Fun Craft Projects

Help Celebrate America Recycles Day November 15th

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:39:17 -0600

America Recycles Day is celebrated this Sunday, November 15th. This is a great time to teach kids about the art of repurposing items that have outgrown their usefulness or are, perhaps, not functioning any longer.

Here at ZiggityZoom, we love to find fun uses for discarded household items. As you've probably noticed in our Activities section, we have robots to make, decorations for holidays and general fun things like castles and totem poles you can make.

Some of the things we use? Just look at this bin of discarded boxes and containers we save ... just so we will be well-prepared for the next project. Juice containers, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, boxes, bottle caps, you name it.

Here is one of the finished projects made from only toilet paper tubes, cardboard and paint. This can be made as a little girl's Princess castle or a Pirate castle for the boys. Click link for full instructions.

Ziggity Zoom Art Contest Winners Announced

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:35:56 -0500

Recently, ZiggityZoom presented a fun day at Kangaroo Jac's in Chesapeake, Virginia with an Art Bounce and Kids Art Contest. All kids who participated took part in a Sock Puppet workshop and created a fun puppet to take home.

Some of the kids took advantage of the discount for Kangaroo Jac's admission by bringing a piece of their artwork for ZiggityZoom's Art Contest. Three lucky winners will receive "Bounce passes" to Kangaroo Jac's for future fun.

Featured here are our Art winners, who had to draw or paint a Princess, Pirate, Creature or Kangaroo. Congratulations to our winners! We think they did a great job.

Winners: Ainsley, age 4 "Princess"

Taylor, age 5 "Creatures"

Kali, age 10 "Kangaroo Jac's Princess"

Kids Creativity Evident When Making Fun Sock Puppets

sharon — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 20:54:28 -0500

Ziggity Zoom staff recently presented a fun Sock Puppet workshop with kids at the Virginia Beach Library in celebration of the national Summer reading program "Be Creative at Your Library".

Each and every sock puppet, created by the kids 3-7 years old, was entirely different and had a personality all their own. The kids thoroughly enjoyed making their own characters, embellishing the socks with felt, feathers, pipe cleaners and wiggly eyes. This is such a fun project and we even heard from some parents that their children played with the puppets all day long.

We have featured a collage of the puppets to show how fun and creative the kids got with their sock puppets. To see how to make a fun project making these puppets featured in our activities section ziggityzoom.com/activities.php

Paper Jointed Animals - A Fun & Easy Craft Activity for Kids & Parents

sharon — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:33:52 -0500

If you're searching for a really easy and inexpensive craft for the kids, this is it. We have turned discarded file folders, you know the ones you already wrote on the tab and stuck somewhere, into fun Jointed Animals.

Any heavyweight paper or cardboard is also suitable to make these cute animals. The first two posted, here in the Arts & Crafts activities section, are a Giraffe and an Elephant. We will be adding additional animals but you can also create, or let the kids create, lots of other animals. Just use the same type body parts and then create a new head to have a different animal.

We used plain pipe cleaners to joint the animals for fun positioning and play. Another option is to make these animals into marionettes, by making a small hole at the top of the head and center of the body. Insert strings and tie to ends of a popsicle stick or little twig.

Have Fun with Bubble Wrap - Wiggle, Giggle - Create Bubble Wrap Art

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:21:41 -0600

Honestly, what kid does not love to pop the bubbles on the bubble wrap? Ok, maybe a few that do not like loud noises, but most kids love jumping on it and hearing all the pops.

After receiving a package the other day and after my kids enjoyed jumping, running, and bouncing about on the bubble wrap until the sound was no more, I realized bubble wrap would make a perfect surface to paint on.

3 Options to Paint on Bubble Wrap.

Option 1:

1. Cut Out Shapes and Animals or Scenes with the Bubble Wrap.

2. Let you Kids Paint the Animals and Shapes on Scrap Paper or Newsprint.

3. Once the Bubble Wrap Paintings are Dry, let Kids help Glue them to the Heavy Weight Paper with a Glue Stick.

Option 2:
1. Cut out Bubble Wrap Shapes

2. Glue the Shapes and Animals
to the Heavy Weight Paper

3. Let Kids Paint the Bubble Wrap Shapes on the Paper.

Option 3.
1. Attach Bubble Wrap to Heavy Weight Paper by gluing the paper and smoothing down the Bubble Wrap to the Paper.

