How to Build Your Own Hovercraft Toy

Making a hovercraft toy is a DIY fun activity for kids. This simple activity where the children make their own hovercraft using simple materials available easily at home would keep kids busy and entertained during weekends and holidays. The best part about making this hovercraft toy is that you could use it as a toy made from recyclable materials and thus label it as a recyclable craft.

Materials required to build your own Hovercraft Toy

Old CD - 1
Balloon - 1, big size
Pop-top cap - 1 (from used drinking water bottle)
Glue

Method for Hovercraft Toy

1

Take a pop-top cap and with the help of glue, stick it in the center of the used CD right around the hole. Ensure that before sticking, the pop-top cap is closed. Allow it to dry completely.

2

Stretch the neck of the balloon on the pop-top cap.

3

Once done, blow the balloon from the other end of the CD. Now open the cap. Place this hovercraft on a smooth surface and watch how it glides away. It is important that the hovercraft toy you made is placed on the smooth surface to allow smooth gliding.

How this Works?

A hovercraft is a vehicle that is known to glide over a smooth surface by hovering on an air-cushion. And hence it is also known as a Air Cushion Vehicle. The air currents trapped beneath the vehicle's surface allow the vehicle to glide smoothly. 

How to Make an Invisible Ink

Making invisible ink is a DIY fun activity for kids. Kids can play by sending secret messages to friends written by this invisible ink. It is a simple activity, very easy to make and requires materials that are easily available at home.

Materials required for making Invisible Ink

Plain white paper - 1 sheet
Toothpick - 1
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Water - 1 tsp
Grape juice - 1/2 cup
Study Lamp

Method for Invisible Ink

1

To make invisible ink, mix baking soda with water in a small bowl. Your invisible ink is ready.

2

Dip the toothpick inside the ink and write your message on a white paper. Allow the message to dry. You can also make use of a paint brush instead of toothpick.

3

Write several such messages on papers and distribute among friends. Whenever you wish to read the message, just take the paper close enough to a heat source like a bulb of the study lamp. In matter of minutes the message will appear on the paper. You can also read the message by painting the paper with grape juice.

Similar results can be obtained by making invisible ink from lemon juice, vinegar, milk, diluted honey and some fruit juices such as apple juice or orange juice.

How this works?

When a paper on which invisible message is written, is taken near the heat source, the message gets displayed due the effect of light on the baking soda. Similarly, when the paper on which invisible message is written, is painted with grape juice; the message gets displayed due the reaction of the baking soda with the mild acidic grape juice.

How to Make an Erupting Volcano

This is a simple activity for kids who are fascinated by the idea of a volcanic eruption. With simple materials such as baking soda, modelling clay and food colors, made available to them, they can easily make this DIY project of erupting volcano at home safely. With this simple experiment provided step by step, kids will learn how to make a model volcano.

Materials Required for making an Erupting Volcano

Paper cup - 1
Tin foil / aluminium foil - Few rectangular sheet
Modeling clay
Cardboard - 1 square sheet
Baking Soda - 3 teaspoons
White vinegar - 1 cup
Dish washing liquid - 1 tsp
Yellow Food color - 1 tsp
Red food color - 1 tsp

Method for making an Erupting Volcano

1

Place a square cardboard sheet on a horizontal surface. Place a paper cup in the center of the cardboard sheet. Wrap the tin foil or the aluminium foil around the cup and fold the edges of the foil all around the rim of the cup.

2

Wrap and shape the foil around the cup, as to resemble a shape of a mountain. This could be done by using a couple of foils one over the other and making the shape.

3

Using the modeling clay, make layers over the tin foil all around the rim of the cup. This would give a perfect  mountain touch to your model.

4

Start adding each colour one by one in the cup. Once added, mix well with the help of a small spoon.

5

Add to this the baking soda and then add the dish washing liquid over it.

6

Once you are ready for the erupting volcano, add cupful of vinegar inside the volcano. Enjoy the volcanic eruption! This model can also be made bigger with larger use of same material.

How does it work?

