Scrapbooking Ideas - 7 Scrapbooking Projects For Kids

When you think of scrapbooking you usually think of making scrapbook albums.  Have you tried using your scrapbooking materials for other projects?  These project ideas are great for scrapbooking with kids.

1. Decorate jars and use them as small storage items in your children's bedrooms, like marble collections or collectible game cards.  Look in your scrapbooking supplies for stickers and rub-ons to embellish any size jar. Baby food jars and Mason jars work well for this project.

2. Make greeting cards when scrapbooking with your children.  Nearly any type of scrapbooking material can be used for making cards.  Children will love creating their own Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day or birthday cards.

3. Holiday decorations are easy to make with scrapbooking materials.  For example, Thanksgiving embellishments and cardstock can make name plates for the holiday table.  Use your creativity and help your children make a centerpiece for the table out of paper and scrapbooking supplies.

4. Help your child keep a vacation journal.  Before you go on vacation, create a scrapbook album to take along and have your child complete the album while traveling.  Select a small album so it will be easy to pack in a child's carry-on bag.  Have pages pre-designed for some of the places you are planning to visit.  You could even include some journaling prompts throughout the album.  Some examples are "My Favorite Ride at Disneyland" or "The Best Thing about Staying in a Hotel."  Then attach a small plastic bag filled with colored pencils or markers, lots of vacation-themed stickers and some adhesive to attach memorabilia and photos from the trip.  Let your child do the rest!

5. Scrapbooking for children is an opportunity to make gifts for your family.  Flip through any scrapbooking magazine, and you are sure to see a gift project.  Your child can use scrapbooking supplies to make picture frames, pencil holders, photo cubes, or note cards.  Children also can design pre-made gift scrapbooks, like a recipe album for grandma or an ABC album for a new baby cousin. 

6.  Christmas ornaments make great scrapbooking projects for gifts.  There is no limit to the kinds of ornaments you can make from scrapbooking supplies.  Don't be afraid to get messy and use glitter for this project.

7.  Birthday parties and sleepovers are the perfect project for using your scrapbooking supplies with your children.  Begin with crafting invitations out of paper and embellishments.  Have enough materials to keep the same theme throughout the project.  Take the time to create thank you notes at the same time.  Then use your scrapbook materials to make napkin holders, name plates, centerpieces and party decorations.  Finally, using the same theme, decorate goodie bags for your guests to take home.

You'll find hours of fun in these scrapbooking for kids projects.  In most cases, you have everything you need in your scrapbooking supplies right now.  Scrapbooking for children is a chance to spend quality time with your kids and encourage their creativity and imaginations.  Try one of these projects today with your child.

Stained Glass Projects For Children

Stained glass is a beautiful art form that combines the application of various colors, shapes, textures and transparencies with light to illuminate, decorate and inspire the mind, spirit and eye of the beholder. Children have invariably been, and will invariably be, fascinated with shapes and colors which makes the art type of stained glass perfect for them.

Unlike a coloring book page which is colored once and then perhaps taped to the refrigerator for a couple of days before finding its method to the garbage can, a stained glass creation can bring enjoyment and help boost a child's self-esteem for many years to come. There is nothing better than a beautiful constant reminder of the child's great "achievement".

In its first few days, well before Christ was born, stained glass was made by mixing different metals with sand and soda and heating them at high temperatures so that the colors were actually a component of the glass. This type was thicker and the colors were rich and dark. Throughout the decades types and tastes changed and new ways of using glass were needed. As people wanted to get more detail in their stained glass windows and likewise allow more light in, they began to use the technique of painting on the glass, instead of mixing the colors into while making it. This would be the easiest way to introduce a youngster to the skill of glass. Many stores and mass marketers carry already made stained glass kits that allow their youngster to make beautiful sun catchers or Christmas tree ornaments.

These kits are very easy to use. Most have kid amiable designs with raised metal borders and their child can use an eye dropper to add a stain to the different areas of glass. These kits are basically fool-proof and allow their youngster to easily make something gorgeous without any smudges or marks.

Another idea to capture the impression of glass is to apply black colored paper as your "lead came". You will require to undergo two sheets straight away to create your design with various shapes ready. You may make use of either thin colored crepe paper or two sheets of waxed paper that have had crayon shavings ironed between them as your "stained glass". This is something that can be designed easily with objects you probably already have laying about the home.

Children love to take in information and using a glass project offers the chance to teach them on a variety of subjects like art appreciation, the history of religion, architecture for the older students and things as elementary as colors and shapes for pre-school and kindergarten grows older children. Any project that permits a youngster to be creative, spend time with their mothers and fathers and develop their self-pride is worthy taking into account and stained glass craft making certainly meets those requirements. So why not make some cookies grab a stained glass art kit and your favorite child or children and spend some quality time creating glass art?