Voting Idea for Kids: DIY Ballot Voting Booth

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What an election circus it’s been this year?! We’re happy to see it end. Our ballots are in. We will be tuning in to see the results on Election Day!

Our kids have been hearing about the election from every direction. They are too young to cast their vote on Nov. 8, but with an election at school, they still feel like they are part of a voting process, at their level.

Their school ballot has really fun issues. Oh, to be a kid again where the word donut is actually on the ballot. Bravo to the creative moms that created the ballot ‘issues,’ and the idea of this mock election at school.

ELECTION BALLOT FOR KIDS

Dessert
the school will vote on the best dessert, and the there will be a party with the winning dessert served
Donut vs. Cupcake

Charity
$100 will be given to the charity chosen
Toys for Tots vs. Make a Wish

School Theme Song
the song will be played at all sporting events for the year
Can’t Stop the Feeling, Justin Timberlake vs. Hands Clap, Fitz and the Tantrums

Election week is full of activities. First, the kids will spend some time completing this sentence, “If I were President, I would…” Those papers will line the school hallways, then go home to parents, which is sure to be a priceless document to hold on to forever. Next, the kids will register to vote during lunch. Finally, on Nov. 8 the kids will cast their votes, just like America. Their voice will be heard.

Of course, the kids need a proper voting booth, so we went to work.

This is so easy, and took less than 1 hour.

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Materials:

  • Duct tape, red, white and blue
  • Large box
  • X-acto knife
  • Silhouette America electronic cutting machine

Directions:

Find a big box at your local Home Depot, or appliance center dumpster.

Line the front and back of the box with red and white strips of duct tape.

Line the sides of the box with strips of blue duct tape.

Fold over pieces of the white duct tape, and cut out stars. Use double-sided tape to stick the stars on the blue sides of the box.

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Use an X-acto knife to cut a slit in the front for kids to drop their ballots.

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Add the letter VOTE to the front of the box. We used our Silhouette America electronic cutting machine to cut the letters.

Now, get the kids to VOTE.

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DIY Hostess Gift: Crayon Candles

DIY crayon candle craft and hostess gift with kids

We melted crayon wax a couple weeks ago, and the project we shared with Momtastic quickly became one of our favorite DIY hostess gifts. We haven’t actually given any of the DIY candles away because we love what our kids created so much, they are on display in our homes.

Learn how we made the DIY custom art melted crayon candles here.

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DIY Halloween Lights

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We really don’t like spiders. We scream when we see them in our homes, and fear them crawling on us. We have recurring nightmares after a villa experience in Tuscany {which was amazing, and we would do it all over again}. Along with the wonderful grapes, vines, greenery, olive trees and an old villa came spiders…big ones! To this day, we still dream that spiders are crawling on us, or people next to us, and although we seem to be ‘awake’ and we think we really see them, they are just a bad dream.

Despite our fears, spiders crawled their way onto our DIY Halloween balloons, and now they are shining bright for our DIY Halloween lights. The creepy spider tattoos from Oriental Trading were our source of inspiration, once again. Tis the season of Halloween.

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Materials:

Directions:

Step 1: Gather ping-pong balls. Remove the piece of plastic from the tattoo and cut the spider tattoos into individuals spiders.

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Step 2: Place the spider tattoo face down onto the ping-pong ball, press down and apply water all over the back of the tattoos with a wet sponge or wash cloth. Apply it just the way you would on skin.

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Step 3: Insert a sharp knife into the back-side of the ping-pong ball {opposite of the spider}. Make an X or a T with the knife.

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Step 4: Insert the light into each ping-pong balls.

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Step 5: Find the closest outlet, and let the spiders hang.

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DIY Backyard Jungle Obstacle Course for Momtastic

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Jessica was lucky enough to work with Momtastic for a DIY Jungle Obstacle Course in celebration of Disney’s The Jungle Book release on Blu-Ray Aug. 30. The Jungle Book was one of our kid’s favorite movies this year, so it was really fun to transform our backyard into a jungle adventure.

One bonus obstacle (only seen here) for the course was our DIY honeycomb climb. In the movie, Mowgli had to climb a tall cliff side to get honey, nature’s ointment, for Baloo. Since honey is a bear necessity, we made our little man cub’s climb a diy rope to reach our 3D paper hive.

Here’s how we made it.

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Materials:

Directions:

Step 1: Design and cut 3D honeycombs using a template online, or via Silhouette cutting machine (like we did). If 3D is too labor intensive for you, we get it – just cut standard honeycombs. Use different shades of yellow for texture.

