Join us on RED TED ART for this idea and the printables: https://www.redtedart.com/lego-valentines-box-card/

If you aren’t familiar with Maggy’s site, she is the queen of crafty projects of all sorts and has a huge bank of ideas.  She is a lovely person, sharing her guidance with others and I think you will enjoy her creations!

Materials

• Flower box printable: FLOWERS
• Flower card  printable: flower valentine card
• Kleenex box
• Paint
• Craft sticks (popsicle, tongue depressors etc.)
• Craft knife (to be used by an adult)
• Glue gun/ glue or craft glue

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Remove the plastic liner from your kleenex box carefully.

• Paint your tissue box with a few thin layers of paint, allowing drying in between.

• Paint your stems (craft sticks) and allow them to dry.

• Create your flowers- either drawing your own or using the printable.  You could paint or colour your flowers, print them on bright paper or cut them out.

• Glue your flowers onto your craft sticks, along with your leaves.

• Have an adult carefully cut slits in your tissue box to insert your flowers into your box.

• You can make a matching card that opens for your classmates to go along with your box (see the printable).  Wouldn’t it be cute to attach them to a package of seeds!?

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Other Valentine Box Ideas

Find the printables here: http://make-it-your-own.com/llama-valentines-day-box/

Find the printable here: http://make-it-your-own.com/baby-yoda-valentine-box/

Other Printable Valentine Cards

Find the pritables here: http://make-it-your-own.com/printable-valentine-cards/

Purpose

• Recognizing symbols and traditions associated with different celebrations.
• Reimagining recyclables.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and direct, adult supervision.
• A craft knife should only be used by an ADULT.

Materials

• Tissue box
• Template YODA
• Cheese wheel cardboard (ours was 12.5 cm/ 5 inches.  You can find these on Brie, Cambazola etc.)
• Dowel (you can find these at dollar, craft and hardware stores)
• Model Magic
• Buttons (one large brownish set and one smaller black one)
• Glue gun/ glue (you could try white glue as well)
• Felt or construction paper
• Fabric scissors
• Hole punch
• Cardstock
• Tongue depressor

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Gently remove the plastic liner from your tissue box.

• Trace around the smaller ends of your tissue box onto felt or construction paper.  Cut out the rectangles and glue them on the ends.  Allow them to dry.

• Punch two holes across from each other on the rim of your cheese wheel so that the dowel goes through them.  (This will stabilize your ears).

• Glue your smaller button onto your larger one and then glue it onto your cheese wheel cardboard.

• Use your model magic and sculpt around your button eyes and create baby Yoda’s face.  You could include eye lids, eye brows, cheeks, a nose etc.  Look up photos online with an adult for reference. (We included a photo in the templates that might assist you and some illustrations to help with placement of the features)

• Print the ear template out on cardstock.  Cover it with model magic by spreading or rolling it into a thin layer.  You can add an upper ridge and a shadow like our daughter did.

• Insert your dowel into your punched holes and glue your ears onto your dowel.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Glue Yoda’s head to one end of the box.  We used a glue gun to make sure it was secure.   Make sure the face is on the side of the opening of the Kleenex box.  You may need to add a popsicle stick or tongue depressor like we did to stabilize baby Yoda’s head.

• Fold your felt sheet in half long wise (to look like a hot dog bun rather than hamburger one) and glue it around the lower portion of Yoda’s head.

• Glue your felt sheets around the box to look like Yoda’s blanket/robe, making sure not to cover your opening.

• Set up Yoda on your desk to receive your cards.  May the Force of Kindness be with you this Valentine’s Day!

Llama Valentine Box

Find the templates here: http://make-it-your-own.com/llama-valentines-day-box/

LEGO Valentine Box

Find the details here: https://www.redtedart.com/lego-valentines-box-card/

Looking for a Yoda Card?

Our friends at Hello, Wonderful have this cute card to go with the box: https://www.hellowonderful.co/post/diy-baby-yoda-paper-card/

Love Baby Yoda and want more ideas?

Maggy from Red Ted Art has this great collection of ideas: https://www.redtedart.com/baby-yoda-crafts-diys/

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Purpose

• Repurposing items from the recycling bin.
• Recognizing various traditions from celebrations such as exchanging Valentine’s Day cards.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and glue gun with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Buttons can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.

Materials

Play Dough 

• See our favourite recipe below or purchase Play Doh.

Snow Person Play Dough 

• Lids of different sizes
• Loose parts (buttons, beads etc.)
• Twigs

Build a Snow Fort 

Option #1

• Toothpicks or dowels
• Play Dough

Option #2

• Play Dough
• Ice Cube Tray
• Old Butter Knife/ Clay Tool

Make a Symmetrical Snowflake 

• Large lid
• Ruler
• Play Dough
• Loose parts (wooden rings, beads, popsicle sticks, buttons, gems, marbles etc.)

