Arts And Crafts Ideas 2

Multi-Coloured Snow

Materials:

Small pieces of sponge
Spring-type clothes pins
Shallow trays of tubs
Paints of various colours
Plain paper
 
Directions:
Help the children clip a piece of sponge onto a number of clothes pins. Have the children dip a sponge into a paint then lightly press the sponge onto the paper. The children can create a bunch of snowflakes on a page using one of different colours of pain (remind the children not to cross-dip the sponges), or they can cover the entire page to make a snowstorm. They can also draw a picture of their house, or the playground, etc., then use the sponges to make the pictures snowy.

Headbands

Materials:

Strips of heavy construction paper approx.. 4" wide
Scissors
Glue and/or tape
Decorations (sequences, sparkles, stars, stickers, buttons, feathers, scrap paper, seam binding, etc.)
 
 
Directions:
Cut each strip to resemble a crown of some sort with zigzags or curves. Have the children decorate their crown with the decorations. When the children are finished and the decorations are firmly glued to the crown, fit the crown to the child's head and tape or glue, overlapping as much left over paper as possible to make the crown snug and secure.
Top 
Shamrock People
 
 
Materials:

White and green paper
Shamrock tracing pieces or cookie cutters
Glue
Coloured pencils, markers or crayons
 
 
Directions:
Have the children trace and cut out the shamrocks using the green paper. Help the younger children with theirs. Have the children glue the shamrock onto the paper and draw in a face. Then help them draw a body using the shamrock was a head. The children can make a whole family of shamrock people for even more fun. This is a great craft when combined with the Cereal Rainbows below.

Cereal Rainbows

Materials:

Fruit Loops of generic type cereal
Paper
Glue
Coloured pencils, markers, or crayons
Directions:
Help the younger children draw a rainbow shape on to the paper while the older children attempt to draw their own. Have the children glue the cereal inside the shape. The children can also use the colouing utensils to complete or enhance their artwork.

Easter Chicks

Materials:

Yellow, blue and orange construction paper or felt
Glue
Feathers, sparkles, sparkle glue, googly eyes
Crayons, markers, or coloured pencil

Directions:
This Chick will give the children practice with shapes (circles and triangles), and with tracing and cutting.

Cut out two sizes of circles, a smaller one for the head and a bigger one for the body. Glue the smaller circle (head) onto the larger circle (body).

Cut out two triangle pieces large enough to make chick wings. Glue the triangle wings onto the body.

Cut out two smaller triangle pieces from the orange paper or felt to make a beak for the chick. Glue on to the face circle.

Cut the blue paper into circles for the eyes and glue them on to the face. Or have the children draw the eyes on the chick. Googly eyes ad a touch of humour to the chick if you have them.

Alternative Decorating Ideas: Use feathers, sparkles, sparkle glue, or other materials to decorate your chick. You could also used wadded up pieces of tissue paper to decorate the wings and/or body.

My Size Butterflies

Materials:

Bristol board
Newspaper
Art paper for eyes, mouth, etc.
Tempera paints
Glue, tape or stapler
Hole punch
String/wool
Directions:

Take each piece of Bristol board and fold on an angle to make a triangle. Make sure the to cut off the excess of the fold does not match perfectly. Do this for each wing. Glue, tape or staple one side of the wing together to leave one side open. Stuff the open side of the wing with scrunched up newspaper. Glue, tape or staple the remaining side so the wing is now complete. Once the wings are done the children can paint them on both sides.

Make the butterfly body using another piece of Bristol board cut lengthwise. Glue and stuff as with the wings. Let the children pain the body a different colour than the wings to give the butterfly some character. Decorate the top of the body with scrap pieces of coloured paper to make the eyes, mouth, etc.

If you wish to hang the butterflies, punch a hole in the top corner of each wing. Insert enough string to hang in place.

Easter Egg Pins 

Materials:

Plastic Spoon
Vasoline
Plaster of Paris
Pin Backs
Magnet
Ornament hooks
Directions:
Directions:
Coat plastic spoon with thin layer of vasoline. Mix Plaster of Paris according to directions. Pour mixture into spoon. Let set until soft, then put pin back into it. Push just enough to hold. Let completely dry and remove from spoon. Decorate as an easter egg.

Cotton Ball Lambs

Materials:

Black construction Paper
White chalk
Cotton Balls
Markers, googly eyes, construction paper, felt
Glue
Directions:
Have the child trace their hands on the black paper then cut out the tracing. Place the "hands" upside down so that the four fingers are the legs and the thumb is the head. Have the kids glue cotton balls to the body. Use the markers, googly eyes, felt, etc. to make the eyes.

