You can sculpt with them, pose them on any surface, and they’re re-usable, so when you’re done just unstick and unbend them and put them away for next time.
How-to: Bendy Yarn from Natural Ingredients Read More 👉
Got broken crayon bits, but the last thing that you need is to make MORE crayons with them?
Spotted: Crayon Wands Read More 👉
You’ve got some scrap wood in your garage, yeah?
Hand that wood over to the kids, because they’ve got a stomp catapult to build!
Kid-Built Scrap Wood Stomp Catapult Read More 👉
Vintage sheets are my favorite fabric to sew. You can get them on the cheap, they’re super soft after having been washed a billion times, and the novelty prints immediately whisk me back to my own childhood and all the pop culture stuff that I was into that’s still really cool now (says I!).
Pajamas from a Vintage Sheet: The Dr. Seuss Project Read More 👉
Big kids can be harder to sew for.
30 Free Clothing Patterns and Tutorials for Big Kids Read More 👉
If you’d like a lovely outdoor space to relax in, or to let your kids play in, all summer and beyond, check out this scrap fabric teepee from Twig and Toadstool.
Spotted: Scrap Fabric Teepee from Twig and Toadstool Read More 👉
I don’t know where our lunch bags go. Do you?
DIY Re-usable Lunch Bags from Makery, by Kate Smith Read More 👉
Does flame retardant bother you, too? If so, what do you do about your kids’ pajamas?
Spotted: Summer Pajamas from The Mother Huddle Read More 👉
Save your broken crayons, and use them to make fun, new recycled crayons that will thrill the kids.
How-to: Make Recycled Crayons Read More 👉
Need to get healthy food into a kid? Sometimes you have to get creative!
Spotted: Healthy Food Art from Meet the Dubiens Read More 👉
Wondering what to do with your honey bear bottles after all the honey’s been squeezed out?
Spotted: Honey Bear Paint Bottles Read More 👉
Got a kid who’s learning her multiplication facts?
Forget the flash cards! Instead, build this cool math game to play with your kids.
Cool Math Games: DIY Multiplication Touch Read More 👉
Prom dresses are some of my favorite articles of clothing to upcycle. Thrifted, that fancy fabric is cheaper by the yardage than purchased new, and they always include gorgeous embellishments and perfect hardware that careful cutting can preserve.
Clothing Refashion: Prom Dress Pants Read More 👉
Tired of your boring old clothes?
Turn them into new clothes!
38 Clothing Refashion Tutorials to Upcycle Your Wardrobe Read More 👉
Winning is fun.
Make it even more fun by adding swag!
Tutorial + How-to: DIY Award Ribbons Read More 👉
Hole in your pants?
You can fix that.
Clothing + Fashion: The 14 Best Ways to Patch Jeans Read More 👉
Your kid’s vintage wooden sled is way more awesome than those new-fangled plastic ones.
Tutorial + How-to: Clean and Polish the Metal Sled Runners on a Vintage Wooden Sled Read More 👉
You don’t want to forget all the wonderful memories that you made on your vacation, do you?
Tutorial + How-to: Brown Paper Bag Travel Journal Read More 👉
What else can your kid do with her old, outgrown building blocks?
She can draw with them!
DIY Natural Toys: Art Dice from Building Blocks Read More 👉
My kiddo used to be over her building blocks. Whereas she once spent hours building entire wooden cities, she’s into superheroes now. So I made these outdated toys brand-new again, kicked her building block play back into high gear, and totally thrilled the socks off of her just by decoupaging comic book images onto some of her blocks.
Crafts for Kids: Decoupaged Building Blocks Read More 👉
Your favorite wizard in training needs a hat, and it’s up to you, their favorite Muggle, to help them make one!
Holiday Crafts: Make a Harry Potter Wizard Hat Read More 👉
Want an eco-friendly Halloween? This is the place to be, and now is the time to start!
Check out these green Halloween projects, all of which are made using recycled materials. Whether you’re looking for costumes or decorations, we’ve got you covered.
Holiday Crafts: Halloween Crafts Made from Recycled Materials Read More 👉
Want to get a kid excited about math?
Play math games! Kids LOVE games and puzzles, and they’re great for cementing sophisticated concepts in growing little brains.
You can buy some pretty cool math games, sure, but as with nearly anything else, some of the best and simplest games are handmade. Here I’m going to show you how to build the upcycled cardboard number tiles that my kiddos and I use in tons of fun math games.
