Creative Family Fun

Your one-stop shop for kids activities and family fun

Terri Thompson

Preschool Paper Plate Umbrella Craft

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Winter is winding down and spring is on it’s way.

It’s time for flowers, birds, and rain!

To celebrate this upcoming season, we decided to make a fun paper plate umbrella craft that is perfect for preschool and toddlers.

Preschoolers and toddlers will have so much fun making this simple paper plate umbrella craft that is perfect for a rainy day!

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies needed for your umbrella craft

Paper plate
Tape
Paint
Cotton Balls
Black Construction Paper

How to make your Paper Plate Umbrella craft

To prep your project you will need to cut a paper plate in half. Then, I gave one half to each girl.

I let each of my girl picks out a couple of colors of paint. I then poured a little bit of each color onto an old plastic lid. This makes it so much easier and neater than putting brushes into the little pots of paint.

But, for this project, we used cotton balls to paint with instead of the paint brushes. It’s always fun to paint with different things!

The girls got to work. My 2-year-old dabbed her paint while my 4-year-old decided to smear hers.

To finish the project, I used the black construction paper to cut out the handles. Once the paint was dry, we attached out handles to the back of our umbrellas with tape.

We then hung our paper plate umbrella craft in the window to remind us that the snow was going away and rain would come with the changing season.

Preschoolers and toddlers will have so much fun making this simple paper plate umbrella craft that is perfect for a rainy day!

You may also like one of these fun weather crafts:

The Snowy Day Book & Craft

Simple Cloud Painting Activity

Rain and Raindrop Crafts for Kids

Weather Crafts for Toddlers

Raindrop Suncatchers at Pre-K Pages

How to make a paper plate umbrella. This is such a fun and simple craft for preschool.

My recommended craft resources

It’s so easy to have a successful craft time with your kids, if you keep some simple supplies on hand. Here are the supplies we used for this project, that you can also use for many other kids crafts.

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Cardboard Tube Panda Craft

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We’ve made cardboard tube elephants. We’ve made tigers. And, now we’re making a fun cardboard tube panda craft.

These pandas are so cute that you’re going to want to make a whole family of them.

So, let’s grab our craft supplies and get started.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies needed for your panda bear craft

Empty cardboard tube/toilet paper roll
White craft paint
Black craft paint
Black marker
Scissors
Black construction paper (just a scrap will work)
Glue
Googly eyes

How to make your Cardboard Tube Panda Craft

For the first step, grab your white paint and paint your entire cardboard tube white.

While you wait for the paint to dry, cut two small circles from your black construction paper for your ears. Your circles should be about the same size as a quarter. (Or about 1-inch in diameter.)

After your white paint is dry, grab your black paint to add the details.

You’ll want to paint two ovals tilted to the side for your eyes and a small circle between them for the nose.

Next, paint a black band under the face. The band circles your tube with it lower in the front and higher in the back.

Let the black paint dry for a few minutes.

Create a pretend play zoo and add this simple cardboard tube panda bear craft. It's a simple and fun craft for kids that makes use of recycled materials.

After all the paint it dry, add your final details.

Glue your ears to the inside of the top of your tube. Center an ear above each eye.

Glue your googly eyes inside your black eye ovals. They need to be near the top of the oval.

Create a pretend play zoo and add this simple cardboard tube panda craft. It's a simple and fun craft for kids that makes use of recycled materials.

Finally, use the black marker to make your mouth underneath the nose circle.

After the glue dries, it’s time to play! This panda bear craft makes a great DIY toy!

Yield: 1 panda

Cardboard Tube Panda Craft

Create a pretend play zoo and add this simple cardboard tube panda craft. It's a simple and fun craft for kids that makes use of recycled materials.

Use a recycled paper tube and a few simple supplies to make one of these cute cardboard tube pandas.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Active Time 15 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost Under $5 (depending on the supplies you already have on hand)

Materials

Tools

Instructions

  1. Use your white paint to paint your entire cardboard tube.
  2. While the paint is drying, cut 2 small circles (about the size of a quarter) from your construction paper for your ears.
  3. Once the white paint is dry, use your black paint to add details. Add a black collar, small black nose, and two tilted ovals for the eyes. Let the black paint dry.
  4. Glue your ears to the inside of the top of your tube so that half of the circles sticks out from the top.
  5. Glue your googly eyes to the top of your eye ovals.
  6. Finally, use your black marker to draw a small mouth.

Notes

If you don't have an empty toilet paper roll tube, you can cut a paper towel roll to size.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

© Terri Thompson
Project Type: cardboard tube animal / Category: Crafts
Create a pretend play zoo and add this simple cardboard tube panda craft. It's a simple and fun craft for kids that makes use of recycled materials.

