Crafts Archives - Sweet Frugal Life

15 Free At Home Spring Break Activities for Kids

February 29, 2020 By: Sweet Frugal Life13 Comments

Check out these fun ideas for kids to do with your kids at home during Spring Break.

Spring break is just around the corner….and that means a lot of time at home with my kids. I love having them home and getting to spend some special time together. However, the ground is still covered with snow, which means we will be spending a lot of time indoors. I’ve been brainstorming some fun, easy at home spring break activities for kids. Here’s what I’ve come up with!

1. Board Games

We are HUGE fans of board games at our house. You can get them for fairly cheap from the thrift store.

If my kids ever tell me they are bored, I always tell them to play a game! Most times, they listen and then proceed to have hours of fun.

Related: 20 Family Board Games, all Under $20

2. ABC Day

Have an ABC Day! Choose a letter and plan the day around that letter.

For the letter R we might eat Raisins and Red apples, play Ring around the Rosies or have a Race, and make an art project out of Ribbon (you get the idea).

My kids have a lot of fun trying to come up with different ideas based around the letter. This is also a fun teaching activity for preschoolers.

3. Picnic

Spend the day in the sunshine with a picnic at a park. Bring a Frisbee (or not) and spend time enjoying the sunshine and letting your kids play.

If it’s not warm enough to picnic at the park (like where I live!) just lay a blanket down on the living room floor and picnic at home. Your kids will love getting to eat somewhere other than the kitchen!

4. Crafts

Crafts are always a big hit at my house. All it takes is a quick search on pinterest and you will find many easy craft ideas.

A few of our favorite crafts for spring is this easy Nature Bookmark, Fun Easter Egg Sun Catcher, and Hot Rocks.

Related: 5 At Home Kids Activities

5. Ice Cream in a Bag

No need for a fancy ice cream maker! You can make ice cream at home just by using a ziplock bag and a little muscle!

I have an easy Ice Cream in a Bag tutorial all written out for you here. My kids love this activity because they each get their own bag to customize and shake (yes, shaking is required!). This is fun for ALL ages!

6. Family Movie Night

Let your kids stay up late one night watching a movie together as a family. Pop some popcorn and enjoy a few other treats.

Check out your local library for free movies you might not have seen yet. We love our library!

7. Library

Did I mention we love our library? We do! And, we make a stop there at the beginning of every Spring Break.

We love to stock up for the week on books, movies, and CDs. The library offers SO many more free resources than just books.

8. Bake a Treat

One of my favorite ways to bond with my kids is in the kitchen. We love to crack up the music, sing out loud, do some dancing, and bake together (all done at the same time, preferably 😉 ).

Enjoy some time in the kitchen this spring break with a few new recipes. A few of our favorites are these homemade graham crackers or Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

9. Nature Walk

If you are one of the lucky ones with a warm spring break, go outside on a nature walk.

Bring a sack with you and collect different rocks, pine needles and pine cones. Turn it into a fun treasure hunt to see how many interesting treasures you can each find.

Once back home, have everyone show what they found and admire the collections. Turn this into a research project and spend some time that day learning about your new finds.

10. Start your garden

Spring Break is the perfect time to start planning your garden and getting some seeds started indoors.

Gardening is a fun activity to get kids involved with. Let your kids choose a few things to plant in the garden. Bring them to the store and let them help buy the seeds and materials. Then, back at home they can help with the planting and watering.

Watching the little seeds sprout is so exciting for the kids (and me!).

Related: 9 Vegetables to Grow in Your Beginner Garden

11. Friend Day

Plan a play date (or two!) with a few of your kids friends. Let them entertain each other and work on those social skills.

Maybe invite a friend over for you too! It’s always nice to get a little adult conversation in.

12. Spring Cleaning

Alright, I know spring cleaning probably isn’t an “activity” and it’s definitely not that “fun”, but it is free and something we try to work on each Spring Break. Plus, it is more fun to do the work together…..right….??? That’s what I’m telling my kids anyways!

