Well.  Here we are to week 2.  Let’s do a little recap of the winner and loser from last weeks, Thrift Store Finds.

Melissa was the winner with her Sweet Window Seat.  I’m looking for new places to store all of Abbi’s stuff so a little entertainment center thing like that is going on my list!  A tutorial will be up in a few days.

We have to let Mandy and her Book Wall Art  go.  I hate the first week the most.  We don’t even get to really see what the crafters are made of.  Be sure to show her some love and follow her crafty endeavorer at her blog, Mandipity.

This week’s theme is another of my favorites, and it didn’t let me down. Vote for your favorite Kids Can Do until Friday at 9 pm MST.  And remember, there will be a linky party for everyone to show off their stuff too.  it will start Friday and run through the weekend.

Craft #1 – Picnic Blanket Bingo – Meredith @ My Magic Mom

Our family loves to picnic and we go often during warmer weather, but sometimes the kids begin to get a bit bored during the time we are not eating. We also enjoy playing games together, so I thought it would be fun to have a picnic blanket with games built right into it. I’m looking forward to using this picnic blanket to help entertain the kids other times too, like during camping trips and while waiting for it to get dark before fireworks.

I decided to make a checkers board for the center of the blanket and surround it with a Bingo game and tic tac toe grids. The pieces easily rotate between the different games and then store in the built-in corner pockets.

The bottom of the blanket helps prevent a wet ground from ruining the picnic fun.

In addition to playing games during a picnic, kids can help make the blanket by painting the game pieces, selecting the games and writing the bingo numbers on the blanket. Older children may even want to help with the sewing.

Craft #2 – Bag O’ Bones – Becky @ Corduroy’s Closet

Craft #3 – Bilingual Table Toppers – Melissa @ Sew Like My Mom

My daughter is getting to the age where she wants to help more around the house. So in trying to come up with chores she’s able to do with little or no help from us, I decided to make these precious table toppers.

We are a bilingual house, and I try to take advantage of every opportunity I have to teach them. So their placemats have all the pieces labeled–English on one side, Spanish on the other.

Now she’s able to feel like a big girl by helping, she’s learning the proper way to set a table, and she’s increasing her language. Everyone wins!

Craft #4 – Plantable Valentine’s Day Cards – Amy @ Positively Splendid

If you have children in your life, one thing is certain: come February, you’ll be putting together Valentines for school parties. I decided to use this week’s challenge as a way to get a jump start on getting the goodies my kiddos will give to their friends squared away!

I absolutely adore a craft project that utilizes things that would otherwise be discarded. See the speckled paper hearts at the center of each of these blooms? My kiddos and I took an afternoon to make that paper together using paper scraps and other ingredients we had on hand, and we had tons of fun in the process. The kids were fascinated by the fact that it is possible to take something used and make it new again, which makes this a truly stellar lesson in recycling. Once the paper was completely finished, we used it the next day to craft the flower Valentines you see here. Why flowers? you might ask. That, friends, is the very best part of this project: our homemade paper contains a magic ingredient, and the heart centers made out of it can be planted in the spring so that wildflowers can grow as a result of our hard work! How cool is that!

Craft #5 – Edible Ice Cream Bowls – Nicole @ Cole’s Corner & Creations

Crafts for kids, huh? Well, my kids are still pretty young.
The crafts we do around here aren’t really SYTYC worthy.

They don’t have much dexterity for scissors, not much self control for paint, no patience, and very little attention span for anything, so for me-
when it comes to crafts I do with the kids they have to be:

1. cheap
2. quick
3. not too messy
4. and instantly gratifying

That’s why I LOVE baking and cooking with them!

I’ve never seen a food craft on here and was so excited when I got the go ahead to do food! wooo hoooo!

These desert cups are the perfect things for little hands.

Easy for kids to do. Easy clean up. VERY inexpensive (you probably have everything you need in your home already) SAFE. Fun. Delicious.

Customizable to your tastes; You’ll love making (and eating) these with your kids.

Craft #6 –  I Spy Chalk Board Playmat – Lisa @ Crafting My Way Through Life

Craft #7 – Color Me, Wash Me Dolls – Elle @ The Crazy Gecko

Pretty Polly is designed to be made for a younger child who just wants to colour and Sackman was designed for the younger crafter to try for themselves as soon as they are old enough to hold a needle.

In the tutorial, I will let you in on a few secrets I found along the way about the best ways to color on the dolls with, how best to wash them and the best fabrics to use, as well as how to make the patterns easier or jazz them up a little depending on the crafters skill level!

Craft #8 – Make Your Own Doll – Emily @ Industrious Emily

Craft #9 – DIY Aqua Sand Birthday Gift Kit – Ashlee @ I’m Topsy Turvy

What a fun week, Just for kids, I was actually completely stumped by this week’s theme. I had ton’s of ideas, but none of them really spoke to me… I kept going back and forth and had the hardest time actually deciding what to do. Birthday season has arrived at our house. I like to encourage the kids to make gifts for each other, so I started thinking down those lines. What can the kids make each other that they’d have fun making, receiving and playing with?

Then my husband started talking about this new toy wanted to get the kids. Aqua Sand. It sounded really fun, sand that resists water, so it’s always dry. You can pour it into water and it will form designs, and when you scoop it out it stays dry. That and I love sand, I grew up only a few hours from the beach and it’s still my favorite family vacation destination. Anyway, aqua sand, sounds fun enough, but we’re on a budget. And I kind of hate spending money on all the cheap plastic parts just to get the good part, the sand.

So I thought it would be fun for the kids and I to make our own sand for much cheaper! And to make a gift out of it I thought we’d make our own kits!

So I went to my favorite hardware store and grabbed some play sand! Then we turned it into our own aqua sand! The kids had a great time making it! So success for part one!

I have to say it’s pretty cool!

Then came the next part, putting kits together! Personally my kids will have more fun with just sand and water, but as an idea for a kit my oldest suggested adding some toys… so we did!

I love how well the colors turned out, it’s such a fun rainbow. That’s the best party about making your own sand, you can do as many colors as you want. In the kits at the store you only get one maybe two colors. By making your own you can have a ton of colors, or maybe different shades of the same shade, or even personalize it with the birthday child’s favorite colors!

And it makes such a pretty kit/gift! My oldest made this one for her sibling. We have a birthday next week. And while the sand won’t be a surprise (as they all helped me make it) hopefully the rest of the kit will be! And not only was it fun to make, but the bag of sand made a TON. So we’ll have TONS of fun, I’m thinking a HUGE amount will end up in our bath. My kids love playing with water. Even better? It’s WAY cheaper than the store stuff (although it is a little grittier).