Craft Tutorials|Sparkles and Sprinkles

America the Beautiful – 4th of July Banner

by sparkle | Jun 22, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

Ready to decorate for the 4th of July? This garland with the words from “America the Beautiful” helps children to learn about the U.S. while using their creativity to illustrate the lyrics.

O beautiful for spacious skies
For amber waves of grain
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

You can find our printable for the “America the Beautiful” Star Garland on Etsy, or you can use the idea to create your own – keep reading for instructions below. The garland is part of our 4th of July Party Bundle on Etsy. The 4th of July Party Bundle includes the garland, cupcake, toppers, as well as a trivia quiz and scavenger hunt, all based on “America the Beautiful.”

“America the Beautiful” 4th of July Party Bundle – on Etsy

Star Banner

Cupcake Toppers

Scavenger Hunt and Trivia Games

We found it helpful to learn a little about the song before doing the garland project. While the chilren made their illustrations on the stars, we listened to “America the Beautiful” too! A fun way to squeeze a little “school” into the summer… shhh!

To inspire your drawings of the lyrics to the song, you could pull out photo albums from family trips, or check out some of the books and videos below that show depictions of the lyrics. Simply click on the book images to find them on Amazon.

Let’s make a garland!

Print and Cut Stars

Print the stars on white cardstock, then carefully cut them out. (You can find the garland printable on Etsy.)

Decorate the Stars

Use colored pencils, markers, or crayons to decorate the blank stars to illustrate the words of the song.

Punch holes and string onto ribbon

Punch a hole on the top left point and the top right point of each star. Cut about 10 ft. of ribbon (1/8” or 1/4” width works well). String the stars onto the ribbon. For each star, push the ribbon from the front into the left hole of the star, pull it along the back, and then pull it through the right hole to the front again. Alternate stars with lyrics and blank stars (or stars with your images). Or for a shorter banner, just use the stars with lyrics.

Decorate your home or yard. Some variations include using skewer sticks to decorate your garden or walkway, or using only the lyric stars for a shorter garland. Weather permitting, the garland could be hung outside for the day.

If you are looking for other 4th of July party supplies, we also have “America the Beautiful” themed cupcake toppers and games. You can find our 4th of July “America the Beautiful” Party Bundle in our Etsy shop.

Looking for a delicious AND nourishing gluten-free cupcake recipe? Try our gluten-free almond flour cupcakes!

Happy 4th of July!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

American Girl Doll Birthday Party Ideas

by sparkle | Jun 21, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

Ready to play? We are excited to share with you some fun ideas that can be used for an American Girl Doll (or any kind of doll!) themed birthday party. These ideas could even be used for a really fun play time any time of year!

Decorate a t-shirt for your doll

We used fabric markers to decorate doll t-shirts. They all turned out differently and were so cute! Tip: make sure to protect your drawing surface, and even put waxed paper between the front and back of the shirt, as these markers can bleed through the fabric. We used these t-shirts by Emily Rose – they are easy to get on and off the doll, as they have a Velcro closure in the back. We used these Tulip fabric markers.

Doll purses with money

We gave each girl a little purse for her doll. Our daughter made them out of felt with a simple stitch around the edge. If sewing is not something you want to do, you could simply make a wallet out of paper and tape. You can find a free printable with doll sized money here.

Doll party hats

Our free printable makes it easy to make doll birthday party hats. Click here for the printable – party hats in 4 colors.

Doll shopping bag

The girls at our party were given a shopping bag for their “shopping outing.” We used extra small white gift bags and glued on stars, to give it an American Girl Doll look. The bags we used were not available at the time of typing this post; however, these bags seem similar. Bags that are about 4.5 by 4.5 by 2.5 inches work well. You can find our free star printable here. The bags can then double as a party favor bag, as the girls collect items on their play shopping outing.

