Brainstorm in Bloom: Summer Craft Kit 2013

Showing posts with label Summer Craft Kit 2013. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Garden Stepping Stone (Summer Craft Kits 2013)

Ok, so this has been one of the kids’ favorite Summer Craft kit item (mine was the bee home). We have now made about 10 of these and have them throughout our home and school garden. I think Roly Poly (4 yr old) likes them because he finds great bugs hidden beneath them each morning when he does his morning bug rounds. Anyhow, these are so fun because of the variation! See below for some variation ideas! Another great thing about these is that you can buy a kit at a hobby/craft store for 10-20 bucks or you can just make your own with some simple supplies for a fraction of the cost!

*Safety note - concrete can burn skin if not washed off. This will take a while to happen but coming from a girl that has had several concrete burns while working road construction, please make sure your kiddos hands are thoroughly washed afterwards if they touch the concrete - not to make you worry, but just to be careful.

*This is in the Summer Craft Kit 2013 - click here to see the other crafts in the kit or
here to purchase a kit on my Rocky Mountain Mommas etsy shop!

Enjoy this single stem idea of Garden Stone for
Seedlings (preschool and elementary age)...

The Stuff

The FUN!

Pie tin (plastic spinach/basil tubs also work great)

Cooking oil spray – like Pam

2 ½ cups Concrete

2/3 cup Water

Letter tiles for name (we used a garden marker/sharpie to write letters on blank mosaic tiles)

Shiny stones

Rocks, shells or any other materials kiddo wants to add

1. Gather all materials as this concrete is quick setting and it will be pretty hard in 30 minutes (if you use quick set concrete)!

2. Spray the pie tin with a little bit of cooking oil spray (or just rub some oil on the inside of he tin).

3. Add 2/3 cup of water to the 2 ½ cups concrete in the ziplock bag and close bag taking out any air. Double check that it is sealed well!
*We used ziplock bags to mix our concrete for the summer craft kits because I premeasured the concrete into ziplocks already. It makes for easy mixing and cleanup but if you buy a bag of concrete you can save a ziplock and just mix in a bowl with a stick for a stir stick. Just make sure you don’t rinse out the bowl in your sink – do it outside).

4. Gently squish the ziplock bag to get it mixed.

5. Pour into pie tin. Push concrete down in tin so it is flat. I used the ziplock bag to do this but my messy boys just liked using their hands!

6. With two hands pick up the pie tin and gently tap it down on the table a couple times – it helps the settling of the larger rocks.

7. Now for the fun! Add the materials (letter tiles, shiny stones, etc. to make a beautiful stone)! You just push them in – some may need more push than others.

8. Pick up the pie tin and tap it down a couple times again for a little bit more settling and give everything a final push (but not too far). Note – sticks need to be pushed in pretty good or they come out easily.

9. Leave in one place to harden. You can remove from the tin after one day. After removing it from the tin let it dry for 2 more days in one place before putting in the garden.

10. When you find a great spot it is best if it has some soil surrounding the edges or they may chip off eventually.

*You can reuse your pie tin and make more by just picking up some concrete at the hardware store.

Now the PICTURES (for the visual learners)...

Gather Supplies.

Spray oil in pie tin.

Add water to ziplock bag, seal and squish.


Alternatively, if not using ziplock you can add water to bowl with concrete, and stir (we used a chopstick to stir).

Pour into tin.
Push concrete flat with ziplock bag, spoon or fingers.

Tap pie tin gently a couple times to get larger stones to settle.

Add materials to make a design! Push in good!

Tap a couple times to get items to settle in a bit more - give everything an extra push.

Leave in one place to harden.

After one day, gently loosen the edges and pop out stone.
Let harden without pie tin for a couple more days.

Add to the garden or landscaping! It is best if you dig a little hole and push soil up close to the edges so it doesn't chip!

Some other Ideas:

*Add acrylic paint when you are mixing the concrete and water for a colorful concrete!

*Do a hand print. Pic from School Box

*Laminate a picture, trim the edges and push into wet concrete.
Pic from About.com Family Crafts

*Add other fun summer mementos!

What else can you think of that would be fun to add?

Please BRAINSTORM your ideas/suggestions in the COMMENTS below for the Garden Stone!
Happy Crafting
~Sara

Twiggy Name Frame (Summer Craft Kit 2013)

A couple years ago I saw this in the Family Fun Easy Crafts for Kids book. My neighbors were just heading out on a camping trip so I scurried down in my craft room and found some plaques and the rest of the supplies for them to take with them. They told me it was a great camping craft because they had a fun scavenger hunt searching for fun items for their letters (for example a rock or moss for the dot on an i, bark shaped like a c, etc). That is what I like about this craft is that it doesn’t just have to be sticks and a name (although that looks quite cool). Check out my creative Roly Poly’s (4 yr old) Sunshine Frame ~ he always has his own take on things and wanted to make a sunshine instead – he put a piece of moss and then a shiny stone in the middle - looks great, huh!

