Many people associate the leprechaun with Ireland, but don’t realize there are crafts which allow children to make them. In fact, with items found around the home, your child can make more than one leprechaun. And who knows, if you find leprechauns you may also find a pot of gold!

You may be able to find many of these things around your home. For those you cant find, they’re relatively inexpensive or you can find and print some things off of the internet. Here’s what your child will need:

* Toilet paper rolls (enough for each leprechaun your child wants to make)
* Paper in various colors (black, green, white, yellow)
* Crayons
* Scissors
* Glue
* Brown chenille stems (may also be called pipe cleaners)
* Green craft foam
* Printer to print templates or other items off the internet

Begin by searching the internet for leprechaun crafts at websites like DLTK-holidays.com or jas.familyfun.go.com/crafts which will provide templates for various parts of the leprechaun body for this type of craft.

If you dont have access to a colored printer, your child will most likely enjoy coloring the areas where color is needed. No matter which type of craft your child is making, the toilet paper tube will need to be covered. This can be done by using a template or measuring the length of the tube and adding half inch extra on both ends. Be sure the paper or green craft foam is long enough to fully cover the paper tube and then glue it down in place. Bend the extra over the edge of the tube and glue it to ensure the paper wont come off.

Cut out the head, hat, ears, feet, and arms. If the paper these have been printed on is flimsy, your child may want to glue them to an index card to give them extra stability. Then glue the pieces to the covered paper tube. The leprechaun is ready to stand guard over a pot of gold or whatever else your child chooses.

If your child prefers, they can use many of the same ideas using craft foam. Draw a circle around the tube and another one about half an inch larger. This will be the brim for the hat. The center of the circles can be the top of the hat.

Wrap brown chenille stems around a pencil to create spirals which can be glued to the tube. Leave enough room for a face. Either paint the face onto the tube or use one of the templates found. Draw the detail (eyes, mouth and nose) onto the face as well as any other details such as the hands, arms, belt, or a flower in the pocket. Let your child look at pictures of leprechauns to give them an idea of what they should look like.

Once your child learns how to make a St. Patrick’s Day leprechaun, they can use the same basic ideas to make similar crafts for other holidays. Remember, however, since these are made of paper, you’ll want to store them in a box to protect them if your child chooses to keep them. Enjoy the leprechaun and hopefully you’ll find your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

1. Buy green construction paper and trace shamrocks from either a coloring book or a template online, and make a string of shamrocks to hang in your home.

2. You can’t celebrate the day without hats! You can easily make St. Patrick’s Day hats by using construction paper. While there are tons of templates available online, you can accomplish this task easily. Take two pieces of green construction paper and tape them together forming about a 14” long piece. Fold it into a circle and tape one side to the other. Take another piece of green construction paper to make the top of the hat by using a paper plate to trace a circle. Cut it out and use clear tape to attach it to the top of the hat.

Next, you’ll need to make the brim of the hat. Again, using green construction paper; cut out a larger circle and apply glue so that the hat will attach itself to the brim. Finally, you need the buckle to place just above the brim of the hat. For this you can use brown construction paper and cut a wide strip and glue or tape it to the hat.

In addition, you may want to assist your kids in making a rainbow Jello mold. You can even make a pot of gold using yellow apples! Or how about the old standby; cupcakes with green icing, with a shamrock cookie on top!

There is no end to the many creative and imaginative ideas you can incorporate when engaging in a fun activity such as decorations for St. Patrick’s Day. Put on some Irish CD’s, and have a great time!

Kids like bright colors. Whatever the organizational structure in their room, incorporate color into it so they can make it their own. Speaking of rooms, kids also need a say in how their areas are designed, since they will be the ones occupying it.

To that end, try to get your kids involved in storage container art. This is the process of letting them decorate the organizational features of their room. This will also keep them from having the desire to draw on the walls and other surfaces that don’t need to be enhanced.

Encourage creativity in your child by giving them an outlet. When you help them to tidy up their area, bring a few special extras and the storage containers. Your kids will love you for it.

Clear an area to work. Show your kids the storage containers that they will use to keep their rooms clean. Before you start, let them choose what containers they want to use for their stuff. Start with two or three and then grab more as needed.

Lay out the special extras that you brought with you. Kids can decorate their containers with stickers, non-toxic paints, pictures, foam lettering and ribbons. Let them go wild. Resist the urge to straighten their stickers or correct their designs. It is for their stuff so it needs to look good to them.

Set aside a special place for the decorations so that your kids can grab and use them whenever they need to. Be sure that you reiterate that the stickers are not for the walls, but storage containers. But, just in case they get mischievous and one or two end up on the wall, use decals that are designed for walls instead of regular stickers for their container art. These can be removed and reapplied without ruining surfaces.

