25 Book-Related Activities to Help Kids Learn

August 26, 2013 by AllFreeKidsCrafts Leave a Comment

Better than movies, television shows, and video games, books are the best form of entertainment there is. You can get them free from the library, and there are so many to choose from. Nothing stimulates your mind more than reading does. As an English major in college, I spend most of my time reading, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love jumping into a different world each time I open up another book. Reading is a great way to expand kids’ knowledge, and it’s so important to start when they’re young. To encourage reading, pair children’s stories with these book-related activities with four popular authors’ works. From a hungry caterpillar to Sam I Am, you can enter a world of adventure on every page.

AllFreeKidsCrafts has put together a list of reading crafts that are inspired by popular books. These book crafts for kids include anything from painting crafts, food crafts, to sewing crafts. Sit down, grab your favorite book from the bookshelf, and start reading today.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Crafts

As perhaps one of the most well-known books for children, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle will capture every youngster’s attention. These reading crafts will teach kids about transformation and appetite. You can create your own very hungry caterpillar when you make the Very Hungry Caterpillar Balloon Craft. This reading craft combines painting with balloons, and you can add another dot every time the hungry caterpillar eats something. The photography in this classic book is breathtaking and will encourage youngsters to partake in book crafts for kids that involve art.

Rainbow Fish Activities

Dive into an adventure in the deep, blue sea. When you open the pages of Marcus Pfister’s Rainbow Fish, you’ll discover lessons about sharing, caring, and selflessness. These Rainbow Fish activities are a great way to get kids involved with reading while teaching them valuable lessons. Make these Glam Guppies that look just like the little fishies that Rainbow Fish shares his beautiful scales with. Book-related activities that encourage learning about new topics like underwater creatures, the ocean, and different colors are perfect for young kids. Expand their worlds with these reading crafts about a little fish who learned to share.

Dr. Seuss Crafts

Oh, the places you’ll go! Hopefully one of them is to the library so that you can check out some classic children’s books by Dr. Seuss. He was a master with words and soon kids who read The Lorax and Sam I Am will be too. You can read classics like The Lorax and then make the ‘The Lorax’ Truffula Forest craft. Use nature items found in your own backyard to reinforce the message of being environmentally friendly. Reading crafts from Dr. Seuss books are so much fun because chances are that you have at least one of his books in your home. Try these book-related activities to encourage imagination and creativity, just like the story lines in Dr. Seuss’s rhyming stories.

Superhero Crafts

Captain America, Superman, and Wonder Woman, oh my! Comic books are well loved by boys and girls no matter their age. It’s important to encourage different types of reading, which is why comics rock! Get those creative juices flowing by making tons of book crafts for kids. While you’re reading, you can talk about what is happening in each comic while doing a book-related activity. These readings crafts will encourage kids to talk about their favorite superheroes and keep on reading to find out what happens to them.

What is was your favorite book when you were a child?

30 Back to School Activities for Kids

August 15, 2013 by AllFreeKidsCrafts Leave a Comment

Summer’s over, which means that it’s time to head back to school. No more long days at the beach, endless hours at summer camp, or playing in the pool. Just because summer is ending doesn’t mean that the fun has to as well. Time to put on your reading cap, gather up your notebooks, and head back to school. Before you go, make sure that you have a head start with 30 Back to School Activities for Kids. These back to school crafts are some of my favorites because I love the freshness that comes with a new school year. Whether you’re in need of a quick gift for your teacher or a journal for math class, this collection of crafts from AllFreeKidsCrafts is great.

Don’t lollygag back to school unprepared and unaware; make sure that you’re ready to jump in head first by doing back to school activities for kids. Now is the time of year for new beginnings and a fresh start, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune on teacher gifts and school supplies. Back to school crafts are a blast when you make them yourself.

Homemade Teacher Appreciation Gifts

Show your thanks for all that your teachers do this school year by making a homemade teacher appreciation gift. If it comes from the heart, then your teacher is sure to love it. Teachers are the make learning possible and fun, so show them your appreciation by making back to school crafts. You can’t go wrong with apple or pencil crafts, the back to school essentials. That’s why the Giant Goody Pencil craft is a hit as a homemade teacher appreciation gift. Use an old Pringles can and fill it with goodies to give to your favorite teacher. No matter what you make, your teacher is sure to appreciate your thoughts and efforts when you make these back to school activities for kids.

