The Wonder Years shares many Montessori-inspired activities that can be made at home. This lacing board is simple to make and is perfect to help your preschooler practice his lacing skills. Click here to learn how to make one AND how to introduce the activity to your child!

Peixinhos No Sotao shares a simple play mat idea for playing cars. She offers a basic template, so you can keep it simple or jazz it up as you wish! See it here!

Here’s a fun and easy way to add custom stamps to your child’s art supplies! Go check out Mel’s Own Place for a tutorial on making these stamps using bottle caps!

Love this toy dump truck made from recyclables! See Origami Mommy for the details!

This super-fun homemade toy from Julie K in Taiwan is a fabulous way to let your little ones practice screwing the tops on and off of bottles without losing the caps. Perfect for car rides! Check it out here!

One Inch World has discovered that juice tops are sturdy enough to make excellent custom sewing cards for your little crafters! Click here for more!

These rag quilt letters from Happy Together are so bright and colorful…I think any child would be instantly attracted to them! Click here for the tut!

Just for Fun With Sandy shares a super-simple way to make bathtub paints…so simple you may wonder why you haven’t tried it before! Click here for the details!

Crayon stars from The Long Thread

Stars and stripes gift pack from 4 Crazy Kings

Boys patriotic t-shirt embellishment from My Little Gems

Live Savor Firecrackers from An Altered State of Mind

(via Ucreate)

Star-shaped pinwheel from Cheeky Magpie

Jiffy Pop 4th of July Party invite from Chica and Jo

Red, white, and blue sun hat from The Purl Bee

Firecracker cake topper from Wisdom of the Moon

(via Craft Gossip)

Party popper from Homespun Threads

Bandana Top from Naptime Journal

Festive baton from Elle’s Studio (via Craft Gossip)

4th of July Ring Toss from Roots and Wings Co.

Mommy Blessings shares a great tutorial for making fairy wings from wire hanger and women’s nylons! Take a look here!

Here are some fun ways to give the gift of crafting to your kiddos (and their friends!):

Silly Putty Kit from Havin’ Fun Yet

Doll Quilt Kit from Craftstylish

Clothespin Doll Kit from Mama Urchin

Hand-stitched Teddy Bear Kit from Chica and Jo

Collage Kit from The Toby Show

Cookie-Baking Kit from Simple Green Frugal Co-Op

This play dough looks so inviting, doesn’t it? I love the soft colors! Click on over to LMNOP for the recipe!

Trixi, from Coloured Buttons, has been coming up with some really amazing kid toys using matchboxes as her foundation. This doll house is incredible with all of its tiny details, plus she’s added a bit of ribbon going through the roof making it highly portable (and fun to wear)!

She didn’t stop with this dollhouse. In fact, she challenged herself to complete weekly matchbox crafts for a month! This tiny rock theatre is another one of her creations:

Her other matchbox projects include a board game and matchbox bugs! I hope you’ll check out all of her matchbox crafts. You will surely come away inspired!

This work apron from Urban Organica is sure to be a hit with any child who LOVES pockets! Go here and follow the photo tutorial to make one for your own kiddo!

Ikat Bag shares a game that’s easy to make and fun to play. Reading her description had me feeling a bit nostalgic for the schoolyard pastimes that I rememember: hopscotch and jumping rope! You can read about how to make and play the game “Five Stones” here!

The first day of Summer is just a couple days away! Here are some fun ideas to help get you through these long days!

Count down the weeks of summer with this Sunshine Patterning Activity from Her Cup Overfloweth!

Make and Takes has a great list of items to keep handy for summer crafting. Bag them up for your own Tub O’ Fun!

Let’s Explore is sharing the contents of their Summer Fun Bags beginning with this tangram kit!

Get the kids outdoors for this fun Backyard Alphabet Hunt from Teach Mama!

Follow along with The Long Thread’s Summer Reading Crafts, beginning with the story of Elmer!

Create a fairy fantasy land in your backyard. Here’s a lovely example from And Everything Nice:

Frame a doorway with the items on your summer activity list written on die-cuts. Then take them off as you complete them! Check out the Doorway into Summer at The Artful Parent.

The Thrifty Chick came up with a clever remake of the classic game of Checkers. Here she shows how you can easily make over an existing Checkers set to make your own set with family photos!

A simple IKEA hack turned this rail and hook system into the perfect dress-up storage solution. You can learn more at Memories Are The Scraps of Life! (via IKEA Hacker)

How sweet are these pipe cleaner fairies from 5 Orange Potatoes? They would go perfect in a backyard fairy garden! Click here to learn how to make the fairies.

This Little Project has been making the most darling playscapes based on some of the familiar surroundings of her family. They look great and what a perfect way to look back at recent events with your children and discuss them in more detail! Fabulous idea! Currently, she has created scenes for the park, the library, the post office, and the pool!

These finger puppets from Scribbit are too funny! They’re made from pasta and various crafting materials and they’re totally adorable! Don’t they look like a ton of fun?! Go see more here!

This pint-sized cardboard stool is just one of several free furniture designs for children available at foldschool. The patterns and instructions are all downloadable and should take between 3.5 to 5.5 hours to assemble. After you’ve finished, pass your handiwork over to your kiddos and let them decorate their new furniture!  According to the folks at foldschool, all of the pieces are very stable and can “easily carry the weight of an adult”! Go here to check it out! (found via The Red Thread)

These gorgeous beanbags from Salt and Chocolate would make a wonderful addition to a child’s felt toy collection. They look so soft and calming, don’t they?! Plus, you don’t have to worry about your toddler throwing these rocks in the house! Click here to read more!

I was thinking all day yesterday about making a marble run of sorts with my girls. I think this cardboard contraption complete with recycled bits might be just the inspiration I needed! You can see this at Handmade Beginnings!

Here are a few more free felt food tutorials for me to add to my round-up:

From American Felt and Craft:

Cherry Pie

(Thanks to OCP reader, Alicia for the tip!)

Crackers

From Ikat Bag

Felt cake and decorations She also shows how to make individual slices so your little one can serve up cake at her next tea party!