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

Play Dough 

This is a recipe we love!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup salt
• 3 tbsp cream of tarter
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil 

Directions:

• Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium pan.
• Add water and oil.
• Cook on medium heat, adding the food colouring and spice.
• Stir continuously.
• When the dough mix pulls away from the sides and forms into a large ball, the dough is ready to be placed in a small bowl to cool.
• Store in a plastic container or re-sealable bag.

* Because of the large salt content this play dough is not recommended for children 0-3 or those that tend to put things into their mouth.*

Source: Japer Place Child and Family Resource Centre

Snow Person Play Dough 

• Collect and wash lids.
• Use your play dough to fill the lids to make a snowman or snow woman.
• Use your loose parts to decorate your snow person.
• If you like, take a photo to document your work!

Build a Snow Fort 

Option #1

• Use your toothpicks and snowballs to create a fort.
• Take a photo to document your work!

Option #2

• Fill your ice cube tray with compressed play dough.
• Use your dull butter knife to cut out your “snow blocks”.
• Form a snow fort or igloo to play with.
• Add animal or people figurines if you like!

Make a Symmetrical Snowflake 

• Fill your lid with play dough “snow”.
• Create some lines with your ruler in your snow.
• Use your play dough and loose parts to create symmetrical snowflake.

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Purpose

• Designing with loose parts.
• Constructing with different materials.
• Learning about symmetrical which lends to geometry knowledge.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use toothpicks with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Small items such as beads, buttons etc. can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.
• Because of the large salt content this play dough is not recommended for children 0-3 or those that tend to put things into their mouth.

Materials

• Pom juice bottles
• Paper towel
• Glue
• Water
• Decorating items (paper, felt, buttons, model magic- use whatever you have on hand!)
• Scissors
• Glue gun/ glue
• Old paintbrush
• Nose/ Top Hat Template: snowperson shapes

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Cut your paper towel into strips.

• Paint glue onto your pom bottle with an old paint brush, then add a strip and cover it in a thin layer of glue, similar to papier mache.

• While your snow person is wet, decorate it!  We formed a carrot nose using model magic over top of cardstock, a felt hat, some buttons and coal made out of model magic!  (Here’s our template if you want to use these ideas too: snowperson shapes )  This really is a chance to use up all the odds and ends that you have!   We’d love to see your snow people- please tag us on Instagram- we sure to enjoy sharing reader creations in our stories!  Tip: (For a baby snow person, trim the nose template down.  Prop your nose up with a yogurt container to hold it in place or glue it on with a glue gun once your snow person is dry)

• Allow to dry overnight.  (Depending on the humidity where you live, this may need to be a longer process).

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Purpose

• Re-using different materials for creating and play.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.

Materials

• Wooden dreidel cut out  (https://woodpeckerscrafts.com/search.php?search_query=dreidel%20&section=product)
• OR use this template on thick paper such as cardstock or re-use cardboard: dreidel dreidel2
• Beads
• Cord
• Child safe needle (you can find these in plastic or metal with a dull end and a large eye)
• Old gift card
• Paint
• Glue (we used a glue gun, but white craft glue or wood glue could work too)

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

• Read the book,  “I Have a Little Dreidel” by Maxine Baum.  One of my favourite book suggestion site is Happily Ever Elephants.  I find Lauren’s suggestions to be thoughtful and ones that allow you to dig deep into the text.  Many of them we have at our home and others I have bought since.  Here is her Hanukkah list if you want to further expand your library: https://happilyeverelephants.com/home/2018/11/27/favorite-hanukkah-books-1

• Put your wooden dreidel cut out (or paper one) in your tray.  Add a few squirts of paint to your dreidel and pull the paint to the edge with your old gift card, covering the surface. (Ad mentioned above, you could use any process art technique that your child enjoys or that you want to expose them to.  Process art allows children to use different tools etc. without the specific expectation or creating something at the end.  We found that the children’s Play School and Pre-K teachers often did this on a paper shape and liked the idea.  These wooden dreidel cut outs are nice and sturdy, which I like as then you can use the garland year to year!  All your painting to dry overnight.  We put ours on a cooling rack to do so.

• Glue two beads at the top of your dreidel.  This is a trick we learned from our friend Shelly of Creating Creatives. (http://creatingcreatives.com/tips/)  This makes it easy to lace your items.  You could also use a paper straw in the same way, snipped up.  Allow this to throughly dry.

• Add an end bead to your garland.  One trick that we used to hold our beads in a specific place is to lace them and then to go back and lace them again.  You can see this clearly in this splatter painted egg video that our son made when he was little:

• This is a great time to explore patterning as you are lacing the beads and creates a beautiful effect.

• Hang up your garland or give it to a friend!

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Purpose

• Recognizing symbols of various holidays.
• Connecting creating to Children’s Literature.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.