Back to School Supplies

Make the first day of school the very best day of school with all of your new back to school supplies that you crafted yourself! Save tons of money when you make your own erasers, journals, and pencil holders. Back to school activities for kids like making supplies are a great way to personalize your things. School is more fun when you can use something you made to write down fractions or store your pens. Bookmaking for Kids is a great way to save money and learn something new at the same time. Your book will be a one-of-a-kind back to school craft.

Learning Activities for Kids

Each lesson in school is an important building block in childhood. Ultimately that is what school is all about: learning. Learning activities for kids like the Bean in a Jar Biology Lesson make education fun. Each subject in school, whether it’s math, biology, or history, is interesting and exciting if you have the right activity planned. Back to school activities for kids are important to prepare for the coming months of learning, so make sure to get started. All of these back to school crafts are great lessons to teach kids about dinosaurs, math, and how to count money.

What are you most excited about this school year?

Indoor Activities for Kids: Fun with Science Experiments at Home

February 22, 2013 by AllFreeKidsCrafts 2 Comments

As winter trudges on, the cold winds and flurries hang around ever so comfortably. The kids are itching to spend time outside, but the chilly temperatures discourage such actions. Scratch those itches with some awesomely fun indoor activities for kids that will make them forget all about the outdoors. AllFreeKidsCrafts is not only loaded with delightful indoor crafts, but we’ve also got the best artsy, educational projects around. We’ve also searched the web for other must-make experiments, so your “to learn list” should be full and ready.

Learn while having a blast with science experiments that can be done at home without spending tons of dough. Mix, pour, and dip until the mini Einstein’s minds are full of knowledge and they’re ready to fall fast asleep with a new appreciation for how things work.

Colorful Science for Kids

Color is mesmerizing to kids (and adults), so science experiments involving beautiful hues are that much more enthralling. Watch colors dance and groove with the Dancing Dr. Seuss Oobleck Recipe. Oobleck is a magical mixture of ingredients that will keep the kids laughing and asking questions. A curious kid is a wonderful thing. Keep the color coming with Other Colorful Science Experiments:

Gooey Green Goop
Walking Water
Carnation Science Experiment Rainbows
Magical Milk Experiment
Color Mixing Lab

Reaction Experiments for Kids

“What does this button do?” Kids innately love experimenting, so when they’re allowed to mix potentially erupting ingredients, they’re definitely in their happy place. Provide answers to, “what if I add baking powder?” by adding it and observing the results. These controlled experiments will leave you with amazing but safe results. Watch the kids ooh and ahh as they try to understand the science of Borax with Cleaner to Crystal. How will they react to these Other Reaction Experiments?

Toddler Erupting Volcano
Violet Petal pH Experiment
Penny for Your Thoughts Experiment
Peep Experiments

Kids’ Science Projects with Everyday Objects

Turn everyday objects into big question marks as the kids explore and hypothesize on what they really are. Cereal will no longer simply be yummy squares of sugar after the kids learn the mineral make up of the crunchy snacks. Their itty-bitty brilliant brains will start to break down objects further than face value. A water bottle and a balloon aren’t just for drinking and decorating as you’ll learn with the Balloon Experiment. Keep expanding those mini minds with Other Science Projects:

Nails for Breakfast
Light Up Lifesavers
Bean in a Jar Biology Lesson

How do you incorporate learning into the kids’ everyday activities?

Kids’ New Skills to Learn in the New Year: How to Count, Finger Knit, and More

January 11, 2013 by AllFreeKidsCrafts Leave a Comment

This year you’re going to be able to count the days until your birthday, knit an amazing rug, sew your favorite stuffed animal back together, and add to your number of toys. 2013 is sounding great already!

New Year’s resolutions have been voiced and vowed. As the days creep into February and beyond, usually those promises wane into maybes, and then by the time March rolls around, they’ve withered into the pile of unfulfilled goals. AllFreeKidsCrafts won’t let that happen for the kiddos this year. If they haven’t made a “I will learn something new this year” resolution yet, then encourage them to. No matter how old you are there is always something new to learn. When you’ve only spent eight years on Earth, though, the number of skills left to acquire are endless.

