| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Feb 07 2013 : 07:14:45 AM
Hi girls -
A really good friend emailed recently and asked for some ideas for Valentines crafts she can do with her son's class for their Valentine's Day party next week. I just love this kind of thing, so I thought maybe you all might like some inspiration, too! So, here's to "sharin' the love..."
1) All kids love to decorate their own cupcakes... You can premake the cupcakes or make them with the kids. Give them each a glob of vanilla frosting to smear on top, and have bowls of fun toppings ready for decorating like sprinkles, red hots, m&ms, dried candied cherries... you get the idea. Take their pictures with their creations. Let them eat their cupcakes while you print out the pics for them. Then have them make Valentine's Day Cards for someone special using folded cardstock (cheap by the ream at Staples) or construction paper. They can decorate with little stickers or by gluing red yarn on it, or by making little "love bugs" with their fingerprints (Have them dip their finger into a red ink pad then onto the card. Then they can color in little smily faces, antennae and legs with a magic marker - LOVE bugs!), and then add their own sentiment inside (or you can pre-print some sentiments on white paper and they can cut them out and glue them inside and then sign their card).
2) "10 Things" card.. Have them fold three pieces of cardstock or construction paper in half and then lay them one on top of the other to make a little book. The pages can either be glued along the seams, or you can punch two holes at the top and bottom near the folds and run a ribbon or piece of yarn through to tie the pages of the card together. On the front of the card, they can write "10 Things I Love About You." Then, on each page, have them write down and draw pictures of the things they love about the person for whom they are making the card, numbering each page 1 through 10. For example, page one might be, "You make the best cookies for me!" and then they could draw a big circle cookie with chocolate chips inside. Page 2 might be, "You read me books!" Etc. etc. They can decorate the front of the card with stickers or color them and add other little do-dads like glitter, ribbon, buttons, yarn, etc. You get the idea.
3) Make "Tea For Two" cards. This is a really nice one. Have them fold a piece of cardstock or construction paper in half. On the middle of the front of the card, have them glue a small heart-shaped doily. then have them fold a second doily part way down so that the two "humpy parts" are folded over. Have them glue the edges of the folded heart to the heart on the card only on the sides down to the point, so they make a little pocket. Next, have them wrap either a bow of yarn or ribbon around two teabags (I'd use something like Lipton because they are wrapped in paper), and then you'll have the kids tuck them inside the pocket. The kids can then color the rest of the cover with crayons or markers, if they'd like. Then tuck/glue this little poem inside:
"Just tea for two,
And two for tea,
Me for you,
And you for me,
Be mine today...
How happy we will be!""
Or something like that - you get the idea... You can either pre-print the little poem up for them to glue inside, or they can write it in themselves. SUCH a cute project!
4) They can also make little love bugs for their Valentines. You'll need buy big pink and red pompoms, small white pompoms, some pipecleaners and some googley-eyes, along with some glue. Have the kids glue two googley eyes to the big pompom. Add a small white pompom for a nose. Cut the pipecleaners in thirds, using 1/3 for each love bug. Fold the pipecleaner in half so you have a "V" shape. Then have the kids wrap each leg of the "V" around a pencil to make springy-curls, OR have them just curl them down from the ends so that they look like those old-fashioned rolled lollipops. have them glue the point of the "V" to the back of the big pompom for antennae. Then all they will have to do is glue 4 - 6 small pompoms to the bottom as "feet." Then you can have them write little messages on papers cut to a little bigger than the size of a fortune that comes in a Chinese fortune cookie, and glue the messages to the bottom. Perfect for giving to their favorite Valentine!
5) Something a little more messy, but sure to be a big hit would be to have them make layered cookie jars (or, I believe you can also make them in a large freezer baggie, making the baggie into a "cone", tying off the filled cone off with a twist tie and then cutting off the zippy part. Layer these ingredients in the following order, first ingredient goes into the bottom of the jar(bag) and then the next, etc.. Then you would need to have the instructions for baking preprinted for them to attach to the jars with red ribbon or yarn. SUCH a cute gift! Our dear Ruthie (Violetrose) sent me one a few years back, and it was almost too cute to open - I loved it so much!:
M&M Cookie Mix
1 ¼ c. sugar
1 ¼ c. Valentines M&M candies (use different colored M&Ms for different seasons and holidays)
2 c. flour mixed with ½ tsp. baking soda and ½ tsp. baking power.
Layer ingredients into jar in order given. Press each layer firmly before adding the next ingredient.
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Instructions for baking:
1. Empty jar of cookie mix into a large mixing bowl. Thoroughly blend mix.
2. Add:
- 1 stick butter or margarine, very soft
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1 tsp. vanilla.
3. Mix until completely blended.
4. Shape into walnut size balls. Place 2”apart on greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Cool
Makes 2 ½ dozen cookies.
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6) The kids might also really enjoy decorating premade sugar cookies. I'm doing that this weekend at our little tea party. I'll admit it, I'm cheating - I don't have a really good sugar cookie recipe, so to make things easy, I'm going to use premade sugar cookie dough, rolling it out and then using heart cookie cutters to shape them. When the girls come, I'm going to have royal icing at the ready - a big bowl of white, with three smaller bowls of red, pink and green. I'm going to have the girls frost the cookies with white royal icing first. Then, they will drop a big drop of pink and red next to each other and either swirl them into the shape of hearts or flowers with a toothpick. Finally they will add a small drop of green and shape it into a stem and leaf at the bottom of their pink and red design. It doesn't take too, too long for royal icing to dry, so they'll be able to wrap them up in storage baggies, tie them with ribbon or yarn and take them home for gift-giving. You can also just let the kids use regular vanilla frosting, and then decorate with those little gel-type squeeze frostings, or homemade colored frostings squeezed out of baggies (pointed end clipped!), if you want.
