Remember apple head dolls – an early American craft with folk art roots that was popular again in the ’60s and ’70s? Find out how to make these shrunken apple dolls, and more about the art of dollmaking.
As long as there have been kids, there have been _bored_ kids. For parents in the ’60s, one magazine offered these great old-fashioned ways to have fun.
Here are some easy, clever & cute vintage pasta crafts that you can make, including a pineapple that would make a great centerpiece, and some pretty dried noodle trees.
Here’s a whole year’s worth of cute printable retro calendar icons that you can even print or save to use to make your own planner or calendar!
Don’t toss your old metal cans – make them into something delightful, like these retro-style night lights with your own punched patterns!
Shrinky Dinks were invented back in 1973 by a woman who figured out how to create trinkets, and not with molten blobs of plastic on a cookie sheet.
Bake an overnight bag for the Easter bunny, and something to put in it: An adorable retro-style salt dough Easter bread basket!
Find some elegantly vintage Easter egg crafts and artsy inspiration right here! The ideas may be old, but they’ll probably seem new to you.
Find out how to make some sweet vintage Easter egg crafts for spring – everything from bunny-decorated eggs to lacquered lace eggshells.
Want to make natural Easter egg dyes the old-fashioned way? Find out how to use roots, berries, herbs and vegetables to color eggs for a vintage-style celebration.
A terrarium is not only easy and fun to put together, it’s a snap to care for. Here are several vintage ideas to help you make your own!
Learn to macrame with the classic technique to create some vintage-style projects – a plant hanger, a belt, basket-style coasters & an owl wall hanging – from macrame’s ’70s heyday.
Use an old milk or juice carton, wax and ice to make a fancy-looking DIY milk carton candle! It’s inexpensive, and the directions are easy enough for a kid to follow.
Incredible Edibles, the candy-making Thingmaker counterpart, said that their Sooper Gooper would mold sugarless liquid Gobble Degoop into chewy gumdrop-like morsels in 4 flavors. Here’s how it worked.
More than one billion Colorforms sets have been sold since the ’50s. They started with basic geometric shapes, then moved on to branded playsets.
Vintage Thingmaker toys were pretty basic – but so fun. Fill a mold with colorful plastic goo, then heat it up. The result: rubber bugs… and flowers, dragons, monsters, cars and more.
The vintage Spirograph toys let you create millions of colorful, startlingly beautiful extraordinarily intricate designs in infinite variety – all you needed were pens, paper and the kit’s plastic gears and wheels. Take a look!
Here’s how to make salt dough – also called baker’s clay – to craft creative Christmas ornaments at home! It’s easy to stir up a batch, and makes getting into the holiday spirit extra fun.
With a few cardboard boxes and some aluminum foil, you can make robot costumes that will be the hit of the party. Some easy-to-make masks of aluminum foil will help to make each costume a little different.
Holly Hobbie was the old-fashioned girl dressed in calico with lace-up boots and an enormous sunbonnet who appeared on everything from curtains to clothing.
Here’s how you can make vintage stained-glass style Christmas ornaments from hard candy! This crafty project is probably easier than you’d think.
People of all ages will love these cute vintage Christmas cookie houses, which can be made easily and inexpensively. See examples and get directions here!
Christmas toy cookies for kids of all ages 44 fabulous designs, from drums to choo-choo trains… fun to bake, even more fun to eat! Christmas
A jolly cut-out paper Santa that really jumps! A spritely old elf all ready to laugh in spite of himself. It’s a special Christmas craft project you can make at home.
So pretty, such fun to do! One of the nicest Christmas customs we know is having both young and old make ornaments for the tree!
Make your own gay trimmings, advises clever El Paso decorator by Bessie Simpson Remember the days when Christmas trimmings were not to be found in
Quiet fun for kids with paper bags and crayons Paper bag puppets: Start with small paper bags folded flat so that the squared bottom of
This retro-style bulletin board is framed by satiny stars, clouds, and moon crescents is guaranteed to add a soft touch to your room.
