As I mentioned earlier, we are getting very close to post number 1,000 for this little bloggy blog!!! After nearly THREE years of blogging, I think this is a milestone worth celebrating, yes? And what better way to celebrate than with a series of fantastic reader appreciation giveaways?? To kick off our blogiversary celebration, my friends at Melissa & Doug are giving away a Deluxe Floor Standing Wooden Easel to one very lucky reader here at Frugal Family Fun Blog!! How awesome is this???
I know, right?? Talk about CREATIVITY central! This Melissa & Doug wooden easel is double-sided with chalkboard on one side, and a dry erase board on the other. It includes a locking paper roll holder, a child-safe paper cutter, four clips, and a plastic tray on each side for easy-reach art supplies (not included) and easy-clean storage. Recommended for ages 3 and up, and adult assembly is required. Also?? It has adjustable height legs to grow with your child! With a retail value of $79.99, this would be an amazing holiday gift!!!
Now the FUN part — One very lucky reader will win a Melissa & Doug Deluxe Floor Standing Wooden Easel (shown above) of their own!!! To enter for your chance to win, leave a comment on this post sharing how you promote creativity with the special kid(s) in your life. For a bonus extra entry, leave a separate comment telling us about any projects you have done that Frugal Family Fun Blog has helped to inspire — feel free to include a link, and your project might be featured in an upcoming post here on FFFB! Giveaway is open to US residents only, and winner will be chosen at random. This giveaway ends Saturday, December 3rd @ 6:30pm EST. (See Official Giveaway Rules.)
A BIG thank you to Melissa & Doug for sponsoring such a FUN giveaway!!
Good luck!!!!
Update: This giveaway is now closed, and the winner is…. Alicia C!! Congratulations!!! A big thank you to everyone who entered this amazing giveaway — another super-fun giveaway starts soon!
I do an in home daycare and we promote creativity with painting, drawing, writing, story telling and sensory tables. This gift would come in so handy. My children love to paint and draw.
Thanks,
Hope Davis
Wamego, Kansas
My 2 year old son isn’t really ‘into’ crafts, but I still try anyways. We paint, color, craft and go explore in nature. He loves the outdoors and I TRY to come up with ‘naturey crafts’ for us to do. Love your blog, keep it up!
We try to make crafts together. I am not really creative naturally so I have to make a deliberate effort!
We spend lil bit tine everyday makin jewleey pkaying play dough or drawing an coloring
My son is only 8 1/2 months, so we haven’t started “crafting” yet…but I have so many ideas (from this blog as well as others) bookmarked for when he does get old enough!
Just yesterday we took your idea for a fall tree painting! http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/2010/10/toddler-art-autumn-tree-painting.html
So much fun, my 2 yr old enjoyed this fun paint craft!
You inspired me to do the fall leaves window decorations!
Here’s a link to my post
http://lolalucy09.blogspot.com/2011/10/fall-window-decorations.html
I always keep art supplies nearby and within reach of little hands. Every day I try to do some art with kiddos- big project or just sketching or finger painting. I proudly display kids’ art and encourage giving their art to friends and family.
I try to encourage creativity in my toddler with books, books, and more books along with toys that foster creativity (like blocks, legos, crafts, etc. — toys that don’t just have “one way to play!”).
Thanks for this kind opportunity! (And congrats on such a milestone for the blog!)
I promote creativity by buying art supplies for my nephews and giving them gifts like puppets I’ve made for them so they can play-act. I also made one nephew a crown for his birthday that he’ll be able to use again for play acting.
This blog inspired some oh our most favorite crafts:
Window display is a huge hit in this house, it is the second year now that our window tree changes appearance 🙂
http://days-that-never-end.blogspot.com/2010/10/fall-crafts-something-borrowed.html
http://days-that-never-end.blogspot.com/2010/12/best-season-of-all-day-2.html
http://days-that-never-end.blogspot.com/2011/03/spring-window-display.html
Crazy crayons were a huge hit:
http://days-that-never-end.blogspot.com/2011/01/something-borrowed.html
Awesome owls
http://days-that-never-end.blogspot.com/2010/10/crafty-mood.html
Thank you, Valerie for great ideas!
I’ll be making crayons like these: http://www.frugalfamilyfunblog.com/2011/01/easy-crazy-crayon-party-favors.html for my nephew’s this holiday season as part of their gift!
Thanks so much for hosting this wonderful giveaway! This is EXACTLY what we were planning to get DS for Christmas, so it was pretty funny to come across this giveaway when I opened google reader. 😛
We do things every day to promote creativity. The main thing I try to instill is “How can we work with what we have?” Sometimes we may have to go buy something especially for a project, but first, we try to look outside the box and figure out a solution.
I try to promote creativity with my sons by letting them explore as much as possible.
i try and inspire creativity by playing a lot with my kid. I try to provide structure in some activities and also provide opportunities for him to create without any structure. we love to imagine things and have lots of fun doing it.
We’ve done a few projects from your blog, including the fall leaf window mural (we plan to do it with snowflakes in the winter too!) and the funky crayons!
My toddler loves water and mud, but not really getting dirty with sticky things yet. I promote creativity by building or “drawing” in the dirt and mud. What better way to use an easel than to make sloppy pictures with finger paint, pancake batter, and mud! We have alot of baths at our house!!
My daughter (she’s 4) and I each make up a new bedtime story every night, so that we’re each telling a story to the other. Also, we’re trying to make crafts for family for the upcoming holiday season. So far, she’s made a beaded snowflake (clear beads on a white pipe cleaner) and a picture frame with thumbprinted holiday lights (yes, this blog is the inspiration for that).