The vinegar that you add to the cup reacts with the baking soda to produce an effervescence reaction. Effervescence reaction means fizzling and bubbling. This reaction produces Carbon dioxide and water. In addition the dish washing liquid added to the mixture gives viscosity which sort of makes the reaction looking lava like!

Paper Cutting and Pasting Craft Ideas for Kids - Leaping Frog

Simple paper cutting and pasting ideas always interest kids. Such activities are also part of school projects and usually turn out to be much creative. Cut and Paste craft worksheets are readily available at all leading stationery stores. But it is fun for a child to draw and cut out a craft and then paste it himself on a drawing book and make it part of a whole picture. Such simple cut and paste activities ensure kids to be free from boredom and engages them in creativity.

Making a leaping frog out of paper cutting and pasting activity is one such simple draw, cut and paste activities which kids may enjoy doing. The material required are just few, readily available ones and time required is just a few minutes. It is easy and fun making this leaping frog out of scratch and then pasting it to a drawing paper. Once completed, kids can use the picture as part of a photo frame or could use it as a gift to someone.

Materials Required for Paper Cutting and Pasting of Leaping Frog

Green Card Paper - 1 sheet
White Card Paper - 1 square sheet
White card paper - 2 small round cutout for eyes
Child friendly scissors - 1
Pencil - 1
Black marker - 1
Sketch pens / felt pens - green, blue, brown and any other of your choice
Adhesive or glue

Method for Paper Cutting and Pasting of Leaping Frog

1

Draw a circle on a green card paper and cut out with the help of child friendly scissors.

2

Once done, with the help of pencil roughly draw out the shape shown below.

3

Darken the shape with a black marker, and continue to join the shape as shown below with the help of dotted lines.

4

Now start cutting the shape from both the sides until you reach the dotted lines. Once done, fold this line so that the body of the frog turns upwards and the hind legs of the frog come out from the backwards. You can also cut the whole portion if you like and stick the hind legs behind the back of the frog. Also stick the eyes on the top of the head.

5

Cut two front legs of the frog on the green card paper and stick them to the back of the body of the frog with the help of adhesives.

6

With the help of sketch pens or felt pens of your choice, add some features on the frog, like spots or zigzag lines. Kids can also make use of stickers or glitter if they wish to use to add decorative features to the leaping frog.

7

Now stick the frog in middle of  the white card paper. Do not apply glue to the whole body of the frog, just apply it in the center of it's back and stick it. This gives a 3-D effect. Now draw water, plants, stone or any other drawing of your choice to finish the landscape. Your leaping frog is ready. 

Paper Craft Ideas for Kids - How to Make a Spiral Snake

Kids enjoy craft ideas which help them be creative. Such simple craft work with paper should be encouraged to help a child enjoy his free time skillfully. Craft ideas using paper, paint or clay can, not just help a child be creative but also engage them in a productive way. Making simple craft activities can be introduced and encouraged as a hobby. Who knows starting with simple paper craft may just boost your child's talent and help him explore his capabilities.

Spiral Snake 

Making a spiral snake is a simple paper craft idea which can be a fun activity for kids. This spiral snake is easy to make and needs few material which are available at home. A child can make this spiral snake himself, but may require some help with cutting the paper depending on his age, though you could make use of child friendly scissors.

Materials required for making Spiral Snake

White Card Paper - 1 sheet
Child friendly scissors - 1
Pencil - 1
Black marker - 1
Sketch Pens / Felt pens - all colours
Glitter pens - any colour of your choice
Wool thread(of any colour) - 1/2 meter

Method for making Spiral Snake

1

Place a stencil or a circular plate on the card paper and with help of a pencil, draw a circle. Cut the circle with scissor.

2

Starting at any point on the rim of the circle, start drawing a spiral with a pencil slowly and continue working your way up to the center. Once the spiral is completed, using a marker carry on the pencil line to make a permanent spiral. The spiral should be drawn such that it should resemble a coiled-up snake.

3

With the pencil, lightly start marking sections along the spiral, dividing the spiral into different portions. Start from the tip or the tail or spiral snake and slowly move towards the face. It is not necessary that the portions or sections of the spiral should be of equal shape, you can divide them into uneven sections of your choice.

