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• An iPhone4
• A bag of groceries
• A hot air balloon
• A jellyfish
• A mailbox
• A rabbit in a hat
• A window box of flowers

iPhone4:

 You’ll need:

• 1 sheet of black foamcore board, plus:
• 1 sheet any color foamcore board (for the back)
• large sheets of heavy card stock in various colors (or use thick, Sharpie® – style markers to color in white card stock.)
• white card stock (to print the icons provided) and a color printer,  or colored markers (for you or your child to draw your own icons)
• double-stick tape, glue stick, Glue-Dots® (my new fave), or glue
• wide ribbon and glue (or staples) to join the “sandwich board” phone together for wearing.

You can download a booklet of instructions here, which includes standard iPhone icons, as well as blank icons you can get creative with. If you don’t already have Adobe’s FREE Acrobat READER program to view PDFs (Portable Document Files), then click the “Get Adobe Reader” icon above, and it will take you – in a separate window – to the Adobe web site, where you can easily download the latest version and install it on any system you have.

iPhone 4

Print out this image of the iPhone as a guide. (Click or right-click and choose “save as“)

Avoid copyright infringement; Google your own iPhone image at your own risk – honestly? You can be really creative with your own ideas. Encourage your kids to avoid copyright infringement, which is illegal, and wrong – and encourage them instead to be inventive.

Use a large coffee can to round off the edges of each corner of both pieces of foamcore board.

Decorate the back of the back piece of foamcoare board. This is the “phone cover,” so go nuts.

Follow the instructions in the PDF you can download here for placement of the printable pieces for the front, black piece of foamcore board.

You can each punch holes in the tops and sides of the foamcore boards when you’re done, as shown, to keep the boards on your child, or you can fasten the ribbon with tape. (Holes and knots are FAR more secure.)

DONE!

A Bag of Groceries

• Cereal boxes, oatmeal cylinders: anything packaged in light cardboard will work.

 

• At the grocery store, when they ask: paper or plastic? Ask for paper, and fold it carefully and tuck it away until it’s time for you to make your BIG bag.
•  You might want to consider a trip to the dollar store for some cheap fruit, too.
•  Depending on the size of your child, you may need one to three bags to fit.
•  If you need more than one bag, you will simply cut on the seams and layer the bags together to create one larger bag – duct tape on the INSIDE, for security, but use transparent cellophane tape on the outside to keep things neat.
•  Since you’ll be cutting out the BOTTOM of the bag, to allow your child to walk, use that nice, thick bottom to make secure straps for the shoulders: THAT will be the grocery bag straps.
• Before you make the final duct tape seam? Along the inside, duct tape your (now) lightweight items you’ve bought (and used) from the store. Add tissue-paper lettuces, dollar-store fruits, etc.

…and so on… plastic fruit, tissue paper lettuces.. they’ll be empty, so they won’t weigh down the bag.

• You can even add an old grocery-store receipt dangling from the bag – but not too long. Make sure your child doesn’t trip.

Jellyfish

You’ll need:

• A smallish, on-the-thin-side, round pillow
• Silk, or silk-like, shiny fabric
• Shiny pajamas (to match)
• Shiny ribbon (wide) from the dollar store, or any craft store
• Safety pins

::-::-::

• If your child is into the ocean blue? Then a trip to the thrift store for a round pillow and some silky stuff is the trick here.
• Bag up the pillow and bunch it into a silk pillowcase. (Or, more accurately, if you’re budget-conscious: “silk-like.”) Rubber-band or use a ponytail holder to tie it together, and you’ve got the beginnings of the headpiece.
• Safety pins, judiciously located on either side of the “hat,” will allow you to tack on a below-the-chin ribbon to keep it fastened onto the head. (Make sure the pillow isn’t too heavy.) Use more safety pins to add “tentacles” to the jellyfish, which will dangle down from the pillow.
• Add pajamas to match, and you’re good to go.

Mailbox

 You’ll need:

•  A rectangular box, longer than wide, and big enough to fit your child’s head, but still sit on their shoulders. You should be able to get this by asking around at your local grocery stores, which dump boxes of varying sizes away every week.
•  White poster board
• Red construction paper
• Glue or staples. (If you go with staples, pick up some masking tape to cover the staples for safety.)
• Optional: gold-colored paper fasteners, to use to secure the red flag and make it also moveable.

