Projects

This Old House's tutorial for making a play fort is beyond awesome and so doable (even for us hammer & nail challenged). A few measurements, a couple simple cuts and a screw here and there and you got yourself a fort built for (mini) royalty. The darn fort even has a seat AND a peep hole that latches! Um, yeah that's cool!

This Old House:

We had a basic, basic plastic container worm bin about four years ago, which didn't yield a substantial amount of rich humus. However, maintaining the box proved to be fruitful in an entirely different way. Our young son (4 at the time) was totally mesmerized by the bin and its squirmy occupants which opened up several discussions on worms, recycling and taking care of living things. Who knew a silly little bin would hold so many teachable moments? I was crushed when we no longer were able to maintain it due to a home remodel (RIP worms).

Pesach is here! Rich in Jewish tradition and storytelling, we dig it and my kids can't get enough of Moses, especially the part about the Red Sea. Yeah, that's pretty awesome!

Every year my kids seem to receive a nice supply of Valentine's chocolates from their adoring grandparents. And each year I feel kind of sad (and guilty) tossing the cool heart-shaped boxes all that tasty candy comes in. This year I'm determined that we're going to craft a few things from the boxes. One of which will be this cute Candy Box Photo Frame tutorial posted on the Kodak site.

Lee of Craftstylish has a fantastically simple how-to for making a kitty hat "(for humans)". I'm in love with how one ugly, old sweater can be transformed in a cute kitty hat.

Family walks are a whole new level of special when Autumn rolls in to show off it's beauty. And my kids (expert leaf hunters) make sure we arrive home with a baker's dozen worth of fresh leaves on each and every outing. We count them, make crayon rubbings of them, craft crowns, masks and fans out of them. Then, they dry up and become a crunchy mess all over my floor. It's kinda sad to see their demise. Wouldn't it be nice to enjoy their beauty the entire season and beyond?

With a freshly-minted middle schooler and kindergartener at home the days are now numbered for our well-loved (worn out) board books. And although we're sure to find good homes for many of our cherished page-turners there are a few in our collection that just won't make the cut.

Time to start filling the ol' summer bag of tricks with a few good ideas (that is if you treasure your sanity). Here's a cool project for making a CD case fimo labyrinth contributed by Teri of Giddy Giddy on Bloesem Kids. It's the perfect go-to summer project when things get hairy with the kids.

I admit our home is overrun with small plastic toys...Boo, hiss!...I KNOW plastic...Don't judge! Despite our best attempts to provide eco-friendly playthings for our kids these bright colored pieces of death are the most popular toys in our home providing hours of imaginative play. However, that doesn't solve/rationalize the unequal toy-to-kid ratio of our already spaced challenged living space.

This tutorial by Christy of From Glitter to Gumdrops for lemonade hand scrub just seems like to perfect starting point into the world of bath goodies. I love, love, love this idea so much and think it would be super-easy to make with the kids! I love how Christy uses recycled jars and tools she has on hand to craft the scrub, proving that it is indeed a truly accessible/thrifty project.