Do It Your Freaking Self - activities for kids Archives

Strawberry Candy Bark with Valentines Treat Boxes

on January 12, 2017

This post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through them helps support this website. Disclosure: I’m a proud Oriental Trading Blogger, and I received free products to faciliate today’s post. The opinions are my own.

Valentines day is just around the corner… or as I like to call it “Singles Awareness Day” or SAD for short. Because this year especially, it gets sad around these parts. But thankfully… a wonderful woman named Leslie Knope has given me something else to celebrate! Let me introduce you to Galentines Day.

“Oh it’s only the best day of the year. Every February 13th, my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home, and we just come and kick it, breakfast-style. Ladies celebrating ladies. It’s like Lilith Fair, minus the angst. Plus frittatas.”

Basically it’s like Valentines Day, but instead of getting smoochy with your significant other, you’re spending it being awesome with your favorite gal pals. Get with it! The inspiration for today’s 3 Ingredient Strawberry Candy Bark? Well, I love the taste of strawberry and milk chocolate together and well, when I’m sad I’m eating chocolate. So this more of a selfish project, but who doesn’t want to eat chocolate for breakfast when they’re sad or celebrating? Win Win guys! I’m also giving these away as party favors for our Galentines day party this year!

For my Galentines Day Party, I teamed up with Oriental Trading to help you guys with all of your party planning needs. If you’re in need of some cool boxes, craft items, or valentines for the kids Oriental Trading has your back with their Valentines Shop! Stay tuned for the full party reveal soon!

Strawberry Candy Bark
Cost: $10 or less
Time: 30 min
Skill Level: Ridiculously easy

ByChelsea

DIY Stamped Holiday Napkins

on October 31, 2016

The holidays are upon us you guys and I could not be more excited! I’m also not quite ready. Seriously you guys, I’m hosting my annual Friendsgiving and I haven’t even sent invites. Welcome to my life you guys. Some stuff is super organized the rest is well…. it is what it is.

Anyway! One of the things I’m not stressing over is the table setting because DIY-ing that stuff is totally my jam. This week, I’ve been cranking out some really fun stamped holiday napkins and grabbing the kiddos to help. The best part is that I am using things that I already had in the house so I really only had to purchase the napkins. Can you say WIN! I’m sharing 2 ways to stamp your holiday napkins so hit the jump to see what we used!

Time: 20 minutes or less
Cost: $15 (or cost of napkins)
Festive level: 5

ByChelsea

DIY Emoji Pillow Busy Bag

on July 26, 2016

Did you guys know there were actual rules to the kootie game? And actual instructions on how to play? I just always thought it was a twisted buggy version of Mr. Potato Head. I’m pretty sure my mom would just take that game out to keep us busy trading parts and makng funny characters. (both Kooties and Mr. Potato Head) Well, the more you know.

Anyway! I’m a bit in love with this project. Seriously. It started when two of my girls each asked for a DIY Emoji Pillow. Both with different expressions. They looked pretty easy, so I figured I’d give it a try. Well, instead of creating just two looks, I ended up creating a pretty fun busy bag that the girls absolutely adore so I’ve added it as a staple to my Babysitting bag. What are your favorite busy activities for the kiddos?

ByChelsea

DIY Foam Paint

on July 18, 2016

This post may contain sponsored and affiliate links. Purchasing from these links helps support this website and my craft supply addiction.

You guys know what I like? DIY Foam Paint. Yep Foam Paint. And yes. It can be messy, but it is also washable which means I am all over it! Stick some kiddos outside with some Kraft paper and let them go at it.

I sent 2 of my littles on this task and ended up with a family photo (myself included), flowers, dogs and…. a rainbow? She used all of the colors anyway.

Now, I watched a video of someone making these and they used really cool squeeze bottles and everything came out great…. mine, epic pinterest fail. How do you even get the stuff in the bottle without making a huge mess!?!? The first time we tried this I used small bowls. They were great until it was time to mix the shaving cream with the glue… yet another epic fail. Let’s just say, I figured out an easier way that is also super fun and (kinda) mess free!

It’s also really fun for the kiddos to make their own craft supplies, so this is really like 2 activities in one! Babysitter win!

ByChelsea

DIY Pokémon Go Pins

on July 13, 2016

Show your Pokémon Go Team pride with these fun DIY Pokémon Go Pins!

You guys! You guys! I’m sure you’ve noticed, but you can now play Pokémon in real life and I feel like it’s 4th grade again except we’re actually leaving the lunch table and walking around.

I’m not going to lie, I’m walking around a lot more, meeting new people and taking random pictures of my friends petting Pokémon. It’s pretty amazing. So… health benefits y’all. Also!!! It is now okay for all of us to walk around looking completely geeked out. People think it’s awesome. The boys I babysit are even excited to leave the ipads at home (WHAT?) and take a walk with me!!!

So, as you play this awesome augmented reality game and wander around your city trying to catch them all, you may want to show your team pride. I made these fun DIY Pokémon Go Pins in about 30 minutes and am wearing them all over town. So the real question is… are you team Instinct, team Mystic, or team Valor?

ByChelsea

Hank the Octopus Bark

on June 22, 2016

Make this fun Hank the Octopus Bark for your next Finding Dory party! Fun and colorful party snack kids can help with.

This post contains affiliate links. Please consider shopping from them. It helps support my craft supply addiction.

