Crafts Archives - Page 3 of 20

Are You My Mother? Bird Shape Craft

March 26, 2018 By Deirdre

This is the first of two shape crafts I will be sharing with you this week. Each of the shape crafts is based on the book Are You My Mother? Today’s shape craft is a bird. You will notice that it looks very similar to the bird that sets out to look for its mother in the book. It features a few large shapes and a few small shapes. Young children will be able to put the shapes together to build a simple bird. Older children can add details to their bird to make it look more like the bird in the book.

Getting Ready for the Are You My Mother? Craft

Each of your children will need the following shapes cut out of construction paper or scrapbooking paper:

Two small yellow triangles
A small white oval
Two large tan circles (One circle will need to be slightly larger than the other.)
One tan rectangle for the bird’s neck
One medium sized triangle with a wedge cut out of it.
One black oval cut out of foam
One large triangle

Children will also need a piece of construction paper to mount the shape craft on and a glue stick.

Creating the Are You My Mother? Bird Shape Craft

Children will start by gluing the head, body, tail, and neck of the bird in place.

Then they will need to white eye section and the wing to the shape bird.

Next, the black foam eye section will need to be glued to the bird. It will add a little bit of a dimension to the craft.

Finally, they will need to glue the yellow beak sections in place. We had to play with our before we liked how they looked.

If you are looking for more activities based on the book Are You My Mother?, I think you will like the crafts and activities I have listed below.

Olympic Activities for Kids – Ski Lift Paper Plate Craft

January 11, 2018 By Deirdre

This is the third in a series of five Olympic activities for kids. Each features a craft element and an interactive part. The first activity is an interactive snowboarding craft. The second activity is a figure skater themed activity uses a magnet to make the skater move. Today’s activity invites children to create a wooden peg skier, a moveable ski lift, and a painted paper plate background.

Olympic Activities for Kids- Creating the Skier

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There are several activities children will need to complete to put this interactive craft together. The first thing they will need to do is create the skier. Each of your children will need a wooden peg doll. The skier will need a coat, goggles, and hat. Your children can choose to add more details to each of those elements if they like. (We kept ours pretty simple.)

Olympic Activities for Kids- Creating the Paper Plate Background

Your children will need blue and white paint to create the sky portion of the plate. A large section of the plate will need to be painted blue to make it appear that the ski lift is high off the ground.

If your children want to they can add small houses or skiers to the white section. (We chose to keep that area blank.)

When the paint is dry, you will need to punch a hole on the right and left sides of the plate with a hole punch. A length of yarn will need to thread through both holes. The end of the yarn will need to be tied together on the back of the plate to form a loop. Children will need to make sure the loop is loose enough so the yard can be pulled to make the ski lift move.

Olympic Activities for Kids- Creating the Ski Lift Chair

Your children will need the following to put the ski lift together:

Cardboard from a jello or pudding box
Bendy Straws
Glue Sticks
Scissors
Paper Clips

First, children will need to cut out the corner of the box to create the seat for the ski lift.

Next, they will need to glue the top of the bendy straw to the seat section of the cardboard. The straight section after the bendy part of the straw will be glued to the back of the seat. The remaining part of the straw will be attached paper clip. Once the paper clip is attached, they can cut off some of the straw if needed.

Then children will need to cut two slits in the straw to attach a paper clip. (The paper clip will slip easily over the yarn and help the straw stay rigid.)

The paper clip will then need to be attached to the yarn.

Finally, the skier will need to be glued onto the chair.

Making the Ski Lift Chair Move

By slowly pulling the yarn upwards the chair with the skier will move slowly to the top of the lift.

Interactive Paper Plate Crafts- Snowboarding Downhill

January 2, 2018 By Deirdre

Kids will have fun creating these interactive paper plate crafts during the Winter Olympics or as part of a winter sports unit. Your children can decide how steep or flat to make the ski slope. If they want to, they can create an obstacle for the snowboarder to go over.