We are always looking for something new to create!One of the biggest things that I do to help boost creativity in our daughter, is to gather a number of different crafting items and ask her, “What can we make from these?”. She always comes up with something and we work together to make her image come to life 🙂
We are constantly making crafts, painting, playing with playdough. They love to create so we are always having fun. We have made 2 Fall trees and 1 Thankful tree lately and they love to add leaves everyday for the things they are thankful for. They love to draw about anything that comes to their mind and they explain a story to me of their drawings…I love kid’s imagination 🙂
My two-year-old is a very spirited little girl, so we are constantly working on different projects. A lot of projects involve coloring with crayons or building with Legos (because they’re so much easier to set up and clean up), but we also paint together, squish Play Doh, trace hands and feet, glue stuff onto paper, and on and on. We also spend as much time outside as we can, and I encourage my daughter to examine all the things around her. I point out birds, bugs, rocks, sticks. Lastly, I read a lot to my daughter, and I encourage her to “read” to me.
With two boys we get creative by rolling around on the floor, cranking up the tunes, and having our handy art box with crayons, markers, paints, and various forms of paper- from empty flour bags and cereal boxes to construction and printer paper. I HAVE BEEN DREAMING OF AN ART EASEL!PICK US!
You have inspired a LOT of what we do! Like coloring on the fish tank- different than coloring on an empty frame but my boys love it! and we have made a seasonal tree to hang in our window…. and TONS more! take your pick: http://dev-linds.blogspot.com/search/label/Children%27s%20Fun
We like to reuse everyday items that would otherwise end up in the trash or recycled, for creative play and activities
I try to give my kids outlets for creativity inside and outside with whatever inspires us. The more improptu and child inspired the better!
My twin three year olds would love this! It would be ideal to have a side that they could both do something at the same time!
First congrats on such an achievement. I love doing little projects with my toddlers. Paint, crayons, markers are always a favorite. I help my older toddler (3) to tell stories with his cars and trains.
You have inspired a few projects. We took your elf under the stairs (fabric hung on wall via liquid starch) and applied it to creating planes flying across the walls in my 3year olds room. We also have used your idea of re-using old boxes for planes, cars, and other things. And lastly (that I can think of off the top of.my head) my boys LOVE the homemade sidewalk chalk paint. We have spent many afternoons painting our back patio in every possible color. Thank you for all your inspiring posts.
i recently hosted an event for a stay-at-home Mom’s group with children under 3 yrs. We made wrapping paper and bows. Since we live in the far north leaves are not available to paint over. Instead we all brought stamps and paint. Someone even made Christmas tree and star potato stamps. Next project is messless finger painting! Thanks for the inspiration.
My 5 year old has really developed a love of drawing lately and I’ve been considering an easel for her.
We love to draw stories and make up stories–especially in the car pool line on the magnetic drawing board.
I make sure we have a lot of supplies so the kids have a lot of opportunities to be creative.
Kims2312@Verizon.net
My almost 2 year old will do two activities- play with trucks and artwork! He loves watercolors, crayons, pencils, glitter-glue and markers. We dont have an easel yet and i think he would LOVE to have a dedicated space for all his creativity. Plus mamma loves M&D materials.
My oldest daughter (3), and recently my youngest daughter (1), love, I mean LOVE to do art. The crayons are always kept in reach and are free to use all the time! I let the oldest paint her masterpieces and allow the youngest paint when I am brave (she tends to make a huge mess) This easel has been on my wishlist for a long time, hoping to finally give it as a Christmas gift this year, whether we win or not 🙂 Congrats on 1,000 posts!!
My girls absolutely love “arts and craft” time! We spend a lot of time painting, drawing and on paper crafts. We made and LOVED your homemade iSpy jar!
My daughter LOVES to paint! She sees or hears anything and tries to draw or paint a picture of it!
I put a set of drawers in the kitchen with all kinds of crafty stuff. Since my daughter sees it, she asks to do things more often and i try very hard to be a yes mama!
Valerie, I have so many of your creative ideas filed away in my computer to use with my grandchildren someday. Your website is the first thing I check every day. I think that creative play is absolutely the best and most memorable play there is. It builds confidence and self-esteem. Besides, I want my grandchildren to love coming to see their grandparents. And, yes, fun most certainly can be frugal.
Always having a few fun and creative supplies on hand.
We like to paint, color, draw, play with colored noodles and rice. Thanks!
I am not very crafty by nature but my daughter just turned 3 and is very interested in crafts. I found an incredible deal on a $10 “craft table” on Craigslist that turned out to be her favorite bday present! Every day she sits at her table and works on projects – real and pretend.
We promote creativity by trying to expand on what the girls are learning in preschool that week. For example, if they are working on letter V we may go through magazines to find pictures of vegetables and make a collage at home (for them to share during show & tell). We love art projects!
I usually don’t like chaos, but when it comes to my son crafting, I have learned to let go. He has a craft cupboard where everything is easy access to him. When he wants so craft, I never make rule. He just goes at it. It is fun to see what he can come up with with he is allowed to use whatever he wants. Only I have out of reach is paint for obvious reasons, but even that is allowed be be used whenever if he asks.
You have so many great ideas, but one of our favorites was making the placecard turkeys. We need to make a few more for this year and appreciate the great idea and example you showed us. So helpful!
Oh my heavens I want to give my 2 yr old an easel for Chrismas! Please!
We are a no-TV household. We try to create, build, and explore every day.
Love the easel. I tend to let the kids (4 & 6) do “free” art to promote creativity. Drawing and painting on the easel would add a new element than the usual table setting. We also make “books” by stapling together several pieces of paper.
