Hi everyone! I’m so excited to share with you via Socialdad.ca!

About Me:

My name is Apryl, I’m a wife of 6 years to my best friend and I am a stay-at-home-mom of Cole, my handsome and crazy 2-year-old! I created a blog for some “me-time” called heart, hope, & hustle, where I share Activities for Children, DIY Projects, Recipes, Mom Stuff, and Frugal Friday Deals. That is what lead me to meet James and get to know him through his incredible posts on Socialdad!

I majored in Child & Family Studies and have loved being able to use my degree as a mother.  It has been so exciting to watch my son learn and grow by doing simple things, like making crafts! Cole was so pumped to make these 10 easy craft projects together, as he always loves “helpin mommy bwog” (be still my heart!).  I sincerely hope you enjoy them as much as we did! If you attempt them with your kiddos, I’d love to see them! Feel free to post them on my facebook page. 🙂

10 Easy Craft Projects

1. Cottonball Bunny

What You Need:

• Construction Paper (As you can see, Cole picked green!)
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue
• Scissors
• Cotton Balls
• Construction Paper or Felt for the bunny’s face (we used paper!)

First, have your child cut a bunny shape out of their construction paper.  (Cole was too little to do this, so I did that part for him.)

Next, have your child glue cotton balls all over the entire piece of paper.

Finally, cut out a nose, mouth, and eyes from your construction paper or felt and glue them onto the bunny face! As Cole would say, “All done, mom!”.

2. Paper Bag Animal Puppet

What You Need:

• Scissors
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue
• Crayola Washable Paint
• Kid Friendly Paintbrush
• 1 Brown Paper Bag per Puppet
• Construction Paper (if desired)
• Crafting Eyes (if desired)

This craft is SUPER easy.  You simply let your child paint whatever animal they want on their brown paper bag!  My son wanted a tiger, but we were out of black paint, so at the end, he said it was a “kitty-cat, mom!” <3

Let your child be creative and remember, whatever they make, it’s exactly what they want it to be! Encourage, Encourage, Encourage! 🙂

**If your kiddo LOVES to paint, check out this post about what painting does to help them develop!**

3. Easy Music Shakers

What You Need:

• An Empty Water Bottle
• Elbow Macaroni
• Crayola Washable Paint
• Kid Friendly Paintbrush
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue

First, fill your water bottle with the elbow macaroni and glue the inside of the lid onto the water bottle so none of the macaroni falls out while the kiddos are shake, shake, shaking!

Next, paint the water bottle with whatever colors you want!  Cole chose green and pink today!

Now you have a super fun and easy instrument that they can shake all day!

4. Paper Plate Flowers

What You Need:

• 1 Paper Plate per Flower
• Any Crayola Washable Paint Colors of your choice (I chose purple and yellow)
• Green Construction Paper for the steam
• Kid Friendly Paint Brush
• Scissors
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue

First, cut strips out of the edge of the paper plate so that it looks more like petals. Lift every other one up a little bit to give it more dimension.

Next, cut a green strip and two leaves from your green construction paper.

Then, glue your leaves to the back of the stem and glue the stem to the back of your paper plate.

Finally, paint your flower with whatever colors you chose! Whatever your child picks will be beautiful! 🙂

5. Easter Bunny Cup Puppet

What You Need:

• Construction Paper
• Scissors
• White Paper or Plastic Solo Cup
• *Crafting Eyes* – Not necessary, they can be made from construction paper if you want!
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue

First, cut out ears, nose, mouth, (and eyes if not using the crafting eyes).

Glue them on the plastic or paper cup and you have a bunny puppet! Have your kiddo put their hand into the cup and make it hop, hop, hop around! 🙂

6. Paper Chain Snake

What You Need:

• Construction Paper, at least 2 different colors.
• Crafting Eyes
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue
• Scissors (or Stapler, depending on what you want to use!)

First, cut strips of paper along the short side of your construction paper.  You can make your snake as long as you want.  We chose to cut 8 strips, 4 green, and 4 orange. Also, cut out the head and tail of your snake.  To do this, I folded the construction paper in half and cut out a diamond shape, as seen below:

Next, make a circle or ring with your strips of paper and glue (or staple) the ends together.  Keep repeating this, alternating colors, linking the rings together until you have used all of your strips.

Then, glue on the tail and the head of the snake with the points facing down.

Finally, cut out a tongue and glue both it and the eyeballs on the head of your snake.  All done!

7. Caterpillar Clothespins

What You Need:

• 1 Clothespin per Caterpillar
• Crafting PomPom Balls
• Elmer’s Washable Glue
• Crafting Eyes

This one is EXTRA easy! hehe!

First, glue PomPoms down the entire length of the clothespin.  Then, glue the crafting eyes on the closed end of the clothespin.

You’re done! What a cutie!

8. Paper Towel Telescope

What You Need:

• 1 Paper Towel Roll per Telescope
• Construction Paper (colors of your choice)
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue
• Scissors

First, cover your paper towel roll with a sheet of construction paper (by gluing the paper to it), leaving the ends uncovered.  This should be the length of the short side of the piece of paper (about 8 inches).

Next, cut two strips from another piece of construction paper.

Now, glue the strips of paper on the ends of the paper towel roll, overlapping the first piece of paper. It should look like this:

Next, cut out any shapes you want from any color construction paper. (You could also use glitter or paint here! Be creative!)

Glue the shapes onto your covered paper towel roll.

Finally, let your kiddos use their brand new “Telescopes”!

9. Popsicle Stick Flowers

What You Need:

• 1 Popsicle Stick per Flower
• Construction Paper (color of your choice, just try to pick at least 2)
• Elmer’s Washable School Glue
• Scissors

First, cut petal shapes and a round piece (I made mine bumpy) out of your construction paper. You can choose as many petal pieces as you want, I chose 8; 4 pink and 4 purple.

Next, glue the petals in a circular way around the top end of your popsicle stick.  Then, glue the circle piece you cut out to the center of the petals.
**This is totally optional, but Cole wanted a green stem, so you’re darn right his mama gave him a green stem! Cut out a green stem-shaped piece of paper and glue it to the length of the popsicle stick.

I bet you have a beautiful flower!

Stick these in some dirt in a cup and you’ve got a super cute present for grandma!

10. Pipe-Cleaner Bunny Ears

What You Need:

• Pipe-Cleaners of any color (at least 5)
• (A willing child hehe – Cole refused to put them on his head after he made his! Thus, we do not have a cute picture of Little Bunny Cole)

First, twist two pipe cleaners together to form a “headband” shape.

Next, bend two pipe cleaners in the middle so they almost make an upside-down V.  Twist their ends onto the headband you previously made.

Finally, attach another pipe-cleaner to the bottom by twisting the ends together, at whatever size necessary to fit your child’s head.

Now you have Bunny Ears! Hop, Hop, Hop!

Craft Items Used in All Projects

(Not Pictured: Paper Towel Roll, Pasta, & Water Bottle)