Step 2: Glue all the sides of the hexagon together with a glue stick (if you opted for the 3D design).

Step 3: Draw a honeycomb shape similar to the hives in The Jungle Book on a foam core board and cut it out with an X-acto knife.

Step 4: Glue the honeycombs (hexagons) on the board with a hot glue gun to fit like a puzzle. We glued some facing forward and others flipped for some added texture.

Step 5: Cut out mini bees using a template online or an electronic cutting machine.

Step 6: Glue the bees onto the hive. For an added 3D effect, we glued one end of a small piece of wire onto the foam core and then a bee on the other end of the wire.

Step 7: Poke two holes on the top corners of the hive and hang with string from a tree.

As we mentioned, this was a bonus obstacle for the course – don’t miss the main DIY Jungle Obstacle Course here.

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Photography by Pure Lee Photography

Shark and Mermaid Party

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It’s that time of year again for Jessica’s family – that time when it feels like Christmas in July. All three kids celebrate birthdays in July, so not only is the month busy, but it’s really fun. She’s going to take us back to her Shark and Mermaid party, and the details she created…

Every year I to find a theme that will work for boys and girls, and this year, our trip to Florida inspired our fin and tail celebration.

Note: It wasn’t until shortly after we took photos of the party, when we realized the t and h were mixed up in the word birthday on the mermaid side. And, well, when guests arrived, we partied! We were so focused on details, we forgot to spell. The mistake was quickly fixed and the party went on.

Supplies: 

Directions:

Step 1: Create a shark backdrop. During a recent trip to Florida, the kids took photos in front of a cool Megalodon. Print the photo on an engineering print from Staples. Glue the photo on one of the large wood boards with the multi-purpose spray adhesive.

Think again before you order plates from Oriental Trading for just food, because they make the perfect waves for an ocean backdrop. Use a hot glue gun to glue plates on the bottom of the photo for an ocean wave effect. Start with the dark blue and then glue light blue plates on top of it. Layer until you reach the bottom of the photo.

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Step 2: Create a mermaid backdrop. Draw and cut a mermaid tail on foam core, and then cover it with paint chips. I love these paint chips from Oriental Trading because there is a wide variety of colors, and no circle cutter necessary – they are perfect circles when they arrive. Once all the chips are glued in place, flip it over and use an X-acto knife to cut the edges of the paint chips along the fin tail shape. Glue the tail to the other piece of thin white wood board. Just like the shark backdrop, glue paper plates to make waves. Start at the top, and work your way down.

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Step 3: Add tablecloths to each table. Layer three tablecloths on each side. Cut the bottom of each layer in waves, or scallops. Each layer should be visible.

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Step 4: Accessorize the tables. Shark koozies and bubbles made for the perfect shark table accessories, plus they doubled as great party favors. Another fun detail on the table was a pint container filled with a t-shirt, and topped with a blue paper shark. The shark’s edges were sealed with hot glue, but before it was totally sealed, it was filled with swedish fish. All boys had to do was rip, eat and enjoy!

For the mermaids, the table was set with pink cups with shells glued in the center, DIY seashell crowns (also a party favor), DIY shell and bead necklaces, a plush mermaid and cupcakes with tails. To make the DIY seashells crowns, use a hot glue gun to glue shells on crowns from Oriental Trading. Play with the shells and design the crowns of your mermaid dreams.

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Step 5: Decorate the entire party area. Hang pom poms, fish nets and happy birthday banners.

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Step 6: Play games. Aside from all the pool fun, set up a fishbowl game. Set up plastic cups in cascading order, 8, 7, 6, 5 and so on. Fill them with water, and then set a prize inside each cup. The cups at our party were filled with seashells and mini shark toys. Draw a line on the ground several feet away from the table, and get the kids throwing for some fun prizes.

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game

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Step 7: Send friends off with favors. Every family went home with a special bag of Shark vs. Mermaid Tic Tac Toe. The shark photo prop at Oriental Trading inspired me to paint DIY shark rocks, and well we didn’t have to paint the shells because they were so pretty. The game packaged in drawstring bags with the Tic Tac Toe lines drawn on top with a Sharpie marker. This game is so much fun, and can be easily brought to church or dinner out to keep the kids occupied.

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Oriental Trading sent us some items of our choosing for this party, free of charge. All opinions are honest, and our own. No other type of compensation was received. Thanks for supporting the companies that support j. sorelle. We love Oriental Trading, even before this post.