Easy Kid-Made Labels

Every summer we accumulate a lot of "treasures" we store in old jars. I usually label the jars with a bit of masking tape but this summer we got a little more professional and made our own labels. Once we started we saw a number of items that could be labeled.

Print out on a sheet of white paper the name of all your items that need to be labeled. Make sure you allow enough room to crop and use a large enough font set on bold. Let your child color the paper. Cut out the label. You can back with some colored to paper - see cereal label. Attach with contact paper or packing tape cut slightly larger. Make sure you won't mind putting tape on the item you are labeling as it might damage something delicate.

We even used this method to label two spots on a table where the girls are suppose to put their sippy cups after they are done drinking them. I was tired of hunting down sippy cups or worse finding them - how many days later - behind a chair or under the couch. Both girls now know to put their cups on their circles. Emme still needs a little reminding. But it definitely has been great putting the responsibility in their hands.

Happy labeling!

What To Do With Your Child's Artwork: Save or Toss

My friend over at Organizing-Life asked me awhile back what I do with all my kids artwork. Do I keep it all or toss some? How do I decide? What about bulky three dimensional pieces? Here are some ideas and options to help you navigate the piles of artwork you will accumulate over your child's lifetime.

Break your child's artwork into several categories:

• Obvious Toss
  
• Seasonal Artwork
• Special Occasion Artwork
• Firsts
• Sculptures
• They LOVE or you LOVE
• Reuse
  

Obvious Toss: These items you know when their expiration date is up and when your little one isn't looking remove from fridge and TOSS then replace with their latest masterpiece. This work includes scribbles, the hundredth drawing of the same unicorn, random stickers on a piece of paper...

Emme is a prolific scribbler. At this stage I save her firsts and toss the rest.

Seasonal Artwork: I like to store the seasonal artwork with my seasonal decorations. I think it is fun to decorate the house with the heart hand prints Lulu made in preschool at Valentines Day or the glittery Easter Egg she made at Easter. Keep in mind there is a lot of seasonal artwork that will accumulate over the years. So when the kids are old enough to decide have them go through it and decide what she be kept and what should be tossed.





Special Occasion Artwork: These are creations your kiddos will make for you over the years for your birthday, anniversary, mother's day... Keep an accordion file folder for these homemade cards and drawings. Your kids will appreciate looking at these expressions of their love later in life. Of course, don't forget the obvious toss category. It is OK to toss a piece of paper with a line on it and a sticker stuck to it even if it was given to you out of love!


Firsts: First scribble, first finger painting, first drawing of a person, fish, animal, your family... These items are important to keep but don't go overboard. Try to remember to write their age and why the drawing is important on the back. Store in the accordion folder with your special occasion artwork.

I saved this and wrote about Lulu's desire to be a Paleontologist. This is her first drawing of a dinosaur bone.

Sculptures: Unless it is a true master piece - take a picture of it or of your child holding it. Then after it has been thoroughly enjoyed and displayed...TOSS!

Most kids sculptures are fairly fragile to begin with or are made with materials not meant to last the long haul.



They LOVE or you LOVE: This is tricky because there are going to be a lot of projects that you and your child are going to just love. This is where things start piling up. Save the true masterpieces. In a few years revisit them with your child and decide together which should be tossed and which should be kept. Any artwork you are not sure about - photograph.

Emme loves this and when it is taken down will be put in the folder with her age and a quick note about how much she loves this and points to it everday saying, Bub-ble.


Reuse: See What To Do With Your Child's Artwork or click here.

Tip: Consider compiling your child's artwork into a photo book which can be done online fairly cheaply or an artwork scrapbook.

Tip: Don't forget to date and jot down any info of why you are saving the artwork. If you can't think of anything to write than most likely you shouldn't be saving it! Also if you have more than one child get them separate folders.

ABC and 123 Picnic Talk: Kids Crafts

Hello and welcome to 4 Crazy Kings! I am a former High School Art Teacher and currently am a SAHM. I love crafting and doing art with my girls. My blog chronicles our projects, adventures & life in general. Hope you enjoy your visit!

