By: Amanda Fornecker

With summer quickly approaching and the last bell about to ring, you’ll want to keep your kids occupied outdoors or on those rainy summer days where hanging by the pool just isn’t an option. We’ve come up with a list of eight fun projects for your crafty kids. Check ‘em out below!

The young fashionista

Let your young fashionista jazz up her wardrobe this summer with IToys Girl Zone Jewelry. From bangles to rings to graphic tees, she’ll love this craft full of glitz, glam, and glitter. Her unique creations may even get her started on thinking about a future career. This cool product won’t be available until August, so if you can’t wait that long check out Alex Bead Bash Jewelry Making Kit from Target stores.

Playing with dough

For those children with active imaginations who like to mold new (and old) things into their own special creations, check out Make Your Own Playdough, Paint, and Other Craft Materials: Easy Recipes to Use with Young Children (Redleaf Press, 2007). The book tells the eager parent the materials and steps to use to help their kids make their very own special playdough and more.

A jammin’ treat

Looking for a special summertime treat? Why not help your child create some delicious jam? Ball’s No Cook Freezer Pectin Jam is a yummy treat that you can create with your child in a matter of minutes. Spice up this craft by placing the same mixture in popsicle molds and freezing them with yogurt for an after-dinner treat.

Lasting summer memories

September always brings the “What I did on my summer vacation” essays. Help your child keep track with Crayola’s Digital Camera Scrapbooking Kit. You’ll take pictures, make a book, and create stories that will last a lifetime. The kit comes with a digital camera and case, markers, a CD with games, and more.

Outdoor activities

More than just taking the kids out to the playground to interact with others, why not have them interact with you? Nature’s Playground: Activities, Crafts, and Games to Encourage Children to Get Outdoors (Chicago Review Press, 2007) is a book that has a variety of activities you can complete along with your child. So get out there and have a good time enjoying kid activities!

From the experts

Craft stores are the perfect places to find the most creative projects and materials. At JoAnn’s Craft Store, the crafting experts have come up with special craft kits especially for those with an artsy disposition. Some of these cool crafts include creating flip-flops, bookmarks, and necklaces.

A sunny day

Why not make a craft fun and functional? With Protect A Bub’s Sun Hat kits, your child can paint his or her hat and then wear it outside to protect their sensitive heads and faces from the summer sun’s strong rays. It’s fashionable, practical, and affordable. Your child will love being creative with their paint and showing off their fabulous new creation!

Christmas in July

Have your children make their very own ornaments that they can hang on the tree in December, but enjoy in the summer. With DAS modeling clay and Prang paints, both sold at Office Depot, your children will get crafty and artsy, while giving you a special keepsake for a special holiday.

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Fun toddler craft ideas

Making a family time capsule

Iris Usigan, the working mother of a spunky two-year-old, must leave her son every morning for the office, but she always knows what happens during his day, as it happens. Her secret? Skype, the Internet-based video and telephone service. The young mom says she wouldn’t know what to do without the program.

“When I’m at work and my son is at my in-laws’ house, I like to ‘check in’ virtually,” she explains. “I used to call and listen to my son, Tyler, but seeing him on my computer screen is so much better.” For Iris, being away from her son when she went back to work after her maternity leave was rough. Hooking herself up with a webcam helped ease her separation anxiety.

The working mother’s teleport

As nannies and other relatives stay home with the kids – reading them bedtime stories, playing with them, helping them with homework – moms want to be in the know. Beyond trust issues and separation anxiety, some working mothers are using Web cameras as a way to remain in their children’s lives despite having demanding jobs. Even those with the best nannies whom they trust want to know what their kids are up to and rightfully so. More so, these mothers want to be present even if they’re not. Mothers who are away from their homes are putting technology to work to stay close to kids, remaining in contact with their children throughout the day.

These enterprising women are setting up “kiddie cams” on home computers and checking in from offices or the road, allowing them to see and talk to their sons and daughters at any time. To do this, consider a service like Skype, a software program that allows users to communicate over the Internet free of charge. “Really savvy moms have figured out that no one needs to actually ‘answer’ the receiving end of the call,” Skype rep Alysha Crouse explains (find out how here). “Moms control what they see at home and when – perfect for taking a peek at a napping newborn, too.”

Peace of mind

To compensate for lost time in the home with their children, moms are finding other means to stay “close to home,” and kiddie cams are becoming a must-have tool. Queens-NY resident Lorin Moser-Bocian is also a Skype user. Although Lorin considers herself lucky to have a firefighter husband with a flexible schedule and a grandparent to care for her six-month old son while she’s at work, she likes to be involved in the going-ons throughout the day.

Like many women, Lorin had a tough adjustment returning to work after being on maternity leave and she missed the everyday interaction. “It was hard to be apart from my son because I was so used to seeing him every second of the day,” she explains. “It would’ve been more distracting at work to keep calling home all the time to check up on him.” She set up Skype as a kiddie cam and dials into her living room from the office five to 15 times a day to see her son in real time. Because of Skype, she feels more connected with her son and doesn’t feel guilty going back to work.

Keeping an eye on the nanny

Although kiddie cams have the power to show parents what goes on in their kids lives that they may be missing otherwise – laughs, crawls, first steps – in some cases , users of such gadgets may see ill-doings of nannies or babysitters which may horrify them.

A handful of years ago, Claudia Muro was charged with child abuse when parents Brett and Jennifer Schwartz witnessed her violently shaking their baby on a hidden home video tape. The couple installed the hidden camera in their Florida home in 2003 after suspicion the babysitter was abusing the child, reports ABC’s Good Morning America. Although Muro has since been cleared of child abuse charges, the Schwartz family still believes there was wrongdoing on their nanny’s part.

Whether it’s to keep the heartstrings tight, or for safety features, the use of technology has become a mainstream family helper. In fact, some homes are even being fully equipped for cild watchfulness. A service offered by Omarica Home Builders, for instance, offers a surveillance and home automation system, that ensures you’re aware of what’s going on at home even when you’re not around. “Just by logging onto the Web service from a cell phone or laptop, you can catch a live feed of what’s happening in your house,” says Ahmed Abdelaziz, Omarica Home Builders’ CEO. So no matter where you are in the world, rest assured, you know your home is safe and kids are taken care of.

For Iris, who sometimes wishes she could be a stay-at-home mom and not miss a minute of her son’s life, Skype allows her to be the working mother that she wants to be. “My husband and I both have to work, but at least the Webcam eases my mind a little and takes away some of the guilt for working 40 hours a week.”

How to hook up your Skype, surveillance style