Back to School Ideas: Make Cardboard Number Tiles for Kids’ Math Games Read More 👉
Before you take the scissors to that pile of screen-printed jersey knit, check out this master list of T-shirt crafts that you can wear–there are T-shirt mods for your top, T-shirt mods for your bottom (ahem…), T-shirt mods for kids, but all of it is just the way that T-shirts are meant to be.
Wearable.
How do I Re-use T-shirts: T-shirt Crafts that You Can Wear Read More 👉
Got some yarn leftover after your last knitting project?
Wondering if you should stuff it back in your stash for perhaps forever? Pass it on? Trash it?
Instead, how about you thrill your favorite little kid by using that stash to knit him or her the most awesome, clever, modern doll outfits ever?
Crafty Book Review: Knits for Dolls, by Nicky Epstein Read More 👉
Yes, you can buy bubble solution anywhere. Yes, it’s super cheap.
No, you don’t really know what’s in it.
Want to host an EPIC treasure hunt at your kiddo’s next birthday party? Do not waste your money on cheap plastic or nasty chocolate-filled gold coins; you’re just spending money on trash–literally, in fact, because you know the party kids’ parents are going to throw that junk out the second their kid goes to bed that night.
Instead, wow your kid’s friends with giant hunks of real gold treasure to hunt. The kids will love them, because they look way more awesome and like real loot than anything you can find in a big box party store. And if the kids do eventually get tired of playing with their gold nuggets, their parents can simply add them to their flower garden as decoration.
Because this gold treasure? It’s river rocks, y’all, painted gold.
Got a kid’s pedal bike? Need a kid’s balance bike? Here’s how to convert a pedal bicycle into a balance bike.
How-to: DIY Balance Bike from a Kid’s Pedal Bike Read More 👉
Knowing how to sew means that you don’t have to make do with something that doesn’t fit and is uncomfortable to wear. Here are the easy ways to fix the three most common areas of ill-fitting kid uniforms–and one of them doesn’t even REQUIRE sewing!
How-to: Alter a Kid’s Sports Uniform So That it Actually Fits Read More 👉
Want to throw a party for a kid and NOT serve a bunch of crap to eat?
That was my challenge for my kiddo’s recent dinosaur-themed seventh birthday party. No potato chip “dinosaur scales,” no jelly bean “dinosaur eggs,” no dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets or snack crackers or grocery store cookies.
It may take a little imagination to see the dinosaur in these healthy fruit and cheese dinosaurs, but kids have a ton of imagination. They also have a love of fun food, and, yep, a love of wholesome apples, grapes, and cheese.
Our version of Cool Water from Sew Pretty: T-Shirt Dresses is entitled Willow’s Rock Star Dress, and has pink skulls, glow-in-the-dark bats, orange flames, and a guitar player wearing a sparkly silver tutu and crown.
These toy charms can be worn on a necklace or bracelet, one at a time or in a whole herd. They make fine jewelry on their own, but the secret trick to these little charms is the latch that allows you to release them from their jewelry status. In the blink of an eye, you’ve gone from having a necklace full of toy dinosaurs to a handful of toy dinosaurs, ready to make standing in line at the grocery store SO much more bearable.
Here’s how to make your own.
How-to: Upcycled Toy Charm Necklaces–They’re Toys You Can Wear! Read More 👉
Directional fabrics, including children’s novelty sheets, require a slightly different, and only a little more complicated, method to sew a circle skirt with nothing upside-down.
Here’s how to make your kid a circle skirt where Charlie Brown ALWAYS faces the right way.
How to Sew a Circle Skirt from a Kid’s Bed Sheet (or other Directional Fabric) Read More 👉
I have quite a collection of embroidery hoops, and I’ve done projects like Embroidery Hoop Easter Eggs and Embroidery Hoop Pumpkins. Even so, I bought more embroidery hoops at a garage sale in order to make colorful wall art pieces for my craft booth. Here’s the first one that I came up with!
Upcycle an Embroidery Hoop into Colorful Wall Art! Read More 👉
Isn’t it hard to part with the beautiful Christmas cards that you receive from family and friends? Last year I made a New Years banner from Christmas cards and Becky has shared Seven Ways to Recycle Greeting Cards, but here are 5 more ways you can recycle all of those gorgeous cards!
