Build fairy houses from pumpkins and put together a pumpkin fairy garden for Halloween display this year! After I challenged my six-year-old son to build a house from a pumpkin and made one alongside him, we decided right away that we needed more. I’ve always...
If you like making process art and trying new painting techniques with kids, keep this watercolour monster craft in mind for the next rainy afternoon. They are guaranteed to brighten your day! Do all kids have a fondness for straws? In five years, they definitely...
If you like painting rocks, here is a fun autumn craft for you and the kids – turn rocks into jack-o-lantern pumpkins! I don’t grow pumpkins every year; it’s every other year with me. That’s how it goes: one year, I get inspired to plant...
Monster Math is a printable game that challenges children to draw while working on simple math – counting, number writing and recognition. Roll a die and see what kind of monster you will draw. My son loves to draw. He also enjoys building, crafting and even...
If your kids aren’t old enough to carve pumpkins, try making these no-carve painted space pumpkins for Halloween! It’s strange how it never occurred to me before that we could paint pumpkins for Halloween. Of course, carving is fun! But it’s a lot...
Did your kids like Jack-in-the-Box toys when they were younger? Now they can make a DIY Jack-in-the-Box from paper, while having a fun engineering experience! When we made our paper Jack-in-the-box toys and hid Jack-o’-lanterns inside, I wrote that kids can make...
Learn how to make a Jack in the Box from paper with a free printable template and have a fun engineering experience with kids! The first paper Jack in the Box that I ever made was for Halloween. After all, shouldn’t Jack-o’-lantern and Jack-in-the-box...
Decorate rocks with magical Halloween silhouettes drawn over a vibrant sunset sky! It has certainly been a good year for all the rock painters, me included. The new trend of painting and hiding rocks this summer has inspired a lot of fun rock creations! The summer is...
These free printable friendly monster cards come with a monster colouring page and an art prompt on the back. A fun surprise card for kids who like to draw – Halloween or Valentine’s Day special! Many kids like monsters. I could attribute at least part of...
We have a longstanding Halloween tradition – never get a decent photo of the costumes we make. That happened on Budster’s first year when he was a garden gnome. For his second year, we dressed him in a grand musketeer’s costume,...
Wooden building blocks are a classic toy for open-ended play. So I try not to be too hard on myself for picking up yet another set for my kid whenever I see a good deal at a second-hand toy store or dollar store. When I have a pretty good assortment, I can turn them...
I have a particular regard for dollhouses. In my childhood, the two shelves in my room that served as a dollhouse held as much drama as the four volumes of War and Peace. When I got older, I was fascinated with the art of building miniature houses and expressing the...
In the long, dark autumn evenings, we often find ourselves playing with light: puppet theatre performances, glow-in-the dark toys, lamps and lanterns occupy our rooms. We worked on these easy-to-make lamps over the last couple of days to decorate the house for...
We started making handmade toys for our son before he was even born. We wanted to fill his toy box with special friends that Mommy and Daddy sewed and carved. Nine months were long enough to do the job! Soon strange little creatures with button eyes and wooden rattles...
When pumpkins fill the fields, autumn is here. This time of a year pumpkins also fill our garden and local farmer’s market. A couple of pumpkins decorates our porch, and the freezer is getting filled with pumpkin puree, which will be turned into many pumpkin...
Last year for Halloween my son and his friends were just under one year old, and we wanted to throw a little Halloween party for babies. Nothing too sweet or scary, just a lot of sensory play, cuddly monsters and friends. When I think about a party, in my head...
