How do you have your kids help out with holiday decorations? I love to use my daughter’s crafts and let them double as Christmas decor. Christmas kids crafts are perfect for winter break too! Help them not get bored even after Christmas is over, these kids crafts are great ideas. Take a look at these kids crafts and our blogger friends who have a good selection of crafts that you will enjoy giving to your kids, and will enjoy bringing them out for years to come… even more!

18 Easy Christmas Kids Crafts to Keep Them Busy

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1. Candy Cane Mice

It’s the kids who will be doing the nibbling when these sweet mice are around. A combination of two Christmas icons — mice and candy canes — these tiny fabric creatures, with their red-and-white-striped tails, make fitting favors at a holiday dinner or delightful gifts for children to give to friends and relatives. How to make craft.

2. Pipe-cleaner Snowflake Ornament

Need a fun, easy-to-make project that will keep the kids busy? All you need to create these ornaments are wire cutters, needle-nose pliers (both for adults’ use only), and pipe cleaners. They make great gifts for teachers, to adorn presents, or to hang from your tree. How to make craft.

3. Old Toy Christmas Tree Ornaments

Unfortunately most kids play kitchens on the market are made of plastic, cost serious money and on top of that, they are completely without personality. They have colors that often don’t look at all natural or inviting, or they are to “girly” when you really want both boys and girls to play with them. So what is the solution? Simple: Make your own DIY Toy by crafting a DIY Play Kitchen from Old Furniture you can cheaply buy at a garage sale if you haven’t a piece you can use already somewhere in your home. The most suitable furniture to use for making such a great toy are desks, cupboards, nightstands, dressers and of course old entertainment centers. Other than that, you will need paint and some basic tools, knobs, faucet and really anything you can think of and have on hand to create your one-of-a-kind play kitchen.

DIY Toy: Kids Play Kitchens from Old Furniture

Image via: Kate’s Creative Space

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Choose the Right Furniture

Choosing the most suitable furniture piece can be the biggest challenge. Make sure to look around your house or grandma’s house to find the perfect candidate. To make the decision, think about available space and the age of the recipient. A nightstand is perfect for a toddler, whilst a bigger desk or entertainment center would be ideal for a bigger child.

Also, try to find a piece that won’t demand too much work or modifications, especially if you don’t have the gift of a handy craftsman. Choose a piece that already looks like a small kitchen and requires only a little paint, a knob here and there and a metal bowl as a sink to minimize work.

Image via: Blue Eyed Yonder

Make a Decision on Colors

To choose the right colors is essential. Ask yourself about where you would most likely place the play kitchen to determine colors. Also, you can base your decision on the gender of the child, on whether you want the play kitchen to fit in or stand out and so on. Use colorful fabrics to fake curtains and towels which will add to the overall appeal of the kitchen.

 Image via: Life of Lacey

Details, Details, Details

To finish up the play kitchen, give details some thought. After all, in detail is where the love is hidden. Find some cute knobs and accessories that compliment your child’s character to add the necessary personal touch. Also, think about using hooks, pictures, chalk surfaces and even a fake window over the sink to round everything up. Don’t forget about some necessary utensils and of course some food replica so your kid has everything it needs to have a great time!

To complete the look, why not make a custom mini pantry? Make DIY toys like this and the kids will have tons of fun for many years to come!

For more DIY ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

We all love our pets, especially the furry feline variety, and we also love design. After all, what’s more inviting than a cuddly kitten curled up on a spectacular, luscious couch?

But all too often our lovable pets can become pests—sharpening their claws on the furniture we’ve searched so hard for, playing with items they shouldn’t be, and even bringing things we’d rather not have into our home.

Image Bide a Wee

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These easy-to-follow DIY project ideas should help keep your little feline friend happy, healthy, and clean—along with the rest of your home!

Scratching Post

We all know cats love to scratch. Unfortunately, we also know that they will do so wherever and whenever they want. When you have your own cat scratching post, you’re not only helping your cat feel more comfortable, you’re also helping to protect your furniture from unwanted claw marks.