Once the containers are decorated, it is time to put something in them. Let your kids decide what toys will go in what container. Help them to move the containers to an area where they will stay permanently to keep their items off the floor.

Now, whenever you tell the kids it is time to clean up, they get to use their decorative containers. Cleaning before bed won’t be such a chore. You can even turn it into a game by letting them pick up each other’s toys and throw them in the right bin.

Use storage containers as a way to unleash your kid’s creative side and teach them responsibility at the same time.

Sun catchers are easy to make. All it takes is some crafting wire, translucent colored beads, and fishing line. The benefit of using crafting wire is that you or your child can create any number of shapes with it. Your child can use their imagination to create butterflies, stars, birds, or anything their heart desires. They can even make completely abstract shapes if they prefer.

Your child can make a drawing and use that as the pattern to shape the wire, or they can find a picture out of a coloring book. The simpler the drawing and pattern, the easier it will be to create the desired shape. Your child may want to place circles, colored in with the color of the desired beads, on the drawing to show where the beads will be placed.

Do you want a simple sparkling sun catcher with only the outline of the drawing or do you want it to be more elaborate? You can use a larger gauge wire for the outline of the sun catcher and then use a smaller gauge wire for adding more colored glass beads. The choice is yours or your child’s – you can add as many pieces of wire as you like.

Parents will want to cut the wire to length rather than allowing children to do this step. You can then place one bead onto the wire and wrap the wire around the bead to keep it in place. Now it’s time to get the wire into the right shape by bending it.

Your child can begin threading the beads following the color pattern they made on their drawing, being sure to either put glue on either side of the bead or placed within the bend. They could also wrap the wire around the bead and then continue with the pattern. When the final bead is placed and you’re near the end of the wire, hook the end into the bead or wrap it around the bead to finish it off.

To display your sun catcher, cut a piece of fishing line long enough to hang it from a nail around the window or from a suction cup with a hook. Sit back and enjoy the beauty that your child helped to create. And when the sun gleams through your window, you can think back to the fun you and your child had making it.

Toddlers and young children may see Mom, Dad, or their brothers and sisters enjoying crafts. They may wonder why they don’t get to make something as well. This craft is perfect for little hands and will result with a gift any mom or grandma will love.

Since it’s springtime, your toddler or preschooler has probably already brought you a handful of daffodils or dandelions. Did you have a vase to put them in? Your child can make their own fingerprint flower vase that can be used for all of their future bouquets.

You don’t really need a lot of art supplies for this craft, just an empty jar or two and enamel paints in a variety of colors. You may also want to have some newspapers on hand to keep the mess to a minimum. However, if you’re working outside in the sunshine, you may not be concerned about the mess.

You’ll want to help your child with this craft project because it’s important they don’t put their fingers in their eyes or their mouth. Here’s how to do it:

* Start with clean and dry glass jars. It doesn’t matter which type of jar is used as long as the label has been completely removed. If you’d prefer to use an actual glass vase, these can be purchased inexpensively at any dollar store.

* Read all of the instructions on the back of the enamel paint bottle so you know how it should be used.

* Have them hold the jar by the mouth so they don’t mess up the paint.

* Let the children choose a color. They can dip their fingers into the paint and decorate the jar or vase by making flowers with their fingerprints.

* Your child can make any number of flowers on the vase. How they decorate the jar/vase is entirely up to them.

* After they’ve made a circle of fingerprint flowers, they can go back with a contrasting color to make the center of the flowers.

* Follow the directions on the paint to let the paint dry. If this includes baking it in the oven, an adult would need to handle it. Drying time may mean allowing it to air dry for up to three weeks before using it for the first time.

If you’re uncomfortable using enamel paints for this craft, you can use acrylic paints instead. The flowers will wash off, however, unless the project is protected by an acrylic sealer.

When Mother’s Day arrives, let your toddler or young child present their fingerprint flower vase. They may even want to give it with flowers inside. Any mom or grandmother would be proud to have this precious keepsake.

Crafts like sewing require quite a bit of space. You need to have a sewing machine, ironing board and iron, an easily accessible space for notions, and space to store fabric and patterns. Dad and the kids have their own crafts. Wouldn’t it be great to have one room where all of this could be located?

Begin by deciding which room you will turn into a craft room or if you will have to add one to your home. If you have a room to use, measure it and draw the room to scale on graph paper. Measure each piece of furniture that will go into the room and transfer those to the same scale size; cut out each piece so you can try different room arrangements without having to move heavy furniture.