Getting your kids involved with some heavy spring cleaning is a great way to teach them responsibility and hard work.

Related: 5 Homemade Cleaner Recipes that Work Just as Well as the Store Bought Version

13. Make Slime or Play Dough

Slime is all the rage these days. We have tried out a few recipes and loved how easy it was to make. You can find a lot of slime recipes on pinterest.

A great alternative to slime is homemade play dough. We love this easy play dough recipe and this peanut butter play dough recipe for a little twist.

14. Paint Rocks

Find some rocks outdoors and bring them in to paint. You can paint a cute design, turn the rock into an animal, or whatever you feel inspired to paint. This is so easy, cheap and fun!

Make it even more fun by hiding them around your city. We love finding painted rocks hidden at parks or the library. But, I think it’s even more fun to be the person hiding the rocks!

15. Science Experiment

Try out a fun science experiment. We love the basic volcano experiment, where you mix baking soda with vinegar. Or this Magic Toothpick Experiment is another go to at our house.

I think the most important thing to remember when planning spring break activities for kids is that it doesn’t cost any money to make memories. All kids want is our time and love….and that is free!

Liked what you read? Pin it for future spring break ideas!

What are your plans this spring break??

Yarn Hearts: An Easy Valentine Craft for Kids

February 7, 2020 By: Sweet Frugal Life3 Comments

An Easy Valentine Heart Craft for Kids!

A friend shared a brilliant idea with me the other day! She said she uses a small Christmas tree for Valentines Day; instead of decorating it with Christmas ornaments she has a little box of Valentines decorations that she brings out every February and her kids get to decorate a Valentines Tree. I thought this would make a fun valentine craft for kids.

So, I got to work putting together my own valentine tree. I already had a small tree that I use for Christmas each year, the only problem is that I didn’t have any decorations for the tree….and I did NOT want to buy any.

We got to work crafting. First, we made a few hearts out of beads and pipe cleaners. They were so easy, just stick beads on a pipe cleaner and shape it as a heart. Done and done!

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Next, we made this darling Pom-Pom Garland. I loved it so much and I can’t wait to make more! You can find the tutorial here.

And last, but not least, we put together these Yarn Heart Ornaments. They were SO fun to make and easy enough for my 6 year old to join in. I love the projects that all three kids can enjoy together!

Yarn Hearts Tutorial

First, you need some cardboard hearts. I grabbed a box from my large stash of amazon boxes and cut out a few hearts.

Choose your favorite yarn color. Here is one of my favorite yarn brands. Use a little bit of tape to attach the yarn to the cardboard heart.

Now for the fun part. Just start wrapping your yarn around the heart. Try to wrap it in different angles to make the design interesting. It wasn’t easy to get all of the small nooks and crannies, but we kept working it and was able to get the entire heart covered.

When your cardboard heart is all covered and looks just right tie a small knot and cut off your excess yarn. I tucked the knot underneath some yarn to try to hide it, which seemed to work well!

And guess what! You are done! That’s it! We attached a few ornament hooks through the yarn and hung it up on our Valentines Day Tree.

I just love how these crafts and little tree turned out, and what’s even better….my kids love it! They are so proud that they helped make all of the decorations; and seeing my kids happy faces is the best kind of valentine gift I could ever receive!

Related Easy Craft Projects:

Tissue Paper Pom-Pom Tutorial

The Easiest Halloween Pumpkin Tutorial

How to Make an Easy Nature Bookmark Tutorial

Easter Egg Sun Catcher

Now it’s your turn to make this easy valentine craft for kids!

How to Make A Yarn Pom-Pom Garland

February 6, 2020 By: Sweet Frugal Life1 Comment

Easy Yarn Pom-Pom Tutorial

I recently discovered how to make a yarn pom pom. These pom-poms turned out to be easy to make and so cute! My daughters and I spent all evening making pom poms and experimenting with different sizes and techniques.

We decided to turn these yarn pom poms into a cute garland for Valentines Day. I love how it turned out and am already planning more garlands in other themes and colors!

