Kids Crafts
Even Afterschool Learning Can Be Fun
By Lissa Ballard
Sep 12, 2004, 10:50

Art is a great way to get your child to open up and "discuss" what things he or she may like, dislike or be stressing over about school.  School is fun, exciting, social and stressful.  Take some time to enjoy playing with your children.  It's a great stress reliever for them and for you and creates a great bond and opportunity for sharing feelings.  Play Ring Around the Rosey, London Bridge, skip rope, Tag, Freeze tag or Statue, Scavenger Hunt or our favorite (since running is just totally out of the question lol), Hide and Go Seek. 

And by the way, kids have no idea they are learning doing these things by the way - teaching the rhymes teaches rhyming, listening skills and following directions, where Hide and Go Seek teaches counting, listening skills and deductive reasoning not to mention learning where to find the best hiding places around your home!

Here are some other rainy day activities and homebound activities you can enjoy with your kids that can teach some of these same skills and more - without letting your child know he or she is learning anything at all!

Why not paint a picture with homemade finger paint?  You can make the paint on Friday and have a great time Saturday painting!
Many thanks to Bonnie Thomas (our own Petsmom) for this recipe!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups water
dry tempera paint
butcher paper or other thick paper

Instructions:
1. Put all ingredients into a saucepan and stir until mixed well.
2.  Boil until mixture thickens.
3.  Allow paint to cool, then pour in a sealable container.

Enjoy getting down and dirty with your kids making great finger painting pictures.  (Don't forget the smocks for the clothes and the

newspapers on the floor!)

Thanks to www.kinderart.com for a great recipe for Homemade Clay.  This is another great way to get your little ones invovled and helps build fine motor skills.  Get in there and make zoo animals, food, family members, school supplies and other fun things.  They can be baked to give as gifts or smashed and played with all over again.  Don't forget those middle school and high school activities and projects that will require relief maps, volcanoes and color coded maps.  They're not just for salt dough!  Try making them out of clay!

HOMEMADE CLAY
What you Need:

1 cup salt
2 cups of flour
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup water
food coloring

What you Do:
Mix the flour and the salt in a bowl.
Add water, oil and food coloring.
Try to make red, yellow and blue clay so the children can mix the colors by mixing the clay.  If it is too sticky, add more flour. If it is too dry, add more water.  Store in a plastic container or bag in a cool place (fridge is good).
This fun dough will last quite a while and is a joy for kids to play with and explore.

Here are some other sites where you can find terrific fun to enjoy with your children.  (Better still, have your children search some family friendly sites for some more favorite activities they might enjoy doing with you.  Have them write down some of their choices on slips of paper, put them in a bucket and let them choose from the bucket for a family fun night!  One slip per week.  Once the choice has been "used" put it in a baggie to save.  Once all the slips have been chosen, you can either put them all back into the bucket, or go through them to decide which would be fun to do again, then have them search on line again for more fun!  You'll be surprised at how computer saavy your school aged kids really are!)

http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/backtoschool_craft_sf/
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/school/
  (this one has great crafts for older kids too - decorate their lockers with some great magnet ideas!)
http://www.squiglysplayhouse.com/ArtsAndCrafts/index.html
  (be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for some cool links to other activities)
http://thepreschoolplayground.com/backtoschoolactivities.htm
  (says preschool but has some great ideas on making book covers, a book sack {terrific for library books}, and lunch sacks)
http://www.eduplace.com/monthlytheme/august/school_activities.html
  (these are for teachers but parents will have fun with some of these selections)
http://www.makingfriends.com/concraft.htm
  (these craft projects generally advertise their products, but you can easily substitute your own items)