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I've always been inspired by the underlying messages of Dr. Seuss's books. I love that they encourage coloring outside of the lines, trying new things, and exploring creativity in unconventional ways. As a treat for our kid testers, we pulled together this quick game challenging them to explore creativity and get a little goofy! We loved seeing the creatures they dreamed up which were all a little wild and very silly.Click&nbsp;<a href="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.kiwicrate.com/diy_ad/Kiwi_Make-A-Monster-Game.pdf">here</a>&nbsp;to download our printable game board to start playing!

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Download and print our printable game board that assigns a body part to each number of the die. If you like, you can also make up your own! With a marker and paper, have each kid start by drawing the body of their creature.

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Use the game board as a prompt. Have your child roll the dice and draw the body part that corresponds with the number rolled. If they roll a 5, they got the wild card and add anything they want to their drawing!

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Keep rolling until you feel like your monster is complete. Your creature might end up with 6 arms and 3 mouths, but that's all part of the fun!

paper

markers

Make-a-Monster Game

recycled craft materials

KiwiCo crate box

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day crafts

physics

toy design

animals

Use weighted popsicle sticks and rubber bands to create your own version of a classic arcade game, then challenge a friend to play!Download the printable <a href="http://images.kiwicrate.com/diy_ad/Kiwi-Co-Whack-A-Groundhog-Printable.pdf">here</a>.

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Cut out the objects on the printable. Then, set the groundhog cards aside and glue the gameboard to the top of the crate box. 

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Use the lip of the cup to trace a circle in the middle of each of the holes. 

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Cut out the circles on the top of the box with an X-acto knife. You will need a grownup assistant to help you. 

Cut slightly inside the marked circle so that when you place a cup into the hole it doesn’t fall through.

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 Cut a rectangle into one of the sides of a dixie cup. Do this to six cups. 

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Place the six cups into the holes on the top of the box. Then, glue them in place so that the holes you cut into the cups face the long sides of the box. 

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On the long sides of the crate, use a skewer to make holes that line up with the center of each of the cups and is about half inch from the top of the crate. 

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Widen these holes just enough so that a popsicle stick fits through them. 

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Glue quarters to the ends of the popsicle sticks. Let them dry. 

Slide the popsicle sticks into the holes on the side of the box as pictured. Then, double wrap rubber bands on both sides of the popsicle stick. 

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Push the rubber bands towards the middle of the popsicle stick so that they “hug” the side of the box. This will help keep the popsicle stick from sliding forward and backward when playing! 

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Glue the groundhog cards to either side of the clothespins. 

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Clip the clothespins onto the ends of the popsicle sticks in the cup. 

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Glue two cups together, sandwiching the pointy end of the skewer in between them. This will be your mallet. 

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Wrap yarn around the mallet until it is completely covered. 

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Play with your whack-a-mole! The quarters serve as weights to keep your groundhogs popping up even after you whack ‘em down. 

crate box

dixie cups (8)

popsicle sticks (6)

quarters (6)

clothespins (6) - small

scissors

white glue

x-acto knife

rubber bands (12) - tiny

yarn

skewer

pencil

Whack-A-Groundhog

spinner

origami

engineering

motion

Use four coins and colorful origami paper to create your own personal spinner to both amuse and amaze. Or, replace the coins with metal rivets for a sturdier version.If you already know how to fold an origami ninja star, skip to Step 19!

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Take 2 pieces of paper. Use different colors for a more whimsical look. 

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Tear along this crease to get two pieces of each paper. Put aside one set and work with the others first. 

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Fold the top of the pink piece to the left and the blue piece to the right. Use the previous halfway crease as a guide. 

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Fold the bottom half of the pink piece to the right and the blue piece to the left. 

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For the pink piece, fold the top part of the upper square to the bottom left corner. For the blue piece, fold down the upper square to the bottom right corner.

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For the pink piece, fold the bottom square up to the right corner. For the blue piece, fold up to the left corner. 

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For the pink piece, crease the top triangle inwards to the left. For the blue piece, crease inwards to the right.

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For the pink piece, fold the bottom triangle inwards to the right. For the blue piece, fold inwards to the left.

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Unfold steps 11 and 12. Flip the blue piece over.

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Tuck the upper right flap of the pink piece left, into the upper triangle of the blue piece.

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Tuck the bottom left flap of the pink piece right, into the lower triangle of the blue piece. Flip over

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Tuck the top flap of the blue piece down into the middle. 

