Rainy Day Craft : Bongo Boards

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Today, my boys and I have this super fun indoor project to share with you. It's wonderful for those rainy weekend days when the kiddos have lots of extra energy to burn!

We found this project in the Family Fun Magazine (it was in the February issue). My boys were so excited, we ran out to Lowes right away!  These bongo boards are fun balancing toys that are easy to use inside or out. The idea is to balance on the board with both ends in the air, centered on the PVC tube.

To make one bongo board, you'll need:

Pencil and ruler

a board (10"- 12" wide by 36" long)

Duct tape (colors or patterns are wonderful)

a pool noodle (left over from summer is fine)

glue gun and glue sticks

PVC pipe (2" or 3" around and 36" long) with matching end caps

PVC glue (optional)

Your first step is to glue the end caps onto the PVC pipe and let them dry.

Next, apply the duct tape to the board. Leave a 1 1/2" of each end without tape... this will make it easier to attach the padded ends to the board. Stripes are easy enough to do, but you could make patterns or other designs too. You could hand paint stripes or patterns too, but as my 7 year-old says, "Duct tape is better 'cause you can play right away and not wait for the paint to dry!"

Cut a pool noodle to fit the end of your board. Use hot glue to attach it. The pool noodle is used to protect your floor when the bongo board is being used. See the next picture for more details:

First cut the pool noodle to length and then split it down the side. This is how it'll look. Glue the long ends of the pool noodle that touch the board.

Okay, by now you have the basic bongo board. If your crafty family is anything like mine, you're not done yet!! My boys and I used my Cricut and vinyl to customize the boards. We had a BLAST on this step!

Here is my 9 year-old, Bryce's board. He cut lots of white stars and scattered them all over. His name is 2" cut from Life's a Party.

My 7-year-old went with a rockstar look!! We cut the guitar out in two pieces (a total size of 24") and cut his  name out too (2"). All cuts are from Life's a Party. He used some left over white stars to finish off his bongo board. He loves that it doubles as a play guitar! :)

And here are the Bongo Boards in action!! 

Don't they look like they are having a BLAST!

Thanks for visiting me today. 

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DIY Monster Hoodie

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 Here is what my boys and I came up with. My boys and I made 
MONSTER HOODIES!

Here is what you'll need for this project:

A Hoodie - recycled is best, but I bought ours at Walmart for $10 each

Felt - we used black, white, red and green - .25 cents a sheet at Walmart

Fabric Glue - we used "Aleene's super fabric glue"

Scissors

sewing machine is optional if you want to have a super secure hold

(if you want to make matching gloves, grab some of those too)

 Here is the video we used as inspiration:

Thread Bangers on You Tube : Monster Hoodies

As much as we loved "Thread Bangers" version of a monster hoodie, we changed up the eyes, added a tongue and Owie (my 6 year old) said he just needed spikes down his back.

We also sewed our parts down after my boys glued them where they wanted them. I know this step may not be needed, I know my kids... this hoodie will be worn and loved and need to be washed. :) I knew it would be much more likely to come out of the washer in one piece if the parts were sewn down.

We tried to match the thread colors up with the felt pieces, except for the teeth row, for this layer we matched thread with the hoodie color.

To help the spikes stand on their own, we sewed them together down the points.

Here is the finished hoodie for my oldest son, Bryce. He is nine. The tongue on his monster is snake-like and he wanted a more "furious" monster so he picked red for his eyes.

I love the little shine we added to the monster's eyes. :)

See how the spikes stand up? Both of the boys settled on three body spikes and two head spikes.

Here is Owie's (my 6 year old) monster. He chose green eyes - to match his own eye color. I love that he chose red for his spikes, they really show up against the gray hoodie.

You can see how his eye shape is different than Bryce's. His tongue is wider too but they both wanted them forked.

Here you can see the stitching lines. A very special "thank you" to my sister who helped out with the sewing! I now have a special order to make a monster hoodie for my nephew! :)

 

I love that my boys love these hoodies enough to NOT save them for Halloween. :)

And here are my little monsters... making their brand new monster personas wrestle! :)

We also made matching monster gloves... what's a monster without claws? We cut more spikes and added some claws - attached everything with fabric glue. Let it dry and you are good to go.

Here is Bryce's monster hands (hiding behind my handmade gravestones in the front yard).

Here are Owen's gloves... be sure to match your spike color to your Monster Hoodie. Owen suggested we add the claws using those el-cheep-o acrylic nails but I didn't want sharp nails if they are planning to wear these to school.

And here are his gloves... the gravestone says "Here lies the invisible man... I think!"

Thanks for stopping by, please don't forget to comment for your chance to win a prize goody bag. Leave an email address 'cause I'll drop you an email if you win!! :)

Your next stop is:

 Kadie @ Kards by Kadie

http://kardsbykadie.blogspot.com/