4

Once the sections are marked, start filling each portion with colours and designs of your choice. Try to include different patterns and colours in sections which are placed side by side. Try and use imagination while filling in the colours. Designs can be made by using glitter pens also. There is no specific rule of how you should fill in the colour and draw the designs. The children can use their imagination while doing so. Only remember that each spiral section needs to be coloured differently than its earlier section.

5

Remember to keep little space between each section while filling colours. Once you are done making designs and colouring all the sections, fill in the little space between each section with the help of a black marker.

6

Once the design is complete, start cutting the spiral shape from the tail area along the spiral made with black marker, till the mouth of the snake. Be careful while doing so, as you don't want to cut the snake in the middle.

7

Once done, tie a wool thread by making small hole on the center of the snake face. Tie the other end of the thread to any window curtain rod or any other preferable place, where the snake would get some breeze which will help it move. This spiral snake can be a perfect craft idea which works as a decoration for your child's room.

Rock Painting - Most Creative Activity for Kids

Painting on stones or stone painting or also called as rock painting can be one of the most creative activity ever. Stones and rocks come in different size and shapes and we get to explore our minds into how creative we can be with them and come up with unique stone painting designs. Rock Painting allows us the pleasure to be creative and also to decorate our homes in a personalized manner. A painted stone could be used as a corner piece or we can use them for decorating gardens. Painted stones can also be gifted to near and dear ones, thus it could be a perfect personalized gift item for special occasion. Wonder how proud a grand-mom would feel if she receives a rock painting as a gift, painted and decorated by her own grand-child. You could also gift it to dad or moms who may use them as paperweights in their office and always feel proud when they look at them. Thus rock painting is one of the most easy and interesting DIY projects for kids. The actual pleasure for the kids begins right from searching for the perfect stone to painting it with the selected design.

Though you could get these stones  or rocks nowadays at various home-decor stores; the fun is in finding the perfect stone while you visit a river side or a sea shore. Most important thing for stone painting is to find the perfect stone, which can be used to paint. Tip is to look for round, flat and smooth stone which can allow us to be more creative. When certain idea comes to our mind for stone painting art, we need to look out for stones which may help us shape and colour those ideas, for instance if you wish to stone paint a cat, then you need to look out for a stone which can help you shape up that idea or when we wish to make a  Ladybug Rock Painting then we use a flat and circular stone.  I am into habit of collecting stones whenever I visit a river or a beach. You could say it is one of my hobbies other then reading. I am amazed with the different shapes and sizes the stones come in, one of the nature's wonder that they are shaped the way they are. I gather stones whenever I visit outdoors, not just to be creative, but also because  I consider each of those stones as a memoir or a recollection of the journey I thoroughly enjoyed. Then I try and use these stones for getting a bit creative with stone painting. Don't worry if you find stones with little rough patches, as a little scrub with sand-paper may work on some stones for smoothening curves and edges.

How to do Rock Painting 

Once you have the perfect stone ready with you, all you need to do is come up with a design which would work out perfectly on the stone. Every stone that we select tells us what would they be designed or shaped into. Just a little imagination and you know what design and colour would go well with the shape of the stone.

One more tip about stone painting for beginners is to try to draw the design on a card paper. It is important to learn to draw the perfect shape before trying it on the stone. Draw the perfect shape on a paper sheet or a card paper and then colour it. So you know what you are getting into. Once the design is drawn and coloured on a paper, you can just copy the same on the stone. This way stone painting becomes much easier as you get a model ready to refer while finishing your art work.

When it comes to using colours on stones for stone painting, mostly all types of colours go well with them. You can easily use acrylic colours or even water colours for stone painting. If this is your first time to try stone painting, I suggest try using water colours. If the stone painting doesn't come out as you desire, you can simply wash the colours and start out again. This way children get to practice and get creative with stones  and always come up with easy rock painting ideas or designs. The stone painting activity is one of the most creative ideas for kids as they get to engage in a craft which involves colours one of the kid's favourite past time. Making simple stone painting designs can help kids be imaginative. A little help with basics and kids would themselves come with unique ideas of their own about what they should paint on the stone. Once a child gets his hands on a stone painting, he or she can try with acrylic colours. Once the child is happy with his creativity, then sealers can be used to keep his stone painting art last for longer time.

