Fun memory #16: Dying brown chicken eggs

Just included this to show how nicely brown eggs can turn out when dyed. I thought it would be no use, but a friend here told me that you could dye brown eggs and that they just turned out to have a richer, warmer color. So, the next year we tried it, and I thought they turned out really pretty! The dye kit came from the states (keep it in your freezer). I just assumed that since we did not have white chicken eggs, it would not work, but I was wrong. So here's a sample for those of you who are considering dying brown eggs for next year and haven't done it before. This year we incorporated these into an Easter program, and the local kids who found these enjoyed them MUCH more than the plastic ones I had brought from the states and filled with candy.

Craft project #25: Card stock cats

These cats were super easy, cheap, and became a fun toy for E Ann that she played with for days. You just need scissors, glue, card stock, and crayons. Take a rectangular sheet of card stock and cut a square out of it. Fold the square in half and cut a semi-circle as you see here. This will be the cat's legs and body. Stand the "legs and body" up like you might a greeting card. Cut a slit in the front of the "body" where you can later insert the head. Cut a circle of the remaining card stock and cut this out for the head. Cut out tiny ears and a tail. Decorate the face and body with crayons. Attach ears to head and tail to body. Slip the head in the slit you cut for the body, and you're done. It was important to E Ann to also have kittens, and having those made the cats a family, and I think that's one of the reasons she played with them for so long.

Craft project #24: Paper plates parrot

I actually found templates for the parrot's appendages in a scissors crafts handbook, but I think you could easily freehand templates based on the image you see here. Just use colored paper to make a wing, feet, tail, googly eyes, and a beak. The message he carries is based on a selection from our Book. I let the girls paint the two paper plates with water colors. Then we stapled the plates together and pasted and taped the parts on the birds. This is also a pretty simple craft, but one I get lots of comments on from locals, so I think it could be a fun craft for a SS program.

Craft project #23: Thumprint mouse bookmark

This project idea came from some old copies from an old craft book that someone left here. It was very simple, but E Ann enjoyed it very much. All you need is two colors of paper, ink pads, and markers. We can get ink pads in our country at an office supply store. But I actually had on hand some ink pads that are kid-safe from Hobby Lobby. These come in a variety of colors, and I highly recommend them...watch for Hobby Lobby's sales on stamping supplies. We used thumbprints for the mice bodies and decorated eyes, noses, ears, whiskers, and tails on with markers. We glued the picture on another contrasting sheet of colored paper. It meant a lot to E Ann to make some of the mice smaller so they could be a family. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much delight a craft as simple as this could bring to E Ann. Bookmarks are always in need around our house, also, to use as markers for our nighttime devotional books, so having a new bookmark can be really special for your devotions or for library books which need special care.

Craft project #22: Button jewelry

We made these necklaces and bracelets with simple embroidery floss and buttons from the market next door. We also used a needle to thread the buttons on. I actually had to hold the needle; Maggie just picked the buttons and was the designer of the necklace. We found that if you thread the thread through all four holes of a four-holed button, the buttons will stay in place better. You can alternate four-holed buttons with two-holed buttons to help them stay in place better, also. Maggie also made her Pepaw a key chain in this style by forming a loop of buttons and attaching it to a metal ring.
Careful with these...they tangle easily. :) Maggie had fun with it, though.

Craft project #21: princess crowns

This project was a pretty simple one we did for Maggie's fourth birthday party, which was a princess party. Materials you'll need:
Posterboard
Rhinestone gems/sequins
School glue
Stapler/staples
Lengths of ribbon, ric rac, or sequin tape for embellishment
I used a simple crown template I found on-line. I was able to get posterboard downtown on our "paper street" in a variety of colors, but chose pink and yellow since we'd have boys and girls at the party. Sequins and gems were very cheap and easy to find in the sewing section of our market. I just divided sequins and gems into bowls, set them on tables, and let the kids pick what embellishments they'd like and glue them on their crowns. They had the choice of adding ric-rac or sequin tape to the bottom of their crowns. We then just stapled strips of left over cardboard to either side of the crown (maybe 8 in. by 1 in. strips) then custom fit them in the back, stapling the strips together to fit on the kids' heads.

Fun memory #15: Nectar drinking relay

This was a fun game inspired by an internet search for Butterfly-related party games. I loved this one because it was cheap, simple, and required supplies easily found where we live. The idea of the game is that the kids are pretending to be butterflies and competing to see who can drink his "nectar" the fastest. The "nectar" was actually kool-aid. We lined the kids up behind the starting line, which was a piece of tape on the ground. Each kid had to put a straw in his mouth and run to the short table with his hand behind his back. On top of the short table were three small cups of kool-aid. The kids then had to drink the kool-aid through the straws, keeping their hands behind their backs the entire time. The idea was to drink just like a butterfly would. This was a really fun game, because although a butterfly-themed party can seem maybe kind of "girlie," this game had a competitive edge that was also a lot of fun for the boys.

