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Send your birthday guests home from the party with these eco-friendly party poppers. Have your kids help make them, fill them and pass them out to friends as they leave. You can fill them with candy, stickers or any trinket really.  And my favorite part is that you can decorate them however you want!

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Cut  3"x7" (7.6x17.8 cm)&nbsp;rectangles from construction paper (this is the size that will fit perfectly around the toilet paper roll). 

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Next cut newspaper into 8"x11" (20.3x27.9 cm) sheets. You can also use tissue paper instead of newspaper if you want brighter colors. 

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Decorate the sheets of construction paper -- my son used stamps to make a butterfly and ballon pattern (he is all about patterns at four-years old). Yet you can really do whatever for this part -- let your child get creative and see their personality come out. 

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Take the newspaper and wrap it around the paper roll.  This part is a little tricky for younger kids, so you might need to help. Twist one end to help it in place.

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Next glue the construction paper so that it creates a tub (make sure it's loose enough to slide over the toilet paper tube. )

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Slide the decorated construction roll cylinder over the newspaper-covered paper roll.

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Twist one end of the newspaper and tie it. 

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Now is the time that your child has been waiting for! Take the candy and trinkets and stuff them into the open end of the party popper. We used lollipops, tattoos and smelly pencils in our party poppers. 

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Now your kids can proudly hand out the party favors to their guests. Having my kids create these gifts themselves made them much more excited about handing them out to their friends.

toilet paper tubes (toilet paper or paper towel tubes)

newspaper

construction paper

scissors

glue

glitter

string

trinkets

oil pastels (optional)

Eco-Friendly Party Poppers

physics

New Year's Eve

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engineering

indoor project

For our New Year's Eve get-together, we created little confetti treat pop party favors to pass out. They were super simple to make and even simpler to pop! They're perfect for any celebration. We plan on making another set for an upcoming birthday party too.

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Cut a piece of 5.5" x 1.5" cardstock and roll it into a cylinder shape. Then, slide the rolled piece of cardstock all the way into the treat pop. You can set the treat pop cap aside as you won't need it for this project.

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Cut a few long strips of cardstock (ours measured 11" x 1/2") and fold each strip like an accordion. Then, place them in the treat pop.

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Cut some tissue paper into small pieces to make confetti. Then, press down on your accordion strips and fill the treat pop with confetti. 

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Cut a square out of tissue paper making sure it's large enough to cover the opening of the treat pop. Then, cover the top of the treat pop with the tissue paper square and secure it with tape.

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Cut a piece of cardstock large enough to wrap around the outside of the treat pop (ours measured 3" x 6.5"). Then, wrap and tape it around the treat pop, and you're all set! 

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Make a whole set for your friends and family to pop open at midnight!

tissue paper (assorted colors)

cardstock (assorted colors)

cake treat pop containers

tape

ruler

Confetti Poppers

slime

chemistry

STEM

Create fun that's clearly awesome with contact solution slime!Slime is a super fun ooey gooey substance that is somewhere between liquid and solid. There are a lot of different ways to mix up slime, but this concoction uses contact solution to create an extra stretchy experiment.Want more slimey science fun without the hassle of gathering materials? Explore the science of thermochromism with <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/dp/color-changing-slime-project-kit/2948" target="_self">Color Changing Slime</a> from the <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/store" target="_self">KiwiCo Store</a>!

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Gather your materials! Measure out 1 cup of clear glue, ¼ cup of water, ½ tsp of baking soda, and 2 tbsp of contact solution.

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Pour 1 cup clear glue, ¼ cup water, and ½ tsp baking soda into the bowl. Mix it up!

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Add 1-2 drops of liquid color into the bowl. Mix it up!

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Add 2 tbsp of contact solution. Mix until the slime begins to thicken.

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Use your hands to knead the slime until it becomes firm. Add a little more contact solution if it’s super sticky.

More contact solution = less sticky and firmer slime!

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Experiment with your slime! Add clay confetti for a fun textural element, or check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bmZ0KC53GE&list=PLKsWCzNXF4IbpYI0JNpYiv3LiR5mMOueS&index=3">this video </a>to learn how to blow slime bubbles. Challenge a sibling or a friend to see who can blow the biggest bubble!

