This craft is a fun way to let your kids' imaginations go wild and it's a great activity on a rainy or snowy day. And it's practically free!
​Materials needed: 

• A large piece of paper as long as your child is tall (I actually used the back of a large picture frame paper, the kind that comes with the frame)
• Pencil and eraser
• Markers or crayons
• Glue (optional)
• Any decorations you want from pom poms to stickers

​Step 1:
Put your paper on the floor and have your child lay down on top of it in whatever position they want their figure to be in.

My son is standing on his "sister" (at left) who chose a bent leg, while he chose a kind of "jumping" look.

Use a pencil or marker or crayon to trace an outline around your child. If you have another kid, let them do it - it's very entertaining to watch!

​This is my son's completed outline.

As you can see between this and the above picture, you can choose various poses.

You might also have noticed that I taped two pieces of paper together, which you can do if you don't have a long length of paper.

​Step 2:
Decorate however you want!! Get out the glitter glue and pom poms! Use up all those stickers that have been laying around.

​Kids can add hair, make up and even color in their outline.

​Crayons, pom poms and google eyes can all be used to decorate your figure.

​Step 3:
Find a place to display your child's work. I chose the door to my basement and bathroom - both off my kitchen. 

My kids loved seeing "themselves" every day and these pictures stayed up for months!

My daughter even chose to paint the toenails of her figure

Materials Needed:

• Tan and orange paint
• Paint brush or sponge
• Piece of white paper
• Pieces of black, green and yellow paper
• Hole punch
• Craft Glue stick
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Black marker

This craft was inspired by one of several St. Patrick's Day crafts posted by Elizabeth Lauren Art.

I was not brave enough to try this craft with my 5-year-old son who is not, shall we say, as creatively minded or patient. So I enlisted by 9-year-old daughter to try this out. It can be done with a younger child, with some patience and guidance.

1. Apply tan paint to the child's palm with a paint brush or sponge and then quickly apply the orange paint to the fingers and base of the palm. You have to move quickly or the paint will dry!! Even then, you may have trouble. The first time we placed her hand on the paper, almost none of the tan "face" appeared and half the fingers looked sparse. So we had to re-apply the paint to her hand and do it a second time. Even then, she had to take a paint brush and fill in the face with tan paint because it looked weird.
2. Let the paint dry and work on the hat. Use a pencil to draw a rectangle and then a square on top to make the hat. Doesn't have to look pretty as you can flip that side over. Use the scissors to cut out. 
3. Draw and cut a rectangle out of the black paper. Glue the black rectangle to the green paper hat.
4. Draw and cut a small square out of the yellow paper. Glue to the black strip on the hat. Use a marker to draw a square to complete the buckle.
5. For a younger child or less artsy one, have them draw a circle on the black paper for the bottom of your pot of gold and then a rectangle at the top for the lip. The rectangle can even be separate and glued later. Or draw the pot freehand. 
6. Glue the pot to the bottom of the paper.
7. Use the hole punch to punch little gold pieces from the yellow paper. Apply your glue to the pot and background paper and then place your "gold" on the glue.
8. Your leprechaun should be dry by no so you can apply his hat with glue. 

This is a craft that all ages can enjoy. You can use Dot Paints or in our case, my 5-year-old used his fingers, to make a great keepsake.

1. Use a pencil to draw a U-shape on the black paper from one edge of the paper to the other. 
2. Take the scissors and cut along the line and you have your lucky pot.
3. Glue the pot to your white piece of paper with the flat part up.
4. Pour the first color of paint onto your plate or palette. Dip a finger in, lightly dab on a paper towel before applying to the white paper. (Or if you use Dot Paints, then just dab dots on the paper). You can go in an arc like a rainbow, a zig-zag, a straight line or whatever your child's preference is.
5. Repeat with the next color and so on until you have used all your colors.
6. Take glittery paint or glitter glue and spread along the top of your pot to make it shiny.

Materials:

• Cone-shaped treat bags
• Hot chocolate mix
• Mini marshmallows
• A coffee mug
• Tape or rubber band
• Ribbon
• Gift tag
• Plastic Gift bag or gift basket (optional)
• Chocolates or other treats to put in mug

This is a great "craft" and holiday gift for your child's teacher, a neighbor or family.

We found two coffee mugs for $5 at Marshall's and the cone-shaped gift bags for the hot chocolate (with a snowflake design) came from Michael's. This is a great craft gift to do with your child. My 9-year-old enjoyed putting these together.

1. Scoop the hot chocolate into the cone shaped treat bag a little less than 2/3 from the top.
2. Sprinkle mini marshmallows on top.
3. Tightly twist the top of the bag and use a rubber band or twist tie to close it. If you're working more than a day in advance, I'd recommend the rubber band or even taping the top to ensure freshness.
4. Take a ribbon and tie around the top to look pretty and put in a mug. Add some chocolates or other treats.
5. For a little more holiday cheer, you can put the mug and hot chocolate in a plastic gift bag (as seen above) and then tie a ribbon and gift tag to it.

