Reuse, Reduce, Recycle: Crafting Domes with Newspapers!

What fun! Using old newspapers, we crafted a geodesic dome using the creative idea of one of our favorite magazines: Family Fun To see the directions simply click the link.
Here are some pics of James and my rendition of it:



It all started when this handsome guy turned seven. He mentioned he wanted to try out the geodome and James and I thought "Ding! What a great idea to surprise him with it the morning of his birthday!" So off we went...


You will need quite a bit of newspaper. We used 4 Sunday papers. Family Fun says use four full sheets of newspaper (the double page layouts take out the single page inserts) and lay them flat one on top of the other to create your newspaper rod. *Note: Just because we are cheap we did end up using half sheets which we stuck next to each other to create a full. We just made sure we had a full sheet for a base to make the rolling much easier.* Total rods needed will be 25 so you will need 100 sheets. We used a pen to start the rolling by placing it horizontally in one of the corners and rolling it up. Don't make your rod too tight or you won't be able to get your pen out!Tape the middle to keep the paper together.
Then we trimmed all the logs to 30" and stapled them together to form triangles. Make 5 triangles. Then staple the triangles together at their bottom corners like you see James doing here. (One up one down, etc) Pick up your row of triangles and staple the ends together so it forms a standing pentagon. Family Fun said to make the remaining rods into a star but we just went around and stapled them along the top then stapled them altogether in the middle to form the roof.


The kids enjoyed playing with it. I hope yours do too!!

Summer Fun with Paper Fans

Here is a great craft to make with restless kids on a hot summer day: fans! My kids love those cheapy paper fans at the dollar store; however, no sooner do we get home those pretty fans are broken and littered all over my mini van. These gems I found in Family Fun magazine. They are sturdier than the dollar store fans (a duh!) AND the kids get to design them themselves! So massive kudos for kid kreativity!! Yay for us!Materials needed:
1 piece of cardstock 6x12
double sided tape or glue
stapler
2 craft sticks
tiny rubber band (we used the baby's rubber hair ties)
To get started the first thing you need is a piece of cardstock cut to 6x12 size
Begin an accordion fold on the top at about a width of 1" Do not fold the way I did in the picture or you will get a white fan. Start your fold with the design side face down on the table. Then make your fold so that you see a one inch strip of design paper against a white backdrop.
Continue with the accordian fold until the entire paper has been folded (So simple seriously. It hurts to write this knowing you are probably already all over this by now)
Bring the accordian fold together and staple the middle. I used two staples next to each other.
With your glue, adhere the top fold together. You can use regular tape to seal the edge so it won't split.
Take your double sided tape (preferred but we used scrapbook glue.) With the stapled side facing up place the tape or glue one half of the craft stick then adhere to the bottom flaps of both sides. Wrap your rubber band around the bottom of the craft sticks to hold the fan together until the glue dries.
Wallah! Instant Southern air conditioning. All we need is the sweet tea. Woo-hoo! Yay for fun!