12 Borderline Genius Ways to Keep Your Kids Busy This Summer

One of summer’s biggest challenges is keeping your kids engaged and entertained, especially while you're on the way to the next adventure. Have no fear, Klutz is here! We’ve collected some of our favorite book-based activity kits to avoid that dreaded age-old question: “Are we there yet?”

Here’s our 100% Klutz certified list of travel essentials:

1) Coloring Crush 

2) The Many Moods of Me Journal

 
3) Color-In Stained Glass

 

4) Create Your Own Quote Art 

5) The Encyclopedia of Immaturity

6) Star Wars Thumb Doodles

 

7) The Marvelous Book of Magical Mermaids

8) Dress Up Your Own Paper Pups 

 

 
9) Cat’s Cradle 

 

10) Prankster Magic 

11) Draw the DC Universe

 

12) Lettering

 

Happy traveling!

Wintery String Art Photo Frame

Turn Festive Works of String Art Into Picture Frames

by A.V. Bautista, production designer and kooky Klutz crafter

‘Tis the season to be stringin’ and it’s excitingly easy!

There are so many awesome string art projects in the String Art book from KLUTZ. 

Once you’ve given a couple projects a try, you’ll be eager to venture out on your own to make any string art you can imagine.

Inspired by the holidays, I thought it would be crazy cool to make a snowflake string frame. And to keep in the spirit of giving and sharing, here’s how I did it.

What you’ll need:

• Pins (from the STRING ART book)
• Pinning tool (from the STRING ART book)
• String (from the STRING ART book or any of your own)
• Glue
• Tape
• Cardboard boxes
• Wrapping paper
• Art to trace and turn into string art
• A photo to place in the center 

Step 1

Get cardboard boxes and cut them up to whatever size you want for your art. My boxes aren’t big enough so I’m sticking multiple pieces together to make a larger piece.

Step 2

Glue three cardboard sheets together in a stack. The goal is to make cardboard that’s as thick as the pieces included in the STRING ART book. The thick cardboard will help hold the pins up. 

Step 3

Get wrapping paper that would make a good background for your art. For my snowflake string art design, I’ll be using a wintery snowflake wrapping paper background. Make sure to cut your wrapping paper to a size slightly bigger than your cardboard base (about 1 ½ inches around the edges). 

Step 4 

Wrap and tape wrapping paper over your cardboard base. Make sure it covers one side completely.

Step 5

Print or draw a design on paper to use as a stencil for your string art frame. At the center of my shimmering snowflake I’ve left a hole for a photo. The center could be any shape: a circle, a rectangle, a heart perhaps for a valentine? Whatever you can think of. Place it right in the center.

Step 6

Pin all around the perimeter of your shape. Be sure to use the pinning tool from String Art. This will make your pinning go faster, keep all of the pins the same height (and straight!), and will protect your fingers from getting strained and tired. This tool is also great because it has an end that lets you pull the pins out if you make a mistake.

Step 7

After pinning around your center shape, rip off the paper with your traced or printed design. Thinner paper will rip off easier. My paper was thick, so I had to rip it off little by little.

Step 8

It’s stringin’ time! Wrap string around your pins to create your design. If you’re wondering how to string, the book has several marvelous methods that can help with your super-stylish string art. 

Step 9

Cut a photo to fit inside the size and shape of your frame.

Step 10

Tape or glue your photo.

Step 11

Ta-da! Stringin’ like you’ve never seen before! Now find a nice spot to display your masterpiece or wrap it up for someone special.

 

DIY Birthday Favor Bags with KLUTZ!

Becky Amsel handles Publicity for Klutz and loves anything multicolored.

My daughter turned one (ONE!) this summer and because I am a first time 1st birthday thrower, I went a little birthday crazy. A lot of the party bits were handled by the birthday venue, but the favors were completely up to me. I decided a bunch of babies with tambourines was the ultimate in PARTY, so I ordered a lot of little ones online. They were adorable and perfect and well made…and just needed a carrying bag.

I’m pretty lucky to work around crafters and lots of creative people. It rubs off! And I decided to personalize the gift bags with Klutz’s brand new Design & Dye with No Heat Batik kit.

The results were so awesome and customizing the bags was a breeze. Here’s what I did: 

First I bought plain canvas tote bags. Then I glued each kid’s name onto a bag (there are tons of adorable designs to trace in the book, but the beauty of this craft is that you can also freehand and really make it your own):

After that dried I mixed the colors in the Klutz kit according to the paint mixing formulas to create some nice shades of blue, green, pink and purple. From there, I simply painted over the glued name in a somewhat purposeful paint blob pattern.

I let that dry and then gave the bags a bath! Instructions call for washing in a machine but this way was fun, too. I let the bags soak for about an hour and then hung them to dry.

And then they were complete! 

The gift bags were SUPER CUTE and very enjoyed. I’ve seen them in action since the party as park or beach bags or just hanging on the wall. Fun, easy, and personal!