My basic art supply list for kids:

• foam brushes
• regular brushes (an assortment)
• various size plastic containers (for water, mixing paints, palettes...)
• sponge (for drying off your paintbrush between color changes)
• decent quality paint (tempera and water color)
  
• glitter (not necessarily a basic but it is in our house!)
  
• good quality glue (bottle and stick)
  
• lots of paper (all sizes, colors and weights)
• quality kids scissors and adult scissors
• crayons
• markers
• tissue paper
• pipe cleaners (chenille stems)
• clothes pins (for holding something in place while it dries)
• an old drawing board or masonite board (something that you can do your project on and then move to let dry or work on later.)
• smock (old t-shirt)

Extra Fun Items to Include:

• Colored Sand
• Clay
• Craypas (Oil Crayons)
• Water Color Crayons/Pencils
• Hole punch
• Yarn
• Pony Beads
• Stamps & Stamp Pads
• Glue gun (for you to make doing projects easier and cuts down on drying time)
• Contact Paper
• Colored Foam Sheets
• Assorted Collage Materials: pom poms, googly eyes, sequins...
• Craft Sticks (Popsicle)
• Wallpaper & Fabric Books (see this post)

Cupboard Items to Craft With:

• Pasta
• Rice
• Beans
• Paper Plates
• Paper Cups
• Sand Paper
  
• Card Board Boxes
• Oatmeal Containers
• Egg Cartons
• Margarine Containers
• Sponges
• Paper Bags
• Toilet, Paper Towel, Wrapping Paper Rolls
• Milk Cartons
  

The Importance of Cleanup
I am hardly the neatest or most organized person but being a former art teacher I am obsessed with keeping my art supplies clean and stored properly. I had very messy and disorganized art teachers growing up and hated trying to find a clean work surface, palette or brush that wasn't crudded up with dried paint with the ends bent into an unusable angle.

• Clean paint brushes and store brush side up.
• Clean palette (I just use the dirty brush to rub over the palette under running water - it cleans the brush and palette at the same time.)
• Clean the top of your glue and paint containers with a damp sponge.
• Put caps back on markers (Dip slightly dry markers in water and then replace the caps let sit over night. This revives them. Doesn't work on really dried out markers.)
• Get some plastic storage containers to store materials in. Divide into to material groups.
• Playdough Container: Playdough and all the accessories (cookie cutters, stampers, cutting tools, extruder...)
  
• Painting Container: Paints & Palette (one container) Brushes (stored up right in an cup)
• Bead Container: Large plastic jar with lid & small plastic bowls for sorting all sit in rimmed tray ready to play with
  
• Stamp Container: Stamps & stamp pads
• Everyday Craft Container (see photo below and this post)

Keeping your crafts organized and clean helps make doing crafts easier with your kids. I know that for many of my friends doing crafts with their kids is a daunting task because they think it involves so much set up, clean up and just makes a huge mess. It doesn't have to be if you have a system and are organized. Don't take everything out when working with toddlers. Limit their choices initially. This will allow them to fully experience the particular material. Art is a discovery process especially at this young age. Don't overwhelm them with too many materials.

Also at this age don't expect an end result. Experimenting is more fun than coming up with a finished project. For example, take something as simple as washable markers. Let them draw on heavy paper (you'll end up with a stack of marker scribbles.) Next time take out some of the marker drawings give them a brush with a little dish of water. Let them paint water on their marker drawings to see what happens.

When painting limit their palettes. Don't break out every color of the rainbow. They are learning about color so limit them to two colors that are either similar (blue & purple) or that make another color (blue & yellow.) This also helps them from making muddy pictures and allows them to observe what happens when you mix certain colors. As they get older you can let them have more color choices.

For more great ideas please visit some of my past Crafting with Kids Posts. And consider following my blog to continue to get great Crafting with Kids ideas! Have fun crafting with your kids! Mama King

Organizing-Life

Edit: The post is up over at Organizing-Life. Check it out!

I am a featured blog over at Organizing-Life today. (Which is kind of funny because I am organizationally challenged!) I do earnestly strive to be as organized as Abbie over at Organizing-Life. She has great tips and ideas for those of us that might need a little help in this department. I give some tips on organizing the gazillion puzzle and game pieces that come with having children.