One recommendation would be to divide the room into zones. If someone is interested in painting, they will want to have access to direct sunlight. Sunlight wouldn’t be so important to someone who was scrapbooking or putting together models. Create a painting zone nearest the windows.

Be sure to have plenty of overhead as well as task lighting in the room. Each task requires lighting for close tasks as well as something more general. Lamps that can be adjusted for specific tasks would be a good idea. Do you have enough wall outlets or do you need to add more?

Work space will probably be a premium concern. Someone who sews would need a place for the machine as well as space to spread out fabric when cutting out patterns. Of course, that area could be used by someone scrapbooking, as long as they weren’t trying to do so at the same time. The longer the flat surface, the better it would be. If it were long enough, it might be able to accommodate two crafts at one time.

Seating would be another area to consider. Comfortable chairs are a must, especially if you’re sitting for long periods of time. However, you don’t want to get lounge chairs. Something that is ergonomic and practical would be best. You want to be comfortable while working on your craft, but not so comfortable you fall asleep. Good quality office-style chairs will probably do nicely.

The final component is where to store everything. How much of the supplies needed for each craft can be stored on shelves rather than in cabinets on the floor? Peg boards, wall-mounted organizers, and multiple shelved units could store a good amount of things. What about putting strips of metal along the walls near each work area? These would be a handy place to hold scissors, little jars to hold beads or buttons, and more. The options are limitless if you think about it.

Crafts are an important part of our lives. They help us relax and give us a creative outlet. They help us to dream. If they’re so important to us, why is it we don’t enjoy doing them more often? Having a great space designated just for crafts might be the answer your whole family is looking for. Think about the benefits, and then create the perfect craft area for your home.

Melted wax is dangerous for anyone, especially for children. Please be careful when trying any of the following crayon wax-melting art projects. Adult supervision is definitely a must for melted wax artists. Here’s how to do it:

In the oven: Set your oven to 250 degrees. Create new crayons by melting the old broken pieces. Break the pieces up into smaller pieces and sort the crayons with like colors. Place the crayon pieces into an old muffin tin. Put the tin into the oven and then turn the oven off. Watch the crayons so they don’t melt entirely. When the crayons have melted sufficiently, remove them from the oven and then place the tin into the freezer for half an hour. Take the tin out and then pop the new, larger crayons out.

Double Boiler: Another way to melt peeled crayons is over a double boiler. Use an old pan that you were going to throw away. Get a larger pot and place water in the pot to boil. Put the old pan into the water so it floats. Put the crayons into the upper pan and allow them to melt. You can then use a ladle or measuring cup to remove small amounts of wax. Dribble or paint the melted wax onto paper or into old candy molds. You can also dribble or pour melted wax on wet sand.

Color on Fabric: On a blank sheet of paper, create a design you’d like to have on a T-shirt or other piece of fabric. Color the design heavily, using plenty of crayon. Set your iron to cool and allow it to heat up. Place newspaper between the layers of fabric so the colors don’t bleed through. Then iron the paper until the design shows through. For best results, use 100% synthetic fabrics.

Sun catchers: Children love the colors that are thrown across the room through sun catchers. You can help your child create a melted crayon wax sun catcher. Give your child a pencil sharpener and let them make crayon shavings. Fold a large sheet of wax paper and sprinkle crayon shavings on half of it. With a warm iron, run the iron over the wax paper quickly. Allow the wax paper to cool and then cut it into various shapes. Make butterflies or flowers with holes in them where you can tape the melted crayon wax sun catcher on the back so the light and colors shine through.

Let the artist come out in your child. However, since you’re working with crayon wax-melting art, be sure to supervise closely to keep your child from injury. The artwork they create will spread colorful light across your room and into your heart.

If journaling is your problem, there are a number of things you can do to get over the blockage.

1. Get up from your chair and take a walk. That’s right. You need a fresh perspective. Go outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Breathe in the clean air and feel the sunshine on your face.

2. Start collecting sayings that are meaningful to you – witty phrases from commercials, cute things that your children say, quotes from famous and not-so-famous people. Keep them in a notebook for those times you need some inspiration.

3. Create a journal jar. This is really good for writers who get stuck. Find a nice looking jar and write down sentences that will get you thinking. Cut the sentences off the page and put them in the jar. The next time you have scrapper’s block, you can draw one out and see where it takes you. Here are a few to get your jar started:

* Explain a family tradition from when you were a child.
* Who do you most admire and why?
* What is your dream vacation?
* Which holiday is your favorite?

What if the problem isn’t journaling, but trying to come up with actual pages for your scrapbook to go along with the photos you have? Maybe it will help to know you’re not alone. Even professional scrapbookers have this problem from time to time.

