Conference Craft Run Down

Hey friends! 

 The stomach flu hit our house a couple of days ago and there's not a chance in the world that I get all of the blogging done that I was planning to this week. Booo. 

 I know that Gen Conf crafts take a bit of planning/buying materials, etc...so I decided to compile a list of our favs quickly here for you! 

 Here is a list of crafts that we've tried and loved - along with a Pinterest board I've saved all of the tutorials to!

  Salt Dough! 

 -We love making this at least twice a year for Conference...but it also comes out at Christmas time to make ornaments, on boring rainy days, etc. Grab some food coloring and you're off to the races with endless creative possibilities! 

Easter Egg Suncatchers!

 -We did these this week. Easy, inexpensive. Perfect quiet craft. We colored them with Sharpies (older kids), acrylic paint (stains clothing - so wear play clothes), and also did cut up tissue paper squares with Elmer's glue (older kids). Love love these. They look so pretty in our windows! 

Prayer Rocks!

 -We love doing the traditional "PRAY"-er rock style, but we've also done extras with happy, friendly words and pictures. We put them outside on our front walk. You can find river rocks on Amazon, but I've found that they're significantly cheaper if you go to a craft store like Michaels (or even the craft department at WalMart) instead of shipping them. Paint pens are easy to find on Amazon! 

Popsicle Stick Treasure Boxes!

-My kids LOVE these. You can put them together using Modge Podge or hot glue (you decide what works best for your kids' ages). You can either buy the pre-dyed rainbow sticks, or use the plain sticks and paint them afterward. We've decorated these with beads and glitter afterward, too, or lined the inside with felt. You can tie this in to Gen Conf with the scripture about storing up our treasure in heaven. 

Tin Foil Hearts! 

 -I love the scripture about Christ engraving His love for us on His palms and us engraving our love for Him on the tablets of our hearts. We did a quick chat about that during a song between talks and then handed out the hearts for our kids to decorate. We used the back of paintbrushes to etch the designs. There was a bit of a learning curve in not tearing the foil. but luckily foil is easily replaced. My kids loved writing words and drawing designs that reminded them of God's love for them and their love for God (mostly in the form of things they're grateful for and people in their lives who they love!). 

Magnets! 

 -These are always a favorite. They're a little more time-intensive and require me to be very hands-on, but it probably would be easier with fewer kids. You can either draw pictures or use pretty designed paper for these - my kids love drawing their own designs. It's so fun to make magnets for our own fridge, and make extras for Grandparents or neighbors!

Journals!

 -I've found that my kids are much more likely to take notes if they like whatever they're writing on/in! We've made Gen Conf notebooks in several different ways - usually in the day or two before conference. It's a fun craft to get them excited about taking notes! We give treats for notes...the rule is if you take three notes, you earn a candy at the end of the talk! The notes can be whatever they want - part of a story, words they heard, a picture of the speaker, etc. I've ordered notebooks from Amazon before (click here) to decorate, or we've made them out of boxes or cereal boxes (like on the Pinterest board I linked above). 

  

 **This conference I ordered these absolutely adorable and practical kid workbooks (from Work and Wonder) from Deseret Book's website. They're $15/ea. I can't even explain how awesome these are. Click here to score your own! I'll let you guys know if they make a difference in our note taking at all...**

Puppets!

-The picture I posted on my IG about this blog post shows the cutest little puppets! We ordered the kit from Amazon for $13. They're adorable, SUPER easy...my kids basically did these themselves. One kit makes eight puppets - and the possibilities for creativity are endless. You can hot glue these OR use the little glue dots that come in the kit! We ended up with lots of extra pieces left over after we made these guys - which means we could make accessories or pretend food for our puppets. Highly recommend! Link here.

Peg People!

 - My kids love painting families of peg people! This is the pack we bought on Amazon. I recommend painting these with acrylic paint (play-clothes only! they stain!), but Sharpies also work. I've found that spending a bit of time painting peg people and then doing a different craft while the first layer dries keeps my kids from getting super bored with any single craft. By the time they've wrapped up something else, their peg people are ready for final touches (googly eyes, yarn hair, etc). These peg people are pretty small, but you could spring for larger ones if you care to! This is a craft my kids have played with for months after conference!

Happy Conference crafting, friends!! xo