Kids craft ideas

My kids love doing art, so it's something I try to do with them as much as possible, but I'm always in need of more ideas. I found this website and I absolutely love the ideas! You can search for craft ideas by age or theme. There is a list of recommended books for some of the craft ideas, so you can read a great book with your little one and then do a craft that goes along with it. The website is http://www.firstpalette.com/home.html. Enjoy!

Toy Bin Labels

I've been wanting to make these for a while now. I hate just throwing my kids' toys together in one big box because they just play with the same ones over and over unless I introduce new toys to them. I found that if I group the toys by a theme (i.e. animals, transportation, music, etc), it is much easier for me to just get those toys out for them to play with. Then when they are bored, we clean up those toys and switch them out for another group. But, I wanted to make cute labels for them. I want to do a red, white, and light blue theme for their room, so I opened up my Photoshop program and made some coordinating labels. I set the size to 4"x6" at 300 dpi. After printing them out on regular white computer paper (the toy bins are also white...if they weren't, I would have used card stock to make them opaque), I cut them out and taped them to the bins with clear packing tape over the labels. I am actually going to redo these using clear contact paper instead because the packing tape left ridges on the surface, but other than that, they are just how I wanted them to be!

Nicholas wanted to model the effectiveness of the bins. He is showing off his "transportation" toys!

Easy, Easy Kitchen Curtains

I love that kitchen curtains don't have to be too fancy. When I'm in my kitchen, I want to be able to see out the window as I'm cooking, doing the dishes, or whatever. But, I also like a little privacy.

(This is the best before picture I have of this window.)

I was reading up on different window treatments when I discovered this idea and adapted it to my situation. I just bought some tension curtain rods and some cafe rod clips, though regular drapery clips would work, too. Then I took some cloth napkins that we got for our wedding (and never use) and clipped those on to the hooks to use as my curtains. We're going for a blue and white kitchen, so I think these work beautifully!

Other variations on this idea are using bandanas or tea towels. I think each window (I have two of them in the kitchen) cost about $6.00 each because I already had the cloth napkins.