Doll Cafe

Our 10-year-old made signs from foam board for each of the little shops. The girls could “buy” treats from the cafe and pretend to have a cafe outing. We thought we would have an adult be the “shop keeper” at each shop, but it turned out the girls did not need any help having a really fun time all by themselves. Though not pictured here, we think this pastry set by Sophia’s looks great!

Doll shoe store

The girls also took their dolls shoe shopping… yes, it did take a while to pick just the right pair! We found a set with a nice variety of shoes here.

Doll jewelry making

The girls got to make simple necklaces and bracelets for their dolls, using stretch cord and beads.

Cupcakes!

After all of the fun doll play, the girls enjoyed birthday party treats, including gluten-free cupcakes. Click here to go to our delicious and nourishing gluten-free cupcake recipe!

Enjoy the party!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit – Multilingual Activities

by sparkle | Jun 1, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

To celebrate the beginning of summer vacation, we have some fun fruit activities for you! A “Fruits of the Holy Spirit” activity for Pentecost and a French-English fruit matching memory game.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit – Les Fruits de l’Esprit Saint

Pentecost is one of my favorite holidays, in part because I love the fact that on the first Pentecost everyone could understand each other, though they spoke different languages. We have a “Fruits of the Spirit” activity you can do on Pentecost or any time of year. We have a version in French, a version in English, and a blank version where you could write in the words in a language of your choice – all are totally FREE to download! In this way, you can teach about both the Fruits of the Spirit and the words for these ideas in another language.

Fruits of the Holy Spirit French English Francais

Fruits of the Holy Sprit Printables

Simply print out the versions of your choice on white cardstock. We find it works well to color them before cutting them. You can use colored pencils, crayons, or markers. While you color together it can be a great time to talk about the meanings of the fruits.

English Version

French Version

Blank Version (write in the words of the 12 Fruits in a language of your choice)

Fruits of the Holy Spirit Basket or Bowl

You could simply place your cut out fruits in a basket or bowl. Our 7-year-old thought it would be fun to pick one from the basket each day starting on Pentecost, and think especially about that fruit for the day.

Fruits of the Spirit Fruit Tree

If you would like, you could draw a large tree on long piece of easel paper. Then children can tape or glue the fruits onto the tree. As they are placed on the tree, you could talk about the meanings of each Fruit (of course you would want to explain that really different types of fruit don’t grow on the same tree… this is just for fun, perhaps a bit like ornaments on a Christmas tree!).

French and English Fruit Matching Memory Game

To learn the names of fruits in French and English, try our fun memory game! The fruit images used in this game are the same fruits (plus a few more) that we used in the Fruits of the Spirit printables; however, this time the idea is to learn the actual names of the fruits (for example, “a strawberry” is “une fraise”). The printable is in full color. The game has the names of 18 fruits in French and English, for a total of 36 memory cards. You can find it in our Etsy shop by clicking here. New to French? No worries, scroll down for clickable audio for each word.

Print and cut the game squares

Simply print out the game printable on white cardstock. Print it double-sided. This way the polka dot print will appear on the backs of the fruit images. It should be printed in color. Once it is printed, cut out the 36 fruit squares.

Game set up

Once the squares are cut, place the fruit images face down on a flat surface.

Play the game

Follow typical memory game rules. Take turns turning over 2 cards. If they match, the player keeps the cards; if they do not match, the player turns the cards face down again. Play continues until all cards have been matched.

Learn French!

Our 10-year-old had so much fun learning the names of fruits in French with this game! A rule could be added that in order to take a matching pair, the names of the fruits must be said in French, or even said each time that the cards are turned over. Ready to play? Get the download at our Etsy shop!

Click on the play buttons below to hear the name of each fruit in French. (If you are using a phone or tablet, you may need to turn your device to the landscape direction – sideways – in order to see the full images with the words.)

Great job learning the fruit words! Ready to play the game? Get the printable game on Etsy and have fun playing today.