Klutz Activity Kits to the Rescue

Stacy Lellos, Mom of 3 and GM of Klutz

What is a mom to do when the weather derails a day at the lake with her girls and their friend? Luckily, for this mom, we have many different Klutz kits at home! I suggested we all pick out one kit to do together, but when I brought out the box of books from our craft closet, each child was drawn to something different, telling me to “hold on!” while they read through the one that caught their eye.

I realized that rather than push for us all to do the same thing, the beauty of creating is to find what speaks to you.  Klutz has such incredible breadth it’s easy for each child to find something that ignites their imagination.  For my oldest daughter Sophia, who loves to draw but doesn’t always feel confident in her abilities, Stencil Art was the perfect find. The stencils and designs in the book gave her all the tools she needed to create with confidence.  For her friend Joelle, who takes art classes at school, Face Painting gave her a new medium with which to try her skills; first drawing on her own arm, before convincing Sophia that it would not be weird AT ALL to go shopping later with a tiger painted on her face.

 
As for my little one, Evangeline, the cuteness of Paper Pups drew her attention right away, and dressing them-up in the different outfits made her giggle with delight!  That was until her big sis went to get her face-painted by Joelle, and then, like all little sisters everywhere, she saw the project her big sister started was left unattended and decided to make it her own. :)

 And as with so many Klutz products, she at six, could have success creating with the easier designs included while her 12-year old sister could move to the more complicated designs in the book.  It¹s one of the tenets of our company of which I’m most proud; we make creating accessible for every age and ability.  Our step-by-step, crystal-clear instructions help kids to not feel intimidated to try new things.

The girls had a blast and by the time they finished their projects, the sun came out literally and, from Evangeline’s drawing, figuratively, too!

 

Astound and Annoy! (with Prankster Magic from Klutz)

by Linda Olbourne, editor, buyer, and self-proclaimed dinner entertainer

I’m not a prankster, but the rest of my family definitely falls into that category. While my role as the “gullible victim” is an important one, I felt it was time to turn the tables a bit. Dinner plans with my husband, our friends, and their children were fast approaching, and I was determined to show these folks a thing or three!

Here’s the situation: You’re out to dinner at a restaurant and the kids are BORED.

We’ve all seen it (and most of us have done it)—just whip out the phone or tablet to keep everyone happy until the mac and cheese arrives. It’s fast! It’s easy! It’s . . . no fun for an adult who wants to actually hang out with the kids long before packing them up for college. I don’t get to see my young extended family or the kids of my friends on a daily basis, so when they are around I want to get some quality time with them.

But how much fun can you have at a restaurant without annoying everyone around you or upsetting the waitstaff? Well, a lot, actually. A little pre-reading of Klutz’s Prankster Magic set me up to star in my own ridiculous dinner show and I loved it.

I practiced at home first, enlisting my cat, Posey and husband, Shane as test subjects.

For my first trick, “Phony Fork Bending” . . .

Props needed:

• A dime: Try your couch, pockets or purse for this one.
• A metal fork: 99.9% of restaurants with tablecloths can help you here.

You hide the dime in your hands, move the fork down, tip the dime forward and BAM. It looks like you’ve managed to bend your fork up at the back.

I made Shane demonstrate because I haven’t done my nails:

It’s cooler in person!

The best part is when you “magically” bend it back into place. This was a great opportunity to really use my full repertoire of sound effects. “Grrrrrrrr ahiahahiayaaaaaa!” is a favorite.

Reactions may vary. At dinner, they ran from wonder and disbelief (4 year old) to eye-rolling and the silent treatment (12 year old), but I can handle it. And conversation followed. ACTUAL CONVERSATION.

It was a win, so I decided to press on and practice something new for a future dinner or lunch date. For my next trick, “Mind vs. Straw!”

Props needed:

• A paper wrapped straw
• A salt shaker

This one I practiced at work with a straw from the local coffee place and one of those plastic salt shakers from the store. (None of my coworkers asked what I was doing in the kitchen, by the way. Odd.)

My straw didn’t have paper, so I rubbed it on my shirt. This trick is all about building up static electricity. So rub the straw, and then balance it on the top of the shaker. Now, you can get your finger close and “lead” the straw around without touching it. MAGIC.

You’ll see in the video that my finger actually was totally touching the straw, but it still looks pretty cool.

Important side note: I was also able to create static by rubbing a plastic straw on my cat at home. Posey (the cat) has almost forgiven me, but I would definitely suggest you stick with rubbing your straw on paper or a shirt unless you want to see this face.

If coin tricks, card tricks, or grossing people out with fake chewed gum are more up your alley, there is plenty for you in Prankster Magic.

While a good magician never reveals her secrets, a Prankster always should! It’s just as fun to show them how you did it as to do the trick in the first place. Take my husband Shane, who I’ve been practicing on. He thinks I’m hilarious.

What? We were out of bananas.