Things to Make and Do, Crafts and Activities for Kids - The Crafty Crow

4th of July Crafts For Kids

patriotic luminarias
Aunt Peaches


red, white and blue wind streamers
Multiples and More


fireworks tee shirt to print
The Mother Huddle


patriotic paper chain decoration
A Pumpkin and A Princess


dots and stripes patriotic bandana craft
Playful Learning


homemade 4th of July juggling balls
Red Ted Art's Blog


felt firecracker hair clips
American Felt and Craft


4th of July noisemaker craft
Family Chic


patriotic rocket wind catcher
We Made That


patriotic flag hand print
B. Inspired, Mama!

Creating A Miniature Forest Inside

If it's too hot to play outside then bring the outside
in with this fantastic pretend play forest! More
pictures and details at The Artful Parent.

Miniature Terrariums

I love these miniature terrariums found
at Clean! Old glass jars from home or the
thrift store make perfect containers.

Homemade Window Bird Feeder

Window feeders are a great way to get a close-up
view of song birds and We Made That shows you how
to make one from items you already have at home.

Beautiful Weatherproof Butterfly Mobile!

This butterfly mobile looks so delicate but because
each butterfly is dipped in wax it is weatherproof!
I really want to make one of these, if only to hear
the gentle sound of them brushing against each other.
Visit Growing Up Creative for the full tutorial
and more pictures.

Travel Journal Tutorial

If you are doing some traveling this summer
then visit Willowday for a tutorial on how
to make your own travel journals!

Make Your Own Beach Glass

Homework has a nice tutorial on how to make your
own beach glass! Slip a message in the bottle and
it would be a fun ocean party decoration too.

Rubber Band Bulletin Board Tutorial

This Rubber Band Bulletin Board makes a great place to
stash all your summer souvenirs! The board I made is
10½" by 11" but you can make it any size as long as you
use rubber bands that will stretch comfortably across
your cardboard. Of course, there are an endless number
of ways to customize it, so be sure to make it yours!


Materials:
corrugated cardboard (10½" x 11")
9 4" rubber bands
wood grain contact paper
scissors
pencil

How to Make It:
1. Measure and cut the contact paper so it is 1" larger
on all sides than the cardboard.


2. Cut 1" squares from the corners of the contact paper.


3. Peel the paper backing off of the contact paper then
lay the cardboard down in the center.


4. Wrap the contact paper over the edges of the
cardboard and smooth it down.


5. Stretch one rubber band across the cardboard
horizontally, then stretch the next rubber band
across the cardboard vertically; continue until
the board is covered.


6. You can hang the board by using one of the rubber
bands on the backside or you can attach magnets on
the back and it's perfect for hanging on the fridge!

Homemade Lava Lamp Science Experiment

These homemade lava lamps are very
cool and lots of fun for all ages!
Visit Bird and Little Bird to get the details.

Chenille Stem Mice

Find out how to make these cute chenille stem
mice at Mermaids' Makings then see what
other creatures you can make!

Win The Fun New Word Building Game, Morphology!

We love playing games in our house so I was thrilled to
try out this new game, Morphology! It's a word building
game - you are given little objects to use to build the
word for your team mates! It was a little challenging at
first, but once we got the hang of it we really had a lot of
fun and for today's giveaway, two winners will
receive their own Morphology game to play!



You can get an idea of how the game works by visiting
Morphology's Facebook page and playing their daily
guessing game! Are you intrigued yet?
Check it out, I know you'll like it!


Can you guess this word?
Too easy!


How about this one?


And this one?
The answers are at the bottom of this post :)

Here's a description of Morphology from the company:

Morphology is a laugh-out-loud board game that challenges players
to think and create in new ways. Morphologists use 50 pieces and
their imaginations to build words for their teammates to guess
before time runs out. Morphologists can't talk, but they can animate
the pieces to help their teammates along. Once you throw in quirky
rules like "weak-hand only" and "eyes closed", the game quickly
turns hilarious.

Ages: 13+
Players: 4 or more
Time to learn: 10 minutes
Play time: 45 - 60 minutes
In the box: 
480 words to build (240 easy, 240 hard) 
50 pieces for building
60-second timer
1 die
4 team frogs
Game board
Instructions

Accolades: 
TIME Magazine's Number 2 Toy of the Year (2010)
Chicago Tribune's Top Ten Game to Help Get a Party Started (2010)
About.com Reader's Choice Award: Best Party Game (2010)
Learning Magazine: Teacher's Choice Award for the Family (2012)
...and more.


There are two versions of the game: Morphology is for
ages 13+ and then there's the new Morphology Jr.
for ages 8 - 13. The winners will be able to choose
which version they would like!

Giveaway Details:
*the giveaway is now closed*

To enter this giveaway for the game,
Morphology or Morphology Jr., leave a comment
on this post - and if you would visit Morphology on
Facebook that would be wonderful too :)

Comments will close at midnight PST on Saturday,
June 30th and the winners will be announced here on
Monday, July 2nd. Two winners will be chosen using
the Random Number Generator.

This giveaway is available in the USA only.

If you are reading this on Twitter, Facebook,
Google+ or in your email you will need to visit
this post on The Crafty Crow blog to enter your
comment for eligibility.

Please note that due to spam, I have to
approve comments manually, so don't be alarmed
if your comment doesn't show up right away :)

So did you guess correctly?
The answers are carrot, thinking, and swimming!

These Planned Discoveries Are Great Boredom Busters!

Visit Daisy Yellow for a wonderful list and
explanation of "planned discoveries" that are
perfect for long summer days.