How to Make Ladybug Rock Painting

A ladybug is an easy rock painting design for kids. You can try doing it with water clours or acrylic colours as you wish. Once a child gets a general idea how to do it, he can try making it with different vibrant colours. A ladybug rock can be a perfect gift for special occasions, you can gift it to mom and dad who can use it as paper-weights for their offices or you can gift it to grand mom who can place it as a decorational piece in her living room. They can also be made for school projects or DIY projects for kids as cultivating hobby. You can also make ladybug rocks using various colours and decorate your garden by placing them side by side near pot and plants. So lets learn how to paint ladybug rock art step by step. 

Materials required for making ladybug rocks

Stone, preferably flat, small and circular - 1
Acrylic colours of your choice
Acrylic colour - black
Acrylic colour - white (optional)
Glue
Wiggly eyes - 2
Sketch pen - black colour
Sketch pens of your choice
Rough paper sheet - 1
Rough cloth

Method for making Ladybug Rocks

1

Try and use a flat and circular stone for making a ladybug rock. Once selected, first wash and dry out the rock thoroughly with a rough cloth. Set aside.

2

Draw a rough model of the ladybug on a rough paper sheet and colour it with the desired colours you wish to give by means of the sketch pens. Note that you would be using the same paper sheet as a model to paint the rock. So try and use the same colours on the paper as you would use on the rock. Here I have painted a rough sketch on the paper, which would act as my model for the session.

3

Paint the whole stone (top portion) with acrylic black colour. Allow it to dry thoroughly. You may need to add one or two coats of paint to get the proper smoothness and texture. It totally depends on the rock.

4

Now simply paint 3/4th portion of the rock with the other colour of your choice. You can select any colours other than red, such as yellow, blue, green or orange. Leave topmost portion of the rock black, assuming it is the head. There is no exact measurement of how much you should paint, just look at your model drawn on the paper and accordingly colour the rock.

5

Draw small circles with help of black sketch-pen on the body of the rock. Fill it with black colour. There is no exact numbers of how many circles you should draw, you can draw many circles if they are small dots, and if you wish to draw big circles then keep them very few. 

6

Once you are finished with the body, lets get the eyes in place. With the help of glue you can paste the wiggly eyes on the top of the head. If you do not find eyes, then no worries, just draw circles with white colour using a pointed brush.

Allow the colours and eyes to dry out. Your ladybug rock art is ready. To help the colour last longer, use a sealer. 

How to Make Paper Lantern - Easy Steps

School projects in India always include DIY projects for kids about making articles such as diyas, lanterns etc; especially during Diwali. Making paper lantern is a quick and easy craft ideas for kids. Here's an easy method of making paper lantern using materials easily available at your local stationery shop. The steps for making this paper lantern are so easy that kids can do it themselves. Let's learn step by step method to make paper lantern at home.

Materials required for making paper lantern 

Ice-cream sticks - 32
Butter paper - 2 sheets
Ruler
Scissor
Glue
Pencil

Method for making paper lantern

1

Take two butter papers. Apply glue on one vertical end of each butter paper and stick the edges to make one long sheer of paper.

2

With the help of a ruler and pencil, draw four squares on the glued butter paper. I have measured 12 cm X 12 cm. If you want to make big lantern, draw bigger squares.

3

Now With the help of scissor cut this long rectangle that contains 4 squares side by side. My rectangle measured 48 cm in length and 12 cm in breadth.

4

Now try to fold these squares at end. It would look like a cube. Now join the two ends of this rectangular butter paper.

5

In case you make a bigger square, you may require two ice cream sticks or one and half ice cream sticks. With the help of glue, stick ice-cream sticks on edges of each square. Cut few ice-cream sticks in small shapes like drops and paste it in the center of each square paper to make a unique design.

6

Stick two ice-cream sticks on top of the lantern for suspension. If you have made this lantern using bigger squares then you should use a lace or decorative thread on top of the lantern for suspension.

Your decorative paper lantern is ready.