We recently got the book, “Fun and Easy Crafting with Recycled Materials: 60 Cool Projects that Reimagine Paper rolls, Egg Cartons, Jars and More” written by Kimberly McLeod who created the website: https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/. Now I don’t know about you, but my kids are constantly digging into the recycling bin to source materials to create projects!  As a teacher I would bring in these items and store them in a large, “Imagination Station” bin for the kids to make with and now I save recyclables for various teachers at the kids’ school.  Recyclables are inexpensive and something we all have on hand.  Kim’s book gives you a great starting point for the ways in which you could use these items to craft things to play with, give to friends or use for decoration or storage!

When we were kids my mom had a birthday present chest. It had all sorts of items for myself and my sisters to pick from to give our friends when we got invited for a birthday and throughout the year my mom picked out items that she knew the kids in the neighbourhood were interested in or she thought would spark some sort of play or creating! (There were lots of packs of the beloved Smelly Felts!). Now today in that same chest, I do the same and store a few items for upcoming birthday parties. This allows you to get great items on sale and/or have an option for those times when a child brings home an invite for a party the next day… What you could do with Kim’s recycled craft book is pop it in a basket with scissors, glue, some construction or cardstock paper, markers, buttons, googly eyes etc., tie a ribbon on it and voila: a gift that looks lovely and gets the kids making! You could order several copies and make a few of these kits for upcoming celebrations! Thus, your potential New Year’s goal of being more organized and re-using items is attained!

Here’s a sneak peek into Kimberly’s book:

As you can see, we decided to make her owls with her clear, photographed instructions. These used cardboard tubes, newsprint and we had an old paper bag from the store that had a map print. We used the top of an egg carton for the wings and added the suggested embellishments to create these cute owl pals that we gave to a neighbour to play with! There are some egg carton snow people that I think we will try next!

You can find it here:

Canadians:

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/fun-and-easy-crafting-with/9781624149085

https://www.amazon.ca/Fun-Easy-Crafting-Recycled-Materials/dp/1624149081

Americans:

https://www.amazon.com/Fun-Easy-Crafting-Recycled-Materials/dp/1624149081

(Please note: We do not use affiliate links, but rather suggest items that we think readers would enjoy as much as we do!)

You could also create this package for a teacher gift for them to use in their classroom!  (I know I would have loved it as a teacher!) 

Materials

Gingerbread Building Blocks

• Blank building block set (we used one from Melissa and Doug https://www.melissaanddoug.com/ which you can purchase at many toy shops or online as we know the quality of their toys)
• Paint pens (our favourite are the Posca brand)
• Line and Design Ideas: gingerbread pattern

Gingerbread Puppets

• Wooden puppets (you can purchase these online) OR here’s a template to make paper ones:
• Gingerbread people print out gingerbread people
• Tongue depressors or popsicle sticks.
• Cardstock or thick paper
• Decorating items  (Use up odds and ends- felt, ribbon, beads, buttons) OR
• Paint pens

Gingerbread Ornament

• Gingerbread person template: gingerbread
• Gingerbread house template: house
• Felt
• Embroidery thread or sewing machine (with direct, adult supervision)
• Fabric glue
• Fabric scissors
• Decorating items (Ribbon, rick-rack, beads, buttons etc. )
• Stuffing

Present Label 

• Printable: Happy Holiday Tag
• Cardstock
• Pencil/ eraser
• Scissors
• Tape
• Ribbon

We always find these items useful too:

Directions

Gingerbread Building Blocks

• Paint your blocks with paint pens to look like icing lines and designs.  If you need some ideas, we have included a printable.  Allow them to dry overnight.

Gingerbread Puppets

• Print out the gingerbread people on thick paper such as cardstock.  (You could also print them on copy paper and glue them on cardboard if you want)
• Glue them onto a craft stick.
• Or purchase pre-made wooden gingerbread people.
• Decorate your gingerbread men or gingerbread women with fabric scraps, buttons, beads, paint pens etc. (use up little odds and ends that you have on hand) OR with paint pens.

Gingerbread Ornament

• Print out the gingerbread person or house template.  We made them quite large for beginning sewers, but you could shrink them if you like.
• Cut out the templates.
• Tape them to the felt with a tape donut.
• Cut out two copies of the gingerbread person or house.
• Decorate the top copy with beads, buttons, rick-rack, ribbon etc.  You could glue them on with fabric glue or sew the them on.  Sometimes we do both- a light glue to hold pieces in place so we can then sew them more easily.
• Allow your work to dry overnight.
• Sew your sides together- however be sure to sew a loop in at the top (ribbon, rick rack or folded felt) and a spot to insert your stuffing.  You could use a dowel, the eraser end of a pencil or the stick part of a paint brush to push the stuffing to the end.
• Sew up the hole.

Present Label 

• Print the label, add your your name.  Put all your blocks and puppets back into the box (or use another one) and then tie a ribbon around your gift!  Give it to a special friend!

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Purpose

• Building is great for developing STEM skills, refining motor skills and the puppets lead to dramatic play, developing communication skills  and growing one’s imagination!

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors, a needle with care and direct, adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.
• Follow product directions.  This is not a gift idea intended for children 0-3 years of age or those that still tend to put things in their mouths.