Coffee Can Bank

Materials:

Empty can with a tight-fitting plastic top (like a coffee can)
Craft knife (to cut the slot in the plastic top)
Construction paper or fun foam
Scissors
Tape measure
Glue (hot glue is best, but white glue does work)
Photo of each child
Markers
Directions:
Using a sharp craft knife, make a small rectangular slot in the flexible plastic top large enough to fit any coin. An adult should do this part.
Cut a rectangle of paper (or foam) that will wrap around the can. Lay the sheet of paper (or foam) on a table. If you want to have the child's picture on the bank, first position the picture where you think it will look good on the can and outline the picture with a pencil. Remove the picture and cut a hole smaller than the pencil lines you drew. Glue or tape the photo to the back of the paper (or foam). Let the child decorate the paper (or foam). Glue the wrapper to the can and allow to dry. If using white glue use elastics to hold the wrapper in place until it dries.

Spring Hat 

Materials:

Coloured paper plates
Colored construction or tissue paper
Paint, markers, or crayons
Scissors
Glue
Optional - glitter, crepe paper or other ribbons
Directions:

Cut a slit through the center of the paper plate, leaving about an inch at the edges of the plate. Cut three more slits like you were cutting a pie. Bend the triangles formed by the cuts upwards, forming leaf-like shapes. Cut out some construction paper or tissue paper flowers for your hat. Any type of flower will do. Glue flowers to the triangles on the crown. Optional: Decorate it with glitter and/or staple two long ribbons of crepe paper to your beautiful hat.

Kewl Glasses

Materials:

Different colours of craft cellophane (available at your local craft or dollar store)
Poster board
Markers or crayons
Beads, buttons, sequins, yarn
Directions:
Trace a pair of child's sunglasses onto the poster board. Cut out making sure to also cut out an area for the eyes and cut the cellophane to fit the area and glue to the back of the glasses. Bend the "arms" of the glasses to fit the face of each child. Reinforce the folds on the inside of the glasses with craft glue or tape. Let the children create their own glasses with the beads, buttons, sequins, yarn etc.

Recycled Photo Frame

Materials:

Lids from concentrated juice tins
Photos or pictures cut from magazines
Magnetic strips
Directions:

Save the lids from frozen juice containers to use as the picture frames. Help the children trace a circle around their picture or a picture from a magazine. Put three rows of magnetic tape on the back and the pictures are ready to be put on the refrigerator.

Duck Feet 

Materials:

Large pieces of cardboard
Empty tissue boxes
Shoelaces or heavy string
Paint
Glue
Directions:
Draw an outline of a duck foot on the cardboard bigger than the tissue box, and cut it out. Trace enough feet for all the children and cut out. Now cut the tissue box into halves and glue them on top of and in the middle of the feet, with the open space upward. Punch holes on on the bottom each side of the box and through the cardboard feet to run shoelace through. This will be used to tie the duck feet to the children's feet. Before placing the shoelace through the bottom of the feet, have the children paint their feet yellow or orange. Once the feet are dry, run shoelace through and help the children tie the feet in place. Let the fun begin.

Duck Hat 

Materials:

Yellow baseball cap (Available at the Dollar store)
Orange felt
Scissors
2 large wiggle eyes
Hot glue gun and fabric glue sticks
Directions:

Cut out 2 pieces of orange felt to cover the brim of the hat making the duck bill. Glue one of the pieces completely to the top. Glue the other piece under the brim only on the side edges so that it will hang down under the brim of the hat and resemble a duck bill. Glue the 2 wiggle eyes just above the bill of the hat.

Jig Saw Puzzles

Materials:

Cardboard
Magazines
Scissors
Glue
Directions:
Have each child cut a simple picture from a magazine and try to cut it out. Help them glue the picture to the cardboard. Once the glue is dry, help them cut the picture out like a puzzle or just in squares. When they have finished, have them mix up their puzzle pieces then see it they can put the puzzle back together You could also let the children draw their own picture on the cardboard. Another great idea kids love is to draw on their own pre-cut puzzle like the ones available from compozapuzzle.com. They can use rubber stamps, crayons, heat transfers, or watercolours on them,

Puzzles are perfect for greeting cards, party invitations, classroom projects (language arts, mathematics . . . just plain ole arts).

Thank You Pop-up Cards

Materials:

Crayols Markers, Crayons
Scissors
Glue
Directions:
May 13, 2002 - May 18, 2002 is National National Etiquette Week. This is a great time to teach children about the value of Thank You Cards - not just for sending after they receive a gift, but anytime they want to say thank-you to someone who did something nice for them. The link below was created by the Crayola Co.. It features a sample Pop-Up Thank-You Card that you just print and let the children put together and decorate. This makes a great language arts craft as well as you help the children write a simple verse for their thank-you card.