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Slime is non-Newtonian fluid, which means that it defies the laws of classical physics. How cool is that?! Slime starts with a polymer base, which in our case is glue. A “polymer” is a chemistry term for a substance that’s made of many little chains of molecules– “poly” means “many”, and “mer” means part in Greek. These chains easily slide past each other, which allows polymers to stretch and deform really easily. But when we add our activator, contact solution, it causes a chemical reaction that links some of these polymer chains together. These extra linkages between the chemical chains in the glue make the mixture stiffer. However, these cross-linkages break and deform easily, which is why slime feels more solid than glue, but is still super stretchy.Common activators for slime recipes are contact solution, powdered laundry detergent, and Borax. All of these contain boric acid which causes the chemical reaction! Fun fact: snails make their own slime to help them move, climb, and protect them from the sun!

clear glue

water

baking soda

contact lens solution

liquid colors

clay confetti (optional)

Contact Solution Slime

household craft

indoor game

game

For your next special event, try making this cute owl pinata! The pinata takes a bit of patience, but the end result is sure to impress your friends and family. You can easily customize this project into your own creature by experimenting with different tissue paper colors, textures and techniques.

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Start by blowing up a balloon to the size you want your pinata to be.

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Make your paper mache mixture. Mix together one part flour with two parts water until you get a batter-like consistency. We used one cup of flour and one cup of water. Note: If you live in a humid area, consider adding a tablespoon of salt to the mixture to prevent mold.

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Dip your newspaper strips in the mixture, and then brush off the excess liquid. Layer the strips over the balloon. While layering, leave a 2-inch gap around the tied tip of the balloon. This opening will be used later for filling the pinata with treats. Add about 3 to 4 layers of newspaper strips, and let the pinata dry.

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While the pinata is drying, you can start on the tissue paper details. We cut out some tissue paper fringes and circles for decorating the pinata.

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Get creative and create a face for your animal. We chose to do an owl, but you can do any animal you like! 

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Once your pinata is dry to the touch, use glue to attach the tissue paper decorations. We started by layering the circle feathers around the belly. For the best effect, we suggest starting from the bottom and working your way up

We sketched out our owl on the balloon with a pencil before we started attaching the tissue paper.

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Next, we added the fringes around the rest of the body. You can try out different tissue paper shapes to create different textures. We used fringe to give it a feathery look.

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Glue on the face details, and let the pinata dry. 

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Once it is completely dry, snip the tip of the balloon sticking out. Then, punch two holes along the rim, and thread a the string through pinata. Leave enough string so that you can hang it up high, like in a tree.

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Finally, fill your pinata with the desired treats. Your pinata is complete!

balloon

Glue

flour

bowl

salt (optional)

newspaper (cut into 1 inch strips)

tissue paper (or crepe paper)

hole punch

Scissors

colored paper

Owl Pinata

fall

Halloween

Thanksgiving

pumpkin

quick craft

easy craft

Nothing is cuter than colorful, mini pumpkins during this spooky holiday season. It's such a great alternative for younger kids who might be looking for a less-than-scary Halloween pumpkin! And even better for parents, this is a pretty low mess project! So find the leftover confetti from last new year's eve, and let's see what you can make!&nbsp;

If you don't have confetti on hand, make your own with colorful tissue paper and a hole puncher!

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With a brush, dab a little glue on the sides of your pumpkin. We found that the best way to apply glue is to hold on to the stem of the pumpkin in one hand and the brush in the other. Decorate your pumpkin with confetti by lightly pressing each piece onto the pumpkin with your finger. Let it dry for 10-15 minutes.

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Brush another layer of glue on top of the confetti to seal them onto the pumpkin. Let the glue dry for another 10-15 minutes, and your pumpkin is ready to show off!

glue (we used mod podge)

brush

Confetti Pumpkin

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I never thought to use these little beads as bracelets until my daughter started threading them onto string. So perfect!

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This is so simple, yet so fun! My daughter could not stop making these sweet little bracelets.

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To start, I tied one bead to the end of the thread. This allows her to thread without losing any beads.

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She got to work. This was a great opportunity to encourage pattern-making.

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Once she was done we made sure it was a good size for her wrist and tied it together. That was it! This would be a great craft to travel with.

embroidery thread

perler beads

Tiny Bead Confetti Bracelet

birthday party games

decorations

Aaand--this contends for the Favorite Project award.  Do you suppose it's because of the big POOF! at the end!?!  (We had to try it out, you know.....)


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We said the 'messiness meter' for this one was low... that's sans confetti blowing everywhere, of course!
Maybe, like us, you'll decide the simplicity of the project makes up for it!

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First thing, Maddie folded the paper in half.

Panda Crate

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10 fun confetti projects for kids

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