With the school year is coming to an end, my kids are coming home with backpacks full of papers, projects and school supplies as they clean out their desks and lockers. My son brought home this ceramic whistle that he made in his art class and surprisingly enough, I knew immediately what it is. It helps that I know my son and his interests because without that insight, I'm pretty sure I would have no idea what this is supposed to be! Can you tell what this odd shape is? No? W

Last Friday was my final craft day in my daughter's 4th grade class. Because it was a couple of days before Mother's Day, we made cards and candy bar wrappers as a gift for mom. Some of the kids really got into the project, putting great thought and effort into their words and their designs. Other kids hurried through the project and did as little as possible. Regardless of how much or how little effort was put forth by each child, I hope that mom enjoyed the gift. The collag

Mother's Day is just around the corner and here is a project that is fun to make and so easy to do that dad and the kids, an older sibling and the younger kids, or anyone responsible enough to handle a hot glue gun safely, can make for mom. Gather your supplies and let's get started! Tissue Paper Corsage Supplies Hot Glue Gun 4"x4" Square of Yellow Tissue Paper 1-2 5" Wide Strips of Purple Tissue Paper, Folded Into 1/3rds 2 1/2" Circle (cut from purple cardstock) 12" Length o

My daughter's Jr. High School English teacher gave out a unique assignment. The kids were to work on any project that interested them over the course of a couple of months and at the end (a couple of weeks away), they will write a paper about their experiences and the things they learned. My daughter decided that she wanted to work on cooking, baking and building a recipe collection. I wholeheartedly supported this project as I envisioned reaping the rewards of her efforts! I

I was in my daughter's 4th grade class the other day, leading the kids in another art project. This month, in honor of spring, we made tree trunks by tracing the kids' hands onto brown construction paper, cutting them out and gluing them to a sheet of blue construction paper. They then added blossoms to the branches of the tree by dipping Q-Tips in paint and applying the paint either in dots or strokes. The kids used markers, crayons or colored pencils to add other artistic d

My youngest son took a Junior High School woodworking class. He enjoyed all of the projects that he made but one project in particular had him extra excited. He would come home from school and tell me about a Dr. Who pen holder that he was making as a birthday present for a friend who was a fellow Dr. Who fan. I could never quite picture what he was talking about when he tried to describe the pen holder so I was pretty excited myself when he finally brought it home. And then

Today was my second craft day with my daughter's 4th grade class. I had one hour and I thought that would be plenty of time for this gratitude wreath because I had everything prepped and ready to go. I had a pattern traced onto a paper plate that they could cut out to form the base of the wreath. I created templates with my Cricut that the kids could use to trace various leaf and acorn shapes onto the 4" x 4" squares of cardstock that were precut and sorted so that each child

A couple of weeks ago, I did a paper crafting post about Monster Corner Bookmarks. I mentioned that they were fun and easy to make and that maybe I would teach my daughter's 4th grade class how to make them. Well, today I did just that. In less than 30 minutes and with nothing more than colored paper, scissors, glue sticks and markers, 32 students plus my dauther, the teacher, made these cute and unique bookmarks. I was impressed with the creativity of each and every student!

My daughter took a ceramics class in 7th grade and one of her assignments was to create a whistle that looks like another item. She chose to make her whistle look like an old Polaroid camera. These cameras were quite popular when I was young so I recognized it right away but many of her classmates had no idea what she had created. A cross between a digital camera and a hammerhead shark with a top hat? Haha! It does look a bit like that but I think that she did a great job esp

My 12 year old son takes karate so I thought that he would enjoy making this paper ninja star. I was right! He was completely engaged throughout the entire process and he was thrilled with the end product! The star itself is pretty cool but the fact that it slides open and closed makes it even cooler! If you want to try your hand at making this paper ninja star, continue reading for a step-by-step tutorial, complete with pictures. Good luck and I hope you have as much fun as