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These were so fun (and cheap!) to make, I thought I would share an easy tutorial with all of you! I was able to use items I already had at home and didn’t need to spend any money (yay!), but you can find some quality yarn for less than five dollars and it will make hundreds of pom-poms!

easy yarn pom pom tutorial - how to make yarn pom poms

How to make yarn pom pom

Take a small string of yarn (the softer yarns seem to work best) and begin wrapping it around two of your fingers.

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Keep wrapping until the yarn looks a good size. I just eyeballed it, but I probably twisted the yarn about 70-100 times.

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When the pom-pom looks right, cut the yarn leaving about 6 inches of a tail. You will then push the tail through your two fingers and pull it out the other side.

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Bring the tail up on top of the yarn and push it through the top of your two fingers. Pull it tight.

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Now, gently slide the yarn off of your fingers, making sure to keep the yarn pulled tight and kept across the middle (this was a little tricky, but you can do it!).

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Knot the tail and wrap the remaining tail across the other middle, this will form a plus sign. Pull it tight and knot it. This will form four sections. Tie another knot securing the yarn.

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Next, grab some sharp scissors. I used my fabric scissors (aka: “if anyone uses these for anything other than fabric they will be in HUGE trouble” scissors). Begin cutting the loops apart in each section. Make sure you do not cut the tied tail. We only had this happened once, but it’s important to remember.

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Continue cutting all of the loops. Once finished, it will not look very good and you’ll wonder if you did it right! You did. I promise.

The pom pom just needs some fluffing. Shake it, separate the pieces and try to fluff it out as best as you can.

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Once your little ball of yarn is all fluffed out it’s time for a haircut! This is when you will see your pom pom begin to take shape.

Trim the yarn pieces until they are all nice and even. I like to cut them fairly short, but not to short.

Play around with it a little bit and you will find the style you like. My daughters kept theirs a little more long, it’s all personal preference.

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That’s it! Your pom pom is done! Isn’t it cute???? The first one takes the longest…..to be honest, I threw away my first five.

But, once I had a little practice I was able to whip them up much quicker.

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Stick some googly eyes on those pom poms and make little monsters for your kids, OR you can string it together to form a cute garland. I chose the garland.

Pom Pom Garland Tutorial

DIY pom pom garland tutorial

After browsing through my house unable to find a string for my garland I resorted to the garage (I was refusing to spend money on this project!).

I found some string in my husbands stash of “stuff” and it worked really well. Twine or even embroidery thread will work great too.

Tie a knot at the end of your string and use the string to thread a needle. You will then stick your needle right through the middle of your pom-pom, pull it along the string until it reaches the knot, and continue until your garland is at the desired length.

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Knot off the end and you are done! You can hang your yarn pom-pom garland around your house, but we came up with a different idea.

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We decided to decorate one of our little Christmas Trees as a “valentine tree.” We have been making little crafts for it all month and decided this garland would be the perfect addition!

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Let me know if you make a pom pom garland! I would love to hear how it went.

I hope this helped you understand how to make a yarn pom pom!

How to Make Homemade Butter in a Jar

November 29, 2018 By: Sweet Frugal Life1 Comment

I had a container of heavy whipping cream sitting in my fridge for a few weeks. I kept looking at it, knowing I needed to do something with it, but never knowing exactly what! My sister finally suggested to me that I should use the cream to make butter in a jar with my kids. Best idea ever!

This actually turned out to be the best idea ever! Making butter in a jar is so so easy, cheap, and my kids absolutely LOVED it!

It was so fun watching my kids shaking their jars and checking every 5 minutes to see if the butter had formed. My daughter even said, “Wow! They use to have to work hard in the olden days! I can’t imagine doing this every time we needed butter.” This led into such a great discussion about the conveniences we have now and how hard our ancestors had to work in order to survive.

You can make your very own butter; all you need is a mason jar and heavy whipping cream. Seriously, that’s it!

