Brainstorm in Bloom: Camping

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

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

Monday, June 4, 2012

Let's Go Camping! (Bouquet Event)

Camping is a fun family event that many families experience during the summer! This camping event is way easier than the real deal of camping (especially with kids). You don’t even have to go camping for it ~ we had ours at a park.
Here are a few ideas found from Family Fun and Perpetual Preschool for a Camping Event for
Sprouts and Seedlings (toddler/preschool and elementary age)...

To set up for the event we put up a couple of tents, put some blankets down and had some camping supplies out.

Campfire hats craft from Family Fun

CAMPFIRE HATS

The Stuff	The Prep	The FUN!
(for one hat): Felt: Orange strip(16” long by 5 ½” wide – cut widthwise into flame shapes – see pic) 6 Yellow triangles (1 ½” on bottom by 4” tall) *Green strip (26” long by 2 ½” wide) Paper bag Small twigs 6-10 mini-marshmallows Glue (hot glue or fabric glue works best, we used Elmer’s glue because there was no electricity and many kids) 2 large paperclips Permanent marker for names	Cut out all felt pieces and put in brown paper bags. *If your campers are older they can do this themselves. I put twigs, marshmallows and glue in the bags as well. They will use the brown paper bags later on their nature hunt.	1. Give each camper a paper bag filled with felt, twigs and marshmallows for their Campfire Hats. 2. Campers glue yellow triangles inside orange triangles. 3. Campers push marshmallows on one end of the twigs (popping a couple in their mouth of course). 4. Glue twigs between each triangle flame. 5. Glue green felt on top of the orange felt using quite a bit of glue and covering the twigs. 6. Write names and lay flat to dry ~ this may take a bit. 7. Once it is dry, wrap the hat around the camper’s head and attach paper clips on top and bottom to secure hat.

Fred and Ted Go Camping BOOK

The Stuff	The Prep	The FUN!
Fred and Ted Go Camping by Peter Eastman	Check out the book from the library, buy it from your local book store or www.half.com (my favorite online book store)	Read the book while discussing camping and how Fred and Ted are so different but great friends!

NATURE
WINDOW
HANGING

The Stuff	The Prep	The FUN!
(for each window hanging): Empty paper bag from Campfire Hat 2 – 6” by 6” pieces of contact paper 12” piece of thin ribbon Scissors (can share) Hole punch (can share)	Cut out 6 X6 contact paper squares (2/kid) Cut 12” pieces of ribbon	1. Take the now empty paper bags that once held felt for the campfire hats and go on a nature hunt! 2. Take off on piece of backing for contact paper and add nature pieces for Nature Window Hanging. 3. Take off backing of second contact paper sheet and adhere to first one. 4. Trim any edges with scissors. 5. Punch hole for the ribbon. 6. Lace ribbon through hole and tie a knot. Hang in the window or a tree when get home!

Campfire and Smores SNACK

Campfire Snack adapted from Perpetual Preschool

The Stuff	The Prep	The FUN!
Plates M&M’s Pretzel sticks Red hots Smore’s bags (teddy grahams, chocolate chips, marshmallows)	Put all of the Smore’s supplies in snack bags.	1. For the Campfire Snack, give each camper a plate and M&M’s. They place the M&M’s in a circle for the campfire rocks. 2. Place the pretzel sticks in the circle for the logs. 3. Add the red hots for fire. 4. Once their campfires are built they can eat them! 5. Hand out Smore’s bags for the kids to enjoy as well.