Summer Crafts for Kids #1: Aqua Beads

It’s summer once again and for parents, this means that a lot of time will be spent on thinking of what to do with the kids at home. Luckily, I’ve discovered that there are a lot of simple and relatively inexpensive crafts to do with the kiddos to make sure that their time is occupied on meaningful endeavors, and not just mindless play (eg. Internet surfing, etc.).

Level of Difficulty: Beginners

For this craft activity, you will need:

  • Aqua beads set (which includes templates, aqua beads, water spray, and layout tray)
  • Clean bottle with lid
  • Glue gun

What to Do:

  1. Put the layout tray on top of the bottle lid so that you can measure how big your design can be.
  2. Start putting the beads on the tray to make your design.
  3. Once you’re happy with the design, spritz the entire thing with water. Let it dry overnight as the beads will not attach properly if the water is not completely dry.
  4. Glue the pattern to the lid using glue gun.

The advantage of this craft is that the beads come in a variety of colors. They also sell beads by the pack. The disadvantage is that once the kids get a hang of making them, they can finish quite quickly. Challenge them to a game of making the most number of designs.

Watch out every Wednesday for a new set of summer crafts!

Oh This Cat!

Cat on My Window Sill

As I sit on this window sill
Unmoving, silent, very still
Watch my blue eyes speaking
Is your heart melting?

I lick my lips and you get it
You bring out a bowl and you fill it
I purr to show satisfaction
Of our unspoken connection

Okay, so it’s my first time to make a poem about my craft. I made the cat using polymer clay, and the window sill using an empty matchbox. It’s really quite an adorable yellow cat, and it’s one of the few crafts I’ve kept with me because for some reason, I can’t bear to give it away.

It also inspired me to write the poem that accompanies it. I imagine the cat, looking oh-so-cute, using only its hypnotizing eyes to communicate its desire to drink some milk. And of course, all I can do is comply. After all, who can resist those eyes? Oh this cat!

And so I begin…

Wow, after weeks of delay, I am finally ready to post my first “official” blog entry. I have tried blogging before, via Multiply (when Multiply was just a fun site, and not a business empire), and I think I tried once or twice to post something on Facebook.  But, I’ve always viewed these outlets as more of a social network thing that you occasionally blog in, not really a blog site.  And so after months of my husband’s convincing, I finally agreed to ‘try’ this blogging thing.  It is a fulfillment of one of the dreams I wrote, which is to make many stories for my daughter to read.  She absolutely loves reading, and at 6 years old, already writes her own short stories (mostly about My Little Pony).  As she progresses in her reading skills, I want to be there, adding fun and fantasy to this world.  At the same time, I also want this site to be filled with craft tutorials.  My daughter also loves to craft with me, and I just want mothers out there to have something that they can do together with their daughters.  So, here’s to many more future entries!  We will see if once a week, I can share either a short story or a craft tutorial.  Thanks for reading!  And so, I begin…