made ours by stacking a small black button on a medium blue button (the iris and pupil), and placing those both on top of a large white button.  If you have really little ones, you might prefer to sew the buttons on before filling and sewing up the end.

Attaching eyes to your snake draft blocker.

Ready to block some drafts!

What I Learned the Hard Way: This particular draft blocker was pretty long, and after about four cups of rice, I ran out.  Eager to have the project done, we went ahead and filled top several inches with popcorn, and it worked just fine! (Note from Wendy – cat litter also works very well as a stuffer!)

Hot Cocoa Gift Jars

My not-quite-three-year-old and I made two of these hot cocoa jar gifts in about ten minutes this morning, which worked out perfectly, since a friend unexpectedly stopped by, and we had a ready-to-go, homemade Christmas present to send home with her!

Related Pages: Christmas Rice Krispie Treats, Christmas Sugar Cookies, Printable Christmas Gift Tags

You’ll want to pick up a few extra things to make this jar gift:

• canning jars (I got used ones from a thrift store, but you can find new ones at the grocery market)
• hot cocoa mix (you can make it from scratch, but I took the easy way out!)
• mint candies
• mini marshmallows
• wax paper
• ribbon
• embellishments
• hot glue

Find everything you need for this homemade gift right at the grocery store!

Start by cutting two wax paper circles that are the same size as the interior of the jar.  They don’t have to be perfect.  They’re going to help keep your ingredients separate in their layers.

Fill the bottom one-third to one-half of the jar with your cocoa mix and place one of the wax paper circles on top.  Layer the mint candies next, followed by another wax paper circle.

Mints are a great addition to hot cocoa, and they look gorgeous in this display.

The top layer is mini marshmallows to float in the hot cooca.

Fun, colorful, and easy homemade gift in about five minutes!

Finally, decorate the jar with ribbons and other embellishments.  I had some silk poinsettias around, so I hot-glued them to the top for a festive look.

Jar gifts are pretty and you know they'll actually get used.

What I Learned the Hard Way: Hm.  This kids’ craft really was as easy as it looks.  I guess the biggest lesson learned is that my husband is in trouble for teaching the little one that marshmallows are “snowman poop.”  I got to hear that term over and over again this morning!

Remember, this is Day 12 of Twleve Days of Gifts Kids Can Make! 12 down and NO more to go!

Happy Holidays, everyone! xo

I’ve been wanting to make a yarn wreath for a while – and when I saw one on the Anthropologie website, I was inspired to finally do it! I chose this yarn specifically because it was similar to the one on their site, but you could make this in so many different colors (and multiple kinds of yarn) that would be suitable for any time of year. This would also be a great use of scrap yarn you have left over from other projects!

Related Pages: Rag Wreaths, Printable Christmas Gift Tags, Vintage Christmas Postcards

Yarn Wreath Craft

Here’s the original inspiration for a whopping $148 on Anthropologie. Yeah. Right.

Anthropologie Yarn Wreath

What You Need to Make This Yarn Wreath

Yarn – I used Bamboo Spun brand in Rose Camo found at Hobby Lobby.

A wreath form – I got mine at the dollar store.

That’s it!

How to Make This Yarn Wreath

It’s important to pull the yarn end from the inside of the skein, not the outside – trust me, it will make it much easier to wrap!

Simply tie the yarn around the wreath form and start wrapping!

Yarn Wrapped Wreath

It will work up faster if you wrap several loops at a time and then push them close together.

When you are done, tie off the yarn and trim the ends. Then wrap it up with a pretty bow to give it to grandma, mom, or it would make a great teacher gift, too!

Remember, this is Day 8 of Twleve Days of Gifts Kids Can Make! 8 down, 4 to go!

This no sew frayed scarf is one of my favorite projects from the gifts kids can make series! I made several of them for myself! I know it’s hard to find things that are actually useful that kids can make for dads. This one is good for dads and moms, depending on what kind of fabric you use. We used a super-soft plaid flannel for dad’s version, and used a light taupe linen for me. You’ll notice that the fabric flower brooch from Day 3 is made to match out of the same fabric!

