Girls Art Night was a Smash Hit

Smash. Smoosh. Squish. Mash. Moosh. Mush. Stuff … Oh, the things you can do with an old book! A handmade Smoosh Book can be kinda funky and alotta fun. When you first make the book, you can sort through the old book’s pages and keep the ones you like, recycling the rest. Try incorporating comic book pages, other special papers, translucent papers, seed packets, tiny bags, cellophane bags, glassine envelopes, ribbons, stickers, cards, and any other kind of envelopes or pockets. Check out this sweet do-it-yourself with instructions and lots of photos. And thanks to all the ladies who came to the Girls Art Night last month!

Fun Art Project with Kids: Wild Horses

Paint a herd of wild horses for your wall, your baby’s nursery, or for greeting cards. Here’s a fun art activity to do on your own or with kids. It takes an hour or two and the results are stunning. This article includes suggestions for ways to adapt the activity to younger children, although it works best with kids aged 6 and older. We also have a list of ideas on different ways to use and mount the horse herd. Have fun with this one! N-a-a-a-ay!

5 Fun Kid-Made Valentines

Aidan Proudly Shows one of his Valentine Creations

Learn how to make thumbprint hearts; roses/hearts with fruits and veggies; or cootie catchers (fortune tellers) with a love-note theme. It doesn’t take much time — or money — to make your own valentine’s with your kids. Use materials like printer paper, markers, celery, apples and brussels sprouts, a red stamp pad … stuff you probably have around your house. Try out these ideas but don’t limit yourself to just these ideas! Let your kids get creative with whatever supplies you have!

How to Recycle a Cereal Box into a Mask

I bought three of these wonderful Day of the Dead masks from Diane at our local farmers market. I try to buy something from her every time I go to the market. I love these! Anyway, I showed them to Ema and Adia and they immediately wanted to make their own. So they just used hers as a model and figured out how to make them. We used a cereal box and some sticks we had lying around. Try these — they’re really easy and fun to make.

3 Ways to Have Fun in One Summer Day

There are so many things you can do with sticks. There are even more things to do with kids to have fun. Combine stick things and kid-things (kids-of-any-age things) and you get even better fun. Today we painted driftwood sticks in colorful stripes and splotches. Tomorrow we are going to turn these sticks into hanging mobile-like sculptures. Check out our summer kid-friendly art project.

Paint Sample Art — Butterflies Celebrate Summer Solstice

Find out how to make an easy, do-it-yourself art project from free paint samples, paper punches and a large piece of foam core. This colorful butterfly swarm is a kid-friendly activity. We made it in a couple of hours, including time to get the paint samples at Home Depot.

Kid’s Art: DIY Painted Tiles, written by Ema and Adia

Add more colors and blow them around

Would you like to have some totally colorful tiles hanging on your wall? Our mom wanted something for her office wall so we made these colorful, nice tiles for her. This is a fun painting activity that kids or grownups will enjoy doing. Check out our do-it-yourself article about painting tiles with alcohol inks.