You may also like one of these animal crafts:

Panda Bear Masks

Cardboard Tube Bear Craft

Koala Bookmark

LEGO Panda Building Instructions

Create a pretend play zoo and add this simple cardboard tube panda craft. It's a simple and fun craft for kids that makes use of recycled materials.

My recommended supplies

If you want to make this cute cardboard tube panda, you’ll need a few simple craft supplies. First, make sure you save a couple of empty toilet paper rolls! The rest of the supplies are some that you should keep on hand to make many fun crafts for kids.

Do more activities with your family!

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Easter Play Dough Ideas for Kids

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Play dough has always been a tried and true way to keep my kids occupied, It’s fun, creative, and so open-ended.

That’s why I love all of these great Easter play dough ideas. It might be a fun new recipe or a great creative invitation. They’re all so different and your kids will love them.

Your kids will have fun with all of these awesome Easter play dough ideas inspired by Easter eggs, chicks, bunnies, and even Easter candy.

Fun Easter Play Dough Activities

Whether you’re looking for some fun printable play dough mats, a fun learning activity, or you just have an overabundance of Easter candy, you’ll find some great ideas here.

Check out the list and find a few ideas to try. They all look like so much fun!

Easter Play Dough Ideas

Have some springtime fun with these awesome Easter play dough ideas for kids.

The Best Marshmallow Peeps Play dough Recipe

Photo Credit: www.naturalbeachliving.com

Turn this sweet Easter treat into a fun play dough with this recipe.

Edible Playdough with Glitter - Easy and quick recipe

Photo Credit: www.steampoweredfamily.com

You can also turn Peeps into a fun (and edible) glittery play dough.

Loose parts Easter egg decorating station

Photo Credit: nurturestore.co.uk

Pull out some fun beads and other loose parts to decorate play dough Easter Eggs.

Easter Play Dough Counting Mats

Photo Credit: www.pre-kpages.com

Practice counting with these fun printable Easter counting mats.

Easter Bunny Play Dough

Photo Credit: www.notimeforflashcards.com

These Easter Bunny play dough treats would be a fun little gift to give.

Easter Play Dough Mats - Free Printable

Photo Credit: picklebums.com

Have fun creating with these printable play dough mats.

Invitation to Play: Playdough Easter Eggs

Photo Credit: www.teach-me-mommy.com

Your kids will have fun making Easter eggs with this play dough invitation.

Spring Chick Play Dough Invitation

Photo Credit: www.fantasticfunandlearning.com

Make cute play dough chicks with this fun idea.

Carrot Orange Play-dough Recipe | Non Candy Basket Idea

Photo Credit: www.thatswhatchesaid.net

Have fun creating with this orange carrot play dough recipe.

Spring Tree Play Dough Invitation

Photo Credit: www.fantasticfunandlearning.com

Make beautiful spring trees with this play dough invitation.

So, what do you think? Which of these fun Easter ideas are you going to try?

Your kids will have fun with all of these awesome Easter play dough ideas inspired by Easter eggs, chicks, bunnies, and even Easter candy.

You may also like one of these fun Easter activities:

Egg Carton Easter Basket Craft

Easter Science Activities for Kids

Painted Easter Egg Suncatcher

Watercolor Easter Eggs Garland

My must-have play dough resources:

If you want a fun Easter activity, but don’t have time to do any of these play dough activities, here are some great things to have one hand:

Do you want to do more activities with your family?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

The Best Family Fun Ideas

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It seems like life is just so busy these days. And, because of those days, it’s hard to fit in family fun time.

But, that time is so important! So, let’s find some pockets of time and reconnect with our family.

These family fun ideas will give you tons of ideas, whether you’ve got an hour or a whole day. Let’s make some memories together!

Connect with your family and make lot of memories with these simple and fun ideas for family fun and adventures. You'll have a great time together!

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Family Fun Ideas

Whether you want to use your family time to give back to your community or you want to settle in for a cozy evening at home, you’ll find plenty of ideas below.

Which of these ideas are you going to plan?

Family Fun Ideas

Make memories and go on adventures together with all of these awesome family fun ideas.

Family Friendly Movies for Family Movie Night

Have a family movie night together! Here are some great tips and movie suggestions.

Discover a New Playground for Outdoor Family Fun

Get out and explore together while you discover a new park.

Tips for Hiking With Young Children

Get outside and explore on a hike. These tips will help make your trip fun and successful.

10 Fun Walk Ideas for Families

Walks don't have to be boring! Check out these great ideas for family walks.

Easy to Play Card Games for Family Game Night

Have a family game night with one of these great card games.

June Simple Family Fun Ideas

These simple family fun ideas are perfect for summer!

Tips for Observing the Night Sky for Kids

Go outside and observe the night sky with your family.

Gratitude Conversation Starters

Start a conversation about gratitude with this free printable set of conversation starters.