We recently moved and while we don’t have enough space for a dedicated playroom I tried to carve out special creative spaces all over: an art corner by the kitchen that will eventually have a setup to where supplies will always be at her reach, a dress up tub in her closet, and when our office/craft room is finally set up I have a small table in there for her to make stuff alongside mommy:). What we don’t have is an easel, so this would be awesome!
Recently we tried coloring on sandpaper and had a blast! And I was inspired by you to grab a few springs of flowers on clearance last week and my daughter has had so much fun playing with them!
To encourage creativity, I always keep an open mind and remember to say “yes” when the notion strikes us. I also try to keep plenty of random supplies on hand.
I think a better question would be, “when have we done a craft that wasn’t, in some way, inspired by FFFB?” Valerie, I’m so thankful I came across your blog (only about a year ago!), because you have inspired me over and over. Here are just a few:
owl playset, coffee filter fall leaves, fingerprint fall leaves: http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2010/11/crafty-october.html
crazy heart-shaped crayons: http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2011/02/flops.html
bird treats: http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2011/02/showing-some-love-to-our-bird-friends.html
juice lid magnetic fishing game: http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-is-she-going-to-do-with-all-those.html
spring flowers: http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2011/04/more-spring-flowers.html
2×4 snowman/penguin: http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2011/01/penguin-friend.html http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2011/01/woowee-was-that-cold-shower-this.html
Thank you for all you do! One way I promote creativity when the little ones are in a rut is to set out all the makings of a project in a slightly unusual location and wait for them to find it – bath paints in the guest bathroom (they go potty in there but don’t usually bathe there) or collage materials under the kitchen table or cutting work in the snack cabinet. They get so excited by the oddness of seeing projects in these funny places that they sit down and get right to work!
I encourage my 3 year old son to be creative by showing him the different crafts I make. Watching me cut fabric to make his younger brother a pair of boots inspired him (my I-will-not-practice-any-fine-motor-skill child) to try cutting along some lines on a piece of paper so he could work up to cutting fabric shapes.
We also loved your leaves on the door, though I don’t have any pictures.
We promote creativity by keeping art supplies (paper, markers, scissors, and glue – for the most part) together and organized so that when the fancy strikes the boys can create away! My 8yo enjoys making his own books, and my 7yo loves to make pictures to give as gifts. This easel is on my 7yo’s wish list and would make a fantastic addition to our homeschooling day! Thanks so much!
My oldest was born a very literal child, so it’s been an interesting challenge trying to encourage him to be creative. Mostly I don’t think I’m very good at it, but the fun projects on this blog definitely help!
I promote creativity by always having art supplies readily available and accessible.
I like to bring items in from nature or better yet, go outside (when it is not raining up here in the NW) and paint. I love to see what my girls will do!
We made the water balloon yo-yo’s this past summer. So great!
Love, love, love your blog! Everything is so inspiring and easy! We love the newspapers rolled up to make different shapes. My girls had so much fun reading in their shape homes.
I have a 5 month old and we promote creativity with lots of singing, lots of books, lots of fingerplays and painting with our feet and hands!
We made the lacy snowflakes!
I want to try making the 3D Christmas Trees (no mess!) with my 2-year old for her grandparents and great-grandparents. I also encourage her to pluck on piano keys every day.
I leave lots of stickers at my (almost 2 yr. old)daughters art table. It also has crayons and other regular fun things but the stickers get her over there. Once she’s there she starts to see and use the rest of the fun stuff.
We try to do at least one art or craft project every week. I love taking the kids to art museums to see what they find inspiring or interesting. We also like using what we see in nature in their work.
I am going to use the newspaper structures with a homeschool co-op this week. I can’t wait to see the group of boys get to work to see who can build the coolest structure. Thanks for the great idea!
I try to keep my craft cabinet stocked and I try hard not to schedule too much into our days, so we have to be creative when we get bored!
Yay! What a great giveaway! I’ve been wanting one of these for my kids! One way I try and foster creativity is by trying to leave the tv off as much as possible! It sometimes results in more messes, but I can see their imaginations working which is fun to watch! 🙂 thanks for the chance to win! 🙂
We promote creativity by just always having lots of blank paper and different drawing/painting tools available at all times. When my daughter tells me a story, I encourage her to “go make a picture of it”. It helps us bond and one day when her language is better, I plan to write out her words and attach them to the back of her art 🙂
We made your bird feeder project this fall!
I have been promoting creativity recently by giving my daughter a mommy-daughter craft blog as one of her gifts for her recent 3rd birthday. But I love checking out other people’s ideas to find ideas I would never think of myself, as well. So, she gets to do our ideas but then also ideas for others just for more creative play, b/c my daughter would do crafts all day long if she could. 🙂
As for items on here that have inspired us: I’ll admit, I shop at the dollar store ALL THE TIME and am always coming up with craft ideas from there, too, but I never thought of the sponges as play food potential! So, definitely I would say that has inpsired us! We have not yet made any, but for the holidays, we will be. They looked awesome! I also liked your corn craft with the produce bags, too. Will definitely have to try that soon, too.
Whenever I am trying to come up with ideas for my classroom, your blog is always my first stop! This fall, I decorated all of my windows with coffee filter painted leaves with branches, much like you did your front door. I LOVE how you use stuff from the dollar store, since that is where I get many of my supplies to try and save money!
