Monday Made It

The entire summer I've been wanting to do Monday Made It, but I seem to never get to it.  So, today I am making up for it.  I did one thing I've been wanting to do just because I saw it on Pinterest and it looked neat.  The other ideas are crafts that I'm getting ready to do at a camp for special needs' kids.  I'm in charge of arts and crafts for the week and oh, did I mention it is the all boys' week.  Since I didn't know what to expect, I planned crafts that would be easy to manipulate, but at the same time be more than a coloring sheet.  Not that there is anything wrong with a coloring sheet, but if I can come up with cheap, hands-on activities, then why not?

Activity 1 - Hand Puppets
I thought of this idea, Googled it, and found tons of puppets.  The snake and the lion were my own version, but I found the giraffe at CRAFT JR.  We decided to pick animal puppets that would all have similar colors to save money and so hopefully everyone could do the puppet they wanted.  The puppets we came up with were a lion, giraffe, and a snake.  They all turned out very cute, but the giraffe and snake were MUCH more child friendly.  Although I liked the lion, we are definitely not going to be doing it now.  The only way to put it together was to hot glue it.

The other puppets turned out great and I believe any child could do them.  First, I bought all the socks I needed.  Then, my hubby and I dyed them yellow.  Honestly, I ended up doing more watching than helping.  Once we finished them, we started piecing them together.  One thing you may want to do for younger kids is go ahead and mark the socks for where they will glue the eyes or any other pieces.  Be prepared that when they are done, you will need to go back with a glue gun for pieces that didn't stick well.  Another trick is I cut up cardboard and stuck it inside the socks.  This way it makes the sock more flat and easier to color with markers or to paint.

Activity 2 - Jungle Visors
I saw these on Oriental Trading and got them as a quick craft.  I purposefully put too much glue because that's what most kids do, right?  They turned out great.  I did have to go back and add a little hot glue to the ears, but they were easy to put together.  My favorite thing about this little craft is the kits come packaged for each kid.  That way, I don't have to hand out or count out pieces.  There are also instructions, so if the kids are a little older or if you need them, you can use them to help.

Actvity 3 - Monkey Frame
This was another Oriental Trading quick craft that I grabbed.  This one was a little complex, but now that I've done the sample for camp, I think we can avoid any issues.  One thing that was complicated is the arms, hands, and ears don't exactly look like arms, hands and ears.  However, I took a picture so you won't have that problem.  Depending on the age of your kids, you may also want to go ahead and punch out all the pieces.  This craft had A LOT of smaller pieces, so be prepared.  It really is adorable and definitely will work, I just realized as I was making it that I would need to prep it a little more.

Activity 4 - Bean Bag Frog

I don't know why, but I have really been wanting to make one of these.  I bought colored bean bags and wiggly eyes from Oriental Trading.  There are tons of ways to make them, but I wanted something quick and I didn't have the patience to figure it out this time.  Then, I went and bought felt in a lot of different colors from Hobby Lobby.  If your kids put plenty of glue, the felt and eyeballs will stick to the beanbag.  I made the one in the picture kind of plain, but you could add dots to it made out of felt.  When the craft is done, let them dry and go back later with a glue gun to touch up if needed.

We are also planning on painting bird houses and making tissue paper fish.  My friend grabbed the tissue paper fish at Hobby Lobby today and they are cute!

My Activity
Now, for my little activity.  So, I saw a picture on Pinterest last year of a keyboard that had a lot of different colors.  I had no clue how they did it, but I loved how it looked.  It was pretty incredible.  Well, you remember at the beginning of the summer I got tons of Washi tape.  I know you can find it on ETSY, but if you are like me, when you are first testing a new product you want to see it in person.  I found all of this Washi tape at Michaels.  Some of it was also Slam Book tape which was neat because it had multiple types of tape on the roll.

So, today I took my tape and cut it to match the keys on my keyboard.  The lighter, pastel colors didn't work as well.  Since my keys are black the colors didn't pop out at you.  However, the brighter colors worked great.  Also, a lot of the patterns that didn't have much white worked great.  One of the other things I figured out is there are a few keys I don't know really well.  I put tape that was a little more see through on those keys.  Then, some of the main keys (shift, enter, command) I tried to put my favorite tapes on those and match them up.  For example, if there are two shift buttons, they have the same type of tape.  I also made sure that my two home keys (f and j) have matching tape.

Anyway, I know that's a lot of writing about a little keyboard fun, but here's the end product!  I am in love!  Next up, my light switch and a notebook.

Have a great night!