7) Another really cute thing to do would be to have the kids wrap votive candles in tulle and gather them at the top with ribbon and a small wired flower - really cute! OR you could have them make "lifesavor" tealight rolls, choosing 5 tealights in different colors, stacking them, and then rolling them up in cellophane or just plain plastic wrap like a roll of Lifesavor candies. They would just gather the ends and tie them off, again, with skinny ribbons or yarn. These are SUPER cute!
8) Then there is, of course, the old faithful - pasta necklaces or cards decorated with pasta in heart shapes. I would color the pasta ahead of time, leaving some plain, and making some red and some pink - or, really ANY colors you like ! My favorite way to do it is with Kool-Aid. The colors are much more vibrant than when you use food coloring. Here's a great link to show you how to do it: http://www.mamamiss.com/2012/05/29/tutorial-kool-aid-dyed-pasta/ No matter how you dye it, be sure to let kids and parents know that dyed pasta is NOT for eating!!!
9) Finally - the kids might really enjoy dipping fruit in pudding for a party snack. My guys love doing "pudding fondue." It's ridiculously easy, and ridiculously yummy. You can make your own pudding, of course - that's my personal preference! OR you can make it easy on yourself and just purchase little packages of Snack Packs - one for each kid. The nice thing is that if any of the kids have sugar-restricted diets, both Jello and Hunts make sugar free puddings. Then have cut up pieces of apples, pineapple, bananas, and strawberries for them to dip! Believe it or not, my 49 year old husband takes a homemade snack pack and fruit to work with him to dip every day. He's such a big kid. He'll even dip cookies and brownies in his pudding! LOL!
10) Oh - and you know... It's also great fun for kids to make fruit and marshmallow skewers. Just give them bowls of chunked pineapple, strawberries and marshmallows to string on bamboo skewers. Then lay the fruit skewers on waxed paper, and let the kids drizzle melted white and regular chocolate all over it. Then they can sprinkle chopped nuts on top, if they want. Let dry, and then either eat or wrap in plastic wrap to give as a gift! SUPER simple. I know that the grocery stores have some sort of pre-melted chocolate that you can use for this that won't be hot for their little fingers, but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called. You use it to dip bananas... Heck - you can just let them do bananas, if you want!!!
Just as an aside, you really might want to check out the Michael's website for inspiration. I signed up for their educator stuff, so I get emails for crafts and party ideas from them on a regular basis. I'm sure you can get them, too. Anyhow, they have some really cute ideas! LOVE them!!!
Well, I hope you find some ideas you like here... If you have any neat ideas you'd like to share, I'm sure we would all really like to hear them, too!!! Please do share!
Happy Valentine's Day!!!
Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Feb 08 2013 : 7:48:11 PM
You are so welcome, Laurie! My son is too old for this stuff, too. It makes me a little sad, but then again, there are a lot of great things we can do with him now that would just not have been possible back then... I just love doing this kind of thing, though, so I just "borrow" our friends' kids to share them with! :) I'm hosting a sweet little Valentine's Tea on Sunday for some of our favorite little girls and their Moms - I just can't wait! We'll be making the cookies and I've pulled out all sorts of Valentines Day themed scrapbooking supplies to let them make their own Valentines! SO much fun! :) Hugs and Happy Valentine's Day to you, too! - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| laurentany |
Posted - Feb 08 2013 : 3:41:24 PM
Adorable ideas Nini!
My lil ones are getting older now, but I am going to pass these on to my girlfriend who teaches pre-school.
Thank you for taking the time to share these!
Hugs to you and Happy Valentines Day!
~Laurie
"Little Hen House on the Island"
Farmgirl Sister#1403
View my New Blog:
http://simplesuburbanpleasures.blogspot.com
Everyday is a beautiful day, and sometimes the weather is even nice! |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Feb 07 2013 : 2:29:55 PM
You are very, very welcome, Erica! I hope you all have a great time crafting together! :) Happy Valentine's Day! Hugs - Nini
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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| LeighErica |
Posted - Feb 07 2013 : 09:41:17 AM
Awesome, Awesome ideas....thanks for sharing Nini!!!! I am printing this all out so I have ideas at my fingertips. Next weekend is a 4 day weekend with hubs and daughter. Maybe her and I can bond over crafting:) Erica |
| Ninibini |
Posted - Feb 07 2013 : 07:27:29 AM
Oh! I just thought of one more thing that's really cute. On a piece of cardstock (or on a recycled piece of cereal box), draw a big heart shape. Slather paste or glue inside so the inside of the entire heart is "painted" with it. Then take red or pink yarn (or perhaps that multicolored yarn in degrees of red, pink and white) and starting from the bottom point of the heart shape, trace it around the edge of the heart, continuing round and round the inside edge of the yarn until the entire heart is full of wound yarn. Let dry. Cut out the heart shape from the cardstock. Turn the heart over. Glue ruffled lace to the outside edge of the back of the card. Let dry. Punch a hole in the top, and add a bow for hanging - SO cute! If you're going to hang from something where you'll see both sides, you can also fill the inside of the back of the card with yarn, too. :) Wouldn't a whole bunch of these look cute hanging at different heights from your chandelier?!
Farmgirl Sister #1974
God gave us two hands... one to help ourselves, and one to help others!
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