Although this seems like a simple craft if you are going to do a name and have youngsters this will take a bit of help from you to get the sticks made into letters. For Firefly (my 3 yr old), I broke up the sticks first and laid it out in his name and then took off each letter one at a time. I then put down the glue and he put the stick on the glue.

One other note – you can buy wooden plaques at a hobby/craft store or you can just cut a board, sand the edges and then drill some holes in the top.

*This is in the Summer Craft Kit 2013 - click here to see the other crafts in the kit or
here to purchase a kit on my Rocky Mountain Mommas etsy shop!

Enjoy this single stem idea of Twiggy Name Frame for
Seedlings (preschool and elementary age)...

The Stuff

The FUN!

Wooden plaque (drill 2 holes in the top if you want to hang)

Paint (we used acrylic so we wore smocks)

Paint brush

Tub or plate for paint

Small twigs

Tacky glue

Hemp rope or string to hang

1. Save a tub from recycle or use a plate/bowl/lid to put some paint in. Paint the wooden plaque. You might want kiddo to wear a paint smock/shirt.

2. Let plaque dry. You might need to do 2 coats of paint.

3. Kiddos gather small twigs (or other nature materials).

4. Arrange twigs (may have to break some up) to spell name on plaque. Make sure the 2 holes are at the top of the wooden plaque.
*Another option is to paint the name on with another color of paint (or use a marker) and then decorate around it with nature items.

5. Your kiddo may want to get creative here and use small stones, moss or other materials as well. This will probably take some adult help depending on kid’s age.

6. Take off twig letters one at a time and add glue. Use a lot of glue! Then put the twigs back on top of the glue. Repeat this for each letter.

7. Let the glue dry.

8. Push the hemp rope/string through the holes at the top, tie knots and find a fun place for this to hang!

Now the PICTURES (for the visual learners)...

Gather your supplies - see that would be easy to gather for a camping trip craft!

Paint the wooden plaque


Gather small twigs (and nature items if wanted). Arrange the twigs. Take a letter off one at a time, put down glue and put back on the sticks.

Continue taking off twigs one letter at a time, putting down glue and putting back on sticks until finished.
Let dry.


Push hemp rope/string through the holes (drill holes at the top if not predrilled) and tie. Find a fun place to hang and display!

A random crafting tidbit...

I store my tacky glue upside down in a small baby jar so when I need it the glue is ready to go!
I store my fabric glue this way as well. :)

Please BRAINSTORM your ideas/suggestions in the COMMENTS below for the Twiggy Name Frame!
Happy Crafting
~Sara

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Googly Eye Sunglasses (Summer Craft Kit 2013)

I first saw these in a Family Fun magazine and have wanted to make them ever since. The boys had fun making them and always act a bit more squirrely when they wear them. I love ours with the colorful eyeballs (in case you don't know I have an love for googly eyes - we often add them to pictures because I think they make an ordinary pic look funny - I always mix and match my eyeballs to make them extra silly!)

This craft was easy enough for my 3 year old to do pretty much by himself (although he thinks he can do everything in the world on his own). I helped him a little bit with the glue when he put a dot in the middle of the lens. The pictures show that we did them on the table but when we redid Firefly’s because I bought cheapo sunglasses for him we found that if you put the sunglasses opened on a tissue box while doing the craft it is much easier. Then you can just leave them there to dry as well. The sunglasses that worked best for this were made of hard plastic and not super flexible – the flexible ones just had the eyeballs pop off when they were dry. Party City and the Dollar Store had some that worked great!

*This is in the Summer Craft Kit 2013 - click here to see the other crafts in the kit or
here to purchase a kit on my Rocky Mountain Mommas etsy shop!

Enjoy this single stem idea of Googly Eye Sunglasses for
Seedlings (preschool and elementary age)...

The Stuff	The FUN!
Sunglasses Tacky glue Googly eyes	1. Open sunglasses and place on a shoebox, yogurt tub, etc. so that they can stay horizontal. 2. Put tacky glue around the edges of the glasses on the plastic (adult help may be needed for this based on age). 3. Kids place googly eyes on top of the glue. 4. Let dry. 5. Wear with style!