Kids Can Kids Club Summer Fun

Summer time is prime Kids Can Kids Club time. During the school year I have found that most of the time the kids are so busy with after school activities that there just isn't time to squeeze in one more thing. I have an occasional tea party for the older girls, crafting sessions and special gathers now and then that are age related but in summer we gather once a week. And then sometimes kids are away at day camp or on family vacations, but I have 9 kids in Kids Club now so even with a few missing I have my hands full!

DIY Pizza Game

This post contains affiliate links.      I have slowed down making the kids gifts at Christmas time. There are so many of them and it takes a toll on me. Last year I purchased gifts but wanted to round out with a simple gift I hand made. The kids really loved the PB & J game I made so I used that as an inspiration and came up with this...the Pizza Game. It's super easy to make and inexpensive. It is easy to make several at one time too, checking off your gift giving list all at once.

Hill House Soapworks Boutique

Hey everyone, I have opened a small Bath & Bodycare Boutique called Hill House Soapworks, on Facebook. I have some fun Halloween items in there, and will add more items as I have time. I plan to eventually carry a full range of Body care items. I would love for you to visit, Like and Follow. I also have a Facebook Group you can join, Hill House Soapworks Group, to hear about new items before they are stocked in the boutique. Thanks for your support!

Pocket Purses

This first posted at my other blog, Family Home and Life.

I call these Pocket Purses and they are easy and fun to make! I made them for my grand daughters but I want one too. They would be perfect for going window shopping as they are the right size to hold the basic necessities, just add a longer handle. Add a different handle to dress them up or make them your own style. 

Dino Quilt

I planned to make a quilt for one of my grand babies and the request was for a Dinosaur theme. Together, said grand baby and I looked through many Dino quilts online. None of them seemed just right. There was one though that was close to what my little imagined. So I used it as a jumping off place for this quilt. 

Peanut Butter & Jelly Game

This first posted at Family Home and Life, my other blog.

This is a home made gift I keep on hand when I need something quick to give to a child. It's called the Peanut Butter and Jelly Game. Super easy to make, of course, it's inexpensive too. (you know me :) Kids from about age 4 to 8 love this game; some 3 yr olds may understand how to play too. The directions here are for enough pieces for 4 players.

Decoder & Clue Search Kids Club Style

The main attraction at Kids Club this summer has been what we call Clue Search using a Decoder. Basically, I write clues in code that lead to another clue that leads to the next clue, and so on. What are they trying to find? Well each time it is tailored to what that days theme is and I always give them a verbal clue to start out with. Once, I used the verse, knock and it shall be opened as the verbal clue, so the first clues where taped to doors. The kids love figuring out the clues so much there really doesn't even have to be something at the end of it all to find. 

Family Traditions Blessing Blanket

This was first published at Family Home and Life.

Do you have family traditions? We do too. I try to be careful not to over load the family with following too many of them because family traditions can become chores rather than blessings. When we were expecting our first grand child, I wanted to have a gown and blanket for each child to use on their Dedication Day at church; like a Christening gown. A new tradition to follow.

Kids Can Food Preparations, Kids Club Style

The kids summer vacation from school was 9-10 weeks. The first week or two we just chilled and did whatever we felt like at the moment.  Then I began Kids Club having weekly gatherings. The meetings consist mostly of teaching and learning the rest of the year so I wanted to focus on fun as well as learning for the summer.

Repurposing: My Hardworking Office/Class/Kids Craft Room, an Unexpected Tour

I was looking through some photos of Kids Club meetings and thought you might like to see a room I don't often photograph in. Let me tell you, other than my kitchen this room is a very hard working room! It is an addition to the house and the former owner who built it did not connect to the A/C duct work in there. There is an added A/C window unit but it doesn't really help and oh my gosh is it expensive to run!

We have 3 doors leading from this room into the main house so by leaving all those doors open we mostly get the cooling we need in the summer. Winter is not a problem at all because this room is on the south side of the house. So let me show you my hard working space. 

