Shrinky Dink Anyone? – Craft Gossip

ribbon metal Think back on the fun projects you might have done as a kid, before you felt the need for fancy materials and when the possibility of something shrinking in the oven was totally exciting. I remember lots of Smurf Shrinky Dink projects. Well now it doesn’t need to be just for kids.

Check out these instructions for inexpensive ribbon metals on instructables.com

Or these “Doodle Charms” with instructions on homemade shrinky dink. They come out looking like stained glass

Or even plastic rings as posted here on PlanetJune

And last, though I am sure you can find tons more projects, check out Photojojo.com for a tutorial on photo necklaces, earrings etc using shrinking plastic. I love this project!

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I hope if you’re in the Northern Hemisphere that it’s getting warm enough where you live to add in some outdoor activities with the kids. It’s easy to do a lot of learning outside when the weather is nice; my daughter has a fond memory of doing long division in sidewalk chalk at her school. But if you need some more specific ideas, here are some fun and educational spring outdoor activities for kids to do at home or at school.

Gather some glass bottles, rocks and other natural materials to make a garden xylophone with these instructions from The Moments at Home. This looks so fun, and you can use this idea to make musical instruments with other objects you find around the home/classroom/playground too.

This post from Child’s Play ABC has a lot of great outdoor learning ideas for kids, but the one I wanted to highlight is going on a rainbow scavenger hunt. Kids can collect things of different colors and see if they can make a rainbow (or just sort things by color). Check out more ideas for scavenger hunts.

Another good activity to do with things you collect from outdoors is making natural paint brushes. Get the instructions from Messy Little Monster, and of course you can test them out by painting outside, too.

Speaking of art, have you ever made paint from dandelions? (I dyed yarn with dandelions once, and it was a lot of fun.) Learn how from Little Cooks Reading Books, and then you can use your natural paintbrushes along with natural paint!

You can also paint with mud, like in this post from There’s Just One Mommy. Or make an outdoor, garden themed sensory bin with real dirt like this one from Mess for Less.

Or kids can gather materials to help them build their own nests as they learn about how birds and other animals build nests. The Crazy Outdoor Mama has a printable and post that will help.

What activities do you love to do with kids when it’s nice outside?

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