Wilton Easter Candy Necklaces

I am always trying to find new crafts to do with my children.  Some I take the time to buy all the materials and organize them myself.  Others, I enjoy buying the kits you can find in stores.  Last Halloween, I posted about the Halloween Candy Necklaces we made.  My daughters loved these!  So when we saw the Easter candy necklaces in Joann's, we had to buy them.  You can also purchase these at WalMart, but it just so happened I had a 50% coupon for Joann's, which made it the better buy.  It cost less than $3 for the entire kit.

The kit comes with materials to make 8 necklaces.  What is even better, each set is individually packaged,so my children get exactly the same number of beads, without me having to count them out.  I give each child their own dish with all the beads from the pack.  I then tape the string down to the table to make it easier for them to keep the beads from slipping off the end.  This activity is great for those fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. 

On a recent trip to WalMart, I also noticed in the party supply section many Disney versions of the candy necklaces.  We saw Mickey Mouse, Tinkerbell, Princesses and Toy Story.  I look forward to testing these out too!

Contribution to Vacation Field Guides

I am so excited!  My Spring Garden Kid's Craft Project is posted over at Vacation Field Guides.  It was so fun working with my girls to bring a little spring into our house, as we wait for the snow to melt.  If you want to check out this simple and fun craft you can do with your kids, go to Epcot's Flower and Garden Project.  The best part about this project, we had all the materials on hand and my girls keep talking about all the things we need to add to our garden.  We have many more crafts in store to make this spring garden full of life!

Crafts with the Girls

I am always on the look out for little craft activities to do with the kids.  Some days I do take the time to make some elaborate craft item, which can take more time to prep than to actually put together (that is the teacher in me), but other days, like today I try to find something quick and simple.  While at WalMart yesterday, the girls and I decided to see what Halloween things were already stocked on the shelves ~ hard to believe that Halloween is quickly sneaking up on us.  We ended up buying both girls their costumes.  Hayley, my four year old, is going to be Jessie from Toy Story and Emily, my two year old, is going to be Minnie Mouse.  As a Disney fanatic I can say, I was quite excited they both chose Disney characters.  In addition to the costumes, WalMart also had a lot of Wilton Halloween supplies out.  As you may have noticed from previous posts that I really love Wilton cake decorating and candy making materials.  In this section, I found our quick craft for today a candy necklace kit. 

Both of my girls where their dress jewelry all the time, so I figured this would be great.  Not only did the kit come with enough materials for 8 necklaces, but it was only $3!  You can't beat that.  This morning when we took the kit out of the box, what was even better was that each necklace was in its own little bag, so I did not have to do any sorting or organizing.  I just took one bowl for each girl and poured one bag into each bowl.  Ta - Da!  The craft was all set up.

Hayley picked up the ability to string the candy beads pretty quickly.  Emily, being only two, needed a little assistance to get started but then was able to do a few on her own.  Of course, her attention span is a little shorter than Hayley's, so as soon as Hayley was done her own, she then helped finish up Emily's.  The funniest part was that neither one of the girls even thought the beads could be candy.  They were so proud of the necklaces, they wore them while we went to pick Joey up from school.  When Joey saw the necklaces, he said, "You made candy necklaces without me?"  That was when the girls realized they were candy and began munching away.  It was a good thing I made one for Joey and brought it along because all three kids ate their necklaces before getting back home. 

So if you are looking for a quick, fun little activity that really helps the kids develop their fine motor skills, here is one for only $3.  We'll be making them again tomorrow, since Hayley discovered the 5 leftover packages that we haven't put together yet and has asked no less than ten times if she can make another necklace!