No matter what hemisphere you're currently in, whether you're indoors due to the heat or because of the snow, it's always helpful to have a range of craft project up your sleeve to entertain the younguns.  Here are a couple of tried and true craft ideas you might like to try.

CARTOON BLOWERS

A little late for New Year's Eve but lots of fun all the same.

You'll need:
Cheap-store party blowers
Cardboard 
Coloured pencils, crayons or markers
 
Step 1.  Draw a mouth shape on the card.  Let you imagination run riot.  
 
Step 2.  Add some teeth, braces perhaps, or even a moustache and beard, and then colour it all in. 
 
Step 3. Cut around your mouth design.

Step 4. Cut an X shape in the centre of your teeth area big enough to insert your blower.
 
Step 5.  Push a blower through the centre of the X shape so that the mouth piece is easily accessible.
 
Now have fun making a heap of noise.  Try experimenting with different character mouths using ideas from their favourite picture books.

MARBLE RUN

You'll need:

• 11 Toilet paper rolls
• Cardboard base
• Tape
• Paint
• Glue
• Marbles / Pom Poms

Directions:

1. You need to make 3 towers... 2 towers that are 3 toilet rolls high and a 3rd that is 2 rolls high. Tape the rolls together with electrical tape, masking tape or whatever you have on hand. To connect the towers, cut 3 toilet rolls in half longways and tape them together to make shoots.
2. Next, cut holes in the towers for the shoots to rest in, making sure that they are tilted downward to encourage the marbles to roll down. Test them with a large marble or pom pom to make sure the holes in the towers are high enough to allow the balls through.
3. For the base you can use a side of a cardboard box. Mark the towers out so that the shoots connect them efficiently, then glued them down.You might need to leave this overnight to dry completely to ensure that it is secure.
4. Now paint the towers, shoots and base with whatever paint you have on hand. When they are dry use a glue gun or more tape to secure the shoots in place between the towers. Make sure that the shoot the marble drops into is pushed as far back into the tower as you can safely get without breaking something  to ensure the balls drop neatly from one tower to the next.
5. If you don't have marbles, make some salt dough balls.

​Older children can help make this simple piece of entertainment (unless you want to present it as a surprise) and they could even help design a bigger run with more towers and shoots.

JUICE CARTON BIRDHOUSES

Recycled milk carton birdhouses and bird feeders are a fun quick and easy kids craft that anyone can make! Perfect for kids of all ages! Pair recycled milk or juice cartons with fun and colourful craft supplies to create these cheery DIY birdhouses. And the birds LOVE them!


You will need:

• Clean and dry recycled milk or juice carton
• White Paint
• Sheet of chipboard or recycled cardboard
• School glue
• Foam paintbrush
• Tissue paper squares in assorted colours
• Twine
• Wooden spoon
• Box cutter  parental use only)
• Mod Podge or Spray Sealer (optional)

​Directions: 

1. To create our milk carton birdhouses, I started by giving the recycled milk and juice cartons a light coat of white spray paint so that the package lettering wouldn’t bleed and show through the tissue paper.
2. Have the children coat the sides of the carton with school glue and apply the tissue paper squares in any arrangement that they’d like. My boys got a huge kick  out of overlapping the colors to see what new color it would make (fun and educational…sounds like a win-win!). After your child is done applying the tissue, gently brush the tissue squares with the sponge brush to ensure that all the edges are glued down and secure. Allow to dry.
3. To create the roof, fold a piece of chipboard (or recycled cardboard) in half width-wise. Cover the chipboard with glue and tissue paper squares. Set aside and let dry.
4. If necessary, remove the plastic pouring spout with an X-Acto (Stanley) knife (adults only!). You can also cut off any excess cardboard from the “roof ridge” if desired.
5. Cut an opening for the door – if you would like to make a birdhouse, use a smaller sized opening; for a bird feeder, cut a large rectangular opening as shown above. About an inch below the door, use the knife to cut two small slits in an “X” shape and insert the handle of a wooden spoon to create your perch. Before you push it all the way to the back of the carton, add a generous dab of glue to securely attach the end of the spoon to the interior back of the carton
6. On your roof piece, cut two small slits about 2″ apart, and thread through the ends of your twine. Tie a knot securely on the underneath side so it won’t show. Using the school glue (or hot glue if you don’t want to wait for school glue to dry!), attach the roof to your carton
7. Give the milk carton birdhouses a couple of coats of outdoor Mod Podge or spray varnish, and hang them up outside.
8. If you made a bird feeder, fill the bottom up with bird seed, hang from a tree, and wait for your feathered friends to discover it!

These DIY milk carton bird feeders are such a fun and easy kids craft, and you can adapt this project to incorporate many different craft materials – it’s a great way to use up excess supplies that you already have on-hand!

CUPCAKE LINER FLOWERS

What you need per cupcake:

• 1 regular cupcake liner
• 1 mini cupcake liner
• 1 green popsicle stick
• 1 large yellow sticker rhinestone
• crafter’s tape
• green construction paper
• scissors

I love sticker rhinestones! I swear they are my new favourite craft supply! Every time I go to the dollar store, I can’t help but pick up a pack or two. They are just so fun!
I bought these cupcake liners at Walmart, but it looks like you can get them on Amazon as well. (Here are the affiliate links for regular cupcake liners and mini cupcake liners on Amazon). These two sets have the PERFECT bright and beautiful colours for spring flowers!
 
Start by choosing your colours – one large cupcake liner and one mini cupcake liner. Then flatten them out a little bit so they are easier to fold. They don’t need to be completely flat, but you’ll want to stretch and flatten them just a little bit to make them easier to work with.
 
Fold the cupcake liner in half. Then fold it in half again, again and again.
You’ll be folding the cupcake liner in half FOUR times (like in the photos below) so you end up with eight petals.
Using a good pair of scissors, carefully cut a curve into the cupcake liner. I recommend starting your cut on the folded edge, like in the photo below. 
 
Make sure you cut the curve low enough to give you distinct petal shapes when you open it up. If you didn’t cut it low enough, just fold it back up and cut again. 
 
Then fold the mini cupcake liner the same way (fold four times) and cut the curve into it as well.
 
When you unfold the two cupcake liners, they should look something like this.
 
Gently shape the cupcake liners so the bright and bold colour is facing forward and the white side is facing the back. Attach the yellow cupcake liner to the pink cupcake liner with using a bit of crafter’s tape.
And now my favourite part… attach a sticker rhinestone to the middle of the flower.
 
Fold a piece of construction paper in by about 1.5 inches. Then cut out two leaf shapes on the fold.
 
Use crafter’s tape to attach the leaves to the back of the popsicle stick and then attach the popsicle stick to the back of the flower.
 
Flip it over and your simple cupcake liner flower is done!
 
It really doesn’t matter what colours you use for these flowers. They work with patterned cupcake liners, or even those standard plain white cupcake liners. Just check your collection, and see what you can find!