My daughter turned 6 this September, and she is into EVERYthing. She is constantly making stories and illustrating them in notebooks. She’s created the Nature Lovers Club, because she loves nature of course. We found a deceased monarch butterfly this summer, and she created a diorama for it. She’s decorated the walls with dinosaur stickers. We play with clay, paint, wood, and found items, among other things. I’ve wanted to build a DIY version of the M&D easel for a long time, since the real thing is pricier than we can afford. We had a used plastic one, but it was too clunky and eventually fell apart. If you choose a different family, I’m fine with that, but can you send me pics of how the real thing is put together so I can make my own?
I’ve been looking for one of these for my kids for Christmas. If I don’t win, I think I’ll just have to buy my own. It would certainly be used a lot!
We bring out the crayons every day. My daughter is still young and her attention span is still pretty short for coloring. I’ve been looking at getting her this very M&D easel to have a permanent art station 🙂
Just got my daughter a play kitchen, and I can’t wait to make some of the food ideas you have, like the doughnut out of socks! Thank you 🙂
My son and I have been exploring creativity through textures and building. Currently in my texture tub are the shavings from my paper shredder. We have made mountains, hidden toys, and tonight we explored with the shredded paper as an art medium. We love to explore!
I leave the art supplies out on the table in a caddy, all day every day. We also keep stacks of scratch paper handy for drawing anytime.
I used the idea from your tissue paper snowflakes (tissue paper scraps and contact paper) and we have used it to make Christmas trees (also added glitter and sparkly yarn) and Valentine’s hearts, along with a few others I am forgetting…:)
We have blocks from Melissa and Doug that he is constantly using to build houses for his super heroes
I’m a 4K teacher so I promote creativity through many different learning centers (art, sensory, dramatic, writing, literature, gross motor, etc.) I promote creativity at home by providing a lot of craft supplies/ideas to let my girls imaginiations run.
I do a co-op preschool and would love to have an easel to do fun projects with!
I have a 3 year old and she loves to do projects with Mommy! I help her stay creative by setting her up with her own stamps, ink pads, paints, papers, crayons, color pencils, etc. I am crafty myself, so sometimes I will bring out other items like buttons, flowers, ribbons, etc.
I have made finger paints from your website, sticker pictures, and a town out of cardstock. Thank you for all your ideas to make learning and creating fun for kids!
I love your website, which I only found this year! But it inspires me to push my creativity further! One fun project you inspired was the do-it-yourself placemats. My toddler is having some trouble recognizing colors, so I created a placemat with numbers, the alphabet, and colors so we can discuss them at breakfast each morning! Thanks for your ideas and inspiration!
My little guy LOVES glue, markers and pencils. We do lots of drawing, painting, and play dough.
We have a “messes are ok here” zone by the kitchen island and my daughter is allowed to make lots of messes/projects/etc there – many of her own inspiration!
My kids have access to all the things they need to be creative. Every morning, they go into the dining room/homeschool room and do all kinds of creative things (I call it trashing the room). But, it keeps them busy and I can stay in bed longer! I’d love to win this for the kids!
We promote creativity by sharing creative activities we love with our children. One of our favorite activites as a family is to go on sketch trips together. We hop in the car with sketch pads, pencils,crayons,markers, etc. and stop when we see something inspiring to draw. We started doing this when our children were 3 years old, nine years later they still love it.
As much as I love crafts, my little guy is not quite as into them as I am! He would rather run and jump and play, so I find ways to incorporate physical activity into his learning….running to find different colored objects around the house, jumping on letters, etc.
My little one is still very young, so we’re still a little bit limited in how we can do creative play, but I always make sure to include some sensory experience in our everyday activities. This could be playing with a bowl of lentils (which he LOVES to dig his hands into), feeling the textures of different seashells, or pouring water. All of this, I think, is helping to pave the way for noticing the details and focusing attention, both precursors to creative play.
Thanks for the giveaway opportunity!
We made the water sponge bombs this summer for my sons birthday party! They were a hit!
I try to give my boys space to create, try not to correct and direct too much, only what’s needed for getting the instructions for the project. Thanks for your inspiration!
We have two drawers we keep full of art supplies in the kitchen for our daughter to use whenever. She also has her own drawer in my craft room that she uses while we both create together!
We have done the tin foil snowflake art project and we attempted the toilet paper owls but they were a bit sad :(. We also did the paint in the ziplock baggies thing – that was fun!
Creativity – we love playing dress up and pretending we are different people/animals/things. We love making creations on paper with our different paints and telling stories with stickers!
we love going to art galleries and creating open ended art over crafts.
So many ideas already used from this blog – just off the top of my head – window and wall art, thumbprint cards, sidewalk paint, teddy bear/dress up picnics, etc, etc.
We keep art supplies handy for the kids but the best creativity seems to come in the kitchen. We have a stand for the girls and aprons so they can be at counter height and be involved in cooking OR just create!
To inspire creativity I use a variety of art supplies and toys that don’t work just one way. We have a craft closet that holds all our goodies. Some of our art projects have ‘directions’ and some of them I just put the supplies on the table:)
I have 2 recent activities inspired by your blog. I used the paint sample cards in nature activity to come up with using my daughter’s crayon box to explore all the shades of different colors in her Kevin Henkes books (My Garden, Little White Rabbit, and Old Bear). My second activity was using the fall leaves on the window activity (the one with tissue paper and a glue stick) and used my daughter’s handprint with various colors of tissue paper to make the feathers of a turkey for our window. I used gold tissue paper for the body (couldn’t find brown). Now have a big Tom in my front picture window! Happy Thanksgiving!
While my son is only 18mos old, we try to promote creativity whenever we can, whether it is letting him color with his crayons, or to let him explore and figure things out on his own.
Having supplies and a designated area are key to my kids creative process! An easel would be awesome to add!