Getting Ready to Make the Paper Plate Crafts

Gathering the Supplies

Paper Plates
Blue and White Paint
White Foam Sheets
Paintbrushes
Scissors
Popsicle Sticks
Glue Sticks
Scissors
Crayons or Colored Pencils

Printing Out the Snowboarders

The Interactive Paper Plate Crafts – Snowboarder set includes pictures of snowboarder that are already colored in and some that your children can color. You can decide whether your children will craft with the color pictures or the black and white. Each printable page includes six snowboarders.

Making the Paper Plate Crafts

Making the Path

Your children will need to cut out a path for the snowboarder to follow on the paper plate. If you think it will be too hard for them, you could create the path for them. We created our path by slightly folding the plate in half and then cutting a wavy line in the late.

Painting the Plate

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Your children can paint the top of the plate blue to represent the sky. That is what we did. If they want to you could have them paint the bottom half of the plate white. You could sprinkle silver glitter in the paint if you want the snow to sparkle or you could use Washable Glitter Tempera Paint if you like. We left the bottom of the plate unpainted.

Hint: You can place painters tape across the middle of the paper plate to separate the snow from the sky area.

Adding Snow

Your children will need to cut curved strips out of the white foam. They will then glue the foam strips onto the paper plate. They will give the snow a three-dimensional feel.

Coloring the Snowboarder

If your children are going to color the snowboarder, you will need to have a variety of crayons or colored pencils available. They can decide just what areas of the snowboard and snowboarder they want to color.

When they have finished decorating their snowboarder, they can glue a popsicle stick to the back of it.

Interacting with the Paper Plate

Your children will need to place the popsicle stick into the slit on the paper plate. Then they can slowly or quickly move the snowboarder up and down the slit in the paper plate.

If they want the snowboarder to lift off the snow, they can lift the popsicle stick up higher in the slit. It will make it look like he is lifting up into the air.

If you like this snow craft, here are some more snow crafts you will like:

Snowglobe Snowman

CD Snowman Ornaments

Snowman Hole Punching Activity

Snowglobe Painting with Photo

New Year’s Eve Countdown Clock Craft and Printables

December 19, 2017 By Deirdre

This is the second in a series of posts that feature New Year’s Eve activities. Yesterday I shared a STEM activity that features a New Year’s Thaumatrope Printable Set. Today I have fun paper plate countdown clock craft to share with you. It features a clock face that displays the numbers one to ten. The printable set also includes a party hat countdown spinner.

Getting Ready to Work on the Countdown Clock Craft

You will need to download theNew Year’s Coundown Clock Craft and Printables Countdown Clock set. It includes black and white and purple clock face printables. There is also a page filled with party hat countdown hands or spinners. We printed our clock face off on white copy paper. The party hats were printed out on white card stock.

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Then you will need to gather the following craft supplies:

<Metallic Marker Pens
Magic Markers
Crayons
Color Pencils
Gold Foil Star Stickers
Gel Pens
Scissors
Glue
Brass Fasteners
Paper Plates

Putting the Countdown Clock Craft Together

Your children will need to glue the clock face down onto the back of a paper plate.

Then they will need to decorate their paper plate. They can draw fun lines and designs around the edge of the plate. If you want them to, you can have them decorate the clock face. We kept our face plain.

They will then need to decorate the party hat spinner. We didn’t fill in the letters in Happy New Year, but you can have your children do that if you like.

Finally, you need to attach the brass fastener to the plate and the party hat spinner. You will need to place a small hole in the spinner and paper plate before you can do that.

Counting Down to New Year’s Eve

Your children will need to point the top of the party hat towards the number ten. Then they will need to slowly turn the hat from the ten all the way around to the one.

When they reach the number one, they can shout “Happy New Year.”

If you like this New Year’s Eve activity, here are some more that I think you will like.

