No Mess Sandpaper Snowflakes

  With a few sheets of sandpaper found in the garage and some leftover white yarn from my stash, the girls spent some quiet time together making snowflake pictures! In mind was this sandpaper craft from Polwig found via The Crafty Crow. The yarn clings onto the sandpaper all by itself, which the girls thought […]

Spider Web Sun Catchers

Know what’s LOTS of FUN?? Last-minute crafting for Halloween…. in your pajamas!!!! Clara loved making these spider web sun catchers using clear contact paper, and a few items from the dollar store. First, invite the kiddos to break up fake spider webs from the dollar store into small pieces. Clara LOVED this part — such […]

I’m in Highlights High Five!

Exciting news!! Pick up a copy of the November issue of Highlights High Five, and you’ll see a fun (and frugal) little crafty project from yours truly… aren’t these mushrooms the cutest?? Highlights High Five is an ad-free monthly magazine specifically designed for children ages 2-6 years old with puzzles, poems, stories, crafts and recipes, […]

Posing with Plexiglass

For a fun time, frame a sheet of plexiglass with duct tape to take care of any sharp edges. Go outside, and draw on the plexiglass with dry erase markers to make “enhancements” to your environment!! In a very short time we had beautiful flowers growing out of the lawn, backyard trees full of red […]

Hammer Time!

Here is yet another FUN use for pool noodles — especially if you happen to have a few golf tees on-hand!! We reused the same ones from the awesome marble run and croquet lawn game. I used masking tape to attach the pool noodles to some small cutting boards, and invited the girls to bring some […]

Printable Play Space

I made up some cute play spaces from a sheet of card stock paper, and our peg dolls have made themselves right at home. The girls are having a great time with these, and I love how something as simple as a sheet of paper can make their faces light up!! There were lots of […]

Nature Drawing – Seasonal Trees

When I was in second grade, I had a lovely teacher (Thank you, Mrs. Barnhart!!) who would take a few minutes every season to let us go outside and draw the same tree throughout the year. This proved to be a simple, but very effective lesson in art, weather, and science. At the end of […]

DIY: Tele-Transporter

Airplanes are a hassle, trains are too slow, and cars can get stuck in traffic. What you really want is a tele-transporter to instantly transport you wherever you need to go!! The girls and I went to a local park to build a prototype for our own tele-transporter, and used it to instantly transport us […]

Summer Fun — Let’s Build a Road!

As a kid, I remember using my dad’s electrical tape to make elaborate playscapes for my younger brother in my parents’ basement. There was a small-scale basketball court, a soccer field, and plenty of race tracks that were made over & over again — good times!! This afternoon, Clara and I built our own roads […]

Invisible Graffiti

Love painting, but not a fan of the mess?? Ever have an overcoming urge to paint graffiti around your neighborhood, but don’t want to risk getting in trouble with the law?? Then invisible graffiti is for you!! It’s a piece of white cardboard cut into the shape of a palette with completely dried nail polish […]

Garden GROW Bunting

It’s no surprise that we are big fans of gardening, but this year we have a new addition to our usual rented garden plot — our first raised bed in our own backyard!! Mark has been hard at work with all the building, and I was SO excited that I could not WAIT for the […]

Super Easy Weekend Crafts

We’ve been taking it easy around here lately, so here are some EASY crafts for those laid back weekends. This star garland is easy to make using star-shaped sticky notes! Emily loved playing this easy fishing game — made with pipe cleaner fish! …and if Spring isn’t coming fast enough for you, try making your own tissue paper […]

Easy Balloon Birthday Card

While Emily was at school, Clara and I enjoyed working on a special surprise birthday card to give to Em later this month. It was super-easy and lots of fun to make! We used construction paper, and drew lines with black marker for the balloon strings. Then Clara had lots of fun adding all the […]

No-Mess Shiny Pot of Gold

We are getting ready for St. Patrick’s Day, and Clara loved making this pot of gold craft from gold foil chocolate wrappers! It’s a quick and easy no-mess craft! Added bonus — I’m giving you an excuse to eat chocolate!! Um… Did somebody say….. CHOCOLATE???? Nom, nom, nom…….. I cut out a black pot from […]

Fun with Googly Eyes

This was a super-easy and quick activity that Emily enjoyed, and all we used were some old magazines and a package of googly eyes!! We used self-adhesive googly eyes, which you can buy here from Amazon for some no-mess silly fun! Emily had a great time “enhancing” the photos in the magazines! Here are some […]

Homemade Rhythm Set

Using some PVC pipe, a few recyclables, and some other household items, we made a fun rhythm set!! The sticks were made using empty heavy-duty cardboard rolls from plastic wrap. (I ask friends to save them for us!) Since most of the items were plastic, the “music” didn’t get too loud. Clara loved exploring all […]

Valentine Sweets for My Sweetie

A warm welcome to our newest sponsor, Happy Heels by Hannah! Hannah and her sister sew and sell fleece blankets that are designed to keep babies warm in a car seat — brilliant! Frugal Family  Fun Blog readers can get 10% off their order by using coupon code — FFFB10 Sponsors help make this blog […]

Heart Tea Tags

These heart tea tags were a fun after school project for Emily, and they make quick, easy, (and frugal) Valentine’s Day gifts! I had a small box of tea from the dollar store, and Emily snipped off the tea tags with her kid-friendly scissors. Easy, peasy! We didn’t have any heart stickers on hand, but […]