For my son’s seventh birthday party I wanted to make party favors that didn’t cost very much, were mostly hand made, and that weren’t stupid cheap plastic games that would break immediately. I made pirate booty bags out of some pirate fabric I already had, put some chocolate coins in each one, some fake dollar bills, a few plastic play rings, and one surprise bath bomb which the kids could use in their next bath and after watching the ball fizz for a couple of minutes in the bath a prize would drop out of the center of it.

Because the trinkets you use will be immediately immersed in water you need to choose water proof ones. Plastic bugs or rings (shown in this tutorial) are all good choices. They also need to be small. For all the kids I put a pirate button in the bath bomb, but for the birthday boy I hid a tiny corked bottle with a message inside it for him. He loved it!

This project is not difficult, but it has one tricky aspect to it which is that baking soda and citric acid combined will foam and fizz when in contact with too much moisture, which is what you want it to do in your bath. To get it to form balls you have to get it just wet enough, without setting off the chemical reaction that makes it expand. There is no exact science to knowing when the mixture is ready to form balls. Humidity levels in homes differ. It might take me fifteen sprays of witch hazel to get mine right, but that might not be true in your house. I highly recommend having a second person do the witch hazel spraying while you whisk it in simultaneously so that the moisture has no chance to set off a reaction. [might be a good way for the kids to help out -ed]

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To make this fun and easy marbleized paper you will need: 1/2 tsp alum (helps paint adhere to the paper), 2 cups liquid starch, liquid acrylic paints, a long wooden skewer, 9 X 13 pan and white copy paper cut to fit the inside your pan. You can change up the size of the pan; just keep the proportions of starch and alum the same. The starch should be 1 to 2 inches deep in your pan.

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I have had such a ball this month with the children’s crafts, but am now gearing up to Alt crafts month which I also looking forward to – so send in your submissions.

I wanted to also let you know about my posts last week for design*sponge where I was a guest for a week. Some of these post will be perfect for alt craft month but there are also some posts on my home and crafting with kids – so check them out.

Some last kiddies crafts that readers have sent in…

Patricia sent this in – egg carton turned into a heart

Alix sent this in – just thought I’d tell you about the car my son and I made. it isn’t a tutorial, more a description of the process and how we made the choices.

Mimi sent in this link to a fishing game tutorial

Amy sent in this – Hi there! I just wanted to share this simple craft my son Finn and I made recently…It was great to start the year off this way. It is a “helping bank”. I know it is not super artsy or amazing, but I know that this is children’s month and I thought you might want to see it. It was fun to make and the lesson was great.

At artstream, we use a lot of recycled objects as well as bonafide art materials to create with. Here is an easy reuse of the freebie foam core which most frame shops throw away. Go ask for some at your local shop. They will be happy to see you!

To make these mask/faces we sorted the bits into a few bins of small, medium and large shapes. For the actual “head” we had the children draw on a larger piece and we cut out that shape for them with adult size scissors. They glued on the features and used wooden skewers and toothpicks for hair. The foamcore board accepts the skewers easily on the edges as it comes with premade hole like formations. Paint, markers, or inks could be used to add color, as well as beads, ribbons and yarns added to the “hair”. Everything was glued on with a white glue although if you were in a hurry to finish, an adult could use hot glue. More photos of this process right here at flickr.

Neck warmer by lady harvatine The pattern is from Knitty. I used some sort of Merino, I’m sorry I don’t know what, but it was very soft and squishy.

hoppelpoppelsocks by craftoholic Hoppelpoppel – something useful made from leftovers – from craftaholics – Pattern: Basic top down 2×2 rib Needles: US 2 Yarn: mostly Lana Grossa Meilenweit leftovers

handspun pinwheel blanket by lulubeans pattern: free one from genia planck, via the good folks at knitlist.

camera mittens by impulsive arts (with pattern)

Kids craft weekly has donated 5 copies of her book Everyday Craft , its packed with creative ideas – the projects use household items as the foundation for fun and achievable kid’s craft projects.

Everyday Craft more info here.

to win one of five copies of this great book simply leave a reply in the comments – (make sure that you write your current email address when you post your comment) answer the following questions.

Share your favourite ‘everyday’ item for crafting?
And nominate your favourite kid’s craft project?

forgot to add – comments will close at the end of the month – cheers

I was so excited to have found this great post over at Creature Comforts! EZ has a posted a tutorial, complete with downloadable PDFs and illustrated directions, for creating a personalized candy bar wrapper for the one you love! You could easily print a secret message on the inside of the wrapper, for your Valentines eyes only! Think of it as your very own golden ticket! ;)

As part of our month of crafts for children, we will be posting links to cool ideas and inspiration as well as tutorials and articles. We are still taking tutorial and article ideas for the month so please email your ideas and stories to me at whipup[at]gmail.com.

Wendi wrote in with this great letter about how she helps her 5 year old to sew – they are currently making a quilt.

Hello lovely Whip Up people! I’ve been enjoying this month’s theme of crafting with kids and I thought I’d send you a link to the post I just wrote about sewing with my daughter. She’s five and she’s been sewing with a machine since she turned four. In my post I talk about the things I do that “help” her sew (like drawing the stitching line for her to follow) and how I rigged her machine to slow it down a bit.

This is an almost no-sew tutu project that is perfect for any kid who can tie a single knot (usually 5 years and up). This is perfect as a girl birthday party craft.

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Sophie wrote in with this letter for children’s craft month:

Something fun i did with my cousin’s kids was make a jar of hugs and kisses for their mum’s birthday. We bought some clay (that stuff you bake) in pink and red and made crosses (kisses) and circles (hugs). Then we baked them and let them cool. For the jar we picked a random one and covered the lid with pink material. Then I made a mixture of red paint and glue and helped them paint the word “MUM”. When everything was cool and dry we put the kisses and hugs the jar and finished it off with a piece of ribbon. Mum was thrilled. I did it with a 5 and 3 year old but I helped a lot.

Juliette from Chickpea studios sent in a link to this tutorial for pinwheels

Paul O’Mahony of the Siopaeile.com has recently launched the Irish Arts Blog . The blog is written by a select group of artisans from all over Ireland, who responded to Paul’s free group blog offer for Irish Artists launched last summer.

Larissa has been working her knitting book Knitalong for a while now. | March 15, 2008 | Knitalong Book Release Party | at Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks | in Portland, Oregon (Sellwood neighborhood) | late afternoon/early evening, time TBA.

Heather has some new pattern downloads available – paper globes just in time for valentines and

A new feature on Vintage Indie called What You Make of It . Kind of a twist on DIY with vintage components.

check out illusion knitting on instructables

new shopping site called Shopflick, which is launching next month – Shopflick is “eBay meets YouTube.” Sellers list their products via video; shoppers watch; and buyers click on our video player’s buy button and buy. It’s also a way of giving folks everywhere the Renegade or Felt Club (indie crafts fairs) experience via the web by meeting the creators and hearing them talk about their work.

Handmade Nation: Documenting the rise of DIY Art, Craft & Design. | Documentary Release: 2009 | Book Release: November 2008, Princeton Architectural Press | more info and updates here