Organizing Crafts

As you all know I love all things crafty. My house on the other hand does not. We are busting at the seams here in the King household. Paint, glue, markers, glue, clay, colored sand, play dough, markers, tissue paper, pom poms, googly eyes, card board, stamps and stamp pads...the list goes on and on. How can I possibly coral all of the girls craft materials plus mine? Baby steps! I am not at all an organized soul. I actually have to consciously battle my disorganization on a daily basis. I told my new friend Abbie over at Organizing-life that I must be missing the organization gene! I can relate more to the title of Sharon's blog, Mama's A Mess. (By the way: Sharon is hardly a mess!)

The first step was organizing the girls basics. I put together a basket of basic art supplies that we use daily. I had to store them in plain site due to a storage shortage. Plus they had to be high enough Em (my little wrecking ball) can't reach. That is why they are stored in the dining area in between the wine and the wine glasses. Not ideal but that is all I have to work with. The basket is nice because it hides the contents and is easy to take down for craft time and put pack up afterwards.

I placed little plastic baskets which I had and a few Solo cups in to separate the items. I can grab the basket of markers quickly. The square marker pencil holder in the center of the picture holds those annoying "I'm not a marker" markers. You know the random Magic Pen and Color Wonder markers. So annoying when you go to jot something down and you pick up one of those! So those definitely needed their own spot.

I also organized a shelf for the girls coloring, activity & work books. Plus I came up with a solution for organizing the paper. I am addicted to Korean Seasoned Seaweed. Why is that important? Well, the brand I like comes packaged in really nice heavy duty cardboard box. I have been saving them (because that is what we crazy craft addicts do) waiting for a project to pop into my head. Well, here you go...paper storage! I haven't had a chance to cover them in pretty paper yet but here you get the idea. I cut about 2 inches off the top only to make accessing the paper easier. The bottom box has construction paper, the middle white paper and the top activity pages for Lu taken out of the books for her to work on whenever she wants. If you have any great tips you can pass along please do! I can use all the help you can offer!

This is a work in progress. Next up will be the paints & painting supplies.

Art Storage: A Lesson from Mom

In honor of My Mama! I learned from the best!

This the old expandable file folder my Mom stored my childhood masterpieces in. Can't you just see the raw talent! She had one for each of us girls (3 all together.) A couple of years ago she was cleaning out her office and came upon them. We didn't know she had been saving our notes, drawings, book reports... all these years. It was a wonderful surprise to go through! It meant a lot to me that she had saved these pieces from my childhood. I wanted to do the same for my girls.

I found a sturdy file folder with a handle at Staples and bought two. As the artwork comes down off the wall or fridge I decide what to keep, what to reuse (cut up for collage) and what to toss. I then jot down on the back a date, name and any anecdotes. Like, "you had more paint on you than on the paper!" When the girls are a bit older they can even decorate or decoupage their folders! I leave the folders in a spot that is easily accessible so I'll be sure to remember to occasionally file & purge!


I am linking this post to Keeping Up With the Shultz Family's Round Robin Event. If you would like to join:

"Here is what you need to do: Post something fun on your blog that you would like to share with other bloggers. Like a craft idea, fashion tips, a recipe, a "Meme" you may have on your page, a giveaway, if you have a business show off what you have, or anything your little heart desires. Just remember to keep it clean. I do not want anyone getting hurt. After you have your idea ready come on back to my blog and link up with "Mr. Linky" Then keep coming back to see more ideas, learn something new and even meet some new friends."

Repurposed Spice Jars

My girlfriend is interested in organizing her crafts...so I thought as the days go by I will occasionally post organizing solutions.

Let me just say, I am a sucker for packaging. I love these spice jars. They sell them in the Natural Foods Aisle of our grocery store. The label peals off beautifully after your done with the spice. We use them for beads. Although when we finish the next jar I am going to use it to house colored sand. It will make it easier for Lulu to sprinkle the sand onto the paper (& glue.)