Jouons! Let’s play!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

Lemonade Slime (with YouTube tutorial!)

by sparkle | May 28, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

Looking for a super fun screen-free activity for a hot summer day? Try making this lemonade slime! It is super stretchy and so fun to play with. It even smells like lemons! Gather your supplies (listed below), then watch our YouTube tutorial to find out how to make this delightful lemonade slime.

Gather these supplies, then watch the video below...

- - Clear glue
  - Shaving foam
  - Contact lens solution
  - Lemon essential oil
  - Yellow marker
  - Polymer lemon slices (optional)
  - Container to mix slime
  - Spoon to stir slime

Looking for more screen-free summer activities? Learn to make these beautiful cherry blossom origami corner bookmarks!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

EASY Origami Corner Bookmarks

by sparkle | May 11, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

EASY ORIGAMI CORNER BOOKMARKS

Springtime makes us think of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. (For a little history about that, check out the National Park Service site.) The beautiful cherry trees that bloom in our nation’s capital were a gift to our country from Japan.

Inspired by the cherry blossoms blooming this spring, we have a YouTube tutorial for you on how to make origami corner bookmarks. You can make them with origami paper with a cherry blossom print if you like. The paper we used in our video is made in Japan and has a lovely texture for origami. Also, read below about a sweet picture book about origami.

Even a beginner can make these super easy origami corner bookmarks. Check out our easy-to-follow YouTube tutorial. Then make a bookmark… or ten! Origami bookmarks can make a great gift too!

Looking for a sweet story about origami?

We enjoyed reading The Origami Master by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer… it reminds us of The Elves and the Shoemaker, with a Japanese twist.

Try authentic origami paper from Japan

We found this paper folded nicely and was easy to work with. However, if you do not have origami paper, you can cut a regular piece of printer paper into a square shape and use that as well.

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

April showers bring May flowers

by sparkle | May 7, 2022 | Craft Tutorials

We have a bouquet of flower-themed crafts, gifts and games for you for the month of May…

I often say that really every day is Mother’s Day for me because it is truly such an amazing gift to be a mom! Some beautiful bouquets of flowers came early this Mother’s Day weekend and reminded me how much joy flowers can bring, even when life is already overflowing with so many blessings.

We wish we could send a bouquet of flowers to all of the moms reading this post today, but since we can’t, we are sending you a bouquet of ideas you can enjoy with your children… and a bouquet of prayers for you too!

Hand Print Flower - Fun for Toddlers!

Simply use a wide paint brush to paint your child’s palm and fingers with washable paint. (We used Crayola Washable Project Paint. It has a nice consistency.) Help your child to place his or her hand towards the middle of a piece of cardstock or other thick paper. Then allow your child to finger paint a stem on the flower and other decorations on the page. Just have some wet wipes ready to wipe the paint from your little one’s hands after the painting is complete!

Perler Bead Flowers - Fun for Bigger Kids!

These are so simple, yet surprisingly fun! You can use them as game pieces (see our Flower Bingo game below), as table decorations, or just play with them. It’s amazing what a little imagination can do!

Use perler beads with any cicular perler bead form. Place one perler bead in the center, and surround the center with one ring of perler beads. Iron according to package instructions (remember the parchment paper!).

If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.

– Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Do you want to go on a spring flower scavenger hunt? This can be a fun way to learn about the names of flowers while enjoying the beauty of God’s creation in the springtime.

We have a free printable for you! It comes in 2 versions that can be made into a card to invite someone on a flower scavenger hunt. One says “Happy Mother’s Day!” on the front. The other has a blank front that could be decorated for Mother’s Day or any celebration for someone who loves flowers. To make these printables into cards, print them doubled sided (flip on the short side), and fold in half. You could also simply print the first page to have a flower scavenger hunt without making it into a card.