How to Count

Whether the little ones are in school or not, sharpen up their counting skills with fun craft activities. Learning is a million times more enjoyable when a project is linked to it. Add food into the mix, and your mini mathematician won’t ever want to stop counting. The Dots Candy Counting Game incorporates a sweet reward for your little smarty. Keep the counting coming with more counting crafts:

Apple Counting Activity
Handprint Counting
Gumball Counting

How to Finger Knit

It’s all the rage, and there must be a reason. Finger Knitting is a wonderful activity for kids to learn because they can do it quietly, in the car, and as a calm activity to wind down. Once your artist learns this useful skill, there are tons of projects he or she can make like scarves, necklaces, headbands, bracelets and more. A great way to learn is by watching others, like with the tutorial from Nurture Store. Once the technique is mastered, move on to bigger and better things like the Finger Knitting Hula Hoop Rug.

Other projects to help you practice:

Finger Knitting Scarf
Finger Knit Jersey Bracelets
Jingling Finger Knit Door Drape

How to Sew

Sewing is arguably one of the most useful skills one can ever acquire, so learning how to sew as a kid is invaluable. There are really great activities and crafts to teach even the littlest fingers to weave thread through a hole. Start big and then move smaller to slowly train their fine motor skills. The perfect activity to begin for the really little ones is the Giant Bead Chain. Although this isn’t sewing per se, it’ll introduce them to the idea of putting a string through a small hole. For the bigger kids who are ready to take sewing head on, start off with the Easily Embroider Styrofoam project. Once they get the hang of stitching, they can begin sewing ripped articles of clothing or even their own doll.

Other projects to teach sewing:

Preschool Sewing Pouch
Sew Like a Pro
Start Sewing! Kit

How to Add and Subtract

Keep those munchkins ahead of the game by giving them a head start with math. Adding and subtracting can be difficult for kids to understand, but the earlier you start, the better. It also helps when you have awesomely fun crafts and activities to help teach your lesson. For an affordable way to challenge your tiny thinker, play the Egg-O Math Game.

Other fun ways to do math:

Milk Money
Math with Donuts
Cereal Abacus

What new skill do you want to learn this year?

Coloring Outside the Lines: 7 Kids Crafts that Unleash Creativity

July 6, 2012 by AllFreeKidsCrafts Leave a Comment

Summer is the perfect time for a child’s imagination to roam free and uninhibited, and kids crafts can help them express themselves. Ever since I witnessed a fellow teacher scolding a child for coloring outside the lines of a coloring page, I have been fiercely opposed to any limitations adults impose upon children’s creative expression. I’ve always felt that creativity with boundaries is hardly creativity at all because it does not allow for innovation and original creation.

I have always disliked the words “just” and “only” because they create boundaries where none should be. When someone says that a child’s creation is “only” a drawing or “just” a piece of paper, it removes the power of the work. In truth, that drawing may be a window into another world or the beginnings of some original invention that could solve a global issue.

I love the uncanny ability kids have that allows “just a box” or “only a sheet” to become a spaceship or a zoo full of dragons, and I believe that this creative exploration is the most crucial thing an adult can provide for a child.

I want to point out a few bloggers whose work on AllFreeKidsCrafts transcends the ordinary and the expected and opens up the potential for true innovation. All of these projects and activities remove creative limitations from children, including those nasty four-letter words “just” and “only” from the world.

Doodle Shoes are a great way to incorporate a kid’s artwork into his or her wardrobe. Kids can make their own style by drawing and coloring patterns on a pair of white sneakers instead of the usual coloring book in this project by Kellie from Eclectic Chica.

Kate from Mini-Eco transformed colored pencils into beads, which kids can use to create jewelry, patterns, and other interesting works of art. See her Colored Pencil Beaded Jewelry on AllFreeKidsCrafts, and click through for the tutorial.

Maureen and Shanti from Twig and Toadstool make the most of the supplies in their back yards. I love their little fairy habitats, and these Enchanted Acorn Toadstools demonstrate the way they teach kids to see the magic in everyday items.