I promote creativity with my son by simply playing with him and being fully present when we play! I try to find a balance between child-led and mommy-led activities and play. I love doing thematic units and try to incorporate a variety of activities within that theme- art, crafts, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, imaginary play, academic learning, etc. I also love finding ideas on great blogs like this one!
I love recycle crafts or any crafts, for that matter. And I have a lot of art/craft material out and accessible for my son and nephew to encourage their creativity. Would love love to win the easel – that is one of the things missing in our playroom now!
My daughter is only 16 months old so we are creative in simple ways, like getting our hands into different textures, playing in the water and making things together in the kitchen. She loves to get messy!
We have made several things from your blog, but my favorite so far is the pretend play doughnut shop! You have so many great ideas! Thanks for inspiring us!
Being a stay at home it takes a lot to keep a 2 year old occupied. I have always been an art person thru high school and I noticed how much my son loves to be creative. We promote creativity not only in coloring, puzzles, toys, etc, but also through cooking. He loves to get up on his little stool and help mommy make food. His favorite part is to throw away the eggs. When we go visit and he has nothing to play with I sit him down with a pad of paper and pen and he draws (scribbles). At the doctor’s office he loves going because they have a chalk board and he draws on that. He is so smart and loves to expand his learning!
I love doing art with my kids. I do a little home preschool with them and it’s centered around art. It’s so good for them for their brain development and just plan FUN!
We do so many of your activities I don’t know where to start. 🙂 We have done the glue/salt ice icicles, foil snowflakes, tissue paper tree sun catchers, fall tree painting but with carrots, Egg carton wreath, Spring Chick & Cloud painting with shower poof,and tape snowflake with paint on canvas. I’m sure there are more but that’s all I can recall right now. I LOVE your site for fun and frugal ways to keep my kids happy and creative.
My oldest daughter is 5 and absolutely loves to paint and draw. We have a couple of artists in the family so maybe she got that talent. We homeschool so I’m always looking for fun activities to do together and ways to develop her gifts. Sometimes we do more guided projects and sometimes I give her paint and paper and she can do whatever her imagination can think of! Though my two-year-old obviously doesn’t have the same attention span for art as my five-year-old does, I’m sure she would enjoy it’s use as well.
We play different kinds of music to dance to, let our son take pictures with the camera, let him paint & draw and make up stories together.
I became a SAHM after being laid off in June – what an amazing journey and blessing this has been for my 3 yr old daughter and, especially, myself. We have a child lead home preschool together and have created an art group with 4 friends (ages 3 – 5) as an excuse to be ever more loud and messy in our kitchen. My daughter, Olivia, has time to do art work on her own, with us, and with her lively group of friends. I am happy to say that Oli will remind me that she needs time to do her art if our day seems like it’s getting full or we are out of the house too much! Most recently, we have made wax leaves, milk jug pumpkins and apple paintings with our group. Thank you for helping to inspire us!
I have two kids, my older one (4) loves crafting. For Christmas last year we just gathered a huge bin of “supplies” for his little (or big) projects. Not just normal craft supplies. So when he is looking for something to do, he goes in and decides what he is inspired to build/make.
We have done so many crafts from this blog. I think the biggest ideas have been the ones with contact paper. It is amazing now how many things I use it for:)
My kids have a plethora of different craft supplies and other toys and we encourage them to play to their hearts’ content.
My kids LOVE creating things. We do a craft for sure every Monday and then whenever the mood strikes throughout the week!
Both of my boys love to create but my youngest really loves any type of art and creating! He has his own craft box (sort of like a tackle box) filled with stickers, markers, sequins, glue sticks, scissors and many other craft items. He can use it any time and it is portable so we can take it with us on the go!
Oh Boy do I have a young lady that would give you her 2 front teeth for the Art easel.
Hannah and I do crafts pretty much every day. I am very glad that she is all artsy fartsy!
In order to promote her creativity (besides her and I surfing Pinterest for DIY crafts for her and I) She takes painting, pottery and jewelry making at our local Art Gallery – The Framery. Her next class in December 10 for some Holiday Art fun. She even had her birthday at the Framery she loves it so much.
http://www.frameryinc.com/
This past summer we made the flower shop you had posted on your blog. I did not take any pictures but my son loved arranging the flowers and making different displays! I love your blog and all of your fun and creative ideas!
My son loves to paint and draw – I promote creativity with an “art room” – my mud room has a table with a vinyl table cloth that is always setup and ready for art. He can paint, draw, use playdough, do chalk, etc. he has a table top easel but has been asking for a stand up easel – this would be a great addition and allow for bigger paintings!
I have a two year old and four year old that are home with me, and a brillant seven year old at school. I promote art by having art supplies that are always out and available. We also do projects together, everything from painting on canvas to printing with cookie cutters, to chalk, anything I can think of or projects I get off of the internet. My oldest dreams of being an animator or illustrator some day so art is huge in our home.
I have also enjoyed many inspired craft projects from my beloved Frugal Family Fun Blog. Here is one that I can link up to.
http://minutestomemories-shari.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-valentines-day-this-year-hannah.html
I also wanted to let you know we’ve done several of your photo shot idea’s. When it gets cold and yucky outside we set up a corner of our living room to look like a day at the beach using paper and pretend that’s were we are instead of stuck inside on a yucky day.