Fortunately, making your own cat scratching post is an easy and fun way to help your cat, plus it helps keep your furniture tear-free. One awesome scratching post DIY guide can be found at thriftyfun.com. To make this scratching post your own, buy some paint or fabric and dress it up to match your décor!

Cat Toys

Cats love chasing and playing with colorful objects, and making your very own catnip toy is easy and can usually be done with household items. Cats are natural hunters, and having their own toy will make them more likely to play with it instead of bringing some unwanted critter into your home.

If you crochet, you should definitely check out these colorful pyramid toys—with a bit of catnip inside, your kitten will really love them. (The full guide to how to make them is over at lazyearthlings.blogspot

Image via: Lazy Earthlings

An even simpler way to make your very own—and very affordable—toy is to make a ball out of tinfoil. Attach it to a piece of string, and your cat can stay entertained for hours! See a quick tinfoil tutorial at practicallyfunctional.net

Cat Fort

It’s a well-known fact: Cats love boxes.

But cat forts can be expensive, so making your own is a creative and cost-effective way of giving your cat its very own home. Most cardboard boxes work fine—the important thing is to make sure there is a variety of entrances and exits for your cat to help keep things exciting and ensure maximum playtime.

By taking a few cardboard boxes, making various holes throughout the sides, and attaching the boxes together, you’re giving your cat his very own fort. Paint and decorate it to match your style.

Image via: Haus Panther

Flea Trap

As clean as cats are, even they are not free from the curse of the flea. Fleas are a common problem, especially in summer months, and by making your own flea traps, you’re helping to ensure your cat is both happy and flea-free.

Fleas are naturally attracted to heat, so by placing a dish filled with soapy water by a desk lamp, you’ll have your very own flea trap. In fact, your flea trap can be something as elegant and simple as a candle (though be careful your pets don’t go near it!).

Though flea traps may not be as effective as a prescription flea treatment or pest control, it’s an easy, safe and affordable way to help protect your cat from fleas.

Image via: Wiki How

Creating your ideal home can be quite an undertaking, and caring for pets may be difficult, but both are incredibly rewarding, especially when homes and pets work together. Leave a comment below, and share how you care for your pets while keeping your home looking beautiful!

Author Bio:

Our guest blogger, Maya Rodgers is a pet lover and pest control consultant. Her experience on blogging topics comes from working for Terminix and experiencing too much abused furniture from her 13 year old yellow lab.  She can be found at Pets and Pests.

For more Pet Ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

For more DIY ideas on Stagetecture, & Stagetecture’s YouTube Channel, click here.

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An interactive environment

The sense of touch is the first to develop and infants and toddlers alike tend to experience the world through touch long before they are able to master their other senses. In fact, vision, which older kids and adults rely on as the main sense for experiencing the world, will continue to develop in toddlers for many months. So while you may want to focus on visual mediums like colors and patterns as the first order of business, and this is certainly an important aspect of any environment, you should begin by thinking about how you can stimulate your child’s primary avenue of interacting with and exploring their environment.

Texture and patterns

To that end you may want to include a variety of textures for your toddler to investigate, from plush carpeting and toys, to small furnishings (tables, chairs, etc.) covered in a variety of fabrics, to blocks and toys in a variety of shapes and materials. You might want to be careful about placing hard or slippery surfaces where they can pose a danger, and you shouldn’t fill a crib with a plethora of fluffy blankets, pillows, and toys that could potentially lead to suffocation, but the trick here is to offer a variety of surfaces for your child to experience through touch.

Visual impact of the room

After that you can consider the visual impact of the room, and bright colors mixed with black-and-white patterns are going to deliver the greatest visual interest for your child because infants and toddlers tend to find contrast appealing. By the age of two, most toddlers are beginning to see quite well, so this is a good time to begin introducing them to colorful and elaborately illustrated books (if you haven’t already). Stock your nursery with a variety and then think about adding an interesting wallpaper border to the room or some artwork (just make sure to hang it at a level where your child can see it).