•  Cut any flaps off the box, so there aren’t any hanging off.
•  Get the box, and cut out a hole in the front, so you can slide the box from the back onto the child’s shoulders.
•  Take the semi-circle you cut out, and save it aside.

•  Pick up the large white poster board, and cut it the length of the box.

•  Secure one edge of the poster board to the bottom of the box; glue or staple to the side. Flip the poster board over the empty top. It will form a curve, like the top of a mailbox. Do the same to the other side, securing it, finally, at the other bottom edge. (Do not forget, if using staples, to cover the staples with a thick tape – like masking tape.)
• Once you’ve cut the red flag out of construction paper, you can either glue it on, or you can use the gold paper fastener to affix it – if you use the fastener, your flag will be able to go up and down.

::-::-::

Rabbit in a Hat

You’ll need:

• Hair band (hard, not stretchy)
• Bunny ears, downloadable here.
• Fluffy cottontail, made from cottonballs.
• 2-3 sheets Black posterboard.
• Black duct tape.
• Black ribbons or large-size, soft black yarn
• Shiny, black, blue, or other bold color ribbon – enough to fit around the perimeter of the giant hat.
• Two mismatched socks
• White school glue
• Bag of cotton balls and old or disposable bowl
• Newspapers to pick up glue drips

NOTE: For a quick and easy rabbit?

Download this ear pattern, which can be easily attached to any hard (as opposed to the stretch kind) hairband. (BONUS: Cat ears, too.)

Make up the face like so:

You need a headband. NOT the stretchy kind. The hard kind.

Attach the downloadable ears to the headband.

Add a pink circle to the nose with lipstick or lip gloss.

With brown or black eyeliner, or eyebrow pencil, draw the muzzle and whiskers.

For a quick and easy rabbit’s tail?

(Here’s a good use for some mismatched socks, too.)

• Take the smaller sock, ball it up, and place it in the toe of the other.
• Tie off the toe of the first sock.
• Dip or cover the toe of the sock in glue. (Make sure you’ve laid down the newspapers to catch the glue drips.)
• Now: after all the drips have stopped, dunk the sticky (roundish) sock end in the bag of cotton balls. You should have a nice, fluffy tail. With a convenient “tail end” to attach to your child’s costume.

::-::-::

To make the hat?

• Make a cylinder out of 1-2 sheets of posterboard – make sure it’s wide enough and short enough for your child to take a step and they won’t trip.
• As long as the perimeter of the cylinder, create a 4-inch (approximately) “brim” for the hat: basically, a long, long strip. You’ll probably need to tape together several strips. For the sake of planning, though, keep in mind: if you want a 3-inch brim, cut a 4-inch strip. A 4-inch brim? Cut a 5-inch strip.
• At one end of the strip? Cut one inch into the brim, every couple of inches or so, until your strip looks a little bit like a fringe.

• This will allow you to bend the brim – and then glue it onto the cylinder part of the hat.
• The brightly colored ribbon will hide the fringy mess.
• Like the other costumes? Punch discreet holes, and use ribbon or yard to make sort of suspenders to hold the hat up on your child’s shoulders.

Window Box of Flowers

 Again: hit your local grocery store for the perfect sized box for this.

You’ll need:

• Colored tissues in all colors – and green, for the leaves.
• You COULD invest in wire? Or you could just save bread ties.
• Acrylic paint, to paint the box a nice white floral box color… OR?
• White card stock, to cut out a cute little fence to glue onto the box.
•  Optional? Floral tape.
• Also optional: floral foam.

::-::-::

• If you’re going to cut out the fence? Fold the cardstock in half, if necessary, and cut the cardstock along the folded half.
• Fold your cardstock into as many even pieces as you like.
• Cut along the folds, and that will give you a nice easy way to get even fence slats.
• Save one or two long pieces to “connect” the fence posts.
• Glue onto the box.

For the flowers:

• Layer two shades of tissue on top of each other, and bunch up, or accordion fold.
• Secure in the center with tape or wire.
• Fluff out again, into flower shapes.
• Repeat until box is full with as colorful a set as you like.