Paper Plate Countdown Ball

Zipline New Year’s Ball Drop

Countdown Stars Game

Fireworks in a Jar

Changing the Color of the Reindeer’s Nose Color Activity

December 11, 2017 By Deirdre

Rudolph was a red nose reindeer, but what fun it would be to change the color of his nose. Your children can create a reindeer. Then they can create a way to change the color of its nose. If you don’t want your children to craft a reindeer, you can use our printable one. Below you will find the reindeer and the color wheel printable set. Your children could always to create their own reindeer on paper plates and use our color wheel.

Reindeer’s Nose Color Activity

Getting Ready

Downloading the Printables

You will need to download the Changing the Color of the Reindeer’s Nose set. It includes a printable reindeer and two color wheels. The whole set will need to be printed out in color.

Gathering Supplies

You have a variety of ways that you can put this color activity together. Your children can create their own reindeer and use one of the printable color wheels. Another option is to have them use the printable reindeer and the printable color wheel. In either case, your children will need to create their own antlers.

Each Child Will Need the Following:

Large Paper Plate

Small Paper Plate

Brown Construction Paper

Black Construction Paper or Black Foam Sheet

White Foam Sheet

One Brass Fastener

Scissors

Glue Stick

Putting the Color Activity Together

The first thing your children are going to need to do is to cut out the reindeer printable or the pieces for their own reindeer. If they are creating their own reindeer, they will need to make the head, eyes, and antlers. They are are using the printable one they will just need to make the antlers.

Next, they will need glue the reindeer and the antler to the large paper plate.

Then they will need to cut out nose space.

The color wheel will need to be glued to the small paper plate and then cut out. (The color wheel with eight colors works best on a narrower nose hole.)

Finally, the color wheel will need to be attached to the reindeer plate with a brass fastener. It will not reach the end of the reindeer’s nose. This will make it easier to turn.

This activity was created to go along with the book Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It is the Virtual Book Club book of the week. Here are some more activities based on the book.

Reindeer Letter Matching Game

Fingerprint Reindeer Ornament

Rudolph Pipe Cleaner Circuit (Christmas STEM)

Paper Shapes Reindeer Craft

Here are some more holiday themed activities your kids will love:

Jingle Bell Counting Activity

Make a Paper Bag Gingerbread House

Rudolph STEM Straw Rocket

Gingerbread Man Craft- Exploring Shapes

December 6, 2017 By Deirdre

Save some of the cardboard delivery boxes you receive in the mail to create this gingerbread man craft. You can cut the pieces out for your younger children. Older children can cut out the shapes themselves. Children of all ages can put the gingerbread man together and decorate it.

Creating the Gingerbread Man Craft

Getting the Cardboard Shapes Ready

Each of your children is going to need the following shapes cut out of cardboard (You can use cardstock instead if you like. It is much easier to cut.)

One Circle
Two Long Rectangles
One Square
Two Long Triangles

You will need to gather some or all of the decorating supplies below:

White Crayons
Buttons
Glue Sticks
Markers
Ribbons
Pom-Poms
Wiggly Eyes
Stickers

Constructing the Gingerbread Man

Your children may choose to have triangular legs and rectangular arms. They could make the body the circle and the square the head. The gingerbread man your children create doesn’t need to look just like the one we made.

Once they have the shapes arrange the way they want them to be, they can glue the gingerbread man together.

Decorating the Gingerbread Man

There isn’t a wrong way to decorate the gingerbread man although making sure he has eyes, nose and a mouth is probably important.

When they have finished decorating their gingerbread man craft, you can cord or ribbon to the back on it to use it as an ornament.

If you like this Christmas craft, here are some more Christmas crafts you will want to explore.

Five Little Christmas Tree Handprint Craft

Hanger Reindeer

Candy Cane Reindeer

Birthday Hat Christmas Tree

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The Gingerbread Boy by Jan Brett is the Virtual Book Club book of the week, here are some more activities based on the book.

