For The Kids - Boredom Busting With Cotton Balls

If you have young children, you know that keeping them entertained can be a task. But it is one that can be accomplished without breaking the bank. Take a look at these fun crafts that can be made with things as simple as cotton balls.

Cotton Ball Fairies

Materials

Wood clothespin
Cotton ball
Chenille stem (pipe cleaner)
Acrylic paint
Fine paintbrush
Glue

Directions

1. Use a fine paintbrush to paint on the face, hair and any details (such as a flower in the hair) with acrylic craft paint. Make sure that the face is centered over the "legs" of the clothespin.

2. Paint the torso. Allow to dry.

3. Work a small hole into the center of a large cotton ball. Apply a line of glue at the fairy's waist. Push the legs through the hole in the cotton ball and move the cotton ball up to make a fluffy skirt.

4. Make wings out of one chenille stem. Wrap it around the waist at the center and twist to secure. Shape into wings, twisting into place.

5. Paint on a thin line at the bottom to make shoes. Allow to dry.

Counting Sheep

Materials 


White construction paper
Cotton balls
Scissors
Transparent adhesive tape
Glue stick
Pencil and eraser
Black crayon
Black marker
Cotton swabs

Directions

1. Draw the sheep (you don't have to draw their feet) by hand very softly with a pencil. They do not have to be all the same or perfectly drawn.

2. Trace the pencil drawings with a black marker. Draw numbers in the center of each animal.

3. Have your toddler color the face and ears of the sheep with a black crayon (or any other color you choose) and then proceed to cut out each drawing.

4. Cover the sheep's body and hair with glue avoiding the middle area, where the number is.
Use cotton balls to cover the parts that have glue.

5. Cut the cotton swabs in half with a pair of scissors. Turn the sheep and use transparent adhesive tape to attach the feet of the sheep to the back.

April Showers Mobile

Materials


3 sheets of pretty patterned papers
Something round such as a wide mouth jar or ramekin
3 five-inch long chenille stems in springtime colors
5 medium yellow pom-poms
6 medium white pom-poms
1 medium purple pom-pom
15 clear blue pony beads
7 pieces of string, each 18" long
1 wire coat hanger
Light blue fabric (an old t-shirt or pillow case works great)
50-60 cotton balls
4" square piece of yellow paper
Hot glue gun
White craft glue
Scissors
Pen or pencil
Tape

Directions 

1. Turn the patterned papers over so that the pattern is face down. Use something round, about 4" in diameter, to trace a circle onto each of the papers.

2. Draw a line from one edge of the circle toward the center, stopping in the middle. Cut out the circle, and use your scissors to cut along the line. This creates a slit in the paper.

3. Take one of the strings and with one of the circles, pattern facing down, insert the string into the slit. Tape down the end of the string to the bottom of the patterned paper circle.

4. Lift up the circle off of the work surface. Holding the open ends of the paper at the slit, overlap them enough to make an umbrella shape. Tape in place. The long end of the string should be coming out of the top of your umbrella. Repeat for each umbrella.

5. Bend the end of each chenille stem into a hook to create the umbrella handle. 

6. Turn the umbrella upside down again, put a dab of white craft glue into the center. Insert the straight end of the chenille stem into the glue and gently through the top of the paper umbrella. The top of the chenille should be poking out just a little.  

7. Loosely tie the strings somewhere so that the umbrellas can hang to dry. Allowing them to dry sitting on the table will cause the umbrella handles to dry crooked.

8. While the umbrellas are drying, gather the pom-poms to make the flowers. Position 5 yellow pom-poms around one white pom-pom. Position 5 white pom-poms around 1 purple pom-pom. Glue the pom-poms together to create the two flowers.

9. Insert the end of a string between two of the pom-poms and add a little extra glue. Let dry.

10. To make the raindrops, start by taping the end of a piece of string to the work surface. This will stop any runaway beads from falling off the other end.

11.  Thread a pony bead onto a piece the string. Run the open end of the string back through the bead to hold it in place. You should still be able to slide the bead up and down to change its position if you like. Repeat this process, spacing out the beads a bit so that they look like raindrops.

12. Tie a knot with the end of the string through the last bead. Add a bit of glue to secure it and let it dry.

13. Place the coat hanger on top of the blue fabric and trace around the outline of the hanger two times. Cut out the two pieces.

14. Lay the two pieces of fabric directly on top of each other and use fabric glue to seal both angled sides. Do not glue the top or bottom opening.

15. With the fabric laying on the work surface, insert the hanger hook into the small opening. Pull the fabric down over the hanger, as if putting on a shirt. Add a bit of glue to tack the fabric together once it's on the hanger. Do not glue the large opening just yet!

16. With the coat hanger lying on the work surface, position and tie each of your umbrella, flower, and raindrop strings onto the hanger. Stagger each one so that they do not bump in to each other when hanging. Trim the tied ends, then tuck them inside the fabric. Glue the fabric closed.

17. Cut a half circle from the yellow paper. With the hanger still lying flat on the work surface, glue cotton balls and yellow sun to the front of the hanger.