Items Needed:

• Penne Pasta
• Beans 
• Orange paint
• Craft glue
• Menorah printed on white paper or card stock (or draw one)
• Colored card stock

This Hanukkah craft idea came from the Middlesex Borough Library.

1. Draw a menorah on a piece of white card stock or find a menorah design like this and print it. Be aware that the larger the lines, the bigger the beans you will need.
2. You can use white paper but it could pucker with the amount of craft glue being used. If you use paper instead of card stock, you will definitely want to first glue the white paper to a backing paper - construction paper or card stock, preferably a color other than white.
3. Apply glue along one of the lines of the menorah and then start placing beans along the line with glue. The child's age will determine how much help is needed. My 5-year-old was able to squeeze the glue bottle and place the beans all by himself.
4. Once all the beans are placed, add glue to the penne pasta and place them at the top of each "bean line."
5. Take a cotton ball or use your child's thumb to dip into the orange paint and apply to the white paper.

​

Materials Needed:

• 2-liter soda bottle
• Scissors
• Piece of ribbon
• Stapler
• Tissue paper - assorted colors
• Glue
• Easter grass
• Small bowl with water
• Old paint brush

This idea came from North Branch Preschool and is a great way to show off your colored Easter Eggs (to learn what to do with leftover dye and egg shells, visit here). 

1. Have an adult cut the bottom of a rinsed-out soda bottle.
2. Cut or tear tissue paper into small squares
3. Mix glue and water in bowl.
4. Place a piece of tissue paper on your bottle (it's easier if it's upside down) and brush on some of the glue/water mixture. Repeat until the entire "basket" is covered.
5. Let dry.
6. After it dries, use a stapler to attach the ribbon (parents might want to do this). Be sure to use a strong ribbon that won't fray.
7. Add your grass. Now your basket is ready for Easter eggs!

Materials needed:

• Green cupcake liner
• Cupcake liner (we used yellow but any color will do)
• Construction paper
• Piece of white paper
• Glue
• Paint - two colors or more
• Markers
• Scissors

This idea came from North Branch Preschool and is a great craft to help toddlers and preschoolers with their fine motor skills.

1. Fold your construction paper in half to make a card.
2. Cut out white paper in an oval or egg shape.
3. Take green cupcake liner and cut in half. Glue two pieces at bottom of white paper.
4. Draw a stem from the green liner.
5. Glue the other cupcake liner to the top of the stem to complete your flower.
6. Have your child dip his or her finger in paint and apply to the paper to make eggs. We chose pink and purple but any colors will do.
7. Use markers to make leaves or a sun, if you wish.
8. Glue entire piece to the front of your card.
9. Have your child write or decorate the inside of the card as desire.

So we had some fun coloring our Easter eggs this year, but what do you do with all that leftover dye? I hated the idea of tossing it down the drain again, but this year I didn't have to. 

I found several Easter Egg dye craft ideas for leftover Easter egg dye, including using the dye to paint like watercolors. Haven't tried that one yet, but I had to try this great idea for using leftover dye and for putting the egg shells to good use.

It's very easy and even little ones can do it with some help. 

Peel the shells off the egg. Try to do it in large pieces if you can. Rinse off the shells to get that lining off so the shells won't smell. Let them air dry. You can use colored eggs for this craft or if you crack an egg or two like we did (I didn't want to dip into the cracked eggs in the dye), just peel them and toss the pieces in. 

Once your shells are dry, just take a piece of paper or card stock and your child can arrange and glue them into whatever design they choose. 

It might help with younger ones, or artistically challenged people like me, to draw your design in pencil first and then lay out the egg shells.

Use craft glue to trace part of the design and then attach egg shells. I would work in small sections so the glue doesn't dry. You can use large and small pieces,  like a mosaic. Larger pieces, when possible, were easier to work with.

One thing my 4-year-old really enjoyed was taking a larger piece, placing it where he wanted it and then pressing it to crack it into smaller pieces - which actually looked pretty cool.

Both my kids (4 and 8 years old) decided to do flowers and you can see below that they came out differently.

Fairly easy craft for a preschooler or older child and not a lot of materials. This was inspired by one of the many Usborne drawing and craft books.

1. Have your child draw a large circle in crayon (brown or orange are best for more realistic lion but any color is fine) on the paper. This will be the face of your lion.
2. Then draw semi-circles at the top (or as close as possible) for the ears.
3. Draw the mane by having your child draw lines out from the circle's edge (the way one would make sun and its rays, just a lot more lines).
4. Draw a loose upside triangle in black for the nose and "U" shapes for the mouth. Add whiskers with quick lines.
5. Draw circles for the eyes.