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!

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!

Here’s a simple way to help your kiddos practice their counting skills (with a little fine motor thrown in for good measure)! It’s a cinch to make and you probably already have everything you need! Check out Naptime Journal for the details!

The Magic Onions shares a how-to for making a worm garden using a glass jar. I love this idea and I know my 3yo will, too! In the past we’ve simply explored worms in our yard, but being able to watch them digging in the dirt whenever we want would be a wonderful treat! Click here to learn how!

Brassy Apple made this I Spy Book as part of her self-hosted “creativity for the car” summer craft challenge. It’s such a simple idea, but one that the kids will love!  You can see how she made it, plus check out what others have made for the car, right here!

Busy Books are very popular right now…for good reason. They’re compact and loaded with fun things for littles to do while (hopefully) sitting quietly. If you’ve been thinking about making one but are at a loss for ideas, be sure to check out Little Hands Big Work. I love the pages in her most recent book. I think my favorite page is this key and lock challenge:

This would keep my girls busy for quite some time! Go here to see the “Bitty Busy Book” and find more ideas in her original, “Big Busy Book”

Mother Earth shares the dream catchers she recently made for her daughters to hang over their beds. This one is really beautiful and would be a great to make for or with your kids to accompany a lesson on Native Americans. Learn how to make one 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.

I love this set of personalized name blocks from Melissa at Chasing Cheerios!. These would make a great gift for any child, especially those just learning to spell their name. What a fun way to practice putting the letters in the right order! Older kids could take it a step further by rearranging the letters to see how many words they can spell using the letters in their name, and the younger ones could simply enjoy stacking and playing with the colorful blocks! Go to Chasing Cheerios for the how-to!

Teach Mama had a great idea when she made individual grocery lists for her little ones. This is such an easy and fun way to get the kids involved in the shopping while sneaking in a bit of counting and reading! You can read more here!

Here’s a fun game to play with toddlers who are learning their colors! You can find details about the game’s easy set-up, as well variations for older or younger children at Z Recommends.

Pressed flowers are a beautiful keepsake of these warm Spring days. 5 Orange Potatoes shares a tutorial for making a portable flower press using items you probably already have. Go check it out!

These ginormous lacing beads are the brainchild of Michelle at Her Cup Overfloweth! Click here to see how she used foam swim noodles from the Dollar Store to make this fun activity for her kiddos.

Here’s another fun way for the kidlets to practice their buttoning activity. The felt squares slide through the button onto a ribbon to make a snake! Visit The Toby Show to read how to construct this activity yourself! While you’re there, be sure to check out her other “cheap and easy” activities

This compartmented storage box is a great way to present many different textures for little hands to explore. Go see My Little Gems to read what to she put inside!

My toddler hasn’t been interested in her lacing beads lately, and I think this activity might be a great way to add some novelty to her day! The Wonder Years shares how she created this toy for her daughter using items she had around the house. For more of a challenge, you could create separate cards and have your child stack the beads according to a given color sequence (a la this post)

This paperclip color matching activity from Homeschool Creations is super-easy to make with just a few supplies and is a great way for your kids to practice matching their colors while working on some fine motor skills! Click here for the details!

The Wonder Years has put together some truly wonderful activities to help her children learn about the solar system. I love this little stargazing box that she made using glow-in-the-dark stars. It’s like having a mini-planetarium right in your home! Click over to see more!

How fun are these ribbon hair ties from Kiddio! I love the ric-rac and I love that these are easy enough for older girls to make by themselves…perfect for a sleepover craft! Go see Amanda at Kiddio for the details!

Today is Children’s Day in Japan and That Artist Woman has a fun way to share a bit of Japanese culture with the kids! Click on over to learn how to make windsocks from paper or fabric (she has a tutorial for each!).

Minibooks can be used in so many ways! This one is made from one piece of cardstock and yields 15 pages of endless possibilities! Check out the tutorial at This Little Project and make one for your kids!

Roots and Wings Co. has put together a fabulous post of various sensory integration activities that you can make at home. These activities are often used to help children who have difficulty processing sensory information, but when it comes down to it many of them are worthwhile sensory experiences for all kids. Click over to see what they’ve come up with!

All of these remakes of men’s shirts are just so inspiring! Most recently, Shannon from luvinthemommyhood created this dress and I absolutely love it. Love the colors, love the breezy look about it, love the flower…love everything about it! It’s also encouraging to know that a beginning sewer created it since I’m still a newbie myself. Shannon doesn’t have a tutorial up yet, but she’s working on one so keep an eye out on her blog!

Roots and Wings Co. shares a great tutorial for making these kid-friendly recycled hummingbird feeders. Learn how to make it and find some great tips on attracting hummingbirds here!