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Tuck the bottom flap of the blue piece up into the middle. You created the first part of your spinner! 

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Use the thumb tack to poke a hole through the middle Repeat steps 4-19 to make the other half of the spinner

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Once you have both sides, use a hot glue gun to stick 4 dimes on the edges of one of the origami halves.

Have caution when using hot equipment. Exercise parental supervision during the gluing stage of this project.

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Put glue on the top sides of the coins and stick the top half of the origami spinner on.

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Bend a paperclip so that it is straight in the middle. Feed it through the holes you poked. Press down on the ends to create finger holds. Flick your spinner and watch the colors dance in the air! You can experiment with different objects glued to the ends and other papers!

What is going on?
Fidget spinners keep spinning for two reasons. First, many fidget spinners have a ball bearing at their center, around which the rest of the spinner rotates. Ball bearings use many small, metal balls to reduce the friction between an axis (the center of the bearing) and the object rotating around it (the spinner). Rolling objects produce less friction than sliding objects, so ball bearings allow fidget spinners to "roll" around their central axis, rather than slide around that axis.&nbsp;
Your DIY spinner doesn't have a ball bearing to reduce friction around its axis (the paperclip), but it does possess the second key trait of a good fidget spinner: a lot of rotational inertia. Inertia refers to an object's resistance to any change in its motion. The four, symmetrically-located dimes in your fidget spinner give the outside of the spinner a lot of inertia, so once it starts spinning, it strongly resists slowing down. By reducing friction and increasing rotational inertia, fidget spinners will continue to spin for some time.

Fidget spinners act like gyroscopes once they begin to spin, creating torque around the gyroscope's axis of rotation. Torque is a type of force that is created by the rotational movement of an object. If you're looking down at your fidget spinner, and you spin it counter-clockwise, the resulting torque will push the spinner towards you. Try rotating your spinner in different directions after you've given it a good spin, and see if you can feel the resulting torque.

origami paper (2 sheets)

coins (4, same size, pennies and dimes work best)

paper clips (2)

hot glue

thumb tack

Origami Fidget Spinner

launcher

rocket

Fourth of July

party game

outdoor game

craft

homemade craft

summer crafts

easy craft

3 material crafts

3, 2, 1, launch! Try making these super simple paper cup launchers for a backyard rocket launch competition that’s out of this world.

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Place two rubber bands lengthwise across the cup, making a cross shape over the opening.

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Add a third rubber band around the cup, to secure the two rubber bands in place. This will be the "rocket."

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Get ready to launch! Place a second cup upside down on a flat surface. Put the "rocket" over the base cup. Holding the lip of the rocket cup, pull down and release! Watch your "rocket" go flying!

cups (2)

rubber bands (3+)

Rubber Band Powered Cup Launcher

learning game

game design

puzzles

cardboard crafts

Empty box? Boring. Your own tilt-to-play game? A-maze-ing. Design the straw path, add obstacles, and drop in a marble to play. Then, once you’re a maze-solving expert, just mix up the straws to design a brand-new level. Score!

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Take an empty KiwiCo box and cut off the top lid. Then cut the tabs off of the cover so you are left with the rectangular main lid. This rectangle will act as a platform in your crate. Trim the edges until the rectangle fits into your crate.

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With an adult's assistance, use a craft knife to cut two 1-inch x 1-inch squares out of the middle of the rectangular piece. Then cut off a small piece of the corner of the rectangle.

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On the side of the crate, have an adult cut a little trap door out of the cardboard.

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Take a piece of paper and use a pencil to trace your cardboard rectangle and the square holes. 

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Grab your marble and bouncy balls. Inside the square holes on your paper, use a pencil to draw a circle that is bigger than your marble, but smaller than your bouncy balls.

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Place your paper on the cardboard and cut out the border, so your paper lines up with the cardboard. Cut out the holes (not the squares) from the paper as well. Make sure both pieces line up and use double-stick tape to attach the paper to the cardboard. This will be your game board base. We suggest writing START in the top left corner, and in the bottom right corner, writing FINISH. 

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Cut your straws into different-sized pieces and start arranging them to create a path from the start to finish. As you design, work the holes into your maze, so the holes become obstacles in the maze path. When you're happy with the arrangement, tape or glue the straws in place.

Panda Crate

Koala Crate

Kiwi Crate

Atlas Crate

Doodle Crate

Tinker Crate

Maker Crate

Eureka Crate

91 at-home game projects for kids

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