creative jewish mom

Origami Crane Mobile With Pom Poms...Perfect Anytime!

Origami paper cranes folded from brightly colored origami paper are perfect for making festive mobile decorations that you can leave up for months. Believe me! Because honestly, I made these origami crane decorations for my daughters birthday party back in July, and they looked amazing as Hanukkah decor as well! I think I'll take them down as we prepare for Tu B'Shevat, the next Jewish holiday, but I'll pack them away carefully to use again in the future.

You can certainly make strings of origami cranes as I did, and rather than hang them from your dining room chandelier, hang them from embroidery hoops or two crossed sticks, mobile style. That's my felt Hanukkah wall hanging there in the background, a perfect match color wise, lucky for me! 

 And an origami crane baby mobile would be just fabulous, with a view something like this for the little one!

I also used some of my origami crane garlands to hang from some wall sconces, which looks great too! The main thing is to make as many as possible, as they look fabulous in numbers!

You'll Need:

 

• origami paper
• colorful crochet thread, or the string of your choice
• small craft pom poms
• plastic "pony" beads
• a long needle

How To:

Fold your origami cranes according to instructions you can find on YouTube or google. Once I got the hang of it it took me about 6-7 minutes to fold one crane. 

Using a long needle, string origami cranes on a long string, by placing a pony bead on the string and tying a knot around it and then adding a crane to the string, such that the bead holds the crane in place, and looks nice! Alternate pom poms and cranes, spacing them out evenly. To decorate my chandelier, I used five strands with three origami cranes and 5 strands with two origami cranes, (my chandelier has 10 arms) and 1 strand of three origami cranes hanging in the center, for a total of 28 origami cranes.

And together with the four origami crane garlands that I used to decorate the wall, I made a total of 40 cranes! You can too, and you'll be very happy that you did! And I actually made these by myself late one night as a birthday surprise, but this certainly be a great family activity for adults and teenagers! 

Hanukkah Dancing Characters Craft For Kids

Here's a super cute idea to add some cheer to your home this Chanukah— dancing dreidels, doughnuts, menorahs, candles and oil flasks! You only need a few simple supplies and everyone can have fun creating their own dancing characters. We'll most likely be hanging these garland style, which we have yet to assemble, but they're much easier to photograph at this stage! In any case I figured I'd share this with you now, as it's time to get crafting my friends— Chanukah is in just a little over a week! Yikes, why did I have to mention that?

You'll Need:

• colorful card stock
• paper fasteners
• a hole punch
• pens and markers
• a little imagination!

How To: Draw the body and arms and legs separately on the colored paper of your choice. Add details with felt pens, cut out, punch holes where needed, and attach arms and legs and heads (where needed) with paper fasteners. If you're in need of some big decorations, so make some of these in which the body fills the entire letter sized sheet, the bigger the better! Enjoy!

Hanukkah Card Craft With 3D Dreidel

Here's a fun idea that kids can make with just a tiny bit of help — a 3d dreidel Hanukkah card! Of course these look great standing on a mantel or shelf as holiday decorations too, so be sure to make some extras to keep for yourselves! This idea was suggested by vista print, and I'm happy to say, it got us to do a little card crafting that we may not have done otherwise! Of course one can certainly make these cards with 3D dreidels made from patterned paper, though I love the look of bright solid colors and the little designs my kids quite simply cut out using good old scissors. And do check out the cut paper Hanukkah cards we made yesterday for some fun ideas for decorating the outside of your cards.

You'll Need:

• colored stock weight paper
• glue or a glue stick
• a pattern for how to cut the dreidel, below

How To:

Cut dreidels according to the pattern above, size of course depends on the size of your card. Open card so it lies flat on the table and position driedel so that it's fold lies directly over the middle fold of the card. Decorate cards before attaching driedel, or afterwards, it's up to you, though it's best if dreidels are set aside to dry. Apply glue to flaps of dreidel and affix to card. Set aside to dry and enjoy!

Hanukkah Decoupage Catch-All Craft For Kids

Here's a fun decoupage kid's craft for Hanukkah that will add some cheer to your home! I know that I can always use some festive handmade containers to hold hanukkah candles, dreidels, or even special treats around holiday time, and this little box is already setting the tone for our Hanukkah decorating! No strict blue and silver scheme here, which in any case is just a commercial fabrication, I'm happy to say— meaning go to town with color this Hanukkah! 

You'll Need:

• small rectangles of colored tissue paper
• mod podge sparkle, or any decoupage medium, but love the sparkle!
• a brush
• a white box

How To:

Using a medium sized paint brush, apply mod podge to the box, working on small areas at a time, and carefully apply rectangles of tissue paper. Cover with another layer of mod podge and make sure all the corners and edges are adhered to the box. 

Note: This craft actually came about after we finished making the menorah from the Kiwi Crate Handmade Hanukkah kit, which I wrote about here. There were some left over supplies and boxes that I just couldn't throw out, and yet saving them also seemed a little silly........so there on the spot I got to work making this fun little project! Thanks Kiwi Crate for providing enough little tissue paper squares in your kit to make a few extra projects, and a nice white box that was happily up-cycled to help us keep the little stuff organized this Hanukkah!

Stuffed Paper Shapes For Rosh Hashana!

The Jewish New Year is coming my friends, so here's a super cute craft for Rosh HaShana that was a huge hit at our house! And you can use these stuffed paper shapes as a centerpiece, for a mobile or even as place cards. Of course if your kids like this project as much as mine did, you may just have enough to scatter down the center of the table, and/or place in a fruit bowl which would look so very festive on a white holiday tablecloth.

We made shofars, apples, pomegranites, carrots, jars of honey, and fish, all of which are important symbols for Rosh HaShana, and work perfectly for this project. And truthfully I've been wanting to use this idea for months, so it could be great just about any time. How about a bunch of numbers and cakes for a birthday celebration, or even a bowl of apples to celebrate fall? 

