Easy Apple Tree Stained Glass Window

Cute and easy to make, this kids craft adds a pretty touch to any window, just like stained glass!

We love to craft with contact paper, it is so much fun to use in so many projects! But, one of my favorite uses for it is to make 'Stained Glass' or window decals! These are so cute!

With fall being on the way, our thoughts drift towards the apple orchard almost every weekend. We head out for the time together as a family, harvesting fruit, eating fresh donuts and playing outside. In anticipation of the fun fall weekends that are to come, we made these easy as pie Apple Tree Stained Glass projects.

You will need:
one square of transparent contact paper per decoration
assorted colors of tissue paper, we used green and yellow
one strip of brown construction paper

Lay your contact paper sticky side up
Place your brown paper on the sticky paper to form a trunk
Next cut small circles of yellow or red tissue paper for apples
Place the apple cut outs around the tree
Fill in the leaves using green tissue paper
Leave a few sticky places without paper to easily affix to the window for displaying.

Easy Aquarium Craft for Kids

This easy aquarium craft is perfect for kids of a variety of ages. It gives them a chance to explore their fondness of fish and get creative! Requiring simple supplies, this is sure to be a fun activity kids will flip a fin for!

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My kids love to look at the fish whenever we visit a shop that sells them! I am convinced that between the free cookie at the bakery and a chance to look at the fish the kids look forward the grocery store more than almost anything!

They have been asking if we can get an aquarium, but I hesitate. I am solely responsible for the care of the hamster they begged for last year. Now, don't get me wrong, Hamish, the winter white hamster has brought me a lot of joy, but I am not looking to dive into the world of fish keeping!

To appeal to their interest and buy a little time, in hopes they move on from fish to something else before they talk me into buying a tank we made this incredibly easy fish tank craft! We used two sided tape and contact paper for this project, but you can use construction paper and glue if that is what you have on hand!

Supplies:

A piece of green card stock

A section of contact paper or a piece of blue cardstock 

2  or more colors of construction paper

two sided tape

scissors

googly eyes

Directions:

Cut your contact paper or blue cardstock to resemble a fish bowl.

Cut several fish shapes from your construction paper

Secure the fish inside the fish bowl with two-sided tape

Secure the eyes to the fish using two-sided tape

This was an easy activity for the kids to complete together. They needed a little help with the contact paper but overall did a great job smoothing it out. We proudly displayed this one on the fridge!

Paper Plate Donut Craft for Kids

Paper Plate Donuts are a fun craft to make with the little ones! We paired this activity with the adorable children's book If You Give a Dog a Donut.

Harper and I love to get crafty together! We often pull out our Kwik Stix and paint together! She loves the freedom of painting without an anxious mom and I love offering her an outlet for her creativity.

We also love to read great stories together! So, on this day, we combined the fun of a craft using Kwik Stix with a favorite book to create paper plate donuts!

This craft is incredibly easy but offers so many options for creative expression in toddlers and preschoolers.
You can have the supplies ready in under 5 minutes for crafty fun with the kids.

Supplies
One Paper Plate per child
Kwik Stix
Pom Poms or small bits of paper to resemble sprinkles
Glue

Cut the center out of your paper plates.
Offer the kids the Kwik Stik, if you don't have any paint sticks, you can use markers or crayons.
After the paint has dried (it only takes 90 seconds) have the kids glue on pom poms or paper bits or sprinkles.

There you have some adorable and easy crafts to pair well with a fun book!

If you are making this craft you might want to grab my free Donut Coloring Page.

Easy Xylophone Craft

It is summer, my kids would live in the pool or perched on a swing, with possible breaks for snacks, lemonade and some screen time if given the opportunity. While I am a firm believer in the importance of play, I am a firm believer in learning year round and brushing up on the things that kids already know too.

One afternoon we were talking about instruments and toying with a few drums, triangles, and maracas when I mentioned a xylophone. My son couldn't picture what I was explaining so I decided to make a quick craft with the kids to see if it would refresh his memory without grabbing the ipad to give him a visualization.

This craft took about 4 minutes for my speedy little boy. It would have taken half of that time had I not nudged him to color the sticks completely.

You will need
6 craft sticks
markers
glue



As you can see I placed 2 of the craft sticks at vertical slants almost mimicking a V

I had Roo color 4 of the sticks in whatever colors he liked


Next we placed the sticks horizontally on the vertical sticks, like rungs on a ladder, securing with 2 beads of white glue per stick

By the time we had placed 3 of the 4 sticks on the frame, Roo remembered what a xylophone was. This was easy to make and the kids had fun banging on the craft stick xylophone. I enjoyed that part too because it was quieter than the real deal.

This was also a great way to discuss colors, shapes, ladders and how one might use a ladder as well as how rungs are like steps in a trickier way. I loved that so much conversation happened around one simple project, involving 6 craft sticks!





Don't miss this fun paper sandwich craft for kids!