Fill box first with artfully crumpled shades of green tissue. (If box is semi deep? Fill first with something you can’t see, like an old towel or something on the light side… you don’t want to weigh your child down too much.)

Another possibility? If the box has room? Use a cardboard separator: flowers in front, and in back? The candy stash!

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You need:

• card stock (at least one sheet per child)
• popsicle sticks or elastic and a hole punch
• small, glittery items; pom-poms, foam sticky shapes, feathers, sequins – anything small, etc.
• SAFETY SCISSORS
• glue sticks (enough to go around – check the dollar stores)

Note: Kids MAY need help cutting out eyeholes. Tip: Have them bend the mask slightly where the eyeholes are, and use the scissors to begin a slit to get going. It helps, during prep time, to have a few masks already cut out, so kids can trace them onto their papers.

The instructions for this are printed right on the page. Basically, you just cut it out and assemble, but first, your little one can have a lot of fun coloring it in.

sample mask

Cut on the solid lines.

This is a fun creative exercise because you can use absolutely anything to decorate with. Try macaroni, rice, cereal, torn or cut up pieces of colored paper — anything that’s not the usual sequins and feathers, although sequins and feathers are a lot of fun, too.

You’ll be amazed at what your child thinks of to use.

You can either use a hole punch on the sides, and measure elastic to fit, or you can do what’s shown here in the picture, left, and create a masquerade-style mask.

Using popsicle sticks, which color nicely with markers, make a holder for the mask. Tip: if you DO go this direction, you may want to make sure you use heavier paper, like card stock – and even double up on the paper to make it sturdier.

To do this, use a glue stick all over a sheet of card stock, then fold it in half. This makes the card stock extra heavy and sturdy.

Remember, though, then, that the popsicle sticks have to hold the weight of the mask – so you’ll notice in the picture that there are actually THREE popsicle sticks, layered on top of each other.

There are a couple of ways you can affix the popsicle sticks to the mask:

• Tape – I suggest colorful duct tape, if you go this route: fun, and reliable
• Glue gun – sturdy, and clear
• Avoid staples: they fall out, and have sharp edges
• Regular white glue – works well, but takes time for impatient young crafters – and works best when clamped.
• Glue stick isn’t recommended for wood.

We actually made these as a project for my daughter Anne’s 5th-grade school play for “The Royal Ladies” at Cinderella’s Ball. I gave the kids mask templates, colored card stock, and bowls of materials. They came up with some terrifically creative ideas, all on their own. This also makes a cool birthday party craft idea – kids need little supervision with this, especially if you prep the table first with a disposable “pick up and throw away” tablecloth.

MASK TEMPLATES for download:

get adobe reader

These templates are in Adobe PDF format. You may need to download the FREE Adobe reader, available at www.adobe.com.

Template 1

Template 2

Template 3

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The instructions for this are printed right on the pages. (Links below.) Basically, you just cut it out and assemble, but first, your little one can have a lot of fun coloring it in.

Cut on the solid lines, fold on the dashed lines. Tape or glue the simple, single tab shut. You can just place the roof on, or tape that on too — as you prefer.

You can add to the village with creations of your own.

The nice thing about paper You can recycle it and build again.

Once your little one builds this one, encourage him or her to build their own. Have them take a look at how it’s constructed — very simply.

For measuring “lessons” — see how the roof fits many ways on the house — across the house, and also up and down two sides of the triangle on the top.

Other great materials for house-building: shoe boxes, card stock, looseleaf paper. Any box, no matter how many sides are left, works well.

Your youngster might also want to draw and cut out some people to go inside.

Or some furniture. Very tiny furniture.

Paper house #1

Paper house #2

Get Adobe Reader

These files are Adobe PDF files. You may need the FREE Adobe PDF reader, available at www.adobe.com.

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Make a Mix-and-Match Creature.

What’s fun about these three paper creatures is that after you color and cut out their pieces, you can mix and match their parts — every piece fits into the same size slot.

I’d recommend printing them on card stock, though, if you’ve got it.

