Rudolph and Santa Paper Bag Puppets

Paper bag puppets are super easy to make, and when you're done you can put on puppet shows that will keep kids of all ages entertained for at least a few days!!

All you need are paper lunch bags and a huge imagination and you are well on your way!!

**note**Make sure the lunch bag is upside down so that the flap is on top!!

For Santa, D spread glue on the bottom of the paper bag and pressed some cotton balls to make the beard. I cut a hat shape out of a piece of red construction paper, and he glued down some more cotton balls. I cut out and colored some eyes, and yes, he glued those down too.

For Rudolph, I traced D's hands (and part of his wrist!) on a piece of brown paper to make antlers, and D glued them to the back of the paper bag so they stuck out a little. I used the foam Q to cut out eyes and colored in pupils, and a red circle for Rudolph's nose. To add a little more "pizzazz" D sprinkled red glitter on to the nose.

Once the glue dries, put on a show!! Super fun for both parents and kids :)

Christmas Wreath!

This Christmas wreath was something I had been wanting to do for quite a while now, and it was super easy and it looks AWESOME!!

I painted D's hands with green paint, and made 12 green handprints on white paper. After the paint dried, I cut out his handprints, and he glued them onto a cardboard wreath (I cut out a wreath shape from a cardboard box and painted it green). Once the handprints were glued, I dipped D's thumb in red paint to make the berries. When the red paint dried, I put a little bit of glue on each "berry" and D sprinkled red glitter on it.

This wreath ended up super cute and is now hanging on our front door. The only downside is that our floor gets sprinkled with glitter everytime the door opens, but it's a small price to pay LOL :)

Bottle Monster

One of my favorite shows on Treehouse is Mister Maker. He's this guy from the UK who does kid-friendly crafts for a half hour. I get a lot of my ideas from his show, and I have even uploaded some of D's art onto the Mister Maker website (http://www.mistermaker.com/ or www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/mistermaker).

Anyway, Mister Maker showed the kids how to make "bottle monsters" and I thought it would be something fun to try with D.

What you do is take any color paint and add a bit of water to make it a little more runny. Pour it into a plastic bottle (I used a 1L Pepsi bottle), put the lid back on, and shake it up until the paint coats the whole inside of the bottle. Once the inside is coated, unscrew the lid and turn the bottle upside down over a styrofoam cup so that the excess paint dribbles out. I left the bottle upside down overnight.

Cut out face shapes, eyes, mouth, nose, horns, etc. from contruction paper and glue onto the bottle. If you're feeling extra crafty you could glue on other stuff like playdoh or egg carton bumps for a little more oomph! D likes to thrown his bottle monster around, so I just had him glue pieces of paper on :)

Egg Carton Caterpillar

This is one easy to do craft that you can do anytime...and it kept my little guy quiet for quite some time!!

Basically, you cut an egg carton in half vertically so you have a line of 6 bumps. I cut the other half of the egg carton into lines of 2 bumps to make "baby caterpillars" too. Give your munchkin a bunch of different paints and a paint brush, and let them go to town!! Or you can just color with markers or crayons (but that won't really work on a styrofoam egg carton)

For extra embellishment, add some glue and glitter!

After he was done painting, D drove his caterpillars around like cars LOL. Then he ripped the big guy up, so I have more babies and no "mommy" caterpillar...but that's ok :)

Dried-out Marker Craft!!

Don't throw out your old, dried-out markers!!! Just take a coffee filter and a cup of water and make a fun, colorful window decoration!! Just dip the marker in the water and color the coffee filter. Super easy and lots of fun!!

My markers aren't dried out, but I still wanted to make this craft, so I let d color the filter with the markers, and then dribbled water on it to make the colors run. If I had a spray bottle I would have used that, but I didn't. LOL.

Hang to dry, then hang it in the window...it looks really cool!!

Outer Space Painting!

Outer Space pictures are super easy to make and there are soooo many ways to make them. In this craft, D and I just used paints and different colored construction paper.

First step, dip a paint(or tooth)brush in white paint that has been slightly watered down. Use a popsicle stick or a piece of cardboard to brush against the bristles to make the stars on a black piece of construction paper (with D I just showed him how to shake the paintbrush. It worked jsut as well!)

Cut out planets from different colors of contruction paper, and have your kids paint spots or designs on them.

Once the paint is dry, glue them onto the black sky covered in stars.

Voila! An outerspace picture!! Super easy and super cute!! :D

Pop Bottle Rocketship!

Even though Christmas is sneaking up on us, I don't want to get too Christmas craft crazy, so I was trying to think of something else fun and cute to do. Then it hit me! Pop bottle rocketships! There are a few different ways you can make a rocketship with your kiddies, but I chose the messiest way...PAINT!! I put a smock on D and gave him a try with different color paints on it with a big paintbrush and let him go crazy. He ended up painting his leg, hand, and forehead also, but it kept him happy for about 20 minutes LOL. Once his rocketship dries I am going to let him play with it and show him how to let it soar through the sky!! I am also going to put some beads or dried beans inside to make a rocketship shaker!!

Another way you could make the rocketship is to use glue and tissue paper; spread the glue all over the bottle and cover it with ripped up pieces of tissue paper. When the glue dries, use a black marker to make windows and other little details if you want.

Or, you could mix the paint with a little bit of liquid glue, and pour it in the bottle itself, and have your kids shake it until the inside of the bottle is coated. Turn the bottle upside down over a cup and let the paint dry. Again, use a permanent marker to make details on the bottle.

It's a cute and fun craft for a child of any age! :)

**In this picture, D is painting his rocketship**