I’ve noticed around town at the bank, library and even the CO-OP that local artists have exhibits. When running errands with the boys, I make sure to stop, look and discuss the art work. They’re all so different and created with different materials. Doing this gives the boys ideas when inspiration strikes!
this easel would be a great way to promote creativity but in the meantime, i just keep her crayons and coloring books in an area she can easily get to and get down on her level to color (and play) right alongside her.
i get a lot of inspiration from your blog… mainly that you truly do NOT need to spend a lot of money with/on kids to have a great time! i’m a working mom so the weekends is when we can do anything creative and she’s still pretty young, but one day over the summer when it was hot, we spent an hour or so coloring, and the result is now hanging on her door for everyone to see: http://finallymom.blogspot.com/2011/07/work-of-art.html
Well my youngest is full of creativity so it doesn’t take much to help spark a little fun and interest in him. He is currently ALL about using the alphabet and this easel would help him so much! I honestly adore your sight and your girls are so cute!
I actually have been sharing your website with my babysitter and currently she has the gorgeous fall leaves and tree on her front window for all the kiddos and neighbors to enjoy!
We do lots of play-doh, painting, coloring, beading, cutting, pasting, etc. every week. But the best thing, I think, is that we have what we call our project table in the kitchen. Every night after the boys go to bed, I put some sort of activity or project on it for them to wake up to each morning. They love it, and are always disappointed if there is nothing there in the morning.
We have lots and ots of art supplies to play with. most are always out for the two creative genuis’s in our house to explore. Love what they make.
Your easy snowflake sun catchers inspired us to make lots of different holiday sun catchers for our windows. We started with pumpkins last year and have come up with different holiday sun catchers ever since. We’re also planning on the dollar store doughnuts as soon as we can grab some socks!!
We always have crayons, markers, coloring books & paper out. Plus I plan weekly crafts to go with a weekly theme playgroup. And monthly we participate in our Arts Center Kidsventure program.
We encourage creativity by making sure supplies are available and not off limits. We also are very choosy about what toys we have in our home … we love those that encourage imagination and thought vs. those that don’t.
We’ve done lots of projects from here, but one of our favorites was the gumball machine with the circle pricing stickers … tons of entertainment for my 2.5 year old. We’ve done that particular one several times.
This is exactly what we need! If we don’t win, Santa’s going to bring it. 🙂
I have an open art station downstairs with kid-friendly materials.
We did apple printing inspired by your blog.
I inspire creativity by having many tools available, keeping it fun, and leading by example.
We have his special art corner with many supplies including recycled items so his imagination can grow. He loves gluing painting coloring beading and making his own comics.
My 3yo daughter likes to make postcards to send to friends and family. She draws on them with markers, and then we look through magazines to find pictures to glue on. It’s fun to see what kind of images she likes the best.
I love it! Melissa and Doug rocks! thanks for sponsoring the giveaway. This would be lots of fun.
amp@sta2ned.com
What a GREAT giveaway! I try to have lots of art supplies around and encourage cutting and pasting!
I love to be creative with my kids. We are always doing projects or baking and now that they’re getting a little older, they like to create on their own! 🙂
We LOVE doing projects that you post here! I mentioned one, the Marshmallow Pumpkins, in a recent post on my blog:
http://kristiesnotes.blogspot.com/2011/11/pumpkin-fun-and-then-some.html
Wow… this would be a great addition for the home child care I operate. We love to draw, color and paint here. 🙂
I think one of the best ways to promote creativity is to turn off the TV and let your kids create on their own. My boys don’t always love paper/paint crafts, but they are amazing Lego creation creators. I keep art supplies accessible so if the urge to draw or do crafting strikes, they can get what they need easily.
Here are two of my favorite FFF-inspired activities that my boys loved:
http://artsandcrofts.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-little-scientists.html
http://artsandcrofts.blogspot.com/2011/08/color-sorting-mat.html
We make a lot of our Christmas decorations from paper and glitter. We save the favorites for next year so the kids are always excited to get out the holiday decorations and look for their own creations each year.
This would be a blessing for us — I am a single mom of a 4 year old son. I have to work outside of the home so when I am off work we are constantly doing crafts and learning. I have been saving up to buy an easel so this sure would be a blessing!! God Bless
Two crafts that we did were the candy dorn treat bags (he put popcorn in his also) which were a big hit we took to his Christian day care he goes to! The other was the Thumb Printed Shamrock — Grandma and Grandpa loved theirs 🙂 God Bless
We try to keep a lot of open ended toys and craft supplies around: art supplies, blocks, etc, and occasionally go out to scrounge cardboard boxes (which brings an inordinate amount of joy to our boys). Creativity abounds!
Love this! I try to inspire creativity by mixing ‘junk drawer items’ with traditional craft materials. That way miscellaneous toy parts, beads, game board pieces to games we got rid of years ago, get a second life in artwork.
I pin lots of cute ideas on pinterest with intentions to do them with my daughter 🙂
My daughter, 18-months, is just beginning to find her crafty side. Since she is still young, I have been pinning (quite obsessively) your wonderful fun and frugal ideas for when she is old enough. In the meantime, we use crayons and homemade edible paints. We also place pieces of scrap paper, leaves and other fun items on Con-Tact paper. All art gets proudly hung on our art wall!
Bonus Entry: One of the projects that my daughter absolutely loved was the rainy day fort we built under our kitchen table. We layered soft blankets and lied inside reading books and playing with stuffed animals. And she loved crawling through the fort walls over and over. Next time it snows I hope to create the “indoor beach” that you featured last February – it looks like so much fun!
This is such a wonderful giveaway! I would love to win it!! I promote creativity by having all art supplies (crayons, paper, markers, paint, ribbons,ect…..) organized in see through storage drawers so the children can easily see the contents. I have found that “out of sight out of mind” holds true to even good things and if they dont see the craft supplies they will never play with them on their own, but when they are on the shelves and they walk by them frequently, they are used much much more!!