Get crafty and recycle to create party decorations! Gathered kitchen ‘trash’ – and with a tiny bit of cash, make some props for your next big bash.
In this Young Model Builders Club from the 1960s, with each model kit, your child would get a booklet outlining the history and development of the original of the model to be constructed.
Say “I love you” with your heart and hands. You can do it. All it takes are a few odds and ends and some Elmer’s glue.
Stocking stuffers are child’s play These Christmas stocking stuffers decorated by the children for mom and dad show how deodorant cans can be used for
Crayola Corner: “Growing” fun with crayons (1959) Crayola “family tree.” On shelf paper or a long strip of wrapping paper draw a six-foot “tree-trunk” with
Preserving autumn leaves It is very natural that one should wish to preserve permanently the bright-colored beauty of the leaves of fall; and many are
Crayola Corner: Constructive ideas to keep children happily occupied Shirt board shields. Grey shirt cardboards look like steel — make perfect “knight’s armor.” Sword, shield,
Spider webs are amazing creations and fun to collect Watch nature’s most gifted spinners weave. Know a collector’s delight in finding and mounting their silken
Fashions for fun – with teen jive! America’s feminine teenagers, who have acquired a reputation as inventors of their own fashion fads — plus their own colorful
What better use to make of those big, clumsy cartons that enclose your new refrigerator or range? Make a fun toyland for the kids!
There is never a boy child who does not love to play soldier. The young soldier will be happier if he has a soldier cap. Either of the paper ones represented here in reduced size will answer the purpose.
Build guided missile ships… jet planes with Revell Authentic Kits from Woolworth’s U.S.S. BOSTON, first Guided Missile Cruiser, built 1955. Revell model shows com-pletely detailed
As every hostess knows, children can become rather fidgety sitting around at Thanksgiving while all the grownups reminisce about the “good old days.” So this
Super-Crayons run circles around ordinary crayons Ordinary crayons are, well, ordinary. But new Super-Crayons are extraordinary! They’re hard-wearing, blend beautifully, erase, come in lots of rainbow
She cements seashells by the seashore to create A seashell menagerie The little beach creatures shown here are so amusing, they may turn you into
Say it with a Cookiegram Cake Mate gives you all the tips you need to put your thoughts in icing. Campaign cookies, exam cookies, apology cookies,
Dancing dolls Children’s Department To the young beginner, this is a very easy pattern to commence and practice upon. If our young pupils have any
Idea factory: Color a bird Johnny drew a bird for grandma to put up in her kitchen Idea factory: Paper flowers Jackie colored paper
This easy-to-make cardboard dollhouse is a project that can grow with your children!
Fun to do… fun to bird-watch all summer long! How to turn a Pure-Pak milk carton into a beautiful home for birds It’s easy with
Make a happy face It’s easy to put on a happy face, a funny face, or any kind of face you fancy with these soft,
Have a crafty Christmas! Retro holiday decor you can make with ideas from the ’60s 
Helen Reddy’s house: Look inside her beautiful California home back in the ’70s 
How to get awesome & authentic on-trend ’80s eye makeup, like multicolored eyeshadow 
The real death of a cheerleader story (1985) 
’60s lingerie, pantyhose, girdles, garters & more from the 1968 Wards catalog Want to remember to remember? Our weekly newsletter shows you the latest vintage, old-fashioned & historic stuff that we have published or refreshed during the past seven days. Sign up here.
ClickAmericana.com is made with ★ and ♥ by Synchronista LLC | © 2011-2020
Note: ClickAmericana.com features authentic historical information, and is not intended to represent current best practices on any topic. Material on this site is provided for education, criticism, commentary, cultural reporting, entertainment, historical reference, and news reporting/analysis.
Don’t miss out on the latest and greatest vintage stuff!
Sign up for our free weekly newsletter here.