First off, let me tell you that I was first in line to see Finding Dory…. well maybe not because I do not deal with large crowds of kids. I went on a Monday and it was mostly to get out of the ridiculous heat or I would have gone later because I unfortunately am really bad at making time for myself. Can we talk about the fact that it was 112 degrees in LA that day? Thank goodness I don’t wear makeup or it would have been melting off. Seriously.

Okay, so Finding Dory. If I had gone at opening night, I would have pictured myself like Moses parting the red sea… of children. I’d be all like “Get out of my way. I need this in my life more than you do.” Because that is how I roll.

Now, I’m not going to give away the movie if you haven’t seen it yet (What is wrong with you?!?) but I will say that next to little baby Dory the breakout character for me was Hank the Octopus (septopus?). I mean, I love octopi (unless it’s like Sharktopus or something) anyway, so his character was a total bonus.

And keeping with my current love of chocolate bark, (Click here for some Dory Bark) I was inspired to make this Hank the Ocotpus Bark. He’s a little salty so I put some pretzels in it and kids will love adding the cute candy eyeballs.

ByChelsea

How to Make a Mermaid Trinket Tray

on June 20, 2016

Let’s talk mermaids shall we? Yes, mermaids. I’m talking Ariel, Peter Pan’s friends that live in the lagoon, Daryl Hannah in Splash, MERMAIDS. (I’m choosing to ignore the Cabin in the Woods Merman (Not Safe For Kids) because…. reasons). Like any baby of the 80s/child of the 90’s I grew up during the Disney Renaissance. Meaning that Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Lion King (to name a few) were on heavy rotation at my house. We’re talking constantly. And now, as I take care of little girls, I get to experience that all over again…. and it’s AWESOME! Seriously, dress up and princess pretend with 5 year olds is amazing.

Okay, so recently I got to see the Little Mermaid performed live to screen at the Hollywood Bowl. For those of you that don’t know what that is, its basically the movie playing with stars or original cast coming out and singing the songs while the movie is playing. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome. I’m gonna make you a little jealous here and say that it was Sara Bareilles (Ariel), Titus Burgess (Sebastian), and Rebel Wilson (Ursula)….oh, and Uncle Jesse as the Chef. Yep. You missed it. Get jealous. So, as I was saying before I got super excited about this experience, I saw the production and was inspired to make this super simple Mermaid Trinket Tray. Well, that an the original little mermaid in Denmark (which is suuuuuper tiny, just sayin). Now you can collect all of your own gadgets and gizmos a plenty, thingamabobs and more in your own Mermaid Trinket Tray!

ByChelsea

Bubble Painting Note Cards

on June 15, 2016

It’s all about the bubble…paint note cards. I’m not sure there is any child that will tell you they don’t like blowing bubbles in their milk. It’s probably one of my favorite past times personally. Especially when it’s chocolate milk because then it mixes everything up even more. YUM!

Okay, so this craft is not about milk, but it IS about blowing bubbles and making art with them. Bubble painting note cards are a great project for kiddos as it allows them to be a bit messy and they make something really really cool.
Continue reading

ByChelsea

DIY Queen of Hearts Magnets

on May 30, 2016

Making Perler Bead magnets are a fun activity for children ages 6+. These DIY Queen of Hearts Magnets are sure to keep them busy and create something fun!

I’ve started writing the intro to the post probably 10 times and kept going down the rabbit hole. How appropriate that this post should be about Alice In Wonderland!

If we’re being honest, which we are, I’ve always been in love with Alice in Wonderland. As a book, it’s beautifully written. As a film (cartoon, movies, etc), it is a classic. I’m also a huge fans of the book re-imaginings. I think it speaks to Carroll’s legacy that his characters keep coming up in various forms and people are still inspired by his works of fantasy today. My favorite book iteration has got to be The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.

So, with Alice Through the Looking Glass coming out this weekend and Allavelle’s Beautiful Children’s Book DIY, I was inspired to create these DIY Queen of Hearts Magnets!

I especially like working with perler beads with the older kiddos because it keeps them busy, helps them with motor skills, and teaches them about patterns and shapes.

ByChelsea

Jeweled DIY Picture Frame

on May 11, 2016

I’ve been thinking a lot about the big picture. About how sometimes we think we see it all, but we really don’t. One of the things that we’ve been talking about at church is the big picture. The long exposure. About how God sees everything even when our eyes can’t… especially when our eyes can’t. I’ve been thinking a lot about how sometimes God doesn’t let us see the big picture. Because there’s things we don’t need to know yet.

I’ve been nannying for coming up on two years now and I’m really amazed at what I’m realizing. I’m realizing that I’m so blessed to have the families that I’ve had. For the friends that I’ve made through this type of work and the connections I’ve made. I’m blessed to have learned so much from each family – About the world, about myself. And I realize that I don’t know what God has in store for me, I don’t know what the big picture is. But I know that I have to take the steps. That I have to follow God in helping to raise these babies and to work with these families. Because God has a bigger plan for all of us, but we have to take the steps in order to achieve that.

I think that if we saw the entire picture than me maybe wouldn’t go through the process that we need to in order to come out the other end. It’s like if you know that everything’s gonna work out, are you going to try as hard as you would if you didn’t. If you know that your bills are going to get paid at the end of the month, are you going to work hard to make sure that happens or you going to float because you know its already taken care of. That’s something that I’m struggling really hard with right now because I like to know what the end result is, but I don’t. And I’m learning to be OK with that.

ByChelsea

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