1. It’s okay to “break the rules” in scrapbooking. You may feel you have to work with the most recent pictures you have, but it’s alright to go through them until you find some that you’d rather work with.

2. If you can’t actually make yourself work on a page, perhaps you can plan out pages you’d like to do but may not have the photos or supplies for. Think about how you could get photos to match those ideas.

3. Look through magazines or online to get inspiration. Perhaps you’ll see something that would be perfect with some of your photos.

4. Go back through your completed pages and realize that you’re really good at scrapbooking. There may be a layout in there that can be adapted or updated with some of the new supplies that are out.

Here are some ideas that you may be able to use to help get you past scrapper’s block:

* My first helium balloon
* Playing with my friends
* Taking a bubble bath
* First tooth lost
* Dirty faces
* First day of . . . school, camp, spending the night with Grandma . . .
* All dressed up and no place to go
* Splashing in puddles
* First haircut (be sure to save a lock of hair to include)
* Family reunions

There are endless possibilities when you’re creating scrapbook pages. Take some time away from your pages to give you a fresh perspective. Look through others’ pages, magazines, or your child’s baby book to get inspiration. When scrapper’s block has passed, you’ll have so many new great ideas you won’t be able to get to them quick enough!

Look down the aisles at a crafts store and you’ll see shelves filled with scrapbooking goodies. Papers galore, stickers to die for, craft scissors with various edges, and oh, the books themselves are something to drool over. It’s no wonder people get easily overwhelmed. And that’s not even the beginning of what’s available.

Taking a look online, you’ll find millions of websites that have information about scrapbooking as a hobby. Some have various scrapbook page templates, or page examples, and tips of the trade for creating the perfect scrapbook. Others give step-by-step instructions of how to create pages.

While it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the vast amount of scrapbooking supplies available, take a deep breath and get ready to find what you’re looking for. To begin with, you’ll need to have photographs that you’ll place into your scrapbook. Organize them into what you’d like to include in one book, then you’ll be better able to go out and find the supplies you want.

Be sure that no matter what supplies you purchase, they are acid and lignin free so your precious photographs and memories will be protected. Choose which pages you would like to keep together on one page and then look for things they have in common besides the subject matter.

For instance, if you have pictures of your first child having their first bubble bath, you may want to find paper that has a bathroom design on it. Or you could choose stickers that resemble bubbles or rubber ducks. Be sure to choose some pens for writing on your pages or use stickers with fun sayings.

As you can tell, your scrapbooks don’t have to be elaborate. There’s no need to go out and buy one of everything on the scrapbooking aisle, although you could if your pocket book wouldn’t suffer too much and your spouse didn’t complain about the money you’d spent.

Pick up a few items that you know you’ll use right away. If you plan out your pages ahead of time, you’ll have an idea of what supplies you’ll need.

Scrapbooks are a better place to store pictures and mementos rather than keeping them in boxes where they could get lost or damaged. Scrapbooks are also an easier way for people to enjoy the photos they contain. What better way is there to showcase your memories than with pictures and journal spaces to bring those memories back to mind?

Having a New Year’s Eve party is a great time to start a chronological scrapbook for the coming year. You’ve made your list of guests, sent out invitations, have the menu planned, and even have party games planned. Why not have several disposable cameras sitting around the party so your guests can take candid shots while the party is going on. A digital camera would also be a good idea to have available.

How do you plan for a great New Year’s themed scrapbook if you’ve never completed one before? Obviously, for scrapbooking you will need a scrapbook, pictures, and paper to put them on, as well as scissors, photo corners or glue, embellishments, stickers, pens for journaling, and sheet protectors.

As soon as you can after New Year’s Eve, plan on having the film developed or printed if the camera is digital. Gather your materials and plan on spending some time to get each page to look just as you’d like it.

Choose five or six great pictures from the party rather than trying to work on all of your photos at once. You want to enjoy the process, the memories, and the fun of scrapbooking so you don’t want to overwhelm yourself. Take your time and play with the photos and the layout to find what works best.

Think of a title for each of your pages. “Happy New Year!” is an obvious choice, but you might want something more creative like “Waiting for the ball to drop” or “Auld Lang Syne”. Look at the photographs and decide what title works best with them.

Don’t be afraid to crop your photos to focus on one person or a group of people. If you use scissors to cut the photos, you may want to put photo frames over them to hide the edges. Add boxes to journal the names of the people in the photos or other information you want to remember about the photo.

Scrapbooking continues to grow in popularity and the number of supplies you can find for it is mind-boggling. Take some time to look through the craft stores to find items that will enhance your photos and give your first scrapbook project of the New Year your sense of creativity.