You'll Need:

• colored craft paper
• markers
• glitter glue
• a stapler
• newspaper or cotton for stuffing

How To:

Fold your A4 or letter sized piece of paper in half, or staple two pieces together for really big shapes. Draw shape, with details on the paper, and cut out the shape beyond the line. Turn over and draw on the reverse side if you desire. Staple at the edges about half of the shape, stuff with little balls of rolled newspaper, and staple the shape closed. Decorate with glitter glue and set aside to dry. Ta da, an adorable craft is born!

Creativity With Paper And Yarn....An MP4 Player!

When my son was looking for string and scissors yesterday, I assumed he was going to do some finger knitting, or cats in the cradle. So not long after, when he was walking around the house sporting his new MP4 (actually MP5, he informed me) player made from yarn and paper, we all just had to laugh! Especially love those ear phones. And as you can well imagine I was thrilled with this independant act of creativity.

Now the question is, how can I encourage him to do things like this more often? I think the key is to first of all have a running dialogue with your kids about all the creative possibilities out there, to collect recycled materials for crafting, and of course if possible to sit down with them, even once a week, and spend some time creating. Any wisdom you'd like to share?

Origami Cranes...Perfect For Birthday Parties or Your Succah?

I'm in love with origami cranes made from brightly colored origami paper. And I can still say that after having folded about forty of them for my daughter's birthday party last week! I used my origami cranes to create an origami crane mobile of sorts, which I hope to photograph soon,  and share with you. But in the meantime, why not learn how to fold an origami crane and make some in your spare moments.

And a handy tip for those whose crafting moments are sparse : you can do all the folding just before the last step in which you form the head and tail, and then store your nearly created cranes flat in a big envelope for a later date. I think they'd look great in a Succah, are fabulous over a baby's bed or hanging just about anywhere! Their beauty though is somewhat tied to the fact that they look great in numbers, so the more the better really!

Once I got the hang of folding the origami cranes, I was able to fold five or six in 30 minutes, using origami sheets that are 8 inches square. I'd love to try this with starched fabric, which would certainly be a longer lasting version, though preparing the fabric with spray starch and then cutting out squares isn't exactly quick like whipping out some origami paper!

You can find tons of tutorials for folding origami cranes, either video or printed via Mr. Google, take your pick!

Note: My kids were really fascinted when I told them about the Japanese tradition of a bride folding 1,000 such origami cranes before her wedding! And I did a demonstration for the girls at the birthday party on how I folded the cranes and they were all amazed at how many steps it takes.....not sure at what age a child could really master something like this, but it's certainly worth a try as young as say eight if you have a child who's very exacting and detail oriented!

Has anyone done origami with their kids? Would love to hear about it!

Drawing On Baking Paper!

Drawing on baking paper is a fun way to encourage your kids to draw, as variety is always part of any recipe for success! I've been trying to encourage a few of my kids to draw, as for some reason the desire just doesn't come naturally, who would have thought?

This lovely pattern was actually drawn by my daughter, who does love to draw, and she said she started drawing the pattern and just couldn't stop! I think it looks like a great scarf, and as a fun project you could even encourage your kids to imagine that they're fabric designers and to draw a pattern for a scarf on their square of paper.

In case you're not familiar with baking paper, it is in fact similar to tracing paper, but I love the fact that it comes in big square sheets (at least here) that aren't too big for a kid to handle! Plus, here in Israel tracing paper is on the expensive side, so baking paper is a very reasonable alternative.....and in some cases even better as it's heavier. And of course you can easily pick some up on your next trip to the store. Took me years to figure this one out, and now when I need some tracing paper I just head for the kitchen!

Note: An American reader just wrote to inform or rather remind me that baking paper is called parchment paper in the Unites States. Though come to think of it, I remember parchment paper being more creme colored than the baking paper we have here.........of  course creme could be lovely too!

Stamped Birthday Party Favor Tags

Birthday party favor tags, or gift tags for any occasion are so simple to make with just some stamps, colored ink stamp pads and the colored card stock of your choice! I always love the hand crafted look, and this is a great occasion to go all out with the artistic imperfection, which makes this craft perfect for little ones too!

First we filled our paper with stamped numbers and a few simple shapes, and then we used a scalloped circle punch to make our tags. We punched a hole in each one, attached some ribbon and now the tags are ready and waiting for the little favor bags we'll assemble tonight!

And just for the record, my daughter still has another good month and a half until her actual birthday, but since it occurs after school is out, she'll celebrate now with her class. Phew, I don't think I could fit another birthday cake into my packed schedule right now! Gotta run, all the best!

Simple Origami Jumping Frogs For Passover

Origami frogs, namely simple origami jumping frogs, that you and the kids can make in just a few minutes each, are the perfect craft for the Passover seder. And of course they'd work very nicely with the origami pyramids I posted about last week! Teach the kids how to make them, and then let them make a small army of little frogs to throw everywhere during the plagues portion of the seder. Sounds fun to me! And these frogs may even jump (or do somersaults as mine did!) just a bit when you press down on the fold just above their rear legs, which makes this craft just a bit more exciting.

You'll Need:

• green paper, the large dark green frog was made with an A4 sheet, which is a nice size, though is too heavy to jump, you'll need rectangles, not classic origami squares 
• red or neon any color paper for tongues (optional)
• markers, I used black and gel pens
• this tutorial for folding your little froggy friends

Have fun with this one, I'm off to spend the rest of the day cleaning and organizing and maybe teaching my kids this craft....my daughter has already spotted it and is ready to go, so I imagine your kids may feel the same. And at this point, they'd probably rather craft than clean right? A fair trade off I'd say!