The Emperor's New Clothes Craft

As mentioned in my last post, I am in charge of "Fairy Tale Friday" in my son's first grade class today. For this activity, I was told to choose a fairy tale to read to the class, then come up with a craft project for the kids to do to help them re-tell the story. Here is what I came up with:

I found a basic boy paper doll template online through a Google search. I printed him out the size I wanted, placed a sheet of tracing paper on top, and traced around where his shirt and pants would go. I scanned the tracing and printed many copies (enough for each kid in the class to have 2) on card stock. After cutting out all the paper clothes, I gave my fingers a rest for a while.

Then, I started cutting clothing shapes out of fabric scraps. I used every type and print of fabric I had on hand so that the kids would have plenty of variety. I traced shirts and pants, then cut them in half so the kids can mix-and-match their patterns. Then, my prep work was done!

For the actual craft, the kids will be able to choose their fabrics to create outfits for the Emperor. This is why I used card stock clothing as well, so the Emperor can have a change of clothes. The kids will glue the fabric onto the card stock shapes so that as they re-tell the story, they can change the Emperor's clothes (or leave them off as the story requires).

You could also use clear plastic to create an "invisible" outfit, but I didn't have any on hand, so I skipped that part.

{Linked on Happy and Blessed Home, Truly Lovely Blog, Sincerely Paula, The Jenny Evolution, Love Bakes Good Cakes, One Project Closer}

5 Great Kid-Made Father's Day Gifts

Father's Day is just around the corner and if you're like me, you've given it very little thought. It's not that I don't love my husband or appreciate his efforts as a father. It's just that I'm busy. And forgetful. And already have a lot of unfinished projects in my closet.

Of course, Father's Day isn't about celebrating my husband... it's about my kids celebrating their dad... right? So this round-up came to be in an effort to find ideas of things that my kids (or yours) can do for their dad to make the day special. Enjoy (and click the images to go to the source)!

A Book About Dad

My son wrote a book about me for Mother's Day and I absolutely love it. There is no better way to capture the stage of life that your kid is in at this moment than to let them write and draw about you (or your spouse).

A Book About Dad from The Measured Mom

Daddy's Coupon Book

Everyone likes having nice things done for them, and having your kids make a coupon book for their dad is a great way to encourage gifts of service within the family. Better yet, this one is printable, so just print, staple, and give!

Printable Coupon Book from Seven Thirty Three

Lego Cufflinks

These look like an easy DIY that older kids could do. And these are totally better than normal boring cufflinks.

Lego Cufflinks from Dream A Little Bigger

Magnetic Photo Frames

Kids love painting and gluing, so this project could work for preschoolers as well as older kids. You could also change them up a bit to be desktop frames for Dad to take to work.

Magnetic Photo Frames from Titi Crafty

Printable Tie Bunting

For the kid who loves to cut paper, print out this great decoration and let them do all the cutting! Dad will appreciate it even more if it's not perfectly done.

Printable Tie Bunting from Amanda's Parties To Go

{Linked on I Gotta Create, Willamette Valley Wonder Woman, Rhinestone Beagle}

Simple Preschool Name Magnets

At my church, I help out with the 2-year old kids. As you can imagine, this can get a little crazy. We have a great organization and stick to a tight schedule so that the kids (and adults) can make it through two hours incident free.

This project came about to serve several purposes. First, these name magnets help the adults know which kids are there each Sunday and remember their names. Second, the magnets hold the childrens' coloring pages until they go home. And third, they help jazz up an otherwise boring and generic classroom.

The great thing is that this project is one that even slightly older kids could do themselves! Here is a simple tutorial:

For the project, all you need is craft foam (from the dollar store), school glue, scissors, and a pen or marker.

Decide what shapes you want on your magnet and cut them out. I decided to do an animal that corresponds with each letters (as in J for jackrabbit). For some of the more complicated animals, I found a simple online tutorial to help me draw a recognizable animal.

Then, paste your shapes onto the background. School glue will adhere well once it dries. While it is wet, the foam is extremely slippery! So try to position everything and then leave it alone until it dries.

Then I colored the outside edge of the shapes (and the details on the animal) with a marker to make them stand out and wrote the child's name on the background. Attach a magnet to the back and you're done!

{Linked on Embracing Change, Sensational Creations, Live Laugh Rowe, I Gotta Create, 7Alive, 52 Mantels, The 36th Avenue, Joyful Homemaking, The Crafty Blog Stalker}