I love it when I can do one craft with both my kids. With a 5 year old son and a 18 month old daughter it’s not as often as I wish. This super easy but completely festive Christmas craft fit the bill, they both happily painted and now my kitchen is merry and bright with one on the pantry and the other on the closet door.  Holiday crafts are my kids’ favorite and unlike many of our other creations these are kept, stored and brought out year after year.

1. Gather your materials. You will need a paper plate per child, corks ( do you know how long it took us to save up these corks? Since 2006 I have been almost always pregnant or nursing. It took a long time… ), paint, a plate or two for the paint, some ribbon , scissors and hot glue.
2. Start by cutting the middle out of the plate. If we were painting with brushes or something that offered more coverage I’d do the cutting after the paint dried but with corks you want to make sure they hit the wreath and not all in the middle of the plate.
3. Add paint to a plate.  I put a different cork in each color to encourage my kids to try each color. Also the corks I used for my daughter who is presently trying to put all things not bolted down into her mouth , are the solid plastic? ones.  I did a bite test and they were solid. Still PLEASE watch vigilantly and make sure your children are ready and able to do the craft safely, you can always opt for finger painting .
4. Paint!
5. She was more interested in the feeling of the paint than banging the corks on her wreath. This is normal for toddlers, they are exploring and it doesn’t mean the craft failed.
6. My son quite liked the marks the corks left and had a ball. 
7. After they were dried I made bows and hot glued them on, then put them on my doors with painter’s tape.

Easy Peasy Wreath Cookies

Check out these cheater cookies we made when we needed something fast for a holiday pot luck, they were tasty and super easy for my son to help me make.

I don’t often have time to craft on my own but when I saw these net bath bands at the dollar store I knew they would make a totally cute Halloween wreath for my porch. When I saw the flower hair elastics I was giddy with anticipation.  After the wreath was done  and I’d only burned one finger I was so pleased with how it looked so even though it’s not the regular post , I hope it’s still useful!

1. Gather your materials. You will need 3 orange net bath bands, a 13′ willow wreath , 3 flower hair elastics , scissors and hot glue.
2. Cut the ties off.
3. Glue the bath bands to the wreath , be careful the ruffles are mesh so the hot glue can seep through and scortch you. I of course learned the hard way. Also don’t worry about it if things aren’t even at first, go back over and glue those spots down.
4. Cut the elastics from the flowers.
5. Glue on.
6. Hang up to add a girly touch to your spooky porch.

Not bad for $7 !

Want to make a Halloween wreath with your kids? Check out this one we made last Halloween.

We made this apple wreath weeks ago but wanted to wait until people were settled in the school year and the leaves turned a little more before posting. Originally I planned this as a garland ( which is why there is no paper plate in the materials picture) but decided that a wreath would be nicer and my son could do more of the steps with me if it was a wreath.  So grab an apple, some paint and make this fall decoration for your house today.

1. Gather your materials. You will need an apple, a plate, some red and green paint, knife,  craft paper , painters tape, scissors, glue and a paper plate.
2. Before inviting your child to come paint cut a large piece of craft paper off a roll ( find them for cheap at walmart – in the office supply section) and tape it to your work surface with painters tape. 
3. Pour some red paint into the plate.
4. Cut your apple lengthwise.
5. Start printing! If you have never done this with your child show them how to make a print by stamping and removing. If they just want to smear it that is fine too – you can just cut the smears into apple shapes if you want to make the wreath or just let them explore. My son did a little of both.
6. Next dip your child’s thumb or finger into the green paint to make stems.
7. Let dry.
8. Cut the apples out.
9. Cut the middle of the paper plate out.
10. Add glue to the ring of plate. Did you notice the new PJs? It’s the next day, when the apples dried my son was not interested in finishing the craft, so we waited until the next day. Don’t force them to finish ( I am preaching to myself here too    ) keep it casual and fun.
11. Add the apples!

Apple Picking!

I have more than a few apple picking field trips under my belt and you can too with  this website that lists a wide range of pick your own farms in the US and around the globe.

www.pickyourown.org