Easy Bibs from Drop Cloth & Scraps

With a 7 month old, one on the way and three 3 year olds that still use bibs; I needed new bibs. It's super easy enough to make bibs, and I always have lots of scraps to choose from. I could have even used an old sheet, dish towel or shirt. I noticed a drop cloth scrap and I  remembered seeing that someone had drawn stripes on drop cloth to make it look like toweling. I decided to try that out. I choose some quilt scrap prints for the other side. 

Itty Bitty Turns 3!

Today we are celebrating a birthday with a party; Itty Bitty is three years old! My how these last three years have flown by. Happy Birthday sweet girl! 

DIY Easy Bake Oven Themed Gift

It can be a challenge to keep up with all the kids birthdays that happen around here, especially when I always try to make a hand made gift for each one. Last Christmas, some of the girls received Easy Bake Ovens. I kept hearing about how they wanted to bake with their ovens but were out of mixes. I thought I would pick up some mixes for them until I saw how much they cost! Good grief, I can't believe how much they are! So I decided to see if I could mix up my own versions that would taste good too. 

Applique Quilt

Gosh I have so many things to get caught up on and so many things I could blog about that I hardly know where to begin. I will start with this child size quilt, 4 1/2 feet by 3 1/2 feet to be exact, then give you a few teasers for up coming post. I started it so long ago that I can't even remember where I got my inspiration from! But the flower design caught my eye and I re interpreted it on this quilt. I originally began it for my second oldest grand daughter thinking I would make one for each grand child eventually. Ha! that idea is out the window! Too many grand kids so close together and not enough time to quilt.

Hello Kitty Look-a-Like Scarf

Every Christmas I hand make something to give the grand kids as well as a few children of close friends. This year I made 15 scarves. I used a Simplicity pattern #4354 that I have had for a while; it is a pattern for cats and puppy scarfs. They are very cute! I decided to try my hand at making something other than the puppies and cats, I attempted lizards and dinosaurs too. The lizards looked great.....the dinos looked like lizards. Oh well, at least the boys were happy with them. And then I realized as I was looking for the pics to do this post that I do not have one pic of the scarves other than the ones I took of the Hello Kitty look-a-like scarf! Oh my!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars After School Snack

My grand kids come home after school Starving with a capital S! Typical of most kids, am I right? And boy can they eat. If I am smart, I will have a tummy filling snack already prepared when they arrive and this one, Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars, is a favorite. They, along with their daddy's and papa, will finish off an entire recipe in one shot. It's easy and mostly healthy, so I am happy to make this for them often. My Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars recipe is a version of a no bake cookies recipe and very versatile. Leave out the chocolate chips if you want, use water instead of milk, add more cocoa; you get the picture.

Christmas Garland

First published at Family Home and Life. 

The kids and I made Christmas Garlands. They are very simple to make. You fold your paper, trace on a design and then cut out. You don't cut a section of the folded edge so that it all stays in one piece. Here's how we made the Christmas Garlands.

Scripture Ornaments

First published at Family Home and Life. 

This is an easy and fast yet lovely Christmas Ornament that you can make with the kids. I call them Scripture Ornaments because I used a page from the Bible about the birth of Jesus as my back ground. But if scripture is not your thing sheet music is nice or make up your own verbiage. These would make great gifts or tweak this version to make gift tags.

Here’s how I made these.

Nativity Set for the Kids

First Published at Family Home & Life, Dec 2012.

Every Christmas, I have a birthday party for Jesus in my home. We tell the Christmas story gathered around a birthday cake, sing Happy Birthday, and each child gets a candle to blow out on the cake. Since having grand kids, this celebration has become more special to us all.  As the kids have grown older, they have begun to join in with the story telling. This year I wanted to include the kids even more. I decided I would make a nativity for them to use in the story telling. Since there are a lot of cardboard tube "people" made out of empty toilet paper and paper towels rolls around Pinterest, I decided to try to make a nativity using empty toilet paper/paper towel rolls.

* Kids Activity Binder

I sometimes find it hard to keep my older grandchildren occupied while I am busy with the younger children. One day I found some free kids printables online and printed a few things out for them to do.....things like dot to dots, hidden pictures and mazes. Soon, they were finishing them before I could get the next one printed out. That could get expensive fast not to mention it was becoming wasteful.