Butter in a Jar Tutorial

Pour some whipping cream into the jar. I filled our jars about half full, but if you are doing this with your kids I would recommend only filling it about 1/4 full. It just makes the process easier and quicker for the kids if the jar has less cream in it.

Now, you shake it! Shake, shake and shake! This took us about 45 minutes of hard shaking. If I had done less cream I’m sure it would’ve been much quicker.

We turned on some music and danced while shaking our jars.

Related: 50 FREE activities to do with your kids over the Summer Break

The cream will slowly become thicker. You will eventually notice the butter separating from the cream. The butter will form together in a nice solid ball. Once this happens, you are done! See, so easy!

Drain the leftover cream, rinse your butter, and then transfer it to a plate. Wah-lah! You have made butter!

Now is the fun part! Enjoy your butter on some fresh bread or rolls. It really is delicious!

Easy Pumpkin Craft Tutorial For a Fun Fall Decoration

October 17, 2018 By: Sweet Frugal Life3 Comments

Yesterday I pulled out all of our fall decorations and had fun getting the house looking a little more festive. After that I decided I wanted a few more small decor items, but didn’t want to spend very much money. So, I decided to make this easy pumpkin craft!

My friend showed me how to make these toilet paper pumpkins a few years ago, and I knew they would be the perfect addition to my house this fall. The best part about these pumpkins is they cost less than $1 to make! Yep, you read that right, $1!

The only item I bought for these pumpkins was the fabric for 97 cents each. If that’s not frugal, I don’t know what is! Not only are these crazy cheap to make…..they are also one of the easiest crafts ever! Most importantly, I spent less than an hour making all three of these darling Halloween Pumpkins.

Halloween Pumpkin DIY

For each pumpkin you will need:

One roll of toilet paper

One square of fabric (I bought the fat quarter fabric from Walmart for $.97)

Hot glue gun

A twig for the stem

First you will lay the square of fabric right side down on the table. Place your toilet paper in the middle.

Next, tuck the ends of the fabric into the middle of the toilet paper. I try to pull the fabric tight as I go, this helps makes some cute textures and creases for the pumpkin. Keep stuffing the ends of the fabric into the toilet paper roll until all the ends of the fabric are hidden.

You are almost done! For the stem, I simply went into my backyard (or you can try to search a park) and cut a piece of a twig to the size I wanted. Hot glue a small amount of glue into the middle of your pumpkin. Stick the twig into the hot glue, making sure it is sticking up correctly.

And you are done! Easiest thing ever, right?!?!

Try playing around with the toilet paper to make different shapes and sizes. For the polka dot pumpkin, I took off about 1/4 of the toilet paper to make a smaller pumpkin. I also wrapped some toilet paper loosely around the entire roll. This gives it a slightly more rounded look.

I wanted my other black pumpkin to be a little bit larger so, I added extra toilet paper to the roll, and tried to give it a rounded loose look.

I loved the way this one turned out! There really are some many possibilities! And for a whopping 97 cents…..you can make a dozen of these without breaking the bank!

Have you ever made a toilet paper roll pumpkin before??? It truly is such a fun and easy pumpkin craft! Let me know if you try it out, I would love to hear how they turned out.

Happy frugal crafting!

How to Make Tissue Paper Pom Poms

October 9, 2018 By: Sweet Frugal Life4 Comments

I LOVE to make tissue paper pom poms! They are one of the easiest, cheapest DIY decoration around. I have made some for my daughters rooms, and they are a staple at all my kids birthday parties.

A lot of stores sell pre-made pom poms, that just need to be fluffed up, but I’m telling you…..those are not worth the money. You can easily make them yourself for a much cheaper price! I promise you can even do it if you are NOT a crafter.

Tissue Paper Pom Pom Tutorial

First, you will need about 6 pieces of full size tissue paper, you can use more or less. The more sheets you use, the fluffier your pom-pom will be.

Unfold your tissue paper, layer each of the sheets on top of each other, and lay it flat. I’ve done this on a table, carpet, wherever will work just fine!