I love reading Se7en because each of the kids in this incredibly creative family contributes to the craft project on the site. I’m especially a fan of this stackable, painted Log Totem Pole because each kid decorated a log, which they can then rearrange and put together in different shapes heights.

A box, as we all know, is never just a box, even once it has been painted like a firetruck… or a train, or a spaceship, or a cave. Providing kids with paint and a box like Brooke from Let Kids Create did is a great way to unleash an active imagination.

Amy from Mamascout is excellent at providing her kids with open-ended creative lessons that allow their imaginations to run wild. This stunning Painted Cape Canvas is a beautiful creation her daughter made when Amy offered her a blank cape to use as a canvas.

Teacher Tom‘s Marble Run Painting Project allowed preschoolers to pour paint over a marble run and watch the colors blend as an amazing active installation piece.

All of the bloggers whose work is featured on AllFreeKidsCrafts are phenomenal at inventing amazing ways for kids to color outside the lines and create something completely original. Explore more of the projects on the site for some great ideas that will promote inquisitive and innovative though for some incredibly creative creations.

Tell me about a time when a kid’s creativity surprised you!

Twist & Twirl Yarn by Bernat

September 10, 2011 by TheCrochetCrowd 1 Comment

New to the stores shelves is Bernat’s newly released yarn called Twist & Twirl. It comes as a 100 g ball and one ball can make 1 scarf.

This yarn can be deceptive on how to use it. Let me show you how to operate this yarn. Cnce you get into the groove of understanding how to use it, it will whip up a scarf in about 2 – 3 hours.

Here is an exclusive look at a tutorial using this this yarn.

PLAY TUTORIAL NOW

Enjoy the fancy colours and this yarn is reasonably priced considering it can make a generous size scarf.

Once you understand this yarn, you can go see AllFreeCrochet for more ideas because maybe you can use it for other things that hasn’t yet been thought of.

Creativ Festival Courses

July 12, 2011 by TheCrochetCrowd 1 Comment

Creativ Festival In Toronto Ontario. One of Ontario’s Largest Creativ Events

Creativ Festival is held on October 21, 22, & 23, 2011. It is one of Ontario’s largest creative venues.

Check out the latest info of what is new coming this fall. New floor and seminars never before featured at Creativ Festival are scheduled. Click Here

What is it?

Celebration of everything crafty.
Hands on activities, lessons, and extremely interactive.
Courses & seminars to be more detailed and grab onto ideas and concepts firmly.
Knowledgeable and leading teachers instructing.
Crafting Product Sales.

Mikey will be announcing on The Crochet Crowd’s Facebook Fan Page. When the courses are available on the website to be able to enlist. Last year, 3 of 5 of Mikey’s courses sold out within a week.

Mikey is hosting 3 long seminars this year instead of 5. It was noticed last year that 45 minutes in a classroom with 3 of the classes weren’t long enough. Mikey will be teaching loom knitting in all three courses. We would like to thank Bernat & D.A. Looms for their sponsorship in providing yarn and equipment for the students to use. Brand new to this year’s line up will by the Infinity II Loom Course by D.A. Looms.com.

Stay tuned to Facebook when the courses will open up. First come first serve!

Learning Can Be Fun

August 19, 2009 by FaveCrafts 1 Comment

It’s that time of year, which we’ve all been preparing for. The school season is just about to begin. With that said, all the little kids are starting to get nervous as well as the parents. We had a guest contributor, Megan Wisniewski, send in a few projects from a book called 100 + No-Sew Fabric Crafts for Kids by Mary Link. The Standing Fabric Animals are a great craft to help the kids get started in school. There are little slots in them so you can slide the animals on a desktop or dresser so they can stand by themselves. This craft is great for kids so they can learn about animals and their patterns. The Colorful Fruit Lace is also a great craft for kids beginning school. Those who are going into preschool are just learning the basics like motor skills. This fruit lace is the perfect project for preschoolers to learn. It also helps them learn their colors. Learning doesn’t always have to be boring staring at a teacher. Now it can be fun and colorful.

fruit-lace fabric-animals

To find more crafts like these check out Mary’s book!

And I know you’ll love these Walnut Animals!