Finally, consider ways that you can appeal to the other senses in the nursery. An MP3 dock loaded with suitable music is a good start, and you’ll find plenty of toys rated for this age group that feature a variety of “click here” options for kids to make noise by pressing buttons. Basic musical instruments (drums, whistles, even kid-friendly keyboards) will also let your toddler explore his relationship to sound. And you can keep his sense of smell stimulated by placing flowering plants in the room (out of reach) or using a variety of options in air fresheners or even scented candles on occasion (the latter only when you’re present, of course). When you make the effort to think about all of the ways in which your toddler can interact with his environment you’re sure to create a nursery that is not only adequate for his needs, but also works to stimulate his developing senses.

For more nursery ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Unless you want toys littering the living room and homework piling up on the dining room table, it behooves you to set up a kids area they can use to play and do homework away from the common areas of your house.  While you might not want to give up your own home office or den for this purpose, you may be able to find an alternate space like the attic, the basement, or the garage for this purpose.  And as long as you furnish and decorate it with the wants and needs of your children in mind, you won’t hear any complaints.  So here are a few things you’ll certainly want to consider when it comes to outfitting a playroom for your kids.

Image via: Pottery Barn Kids

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Age appropriate design

The first thing you need to think about is the age (or ages) of your kids.  The reason for this is purely practical because smaller kids are not only going to have different needs than older siblings; they’re also going to operate on an entirely different level (and a smaller scope).  So whether your kids range in age from toddler to high-school or you simply want to create a space that will serve your young children as they grow, you need to think about how you can make your space versatile for ongoing needs of all your kids.

Image via: The Cool Hunter

Walls and flooring

To start at the beginning, you need to address the walls and flooring of the space.  While you might be keen to keep the neutral walls that came with your house, consider that a white or off-white wall is a little institutional and not terribly inspiring (especially when paired with fluorescent overhead lights common to garage and basement spaces).  Injecting some color and pattern into the space through kid-appropriate paint and artwork will set the stage for creativity and fun.

And when it comes to flooring, practical and comfortable is the name of the game.  Hardwoods aren’t great to play on since they’re, well, hard.  And carpeting that is subjected to spills, markers, glitter, and who-knows what else will soon be a useless mess.  So if you have to install some flooring anyway, think about laying down interlocking rubber tiles (like the ones at the gym).  The kids won’t get hurt if they fall, they can spill all they like, and tiles are easy to clean and cheap to replace, making them perfect for you kids’ playroom.

Furnishings and storage

The next step is to install kid-friendly furnishings and storage.  You’ll probably want workspaces that are suited to the size and activity level of your kids.  So a low craft table is a good idea for small kids while school-age children will likely need individual desks to sit and do homework in peace.  You should also install cubbies and containers for storing different items; the bottom shelf could house toys for toddlers while higher cubbies could be used for craft supplies and school items for older kids.

Image via: Pinterest.Dream Home

Kid accessories

Finally, you should add some flair to the space with accessories that the kids will love.  So find some cute and colorful lamps, a few photo frames to hold their favorite family pics (or hang their own artwork), and even an iPod docking station so they can have some tunes on while they play or do homework.  It takes a little forethought to prepare a recreational space that is suitable for your kids, but once you look at it from their point of view you should have no trouble designing a room that they’ll love to use.

Evan Fischer is a contributing writer for Home Tuition Singapore where you can find quality one on one home tutoring for all subjects and levels.

For more kids organization & decor on Stagetecture, click here.

Organization in your kid’s rooms is one of the most important areas to organize in your home. Not only does it help them learn to put away items, but it builds their self confidence and ability to decipher when things are neat and when they are not. Not to mention, an organized child can help their parents be organized too!

Today, Gigi K. Miller from Vision Organizing, LLC guests blogs and shows us 5 steps to organize your kid’s rooms.  She will show you how to get rid of what you don’t need, and how to make organization a habit and not just a “once-in-a-while” chore.