I make sure that my son has access some artsy supplies I don’t have to monitor, like crayons, markers and coloring books. I also keep lots of other things around like playdough, sparkles, feathers, etc. Once a week or so, we’ll pull out the “project” stuff and get creative. He also sees me working on my own creative endeavors as well and that fuels his imagination and desire to create.
We keep a large number of craft supplies out and available at all times for spontaneous, open-ended fun.
I try to inspire creativity with my little ones by having a fairly large and stocked art center that the kids have access to all the time. The art center has some art/craft books if more inspiration is needed and we hang some of the art in our home afterwards. I also like to browse websites for ideas. My eldest daughters last birthday was a string of art projects and everyone had a great time.
Thanks for the giveaway. We would love this.
i always keep art supplies handy for the kids to be creative. they even each have their own large cans with crayons, markers, glue, scissors and things to create with. what an awesome giveaway!!
i used your stained “glass” sculpture idea for my clover kids group. we had 30 kids make this craft in one session!! they thought it was really neat!! thanks for all of the great ideas!
We combine drawing/painting/playdough modeling and other arts crafts with other learning. For example, when learning letters or phonograms we tell a story and then paint or draw a picture from it together. More than often, my daughter (4 year old) has her own ideas of how she wants to make the story picture. We also do seasonal crafts. She loves construction toys, such as legos and unit blocks and train tracks, and enjoy making landscapes to act out with.
I try and do an art project at least twice a week with my kids. Sometimes they want to finish their project quickly, as if it is a race! I try to remind them to take their time and have fun being creative or silly. I also emphasize there’s no ‘wrong way’ to do a craft and compliment them on a job well done!
So far my FAVORITE thing from this blog is the indoor leaf pile. Oh my gosh, we had a blast! I laughed when my hubby came home and just looked at us, then all the leaves, and the couch cushions on the floor. Hey, what fun is a leaf pile without being able to jump on it? 😉 I was very impressed with how realistically the leaves floated to the ground. Wish I was a better photographer: it would have made a beautiful picture. I also appreciated the follow-up activity of the wreath so the leaves don’t go to waste, so to speak! Thanks for inspiring me to be a better m ever day!!!!!!!
i’m all about letting them do their own thing with art supplies.. gather and create! thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
The best project for me and my 3 years old is definitively the owel family ! Thanks for this craft.
These crafts help her to become more handy and acurate….love that
Thanks
We always have a craft time during the day… big or small. My daughter loves to create just about anything.
We enjoyed your Kickin’ It Croquet game and potion lab this summer…
I always make sure to have supplies for whatever craftiness my girls want to do.
I like to inspire creativity by playing games like dress up or house. It allows the kids to take on different roles and use their imagination to come up with scenarios. It is always fun to hear what they come up with 🙂
My daughter loves projects so we try to do a letter themed project each week. She is now coming up with project ideas that we try to implement. 🙂
We promote creativity with our little ones by providing lots of art supplies and letting them go with whatever they come up with! We also do a “craft project” once a week where I bring out even more art supplies to let them create!
We have done lots of things from your blog over the years. I just restarted my blog a month back after loosing everything to a server crash….but some of the things we have done include outdoor bean bag tosses, laundry basket trains, window sun catchers and sooo much more! Thank you for having such a wonderful blog!
We try to do some sort of craft a couple of times a week that goes along with a story that we have read recently. We also love to do window displays. You have given us some great ideas!
I do a lot of crafts with my eldest daughter…when we play together it is even more fun
I’m not ready good at creativity so I really need someone to help me. One way to do that is to read blogs, like ours. This helps me to start easy projects with my daughter.
i like to inspire creativity with my 3 year old by giving him lots of things to create with!
we have made the side walk paint and loved it!
What a great giveaway! We’re planning to get my 2 yr old daughter this exact present for Christmans – how perfect would this giveaway be for her?! She would get endless enjoyment from it-she’s quite the budding artist. Art and crafts is my favorite thing special thing to do with her, just the two of us. So many of our great ideas come from this blog! Thank you.
I run a daycare from my home and I added an area just for creative art activities. I try to promote creativity by setting out materials and the kids create whatever they like using those materials.
Thanks for the great giveaway!
I also run a home day care, and we’ve used a lot of ideas from Family Fun magazine. We love painting and play dough. We recently just built a tree house out of cardboard boxes: http://tiny.cc/akrsx. Lots of fun!
I try to encourage creativity in my kids by providing them with mainly open-ended toys and art supplies. My daughter is only 2 and my boys 8 months, but I have big plans for projects to do in the future, many thank to this blog.
One project we have done that was inspired by this blog was making a collage using contact paper on a window and colored pieces of paper from magazines. My daughter loved it.
My daughter has full access to many art and craft supplies around our home. Her current favorite art activity is when I set up a paint station for her in front of the tv while she tries to follow along with Bob Ross’ “The Joy of Painting”. Winning one of these easels would be a dream come true for her, because she wants to paint just like he does. 🙂
We like to do “art crafts” which mostly involves coloring and cutting construction paper and using glue sticks to make it into different shapes. 🙂
Dance parties in dress up clothes, tea parties with dolls, get messy indoors or out, and lots of reading.
Great website. We are always looking for new projects.
Thank you
The bird feeder and sprinkler activities were a big hit in our house. Thanks for all the inspiration!
Oh we’d love this! We create fun natural art at my outdoor school often. We use natural items, pipe cleaners and the hot glue gun for simple animal creations and more!
We create something everyday around here. Whether it’s just coloring, using scissors & glue, baking, painting… My kids know that I’ll never tell them they’re doing it “wrong” – how can art be wrong?!