Starting at the shorter end, you will fold the tissue paper (all sheets together) accordion style. Your finished product should look similar to the pictures below.

Related: How to Make Your Very Own Pom-Pom Garland

Take some string, (I just used thread because it’s what I had) and tie a knot in the middle of the folded tissue paper. Leave a long piece of string, this is what you will use to hang your pom-pom with.

Now, snip two small cuts on both ends of the tissue paper. This is what gives the flowery shape to the pom pom.

You are almost finished! Now, gently separate each sheet of tissue paper. This will fluff out the pom-pom. You fluff one side of the pom-pom and then the other side.

Adjust the fluffs until you get it just right, and you are done! It only takes about 10 minutes to make your own tissue paper pom-pom! Quick and easy at it’s best!

The Easiest No Sew Halloween Trick or Treat Bag

October 2, 2018 By: Sweet Frugal Life3 Comments

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Halloween is just around the corner! I love this time of year; I love the pumpkins, the crisp cool air, the changing leaves, and the excitement in my children. My kids love to dress up as anything they want and run around the neighborhood trick or treating.

The urge to craft came on strong the other day and I decided it would be so fun to make my kids new bags for trick or treating. I wanted to create something cute, but also simple and frugal (because that’s how I roll!).

I came up with the idea of a no sew trick or treat bag. I’ll be honest with you….it was even EASIER than I originally had planned! (win!)

Trick or Treat Bag Tutorial

Supplies Needed:

– Canvas Craft Tote

– Scrap fabric

– Wonder Under

– Iron/ironing board

– Pattern for tracing

Let’s Begin:

You will first need to find your pattern for tracing. I asked my kids what picture they wanted on their bags and they requested a spider and a cat.

After a quick google search I was able to find a couple of good tracing patterns. Print these off and then cut out the shape.

Now, follow the directions found on your wonder under fusing.

I cut out a large square of wonder under (large enough to cover the entire shape), and ironed the rough side onto the wrong side of the fabric.

Use your tracing pattern to trace the shape onto the paper side of the wonder under.

Once the pattern is traced, cut the picture out (fabric and all).

Last, you will gently pull off the paper backing of the wonder under. Center it on the bag, and then iron it.

I have found that holding the iron steady for 5-10 seconds over each section of the picture helps give the applique a nice firm hold.

That’s it! You’re done! See, I told you it would be easy!! It probably took me a total of one hour to finish both bags! Quick crafting, is my type of crafting!

There are so many fun possibilities for these bags! Pumpkin, ghost, witch hat, bat, skeleton, or lettering would all make darling trick or treat bags!

I can’t wait to watch my kids go trick or treating with their new bags!

Easy St.Patrick’s Day Craft for Preschoolers

February 23, 2018 By: Sweet Frugal Life15 Comments

This is the perfect craft for March!

This St.Patrick’s Day craft for preschoolers is so easy, so simple, and oh so fun for preschoolers and toddlers. I love finding fun crafts for kids that are actually helping their little bodies develop. This craft is fantastic for helping the little ones develop their fine motor skills. It requires a lot of tearing and cutting, which will strengthen those little finger muscles….all while having a little fun!

Related: Easter Egg Sun Catcher

First, gather up all of your random green paper around the house. Most of ours came from the scrap pile I keep from other paper projects. I printed out a shamrock by finding a clip art shamrock on Microsoft Word. (yes, I am so fancy 🙂 )

Now let your sweet little get to work. Encourage them to rip the papers into small pieces. My son got a little tired of ripping and decided to get his scissors out and cut pieces. Do whichever works for you and your littles.

Once you have a nice pile of green shredded paper have your child glue the pieces onto the shamrock. We decided to turn this into a group effort, I glued and he stuck the papers on. It was fun to spend some time together crafting and discussing St.Patrick’s Day.

This was such a fun activity. I love doing things these simple craft projects, especially when I already have all the supplies on hand. How are you prepping for St.Patrick’s day with your kids?