Each month we feature fun craft projects to do at home. Thanks, Dawn Sorem!

Materials
• Newspapers or Paper towels
• Yarn, ribbon, twine, or rope in any color
• White glue
• Scissors
• Two small bowls
• Balloon
• Safety pin (use with adult supervision)
• Candy (optional)
• Plastic spiders (optional)

Steps
• Lay down several layers of newspapers to catch the mess
• Blow up balloon to the size you would like your bowl to be, tie the end and place the tied end down into bowl, so that it will stay standing upright
• Put a thin layer of glue into second bowl
• Cut yarn into lots of 12” pieces  read more »

ANO'S ART
Type: Arts & Crafts
Who: Kids ages 6-18
Pre-Registration Required: Yes
When: After school classes and/or Saturdays
10220 SW Park Way, Portland
503-292-9278 or www.anosart.com

BODHI TREE CENTER
Type: Language Arts and Chinese Arts & Crafts
Who: Kids ages 3-5
Pre-Registration Required: Yes
When: Daytime, after school and evening classes
5403 SE Center St., Portland
503-788-0336 www.bodhitreecenter.org

DIY LOUNGE
Type: Arts & Crafts  read more »

Make Your Own Stained-Glass Window
By Dawn Sorem

What better way to enjoy that wonderful summer sunshine than from inside your own home while looking through a beautiful stained glass window you made yourself. Here’s an easy project parents can do with their kids on a hot summer day, while staying cool inside!

Materials
• 2 sheets of colorful cardstock or construction paper
• Scissors, hole punch, glue, pencil
• Old crayons to use for shaving

Steps
• Fold a piece of scratch paper in half, draw half of a shape and then cut out.  read more »

Summer is in full swing; what better way to remember your fun summer adventures than by making a journal you can draw and record all of your memories?

This journal can also be made into many other things: a diary, a scrapbook to hold photographs or even a nature journal to store dried flowers and leaves.

Materials
• 2 to 6 paper lunch sacks/bags
• Scissors, glue
• Assorted colored papers
• Colored pencils, crayons or markers
• Hole punch
• Assorted Rubber stamps and inks (optional)
• Sequins, buttons, photos, stickers (optional)
• Raffia, ribbon or yarn  read more »

Make Your Own Sun-Seeing Sparkle-Glitter Bottle
Now that the sun is out in full force, what better way to see its hot rays than through a cool sparkle-glitter bottle?! Hold the bottle up to the sky, shake it up and watch the sparkle swirl and float through the sunlight. This month’s craft is super easy and hassle free, plus it’s beauuuutiful.

Steps
• Fill your bottle halfway with water
• Add a few pinches of sequins and glitter
• If you have food coloring, squirt in a couple of drops
• Fill the bottle the rest of the way with corn syrup  read more »

Craft: Entertain Spring’s Feathered Friends with a Pinecone Bird Feeder

Now that spring is here, what better way to enjoy the outdoors then by making a super duper easy, a little bit messy, kid-friendly bird feeder out of a pinecone?

Materials
• One large pinecone
• Peanut Butter
• Knife or Spatula
• One foot of string or yarn
• Bird seed (about one cup)

Steps
• Tie string or yarn to the top of pinecone
• Smear peanut butter all over pinecone
• Roll peanut butter covered pinecone in bird seed, cover completely
• Hang outside on tree limb  read more »

April showers bring May flowers!
Celebrate spring and help bring in the May flowers with this easy-to-make, kid-friendly paper towel roll rainstick. When the stick is upended, the beans fall from one end to the other end of the tube, making a sound reminiscent of a rainstorm. According to legend, South American natives created the rainstick to call rainstorms.

Materials:
* Paper-towel roll
* Brown grocery bag
* Aluminum foil
* Dried rice, beans or seeds
* Scissors
* Glue
* Markers or crayons
* Ribbon, stickers, paper punches (optional)

Steps  read more »

Get ready for spring with some easy, kid-friendly paper handprint Lilies – guaranteed to last the season with no sagging leaves!

Materials
• Different colors of construction paper
• Tape, pencil, scissors
• Straws or Green pipe cleaners

Steps
• Trace hand on construction paper and cut out.
• Curl each paper finger around pencil.

• Form a cone shape using the palm of the handprint (making sure fingers curl outwards)
• Tape cone together and then tape to straw.  read more »

Family Craft: Make Homemade Cards for Valentine’s Day
By Dawn Sorem

Materials

8½x11-inch pink card stock, scrap paper, brown card stock and envelope

Pencil, ruler, scissors, glue stick

Dimensional (two-sided) mounting tape

Optional: decorative scissors, brown ink, seasonal stamps
Steps

Fold pink card stock in half. Cut along the fold. Fold one piece in half again. This will be the card.
Write “Happy Valentine’s Day” with colorful marker on the inside of the card. Or use a stamp with brown ink.  read more »