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Kids’ bedrooms often serve multiple functions and organization is a crucial element in making the most of the available space.  This is a place where kids complete homework assignments, read, listen to music and play with friends.  It also functions as storage space for books, clothes, electronics, sports equipment and toys.  So how do I keep create an organized space that my kids will maintain?
Follow these 5 steps to cut the clutter, maximize available space and create organizing systems that are simple and easy for your kids to maintain.

Step 1:  Design a Space with Kids’ Needs in Mind:

The first thing I suggest is to look at the space from your child’s point of view.  Is it easy for them to access clothes, books, toys?  Consider these questions and then purchase pieces that allow your child to easily retrieve what they need when they need it.  For example, install or move an existing rod to a lower position in the closet, use open floor bins or stackable drawers to store socks, underwear, and t-shirts.  Use the upper rod and shelving to store out of season clothing and extra bedding.

Step 2:  Define Your Zones:

Decide what functions your kids’ rooms need to serve and then clearly define the space into zones.  For example, a desk and shelving unit may serve as the homework/reading zone.  A table and art supplies may serve as the arts and crafts zone.  And a trunk of dress up clothes, a train table and bins of toys provide a play zone.  Creating zones will make it easy for your kids to determine where items belong.

Step 3:  De-Clutter Your Space:

Take inventory of toys, clothes, books and everything else in your kids’ rooms.  Toss old or broken items out and donate gently used items to a local charity.  One good tip is to keep an empty bag or box in the closet to collect donate items.  I suggest de-cluttering 3-4 times a year.  Take your kids with you when you drop off donations.  It is important that they learn early on the importance of giving to others.  Use the one in one out rule.  One new toy or book means one is donated.

Step 4:  Designate a Home For Everything:

Sort like items together and store them close to where your kids will use them or in their proper zones.  This goes for clothes, toys, games, and everything else.  For example, toys and games should be stored close to or in the play zone.  Toys should be sorted into categories by type or size.  Organize clothing by categories as well:  short sleeved shirts, pants, sweaters, and so on.  Use labels or pictures to help your kids return items to their proper homes.  For younger kids, color code categories.  A pink bin for socks, a red bin for t-shirts, and so on.  The important thing to remember here is to set up a system that works for your kid.  Every kid is different and finding the right system takes time and patience.  But it will be well worth it for both of you!

Step 5:  Make Staying Organized a Routine:

For younger kids, make it a game by turning on music and setting a timer to see how fast they can return items to their proper (and labeled) homes. For older kids, create a check list to include items such as making the bed, folding clothes, putting away books and preparing school items for the next day.  Take it a step further and create a morning check list and an evening one to help kids better manage their time.

Finally, make getting and staying organized a family affair.  Work together as a team and encourage each other to keep you home clutter free and organized!

Vision Organizing, LLC creates customized solutions to help clients eliminate clutter, maximize available space, reduce stress and develop time-saving systems for home, office, and life that are practical and easy to maintain.  Our approach is based on simplifying a client’s surroundings and creating organizational systems that work with their space and lifestyle.

GiGi K. Miller, an Atlanta based Professional Organizer and owner of Vision Organizing, has over 15 years of career experience in project management and media relations.  Throughout her professional career, GiGi has created and implemented organization systems to increase productivity and efficiency in the work place. She utilizes her highly honed organizational skills towards helping residential and small business clients realize the benefits of living an organized life.  GiGi is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and is actively involved in her local chapter (NAPO-Georgia).  She is also a NAPO In the Schools Trained Presenter, a nationwide community outreach program of the National Association of Professional Organizers that brings professional organizers into the schools to teach students the benefits of being organized and basic organizing principles in a totally interactive classroom presentation. Follow Gigi on Twitter .

For more Kid’s Room ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

Lego’s… a childhood favorite, but they wind up everywhere! I confess, I haven’t bought my daughter the smaller ones, because I hate cleaning them all up.   Complete Organizing Solutions has a great way to keep them organized… NO WAY!

Maybe I’ll buy them for my daughter now…

For more kids room staging ideas on Stagetecture, click here.