Craft project #20: Pom pom critters

The idea for these came from a little craft book Maggie got in BKK. The pom poms had to be brought in from another country, but could be found in SE Asia, so you may have luck finding them in your country. Also got the googly eyes from Thailand. We actually have a bookstore that now carries packs of fun foam. Fun foam was used for the base. Just kind of worked with Maggie to make the shapes she wanted. Then, she picked the pom poms she wanted and stuck those along with googly eyes and short lengths of pipe cleaner (pipe cleaners also brought from America). So, this is not a craft you might be able to make exactly from what you would have in country, but maybe gives some ideas of some fun things to bring in with you after your next trip out. They were also very popular toys to play with until they fell apart.
Materials you'll need to bring in (probably): Fun foam, pompoms of various colors, googly eyes, pipe cleaners. We just used white school glue to stick them together.

Craft project #18: Framed art

We have found that art work becomes a little sturdier, prettier, and easier to save when it has a frame. Usually the art's frame is just a piece of card stock or colored paper cut to match the shape of the original artwork. This really livens up Maggie's projects like drawings or water colors, and makes them prettier when they are stuck on the wall...also makes them easier to display without their falling apart.

Craft project #17: Found art

Maggie's idea for this project all came from a flag toothpick from one of my deli sandwiches we love to eat while we are in Thailand. She thought, "That looks like a flag an astronaut might put on the moon." So, she drew her whole outer space scene with crayons in, and then taped her flag on the picture. Thought this was cute, and this could be adapted for all kinds of found objects around the house, like a candy wrapper, piece of a pretty napkin, etc.

Craft project #16: Cut-out shapes collage pictures

Maggie started here with a blank piece of paper and water-color painted it full of lady bugs. You could pick your own theme, like dinosaurs, jungle animals, underwater animals, etc. Then, she cut out all of her lady bug shapes. After that, she took a piece of blue paper for the sky, and cut out grass for the bottom, and decorated the sky with makers and crayons. Then, she glued the lady bug shapes back on where she wanted. This was fun and gave her a chance to use several mediums in one project, and do something different with her watercolors than a simple picture.

Craft project #15: Blotted butterlfies

For this project, we cut out simple shapes of butterflies by folding a piece of paper in half, cutting out half the butterfly shape on the fold, and then unfolding the shape so both sides of the butterfly were identical. Then, Maggie painted one side of the butterfly (generously). She then pressed the sides together, so the paint from one side blotted onto the other. Pull the wings back apart quickly or they will stick together. Set the butterflies out, opened, to dry. We decorated the walls of our temporary apartment (with masking tape which peels off w/no damage) while waiting for Josie to be born.
(You may need to fill in the design with a little paint for bold, bright colors).

Craft project #14: Fun with letters

Have your child draw (or draw for them) a letter of her choice or her initial in a silly shape. Hand her a pack of markers and tell her to decorate the inside of the letter in a rainbow of colors. Maggie chose to decorate the rest of the page with stamper markers (very cheap and can be found at Tesco Lotus in Thailand). This project could be even more fun if you used scraps of corrugated cardboard, decorated them, and made a frame.

Craft project #13: Paint a princess

For this craft, I just free-handed a princess outline (VERY SIMPLE shape...nothing complicated!) and had the girls paint them in (instead of telling them to just go paint something :)). They loved decorating the princesses. I think this could work well for seasonal crafts, like decorating a Christmas tree or present shape, or would also work for another simple shape like a birthday cake or ice cream cone.

Craft project #12: Button collages

This was a really fun project for the girls that can be very budget friendly. I've seen buttons in almost every market around our town in the sewing sections...and buttons cost pennies. You can give your little artists an idea for a button design or let them have fun on their own. Maggie (6) was able to do this independently with her own design and idea; E Ann (3) needed some guidance but loved the interaction as we placed all the buttons on her page together. Use sturdy card stock as your back drop so it will hold up better after the buttons dry.

Fun memory #9: Fancy dinner

"Fancy" dinners originally came about because we saw the need to work on table manners with our girls. :) So we decided to encourage good table manners by offering the reward of a "fancy dinner" where they could eat fancy food, wear fancy clothes, and behave in a way that is "fancy." At fancy dinner time, we also talk about using silverware, chewing with our mouths closed, how to use napkins, how to talk to a waiter, how to talk/behave in restaurants (not loudly:)), etc. The girls get to put together outfits that they choose for themselves. They have really enjoyed it, and I hope they have learned a few table manners in the process.

Fun memory #8: Washing time

At the very least, cheap, local-style riding toys have been available in every country I have visited in SE Asia. On a slow weekend day, when we have time, it has been so much fun for the girls to drag out their riding toys (and we have a couple of really fun ones from Memaw and Pepaw in America) and wash them. This also applies to the play dishes from tea party sets. A tub of water, soapy sponges, and brushes, can provide entertainment for quite some time.

Craft project #11: Rejoice praise pipes

This little project was a lot more fun for the kids than I had anticipated. It looks very simple, but the kids really enjoyed this. All it took was:
straws (cut into lengths of 1", 2", 3", 4", and 5")
tape
A little card stock
markers
I cut the lengths of card stock into strips of about 81/2 inches by 1 inch. Then, we taped the straws on in graduated lengths. Then just tape a decorated, matching length of card stock on top. When you blow into this "praise pipe," it does not create a musical sound. But our kids had fun pretending with them, much like you would play with a kazoo. We wrote "REJOICE" on top to match our verse of the week, but older kids could do more with decorating these.