August Kiwi Crate

We spent our nights this week doing crafts out of our August Kiwi Crate. I absolutely love these crates and each month they continue to get better. This month had a "flight" theme and we got to make kites, rockets, and other fun paper planes. Also, this month they introduced a magazine that will be added in each crate going forward. I honestly have no idea how they are able to cram so much stuff inside the box!!

Here is a peek at what was inside when we first opened the box....

 Of course both of my kids have come to recognize the green crate and insist on doing a craft as soon as it arrives. So our first activity was the kite!

Each craft has a great set of instructions and everything you need is in the box. So we gathered what we needed and got to work!

Of course I failed to take a picture of them outside with their kites. But both Liv and Bennett had a blast and surprisingly the kites held up! Plus their was enough material to make two kites for each kid so we will be doing this again someday (I opted to add extra supplies for $7.95 to my subscription so both Alivia and Bennett get to craft together and there is no fighting).

The next night we were short on time so luckily there was a small craft we were able to do together. It consisted of punching out pre-cut pieces of paper and putting them together to make different types of "fliers". The kids loved this and our living room was transformed into an airport as they tested each flier out. 

Our final craft for the month was to make rockets. Again everything we needed to make the rockets was included in the box. And the best part was being able to measure how high our rockets would shoot against our fancy backdrop.



Words cannot express how awesome these crates are. I love how all of us have fun and cannot wait until next months crate arrives. We are looking forward to the next 3 months of crates after getting a sneak peek....

 

Also, for a limited time they are running a great back-to-school sale. So if you want to join the fun definitely check it out!! It is definitely worth every penny in my opinion!

Stained Glass Sun Catcher

My mom celebrated her birthday this past week and so the kids and I decided to make her something extra special and pretty! I had been wanting to make a sun catcher with Alivia for a long time. After realizing how easy and quick these were to make I think there will be many more made in our future.

Materials

Plastic Faceted Beads
Pie Pan
Nylon String
Suction Cup (to hang the sun catcher)

Directions

1. Pour your beads into the pie pan. You can arrange them into a special design or pattern. Both Alivia and Bennett had fun taking handfuls of beads and dumping them into the pan and arranging them in their own particular order.

2. Make a design inside the beads. The heart came into our design accidentally. Originally we were going to make a sun catcher that filled the entire pan. However, I had only bought one package of beads and there was no way that was going to be enough. So our fix was to carefully create a heart in the middle of the pan. You can use a cookie cutter to make your shape perfect if you have one. I had to use my hands due to my missing cookie cutter. Unfortunately I had to make my heart several times since Bennett kept sneaking up behind me and shoving his plastic pig in to eat (never a dull moment in this house).



3. Carefully place the pan into a 400 degree preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. As the plastic melts there will be a strong smell. We opened the windows up in the house and the smell went away quickly. I have heard that melting the beads inside a grill works if you want to avoid the smell in your house.

4. Once the beads have melted take a needle and poke a hole near the top. This will allow you to thread your nylon string once cooled.

5. Once the sun catcher has cooled it will pop right out of the pie pan. You can then thread your nylon string through the hole and hang it up in the window using a suction cup. We purchased a package of eight really cheap at our local craft store.

Liv had a hard time taking the sun catcher down to wrap up. She wanted to sit and stare at it all day. I will admit it caught the sun and shone beautifully. Almost like stained glass! Now that I know how easy this sun catcher was to make you better believe it will be a part of our future projects! I am thinking this might be the perfect Christmas Ornament gift from the kids this year.

Kiwi Crate Back To School Special

I just wanted to share the great deal Kiwi Crate has going on right now. These craft kits are great and both of my kids love doing them. What is even better is that everything you need is already included in the box so there is no need to go running out for supplies.

Here is just a sample of the fun we have had with Kiwi Crate this past summer....

 

If you have been wanting to give Kiwi Crate a try don't miss this awesome deal!