Related Pages: Teen Crafts, Kids Winter Crafts, Printable Christmas Gift Tags

Scarf for Men:

Frayed No Sew Men's Scarf

Scarf for Women:

Women's No Sew Frayed Scarf

What You Need to Make the No Sew Scarf

All you need is fabric. Here’s how to find one that works for this project:

• Choose something that looks the same on both the front and back.
• Choose one that has a loose weave or woven with thicker thread.
• Choose one that is SOFT!
• If you have a Joann by you, their British Frenzy collection is beyond perfect for this project. Insanely soft and pretty! Unfortunately the fabric is so awesome that it’s sold out fast! They don’t have any left available online. :(

If you can find a fabric you like that is 56″ inches wide, then all you need is half a yard. The standard 45″ fabric width is a little short for a scarf, but doable, especially for a men’s scarf.

If you want something longer, get a yard and a half or two yards. You’ll have plenty of fabric left over for more scarves, fabric flower brooches, or other projects!

How to Make the No Sew Scarf

Cutting Fabric for the No Sew Scarf

If you are working with a plaid, you will want to cut your scarf length so that the plaid stripes are even as shown above.leave about a half an inch on either side of the plaid to unravel.

If you are working with a linen kind of fabric, you need to make sure that you straighten the grain of the fabric. You can do this by tearing the length instead of cutting it, or pull a thread through and cut along the line that thread made.

Make sure that the scarf is at least 10″ to 12″ inches wide and however long you want it to be.

Next, simply start pulling out additional threads along the sides of the scarf.

Fraying Flannel for a Scarf

You’ll probably want to do this on all four sides of the scarf, unless your selvedge edge looks presentable enough to leave it as-is. Only take enough threads out to keep it from unraveling further – about 3/8 of an inch (10mm) is enough. Anything more than that is optional, and will look pretty, but the threads get harder to remove the longer the frayed threads become.

Finished No Sew Frayed Scarf

That’s it – you’re done! If you are feeling ambitious, you can fray it more or even pull out threads further inside the fabric like this:

Fraying the Scarf in Rows

As pretty as this looks, it was definitely harder and more time consuming to do this second step. It actually took a few hours to do this on both long edges of the scarf. I’m not sure a kid would have the patience for that, but you and I probably do!

Remember, this is Day 7 of Twleve Days of Gifts Kids Can Make! 7 down, 5 to go!

Related Pages: Healthy Pasta Recipe for Kids, Applesauce Recipe for Kids, Watermelon Salsa Recipe

Chili Mac Recipe Kids Will Love

Chili Mac Ingredients

This recipe makes a big batch with plenty of leftovers for freezing. A half recipe will easily feed a family of 6.

Brown the ground turkey or beef and drain off the fat.

Add the chopped peppers, celery and onion and sauté until just-soft.

Pour into large stock pot and add the cans of tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and black beans. Stir.

Add the seasonings – cumin, taco sauce, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, oregano and onion salt. Stir and simmer for 15 minutes.

Cook pasta separately according to the package directions. Drain, do not rinse, and add to the large stock pot, stirring thoroughly.

Serve with shredded cheese and cornbread… yummm…  Actually, it’s so filling you may not even need the cornbread!

More Recipes Kids Will Love

Homemade Sports Drink Mix

Homemade Microwave Popcorn

Red Hot Applesauce Recipe

Slow Cooked Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Related Pages: Printable Olympics bingo, Olympics coloring pages, Olympics kids activities

Olympics Crafts for Kids

Here are four Summer Olympic and Winter Olympic crafts for all Olympic Games:

Olympic Torch Kids Craft	Paper Plate Olympic Rings Craft	Olympic Medals Craft	Olympic Flags Craft for Kids

Vancouver 2010 Olympics Crafts

Have you checked out yet the absolutely adorable Vancouver Olympics Mascots site? Their names are Miga, Quatchi and Sumi, and they are so freaking cute I can hardly stand it!

Vancouver Olympics Craft - Sumi Paper Craft	Vancouver Olympics Craft - Quatchi Paper Craft	Vancouver Olympics Craft - Miga Paper Craft	First Nations Totem Pole Craft

Olympics Party Game

Check out our free winter Olympics bingo game over at Classroom Jr.!

More Olympics Printables

Olympic Medal Count Worksheet

Olympic Word Search

Printable Training Journal

Vancouver Printables and Olympics Activities