The exercise for the imagination here is children can make up stories about the creatures while they have fun mixing and matching up the pieces. Play with your children, and suggest they come up with whole worlds for the creatures. Where did they come from Where are they going

Children can draw vehicles for these creatures, or houses that they might live in. What do they eat What else can your children tell you about them What are their names The only limits are your children’s imaginations.

Even better — have your children trace the creatures and come up with their own completely original versions! Send them to me if you like and I’ll post them on InklessTales.

Creature #1

Print this in PDF form.

Creature #2

Print this in PDF form

Creature #3

Print in PDF form

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Sit-upons

I learned these way back when I was a Brownie Scout, and the basic lesson was a good one: the weaving skills, however rudimentary, came in handy when I purchased three seatless but otherwise fine porch rockers. I used clothesline and this same technique to fashion new, comfy “sit-upon” seats for them. Other grownups marvel at my creativity, but I shrug and think of these old newspapers.

You’ll need:

• A newspaper.
• Scissors.

1. Take a page from the newspaper and fold it over and over again so that it makes several long strips, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide.
2. Lay seven or eight strips across horizontally in front of you on the table. You want to have a series of strips about 18 inches wide all together, with very little room in between.
3. Take one strip and hold it vertically over the left (or the right, whichever you prefer) of the series of strips you’ve just laid on the table.
4. Place the top horizontal strip OVER the vertical strip.
5. Place the next horizontal strip UNDER the vertical strip.
6. Place the next horizontal strip OVER the vertical strip.
7. Keep alternating until you run out of strips.
8. Take the next vertical strip, and slide it next to the first vertical strip, nice and tight, but this time, alternate the over and unders — the first horizontal strip, for instance, will go UNDER the vertical strip, and the second will go OVER the vertical strip.
9. Repeat until you have woven your way through about two feet of strips. You should have a mat about 18 inches high by about two feet wide.
10. By now, you’ll have strips hanging off on all sides. Trim them and tuck them snugly into the folds.
11. You’re all done!

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Rainstick

It’s easy to make a rainstick, which has a soothing and fun sound. Here’s what you need:

• A longish tube of cardboard (here’s a good use of those empty gift wrap tubes from the holidays.)
• Tape (you’ll need GOOD tape — like solid masking tape, rather than just regular cellophane tape — although that will do.)
• Foil strips
• Uncooked dry beans, or unpopped popcorn (about a small handful.)
• Paper, or plain gift wrap
• Paints, markers, glitter, or anything that you and your child are inspired to decorate your rainstick with.

1. Wrap the tube in paper and pinch one end closed.
2. Tape that one end shut.
3. Pull two or three sheets of foil and crinkle them into long strips. Insert them into the tube.
4. Take the handful of beans and insert that into the tube as well.
5. Tape the other end of the tube shut.
6. Decorate the tube.

As you slowly revolve the tube from one end to the other, you’ll hear the beans fall against the foil, making a sound like rain.

Isn’t it cool

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BY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS BUSHEY

Photo by Scott Liddell, courtesy of MorgueFile.com.

www.scotliddell.com :: www.morguefile.com

Bubble soap fun

What you need:

• 1/4 cup dish soap
• 1 tablespoon glycerine (any drugstore has this)
• 2 cups water

Mix it all together in a covered bowl (you ll want the cover later.)

It s even better the next day.

You can make your own bubble wands out of rubber-covered wire, heavy gauge. The rubber-covered wire has less of a tendency to have a sharp edge when cut.

Great Links to Visit to Learn More:

How Does a Bubble Wand Work (E-How)

Why does a bubble solution with a lower concentration of soap work better than with a high concentration

Soap Bubbles: Wikipedia

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Welcome to the new, improved, Inkless Tales for Grownups. Since some have often said – and I don’t just mean Hillary Clinton – that it takes a village to raise a child, I’ve decided – for the first time – to enlist the help of the many, smart moms out there populating the blogoverse, and (with absolute and total credit, of course, since you should be visiting THEIR blogs, too!) collect some of THEIR wisdom and good thoughts here for you to find.

Check it out. Sisterhood is POWERFUL. And MOTHERHOOD More powerful, still. After all, WE SAY SO.