Summer is in high gear and the kids have been out of school for over a month, but in our house not much has changed. The kids still go to bed by 8:30 and we still wake up early to go to summer camp while mom and dad work. So how do you make summer a little extra special and make sure you spend quality time with the kids?. Well, in our house its pool time and crafting after work. With the extra time of not having to do homework our kitchen table transforms from math worksheets to pipe cleaners and glue. I have to admit though, we have been spoiled by the internet and until just a couple weeks ago had gotten lots of our crafting ideas off the internet. Pinterest is pretty addictive and you can find a craft for everything.
So to add to our summer excitement I challenged my two girls to put away youtube and pinterest and start creating from the supplies we had at home. As a result the girls came up with lots of crazy, fun, creative stuff. From duct tape tissue cases to cardboard amusement parks for the beanie babies.
This weeks challenge was to create a craft for the 4th of July and since our subdivision hosts a bike parade where kids get to decorate their bikes and themselves we decided to create something to wear during the parade. Our result was a silly 4th of july crown.
Supplies needed:
Pipe cleaners- we used red, white and blue
Pencil
Construction paper
Glue
We combined two pipe cleaners together to make a circle that fit on our heads like a crown, we added a second color and twisted it around to create a thicker, two-toned crown. Then, we made “fireworks” out of more pipe cleaners. Take a pencil and wrap the pipe cleaner around to create a spiral and then wrap them on the crown. You can do as many or as few as you’d like. My oldest daughter decided to glue stars we had leftover from another project to the tips of some of the pipe cleaners. My youngest and I found it a bit frustrating to wait for them to dry. I decided to add construction paper strips to mine in between the pipe cleaners, for an added level of silly.
Take the time to use what you have and create your own crowns. We can’t wait to show them off during the parade. Tomorrow we start decorating our bikes. Happy 4th of July.
Growing Into the World 