Campfire Craft

Our kids love to camp. And so do their bears. So we came up with this idea for an indoor campfire for our weekend sleepout (when we all pile in the living room and pretend to camp indoors.) (Tent and bears from Build a Bear).

Supplies needed for this really inexpensive craft:

Rocks (cleaned and dry)

Sticks for wood

cardboard

a glue gun

red or orange tissue paper

floral wire (brown)

flameless candle (pack of 4 for $4)

fake marshmallows (Michael's)

scissors

Gather your materials, and with adult supervision, cut a circle (about 8" in diameter) out of cardboard. Be sure to use an old box--the corrugated board is best, because the rocks will end up heavy. You want the circle to be irregular--go with the flow and let the kids do it.

Next, cut a hole in the cardboard, and set the flameless candle in place. Then start gluing the rocks around the edges, making sure to hide the cardboard edges as you go...

Now you can wad up your tissue paper, and glue it in place. These will be your "burning embers" when you're finished. Start piling up your sticks and gluing them down. Slowly add to the pile, and be sure to add some around the tissue and "flame"--so it looks more realistic. Before you know it, you'll be finished! To test it out, turn it upside down, to be sure everything is glued in place and nothing is insecure.

As for the marshmallows, simply cut the floral wire and stick the foam marshmallows through the ends. The kids will love this! I used my extra marshmallows and glued the leftovers inside a tiny bowl, so they'd be secure and not all over my house...

And the rest is up to you! This is the perfect craft for a boy or a girl (build a bears or American Girl lovers, this one's for you!)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!