Suggestions on Crafts for Kids 2-12 - West Jordan,UT

Wildflower bombs. Take a paper egg carton, and cut out the cups (you will have to cut them pretty low - you want them to be even across the top). Put about a teaspoon of dirt in there, and some wildflower seeds native to the area. Make a flour/water paste, and use it glue strips of newsprint over the top of the cup (apply the paste to the newspaper with a painbrush). When the "glue" dries, the kids can take their "wildflower bombs" to an empty field somewhere, either right there or closer to home, and just throw them. Next time it rains, the paper egg cup, newsprint, and glue will all disintegrate, and the seeds will be "planted." And next year, the kids can see the result of their work. A very inexpensive craft - all you'll probably have to buy are the seeds.

Paperbag pets. Window art gels. There are so many good crafts out there that are cheap. Go to Michaels and get foam crafts and glue. Get some coloring books for the little ones.

Picture frames. Get some foam or inexpensive wood frames (for this purpose) at the craft store, and either foam shapes or wood shapes or even different shapes of raw macaroni. Glue them on and spray paint. Older kids can spray paint the shapes one color and put them on the frames. Younger kids may want it all one color. Then email photos from the event (candid and a few posed shots) to the families and they can print out what they want and put them in the frames.

Painting flower pots - plastic or terra cotta, with brushes or sponges. Let them dry and send everyone home with a zipper bag of potting soil and a package of seeds (vegetable, herb or flower).

Rocks can be cleaned and painted too.

Take some old newspaper for drying the projects while the kids are involved in other activities. Take small labels and write everyone's name on them first, then affix to the bottom of the pot or the back of the frame.

If kids like to perform or if you all like to sing around the campfire, take an assortment of recycled containers of different sizes, and a whole bunch of duct tape and clear package tape. Then have the kids make musical instruments and microphones. They don't have to be playable - just props. 1 liter soda bottles taped end to end can be the neck of a guitar, old prescription bottles (labels peeled) can be the tuning keys on the head, some plain string can be guitar strings, and several cans or large yogurt containers can be taped together to form the body of the guitar. A bottle with a foam ball on top can be a microphone and a string can be the electrical cord. Sometimes a big hardware store will give you lightweight paint stirring sticks which can be used as drumsticks or guitar necks. Don't use anything with sharp edges like tin cans. Pretty much anything can be a drum or a set of maracas (take some dry beans or let them collect pebbles and put them in yogurt or margarine containers. Large lids can become tambourines. Then when everyone sits around singing campfire songs or someone turns on the iPod and speakers, the kids can pantomime being rock stars. It keeps them occupied, engages older kids in being cool, and makes up for the lack of technology!

-Buy foam door hangers at the Dollar Store & have them decorate w/glue
& glitter, googly eyes & those colored puffs.
-Have them decorate paper bags w/crayons, googly eyes to make into
puppets
-Paint round flat rocks
-buy wood plaques in dollar bin at craft stores or Walmart & have them decorate w/paint

Make relief rub prints using crayon - lay a piece of paper on shapes and patterns and run the side of a crayon on it. Press leaves in books 'tween wax paper. you can buy solar paper where you put something on it and lay it in the sun and a shadow picture emerges (amazon.com might have it, if not a science site online). If the youngest ones are boys, bring Hot Wheels and a scraper to make a little track on the ground for them. If near water, make boats out of milk or cream cartons.(get ideas online for the sails.) A memorable craft to highlight the reunion? Make a launcher for things like rockets (out of soda litre bottles), marshmallow guns, simple slingshots, or a solar oven out of foil, duct tape and a pizza box (ideas online) then they can do s'mores or lil English muffin pizzas in them.

Bring Mentos and a bottle of diet Pepsi and watch the volcano! There are so many science minded fun ideas you could do- I would definitely think along those lines. Kids will be busy wanting to explore and the campground can offer much outdoor fun. Take some bubbles, kites, flashlights for night fun,(a printout from online of campfire spooky stories) , a pocket guide on birds, trees, plants, or butterflies, a bug collecting jar with a wire mesh lid and magnifying glass. When my kids were very little we would collect rocks and dip them in water to see the "new" colors emerging on them. My girl would weave nests /baskets out of dry grass and twigs, (its called wattle weaving) make fairy houses, forts, burn leaves with a magnifying glass in the sun (with supervision), make mud pies (take some metal pie tins), look for moss on the north side of trees and explain the science behind it, teach them how to skip rocks on the water, make a fishing pole from a tree branch (bring line, hook and bait), or build a simple bird trap with a box, string and stick. Bring a raft with oars. Visors: glue pearl strings, glitter,fabric bugs ,flowers and butterfIies to fabric visors. If you collect shells, rocks, moss, bark, feathers, sea glass, etc.....you can make a collection either there or when you get home. You get a shirt box and on the lid glue a piece of paper that has some kind of graphic with "my collection" on it (might find them online?)...get a light colored construction paper the same size as the box. Using a ruler,mark up a large grid pattern on the construction sheet and glue it inside to the bottom of the bottom box. (if it were me I would do this before I go so all the kids have to do is color/glue the graphic for the front lid, and glue in their specimens. From experience I have learned to do as much of the prep for them as possible in many more in depth crafts or they burn out before the craft is done.) The kids can glue a piece of their collection into each grid area- they can write underneath it what it is. It could even be a leaf collection (and if you bring a little 'pocket guide to trees' book , you will be able to correctly label each tree leaf.) We did one of these for a seashell collection and it is one of my kids favorite collections. (we used the internet when we got home to look them up and ID them). We also did a shirt box to hold a variety of things when we did a Colonial Day for school. You could make a graphic: " My (name) Family Reunion Treasure Box" and all the crafts they do, and collected things can go in the box .Include post cards or campground maps and maybe a few small wrapped treats. Sometimes the dollar stores have small plastic trowels and magnifying lenses.... that could be cute in there. If you need something larger than a shirt box- use a brown grocery sack (preferable with handles) that you can get free from the store. Put the graphic over the store logo. Use a big sheet of colored construction behind it to hide more if you need to. Take some 'insta' plaser of paris and make forms out of animal tracks (and even kids footprints.)