Gingerbread House Glyph – Mama Smiles

Let’s Explore Gingerbread Patterning – My Storytime Corner

Gingerbread Baby Scissor Skills – School time snippets

Foam Gingerbread Christmas Busy Bag- Views From a Step Stool

Gingerbread Man Shape Game – Rainy Day Mum

Fingerprint Gingerbread Man Ornament – The Educators’ Spin On It

Advent Countdown for Kids

November 27, 2017 By Deirdre

Children will have fun creating their own Advent countdown. They will be able to use to explore numbers and count down the days until Christmas. By the time Christmas arrives they will be left with the star. Long ago a star led the wise men and shepherds to Jesus. Your children’s Advent countdown star will lead children to the day we celebrate his birth.

Creating the Advent Countdown

Getting Ready for the Craft

You will need to download the Advent Countdown Craft printable set. It includes a printable star and a set of printable strips. We used old wrapping paper to create our strips. You could print out a variety of strips onto colored copy paper if you prefer.

Other Supplies You Needed

Stickers
Markers
Ribbons or Rick Rack
Glue
Color Dot Stickers
Wrapping Paper or Christmas Themed Scrapbook Paper
Popsicle Sticks

Putting the Advent Countdown Together

Your children will need to start by cutting out the star. If you think they will have trouble cutting around the outside and inside of the star, you can cut the star out for them.

Next, they will need to decorate the star. They can draw or cut and glue items onto their star. When they are finished, you can glue popsicle sticks to the back of the star to help it hold its shape.

Then they will need to cut out the strips. As I mentioned they could make their strips out of scrapbook paper, old wrapping paper or colored copy paper.

Colored dot stickers will need to be placed on each of the strips. Then they will need to write the numbers one through 24 onto one of the stickers.

Finally, they will need to make to chains with loops. One chain will display all the even numbered loops in order from 24 to 2. The other chain will display the odd-numbered loops from 23 to 1.

Completing the Advent Countdown

Each day during advent your children will cut off one of the loops. They will start by cutting off the loop with the 24 on it.

You can hang the countdown on your Christmas tree like an ornament or in your kitchen off of a kitchen cabinet knob.

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This activity was designed to go along with the Virtual Book Club book of the week Merry Christmas, Mouse!. You could also read any of the Advent books listed below before creating it.

Advent Storybook: 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas– This book is about twenty-four stories in the days leading up to Christmas.
24 Christmas Stories to Welcome Jesus – This wonderful book shared Bible stories, advent traditions, and Christmas customs.
Countdown to Christmas: 25 Stories and Family Activities for Advent– This book features short games and discussion questions that go along with each story.

Here are more activities for other Virtual Book Club members.

Solar System Ornaments from Teach Beside Me

STEAM Ornament Paint Explosion from Preschool Powell Packets

Ornaments for Your Kids to Color and Sew from Mama Smiles

Sparkly Candy Cane Ornaments from Toddler Approved

If You Give a Mouse Themed Ornament from The Educator’s Spin on It!

Peppermint Cream Mice from The Rainy Day Mum

Llama Llama Red Pajama Quilt Block Tracing Activity

November 6, 2017 By Deirdre

This Llama Llama Red Pajama themed tracing activity invites your children to work on their fine motor skills and create a fun quilt. Children will have fun creating the stitching on their quilt strips with a variety of different writing tools. Then they will cut out the quilt patches or blocks from the strips. Finally they will place each quilt block on the bed printable.

Getting Ready to Make the Llama Llama Red Pajama Quilt

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The first thing you will need to do is download the bed printable and quilt block printable from the Llama Llama Create a Quilt with Tracing Patches set.

Llama Llama Create a Quilt with Tracing Patches Activity - Colored Paper

You will want to print out several the quilt block lines printable onto a colored copy paper. Then you will need to cut out each of the rows of lines. You will end up with three strips from each piece of paper.

Llama Llama Create a Quilt with Tracing Patches Activity - Quilt Printable

Then you will need to print out a bed printable for each of your children. You can print that out onto white copy paper or card stock.

Working on the Llama Llama Red Pajama Quilt

If you haven’t read the book Llama Llama Red Pajamato your children, you will want to start by having them listen to the book.

Then you need to let them know that they are going to be creating the stitching for the quilt by tracing the lines on several strips of tracing lines.