We are in growing zone 7, so these are some flowers that tend to be in bloom in mid spring around our home. If you are in a different growing zone or want to make a flower scavenger hunt for a different time of year, simply copy and paste flower images and names into a Word document. We often use www.pixabay.com to find free images. If flower seed catalogues or magazines arrive at your home, having children cut and paste images from such publications could also be fun.

You could go on the flower scavenger hunt in your neighborhood or visit a nearby public garden, or even a garden center.

The back of the card has some fun questions about flowers you can talk about and some quotes about flowers to consider as well.

Sweet April showers do spring May flowers.

– Thomas Tusser

When I was a little girl we would sometimes go searching for what we called “May flowers” in the woods around our house (it turns out these dainty purple flowers are actually called wild violets, but they are one of the first flowers to bloom in the springtime woodlands). We would then make little construction paper packages tied with yarn, and hang them on our neighbors’ door handles. I loved this idea of spreading a little joy and a happy surprise to neighbors. While living in France during college, I was delighted to see that this is not simply a childhood pleasure. On the first of May in France, there are lily of the valley flowers (they call them “muguets”) for sale all around, and people offer them to friends to wish them a happy day. Here is a link about the history of this French tradition.

Offering flower seeds or a small potted flower can be a sweet gift to bring a smile to someone’s day… for May Day, for Mother’s Day or any springtime day!

For this little gift, we placed a package of seeds (with directions for planting) in a 3″ round Jiffy pot. We punched a hole at the top, and used a narrow ribbon to tie on a gift tag. Then we topped it off with some tissue paper. Our free printable tags come with three different options – one for May Day (“May God bless you abundantly today and every Day!”), one for Mother’s Day (“Happy Mother’s Day!”), and one blank to write your own message.

Earth laughs in flowers.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

How about a game to bring even more joy and smiles to springtime? If you are looking for a flower-themed game, you could try our flower BINGO game, available on Etsy. The game features beautiful photos of real flowers. There are 10 unique cards (but if you have more players, players could play in pairs or small groups). The game comes with printable bingo chips, but you could also use perler bead flowers (see above in this post), or other chips of your choice.

This could be a fun game for a tea party, a Mother’s Day brunch, a bridal shower, or a garden-themed birthday party.

We recently used this BINGO game for a science lesson with our homeschool group to learn the names of the flowers that surround us.

What are your favorite flowers and why do you love them?

Where have you seen the most beautiful flowers?

We would love to hear from you! Please comment below to share what you love about flowers.

My favorite flowers are hydrangeas. They became my favorite flower when I saw them growing in an abundance of colors along the Atlantic Coast in a little French town called Biarritz.

Sparkles and Sprinkles Dad brought home this beautiful bouquet the other day for Sparkles and Sprinkles Mom He knows my favorite flowers well!

Note: Some links on this page are Amazon Affiliate links. Sparkles and Sprinkles is a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Other links may or may not be affiliate links. We provide links because we have found these products or services beneficial, and we think you might too.

America the Beautiful – 4th of July Banner

Star Banner

Cupcake Toppers

Scavenger Hunt and Trivia Games

Print and Cut Stars

Decorate the Stars

Punch holes and string onto ribbon

American Girl Doll Birthday Party Ideas

Decorate a t-shirt for your doll

Doll purses with money

Doll party hats

Doll shopping bag

Doll Cafe

Doll shoe store

Doll jewelry making

Cupcakes!

Fruits of the Holy Spirit – Multilingual Activities

Fruits of the Holy Sprit Printables

Fruits of the Holy Spirit Basket or Bowl

Fruits of the Spirit Fruit Tree

Print and cut the game squares

Game set up

Play the game

Learn French!

Lemonade Slime (with YouTube tutorial!)

Gather these supplies, then watch the video below...

EASY Origami Corner Bookmarks

Looking for a sweet story about origami?

Try authentic origami paper from Japan

April showers bring May flowers

Hand Print Flower - Fun for Toddlers!

Perler Bead Flowers - Fun for Bigger Kids!

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