Thanks for the AMAZING giveaway!
ohmiss14 at yahoo dot com ☮
We do quite a few of your crafts and activities around here. The one my little guy has liked the best (so far) is the Paint Chips Color Match one. You posted it while we still had a lot of green around here. As fall has set in, he’s enjoyed finding which plants have changed shades and even colors!
ohmiss14 at yahoo dot com ☮
i just follow my little guys lead. I try not to have too many structured art activities and love to see where his imagination takes us! A pad of stickers and paper give us hoursof creative and fun play.
My kids and I love your blog!
I keep art supplies in an accessible place so they can be creative whenever they want!
As for crafting, I try to allow for open-ended projects, not a lot of boxed craft activities that have a cookie-cutter “end project” in mind. I praise deviating from the norm!
As for everyday life, we do a lot of imaginative play and we like to write books. My son says it and I write it up. Then him and his sister both illustrate them. 🙂
My daughter and I like to browse through pinterest looking for fun projects…that’s how we found you! I like to have them “help” me with my own art projects…my daughters thumb prints can be found in most paintings I do. My son is just 2 and is discovering that art can be fun…and messy. This would be great under our porch! Most of all we enjoy giving and receiving gifts that were created with love and imagination!
Bonus post: something that both kiddos loved…the marble run! (though it was hard to find marbles now a days)
My 2 kids love to pretend they are butterflies. So we create different types of butterfly wings, usually from paper and then kids color them. The best wings however are made from trash bags, because they make sounds while kids are “flying”.
My 4 year old loves to try new things, so I am always looking for new crafty ideas. I have gotten great ideas from your blog! Please keep them coming!
We love craft time – drawing, painting, sewing, jewelry making. It’s amazing what kids come up with from a random box of supplies. The easel would keep our painting nice and organized.
My boys love to do crafts, paint, color and build with legos. They would love this easel!
I promote creativity in my munchkin by giving him the supplies and letting him go to town. He has a blast. I may not always recognize what it is he is making but he enjoys doing it by himself.
We have a big box with all kinds of crayons, markers, pens, paint, glue, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, glitter etc. I let them have at it and create what they want. They love it!
I try to keep my son interested in creative projects by always offering new projects to do that may pique his interest.
What a great giveaway! We paint with different creative things and have created things with different packaging items.
I leave out art materials so that they are easily accessible.
I try to keep their creative juices flowing by providing lots of different things for them to work with. Paint, finger Paints, glue, tape, Paper, crayons, Pastels, colored pencils, etc. their favorite things are the. Urging tub and the collage box!
I try to keep their creative juices flowing by providing lots of different things for them to work with. Paint, finger Paints, glue, tape, Paper, crayons, Pastels, colored pencils, etc. their favorite things are the cutting tub and the collage box!
My 6 year old loves to draw and paint. Any paper she can find she will use to draw or paint on.
We promote creativity by letting our son take videos and pictures of things while we are out and about that he enjoys or wants to make at home so that he can have them for reference, plus it has really started making him want to look for more things and start asking more questions about things. One of the project we are making are the adorable catapiller to butterfly out of felt… So cute!
I introduce a new art idea (i.e. painting with pinecones, sculpting with play-doh) at least once a week. I teach Pre-K and am always in need of more art supplies!
I used the adorable idea from play donuts and made me own from felt! they are an awesome addition to my classroom kitchen (on top of some other felt food it inspired me to make!).
My daughter loves to color, she could sit for hours coloring and putting her stickers in her book. She amazes me at how good she does already at 3 years old!
I like to be creative by allowing children to do “messy” projects. We like shaving cream spread on the table, making letter in the finger paint, putting finger paint in zip lock bags and then making letters/designs by drawing them on the bag with your fingers, play dough, rice table play… This keeps kids busy and interested. I like the idea of the felt letters on the circular wood pieces. Can’t wait to make those!
I have a large cupboard of art supplies left over from old projects. When the kids want to get crafty I just look at what I have google some ideas and let them play.
I try to be as creative as possible (which is hard, because I’m not very creative). My son is creative tho and would really love this!
Love this website! What a neat idea to have such a fantastic giveaway. Thanks for all the inspiring ideas on this site. Love reading the comments daily.
I try to encourage my son to write, color, cut, glue, etc.! It’s harder for me to let the 4 year old have free reign like the 10 year olds, but I am trying!
I promote creativity by doing an art activity almost every day. I let my toddler decide what to do with the supplies I have on hand and she has made some very unique pieces of art, I love it!
I promote creativity by taking a weekly trip to the craft store to do a new craft project.
I like to present craft supplies to my daughter without a structured project in mind to see what she can come up with.
My three year old and I draw together regularly. He often also dictates stories to me from his drawings.
We seasonal craft projects together with his cousins (ages 3 and 5). After a recent trip to our local aquarium, we created our own “ocean” by filling a clear plastic tub with water and adding plastic ocean animals, rocks, plants, etc. It is exhilarating to see his mind at work as he creates!
This is my second entry to tell you that tonight we made the snowflake painting with painters tape. It is currently drying and I can’t wait to pull the tape off tomorrow. I don’t have a blog but I could send you a picture if you need that for proof. 🙂
We give our kids the opportunity and resources to express themselves in ways they only imagine. They have free access to art supplies and open ended toys. Our projects tend to give them new ideas on how to use materials while letting them direct where to go with it.
My daughter loved the outdoor paint chip match. I made up a set for an overnight backpacking trip. It was a perfect easy (lightweight!) take-along activity. We keep it at the ready for other outings. We also love to make things from cardboard and other recyclables – those posts have been particularly inspiring.