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Encourage Creativity: The 5 Best Apps for Kids

August 20, 2013 by AllFreeKidsCrafts

This post brought to you by Megan Gilligan and Katherine Sutton of AppCertain.

Read our review of AppCertain!

How can we use technology like iPad apps to stimulate kids’ creativity and encourage it? There are many apps that enlist a child’s creative thinking while they use them. Here are our top five picks for apps that encourage kids to be creative on their own, not just in the digital world of a mobile device!

Foldifyfolidfy-app

This is an awesome app that lets you color in different shape templates on your iPad. The unique part of this app is the feature that allows you to print your custom design on a regular sheet of paper, cut it out, and construct a real life object that you designed on your iPad.

kids-crafts-appKids’ Crafts

Enjoy a wide selection of arts and crafts activities that clearly state the goals and outcomes for the children.  It is very helpful that each activity  includes an organized list of materials available for purchase and needed to complete each project.  You can browse by new activities, gift ideas and seasonal crafts.  Visit often since new activities are constantly being added!

Dorling Kindersley’s Kids’ Crafts

DK-kids-crafts-appThe New York Times featured this app in their App Smart section.  It is based on DK’s award-winning activity books and contains three interactive activities for the iPad along with hands-on tasks allowing access to knitting, sewing, and drawing off the screen.  It strikes the perfect balance between quick-fix fun and games while inspiring children to get creative at home.

On-screen crafts:

Scrap bags: Design your own scrap bag on-screen or use it to try out a new design that you can create in the real world!
Cross-stitch: Tap on a pattern, your choice of yarn, and a type of stitch to start creating. You can even use a blank canvas to design your own cross-stitch from scratch.

How-to off-screen activities:

Pirate Pete: Make your own pirate friend who’s full of beans!
Rainy day doodles: You won’t believe what you can do with a doodle! This activity shows you all the different types of patterns you can make with a set of felt tip pens.

Lazoo:  Squiggles!

laz00-appFun drawing app for smaller children with unique animation features.  You simply pick a scene (there are 12 ready-made scenes + blank canvas + an option to choose a picture from the device).  Then listen to the instructions (the goal is to draw squiggles complementing the picture, e.g. add ‘squiggly’ wool to the sheep or waves in the sea).  Just press the go button to see a simple animation involving the objects in the scene and the user-made squiggles (e.g. spaghetti swirling on the plate).

The app also includes a short animated movie with the main characters and a mini book with simple interactive elements.  The bonus points include excellent concept, great graphics, easy operation, spoken and visual instructions.  The painting tools are excellent and easy to use.  There is also an option to save and share the pictures.

Martha Stewart Craft Studio

martha-stewart-appThe app comes with four themed bundles: Everyday, Birthday Party, Doily Lace, and Nature. You can add on to the fun by purchasing bundles of punches, papers, stickers, and glitter, featuring seasonal and occasional motifs: Elegant Celebrations, Spring, Outdoors, Vacation Adventure, and Summer Fun.

This easy-to-use app allows you to personalize cards, invitations, thank-you notes, scrapbook pages, keepsake, and more. Browse through an array of colored and patterned “paper” backgrounds, import your own photos, and embellish your work with an abundance of stickers, stamps, glitter, textured borders, fonts, and punches. Tap to share your works of art with family and friends. So versatile, it’s the only digital crafting tool you’ll need!

 

What is your favorite kids’ app?

Filed Under: Advice, Tips, & Tricks Tagged With: crafting with kids, Electronics, ipad, iPhone app, ipod, Kids Crafts

The 5 Nerdiest Crafts

September 1, 2011 by FaveCrafts

Is nerdiness “cool” now?  As a self-confessed Gigantic Nerd, I couldn’t possibly say.  However, I do know that on FaveCrafts.com, we’ve all got something we obsess over, and doesn’t that give us a sort of kinship with every comic book fan and video gamer?  Maybe that’s why there are so many craft projects out there that pay tribute to some of the stranger and more fantastic franchises and hobbies.  Today, we round up our five favorites, in no particular order.

 

1) Stuffed Daleks

 

For those who don’t know, Doctor Who is the incredibly long running (since 1963!) British TV series focusing on the adventurers of a charming rogue alien who travels through time and space in an obsolete police-box that is actually a time machine.  Having trouble wrapping your head around that?  Stay with me, because one of the title character’s most implacable and dangerous foes are the Daleks, evil xenophobic aliens that resemble nothing so much as giant pepper-grinders.

Of course, while no true Dalek would consent to hugs (their catchphrase, after all, is “EXTERMINATE) you can get around that by knitting these cute stuffed versions.  Just make sure you get them right on the first try; Daleks aren’t known for being forgiving.

Doctor Who has an especially dedicated fanbase, as you’d expect from the Guinness World Record holder for Longest Running Science Fiction Television Show, and they’ve come up with a few variations on this project:

Crochet Dalek
New Paradigm Dalek
(a bulkier and more colorful design based on the 2010 season)

2) VHS Toaster

 

Our younger readers may strain to remember the days before DVDs.  Back then, movies were recorded onto strips of magnetic tape, encased in plastic, and played on something called a VHS (believed to have stood for Victory Handholding Society.)  These miraculous devices could also serve as a compartment for holding waffles, pizza, and pop tarts. It’s all true kids, ask your parents.

In the meantime, bring a slice of those days to the present with this neat project, which lets you turn an old VHS into a working toaster!

3) Keyboard Jewelry
4) Crochet Brain Slug

With technology getting replaced faster, and fixed less often, it’s not uncommon to have a few spare bits lying around.  Keyboards are among the most common victims of this syndrome, but with this craft you can turn those old alphabet gardens into eye-catching jewelry.  Plus, you can always be ready to esc. if things go badly.


Futurama
is a critically acclaimed show that won its way back from cancellation through clever writing, A-list voice acting, and genuinely touching moments.  At least that’s what the mind-controlling brain slugs want you to think.  By means of this crafty crochet pattern there will soon be a Brain Slug in every yarn-buying household in the world.  Then, the new era will begin…

5) Crochet Golden Snitch

 

What’s the easiest way to ensure victory for your Quddich team of choice?  Sneak one of these crochet Golden Snitches into your seekers hand before the big match, and when he “catches” it you’re sure to have an edge over those pesky Gryffindors! The house cup will be ours! Mwa ha ha!

Do you have any secret nerdy leanings?  Share your answer below!

 

Filed Under: Pop Culture Tagged With: Crochet, Dr. Who, Electronics, Futurama, harry potter, Knitting, Stuffed Animals, Toaster

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Full Project Tutorials

Project of the Day and Giveaway: Mini Butterfly Crayon Canvases

All month long we’ve been teaming up with talented designers and top craft companies to bring you new crafts and giveaways. Sadly, as National Craft Month comes to a close, there are only two more special blog posts like today’s Project of the Day. Then we return to our regular scheduled programming – which will […]

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