Llama Llama Create a Quilt with Tracing Patches Activity - Tracing with Crayon

Next, your children will select three colored strips of tracing lines and writing tools to trace the lines with. They could use a different tool for each strip if they like.

Here are some writing tools your children could use:

beginner pencils or Regular Sized Pencils
Colored Pencils
Highlighters
Crayons
Markers
Pens

Llama Llama Create a Quilt with Tracing Patches Activity - Tracing with a Highlighter

Then your children will cut out each of the quilt blocks from the strip. (They should have three blocks from each strip.)

When all the blocks are cut out, they can glue them to their bed printable to create a quilt for Llama Llama.

The Virtual Book Club is exploring the book Llama Llama Red Pajama this week. Below you will find a number of activities from other blogs that explore the book.

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Halloween Bat Shape Craft That Explores Shapes

October 30, 2017 By Deirdre

Whether you decide to use Halloween themed paper or construction paper, your children have fun putting together this Halloween bat craft. We made our bats after reading the book Stellaluna! Your children might enjoy having the book read to them too.

Halloween Bat Craft

Getting Ready for the Halloween Bat Craft

You will need to decide if you want your children to cut the shapes out of paper or if you want to cut the shapes out for them. If you want them to cut out their own, you may want to give them shape templates to work with. They can trace each shape onto the paper and then cut it out.

Supplies

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Halloween scrapbook paper
Glue Sticks
White Drawing Paper
Scissors
Ruler

Each child will need the following shapes:

Four squares ( 4cm by 4 cm)
Two large triangles made by cutting a square in half
One pentagon
Two small triangles

Putting the Halloween Bat Together

There is probably more than one way to put the bat together. Let me walk you through how we created ours.

First, you will want to glue the pentagon in the water of the paper.

Next, you will glue on the squares. The inner squares are tilted slightly. Their inside lower corners are attached to the bottom corners of the pentagon. Then the outside squares will need to be tilted like diamonds and their inside corners are glued next to the outside corners on the inner squares.

The large triangles will go on next. They will go in the valley created by the two squares.

Finally, the two small triangles will be glued to the sides of the triangle.

Stellaluna 25th Anniversary Edition is the Virtual Book Club of the Week. This Halloween bat craft was created to share with you and the book club members. Below you will find a list of other activities based on Stellaluna.

Teal Pumpkin Project That is Easy for Families to Spot

August 30, 2017 By Deirdre

We know a number of children that have food allergies or restricted diets. This year I thought it would be fun to do something special for them. JDaniel and I both did a teal painted pumpkin project that will be easy for those children and their families to spot when they stop by to trick or treat at our house.

We will be looking for fun things to pass out instead of candy this year! Watch for a post sharing the things we found to pass out later this week.

Teal Pumpkin Project

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Supplies

large wooden pumpkin cutout
Pumpkin Cutout on a Stand (I found ours at Hobby Lobby.)
teal acrylic paint
acrylic paint set
oil-based paint markers
Brushes
Painter’s Tape
Optional: Buttons, Ribbon, Washi Tape

Teal Pumpkin Project Painting Tips

You and your children can decorate your pumpkins anyway that you like. Above you will find the supplies we used and some other optional supply ideas. Let me walk you through what we did to paint ours.

Step One

First, you will need to paint the wooden pumpkins teal. (We decided that having a solid teal background really would help people know this was meant to be a teal pumpkin. We didn’t want them to look just a decorative Halloween signs.)

Step Two

After the teal paint has dried, it is time for you to decorate your pumpkin. Your children can add as much as they want to their teal pumpkin project. There really isn’t a wrong way to decorate them.

JDaniel’s Pumpkin

JDaniel added green spots to his pumpkin after seeing that my pumpkin has spots. Then he painted the stem of his pumpkin green.

Mom’s Pumpkin

My pumpkin has green spots painted on it and its stem is gold. Then I drew golden arcs to the left or right of each of the pictures with a paint pen. Finally, I glued blue buttons on some of my green spots.