Fun Ways to Help Your Local Animal Shelter

Volunteer together to help your local animal shelter with these fun ideas.

10 Reasons to Visit a State Park This Weekend (Or Any Weekend)

Go on an adventure to visit a nearby state park. There are so many fun things to do there!

Family Bird Watching Club

Start a new hobby with your family and learn all about birds.

Top 10 Simple Summer Field Trips

Go on a simple field trip with your family. These ideas are fun for summertime, but you can really do them any time of the year.

200 Fun Ideas for Your Summer Bucket List

Make a summer bucket list and fill it with one of these great ideas!

Creative Family Fun Nights: Spooky Stories

Have a fun family night telling spooky (but not too scary) stories.

Creative Family Fun Nights: Family Olympics

Get active together with this fun idea for a family outdoor game day.

Creative Family Fun Nights: Paper Airplane Races

Build and race paper airplanes with this simple family fun night idea.

Creative Family Fun Nights: Family Interviews

Get to know each other better with a fun night of family interviews.

Perfect Puzzles for the Family to Enjoy This Holiday Season

Work a jigsaw puzzle together with these great suggestions.

July Simple Family Fun Ideas

Have some summer fun with these simple family adventure ideas.

Spring Family Fun Ideas to Do in May

Spring is a great time to go on a family adventure. Try one of these simple ideas!

Neighborhood Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Explore your neighborhood this Halloween with this fun scavenger hunt idea.

Recommended Resources for Family Fun Ideas

I keep several books at home that are full of fun things I can do with my family. It’s so nice to have all these ideas at my fingertips! Here are some books I recommend:

More Resources for Families

Fun STEM Projects for Kids

Simple and Fun Activities for Toddlers

Tips for Observing Nature With Small Children

Nature Activity Books for Young Explorers

Connect with Other Families

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.

Egg Carton Easter Basket Craft

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I recently found myself staring at a pile of egg cartons and wondering how we could use them. Certainly there’s an Easter craft project we could try?

What could we do? After a few moments of creative thinking, I had an a-ha moment. They would be perfect for making a cute little Egg Carton Easter Basket or two.

Recycle your empty egg cartons into this simple and pretty Egg Carton Easter Basket craft for kids. It's so much fun to make!

This project takes very few supplies, it’s easy to prep, and it’s a lot of fun to make. In fact, you probably already have everything you need to get started on this easy egg carton Easter craft.

So, go grab your supplies and let’s get started crafting.

Disclosure: CraftProjectIdeas.com sent us some of the supplies we used in this craft. All ideas are our own. There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies needed for this Easter basket craft

Egg carton
Craft paint
Sharp pencil
2 pipe cleaners (fuzzy craft sticks) for each basket

How to make an Egg Carton Easter Basket

We divided an egg carton into sections of four cups apiece.

The egg cartons we have tear easily. If you don’t have the same type of carton, you may have to get out the scissors.

We each took a section of the egg carton and started painting.

I got out as many pretty pastel colors of paint as I had, but feel free to use any color.

Try stripes, polka dots, or just solid colors. Any pattern will look pretty on the baskets.

While waiting for the paint to dry, we twisted two different colors of pipe cleaner together.

Once they were twisted, we curved them into a u-shape to make a handle.

This next step needs to be done by an adult. If you’re working with a large group, you can do this step before painting.

Before we put in the handle, I used the sharp pencil to poke a hole in each side of the egg carton.

We then put the ends of the pipe cleaners into each hole, curving up the ends and twisting it around itself.

This simple Egg Carton Easter Basket craft for kids makes a fun and pretty little container to hold your plastic eggs or dyed Easter Eggs.

That’s it. You’ve finished your egg carton Easter basket!

This Easter basket craft was so simple and fun. We filled our baskets with plastic eggs and added them to our Easter decorations. They’re so pretty.

If you find yourself with a few extra egg cartons, turn them into Easter baskets!

This simple Egg Carton Easter Basket craft for kids makes a fun and pretty little container to hold your plastic eggs or dyed Easter Eggs.

You may also like one of these Easter activities for kids:

Watercolor Easter Eggs Garland

Easter Egg Dye Pour Painting

Painted Easter Egg Suncatchers

Spring Chicks Egg Carton Craft at Typically Simple

Pair this craft with a great Easter book

It’s so much fun to pair a craft with a fun book. And, since you need to wait for your paint to dry, it’s the perfect time for a quick story time. Here are some great Easter books that would pair perfectly with this craft:

Do you want to do more activities with your kids?

Join our fun Facebook community, Creative Family Fun for Busy Families, for daily activities that are great for kids and families. We’ll chat, share, and have fun. It’s a safe and private place to share ideas for family and kids activities.

I’d love for you to join me! Just click the link below, request to join, and answer the questions (they’re easy, I promise). Come join the fun! Join the Creative Family Fun for Busy Families community here.