2. Trim the excess Bubble Wrap so the Bubble Wrap is even with the Paper.

3. Let kids Paint a Picture onto the Bubble Wrap.

Let Art Dry and Then Let Your Kids Proudly Display it!

Make A Scrapbook of Your Child's Artwork for Them To Keep

sharon — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 10:28:03 -0600

As much as we all love the artwork our kids make at school and bring home to us, we all have the same question. "What should I do with all this artwork that is piling higher and higher?" Not only do we have art from school, but art done at home, as well. And by the time you add up all the Art from a couple of kids it can get downright mind-boggling.

So, here is a great solution that will become a wonderful keepsake of your child's art to hand them when they are older. Start your Art Scrapbook for each child by personalizing the front of the Scrapbook with their name and photo, then add fun embellishment with the word ART in big letters, either cut out or some of the fun fonts you can find at the craft stores. If you haven't looked lately, there are entire sections just for Scrapbooking supplies and papers in most stores these days. Not only the craft stores, but also at Target and Walmart.

Make each page a fun page that is colorful and that coordinates with the color in each particular piece of art your child has done. Your child will have fun doing this project with you and it will be a great memory that he/she created this special book with you ... and knowing that it is "his" or "hers".

This is a lovely activity for a rainy day or when it's just too cold to go outside. We'd love to share some of your photos, so when you get started, please drop us a note and a photo or two. Happy Scrapping!

Today's Activity-Make a Monkey Bank, Teach Your Kids How to Save Money, Play Hide and Seek, and Fast Black Bean Soup

kpfitch — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:41:33 -0500

Teach Your Kids to Save Money

Monkey Bank
Now more than ever is a perfect time to teach your kids about saving money. Make this great Monkey bank with your preschooler or prek student.

Money Matters- Lessons to Teach your Kids about Money- Saving, Spending and Donating
This is a great article to help parents teach kids about saving money, donating to charity, and allocating money for spending.

Fun Kids Game

Hide and Seek Kids Game
Let your kids have fun while learning their numbers-let your kids play hide and seek with Zoomer.

Find Fun Halloween Crafts on Ziggity Zoom Kids Website

sharon — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:38:42 -0500

It's getting to be that spooky time of the year again. Halloween is actually ranked as second in holiday decorating, just falling behind Christmas. Kids and parents are gearing up for the season, already thinking about who will wear which costume. And, of course, some stores have displayed Halloween wares even before the back-to-school rush, hoping to extend the season.

Favorite Kids Themes Include Princess & Pirate - Games, Activities & Crafts

sharon — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:36:58 -0500

Ask a bunch of preschoolers what themes they like best and the majority will name Princess, for girls, and Pirate, for boys. Two of the next favorite themes are Mermaids and Robots. So, if you happen to be planning a party or event to include young kids, these themes are definite winners!

Even for everyday activities, if you can incorporate a pirate or princess into the story, game or craft you will get the kids attention. For little girls, nothing is much more magical than a pretty little princess. And for little boys, the adventure surrounding pirates is intriguing at any age.

Ziggity Zoom has a number of fun activities for your pirate lover, one being a fun craft to make a pirate hat. www.ziggityzoom.com/activities.php Another is a printable pirate puzzle that can be printed onto magnetic pages for your home printer. www.ziggityzoom.com/activities.php

Princess Activities on Ziggity Zoom include online stories, coloring pages www.ziggityzoom.com/coloring.php and a Princess Castle to make. www.ziggityzoom.com/activities.php Soon to be added will be interactive, but simple, Playworlds for preschoolers. These will include all four of these most popular themes.

Free Buddy the Dinosaur Costume Pattern for Kids from PBS Parents

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:46:54 -0500

Still looking for a Halloween costume for the kids?

Jim Henson's Creature Shop — the folks who brought you Elmo and Miss Piggy, among many others — has whipped up a Buddy costume, so your kids can dress up as their favorite little T-Rex.

PBS Parents is offering a free exclusive costume pattern for "Buddy," the T-Rex star from the new hit PBS KIDS series DINOSAUR TRAIN. The full-body sewing pattern, designed by the artists of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, is available in two sizes for ages 3 to 5. You can click here to access the pattern. There is also a "no sew" option to download.