Kids Craft: DIY Latch Board

I've been seeing latch board tutorials all over pinterest lately, so I decided to give it a try. I just headed up to Menard's and picked out a few door latches, hooks, a handle and some washers. I also picked up a small can of yellow paint and a round board.  For everything it was about $30.

First I painted both sides of the board. I also saw on pinterest to use push pins to hold it off the table when painting so it doesn't stick. Worked great! 

Once it was all dry I laid out my parts to figure out where I wanted them so they wouldn't touch each other and worked best. Then I waited for Mike to get home so he could assemble it. I probably could of done this part myself, but I wanted him to help out too.

 He played with it for a few minutes and that was about it. Marley played with it too, but in the end Mason picked up his cars and went on his way. Maybe he'll play with it more when he's a little bit older.

*This post was written by Melanie. She's a mom to two and a full time blogger at Growing to Four *

Kids Craft: Bottle Cap Stampers

I'm always looking for ways to keep Marley occupied during the day. She could sit and watch tv or play her DS all day if we let her. I saw this idea on pinterest and thought she would enjoy it since she loves to paint and draw. My aunt actually had the bottle caps, but they're just off milk and gatorade. Then I picked up the foam stickers at Wal-Mart for $1. 

At the time I wasn't really thinking, but I can't use all the letters because once you stick them on the caps and stamp with them, they are backwards- oops! I did the letters I could and just let Marley play with the rest of the letters.  All you do is stick the letters on the caps and either paint or stamp with stamp pad. Super easy. You could also do animals or shapes. 

* This post was written by Melanie. She's a mom to two and a full time blogger at Growing to Four * 

Kids Craft: Toilet Paper Roll Birdfeeder

My daughter and I did a quick little craft project today after she brought home some bird food from school. 

First, you need some used toilet paper rolls, peanut butter, bird food, something to spread peanut butter with, and something to lay the bird food out on.

I spread the peanut butter on the t.p. rolls first. I did it pretty thick for a few reasons, one- because I wanted the bird food to stick good, and two- I knew I wouldn't be using this jar of p.b. again so I figured I wouldn't waste it.

Next, I passed the roll off to my daughter and she rolled it all over in the bird food. Making sure to smoosh it down good so the food sticks. 

That's it! Then we just bundled up and went outside and slid them over tree branches. We put them where we could see them from inside so we could watch them if a bird does come.

It took us about 10 minutes from start to finish and was free since I already had p.b. and t.p. rolls.

*This post is by Melanie. She's a stay at home mom to two and full time blogger at Growing to Four. If you like this post, be sure to check out her blog for lots more*

Kids Craft: Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments

The other day I came across this salt dough ornament on Pinterest. I decided to do it with the kids this past weekend.

--All you need is 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, and water.
--Mix the flour and salt and then slowly pour in water until it forms a dough. 
--Flatten it out on a cookie sheet so it's large enough for your child's hand to fit.
--Press their hand into the dough and slowly lift it out. I used a straw to make a hole at the top so we can hang it.
--After you do that, bake it at 150 degrees for 1 hour (my oven only goes down to 170 degrees so I used that).
--Remove from oven and let cool completely.
--You can then leave it how it is and hang it from the tree with a pretty ribbon, or you can paint it. I painted them so the handprints would show a little better.  On the back I also painted 2014 so we'll always remember when we made then.

These are something you could do every year or you could even do footprints.  I'm sure grandparents would love them too.

*This post was written by Melanie. She's a stay at home mom to two and also a full time blogger at Growing to Four. *