Saturday, June 30, 2012

More Summer Crafts for kids


Found more crafts to keep the children busy during the summer.

Friendship Sticks

                                        
These vibrant sticks are banded with six colors, one for each letter in the word friend. At a recent camp for seven- to 13-year-old girls, the campers made these trinkets for one another and wore them around their necks as a token of their camp-forged bonds. 

Materials:  Square wooden chopsticks, Wire snips or sturdy scissors, Acrylic paint, 6 colors, Cotton swabs, Fine-point permanent marker, and Cord or string.

Directions:
To make one, cut a 3-inch-long section from a chopstick. Use cotton swabs to paint 6 different-color stripes around the stick.
Let the paint dry, and then write a message on the stick with the marker. Tie a length of cord tightly around the top of the stick and give it to your friend.

Glitter Bracelet Craft

                      
Mona Lisa shares these instructions for making a simple bracelet using only masking tape and glitter.

Materials:  Masking Tape and Glitter

Directions:
Use a piece of masking tape to form a bracelet that will fit over a child's hand. You want the tape to be sticky side out. Now simply let the child dip the masking tape bracelet into a bowl of glitter until the sticky side is completely covered. He or she can also sprinkle glitter on it while holding it over the waste paper bin.

That's it! You now have a beautiful, sparkly bracelet. One of the neat things about this bracelet, besides the fact that is only takes a few seconds to make, is that it is also a light reflector. A child can put his or her wrist in the sunlight and all of the colored sparkles will be reflected onto the table or wall. Children are amazed at what they can do and love to show off!

Glowing Bug Necklace Craft

                       
Materials:  Glow Stick, Cording or Yarn, Chenille Stems, Wiggle Eyes, Craft Glue, Wire Cutters or Old Scissors - Used for cutting the chenille stems.
Instructions:
The glow stick in this craft is used as the glow bug’s body.  The glow sticks you use can be any color or size as long as they have a loop on top you can thread the cord through. Cut a piece of yarn or string long enough to fit around your child's neck. Thread it through the hole in the glow stick and tie the ends together to make a necklace. If you cannot find glow sticks with a hole, don't worry about it. These glow bugs can be held or worn!
 
Provide your child with wiggle eyes, chenille stems, and any other craft supplies you desire and encourage them to create their own unique glow bug. While the wiggle eyes should be glued in place, the chenille stems can be twisted around the glow stick to be held in place. If you want, you can secure them with a few strategically placed drops of glue. Be careful about placing chenille stems around the center of the glow stick as you will need to bend it to activate the glowing chemicals.

Lucky Cricket Craft

                    
Materials:  Paint, Clothespin, Wiggle Eyes, Chenille Stem, Craft Glue or Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks, and Scissors.
NOTE: If using Hot Glue Gun adult needs to use the adult, because, it will burn a child’s hand.  Sometimes it is too hot for adults.  I got the burn marks to prove it!
Instructions:
Paint the clothespin brown. Let it dry.  Glue the eyes near the end of the clothespin on the side that pinches closed.   Cut a chenille stem into 2 pieces. One should be about 3- to 4-inches long and the other should be about 7- to 8-inches long. Near the eye area, when clothespin is closed, there is a small circle; slide the shorter piece of chenille stem through the hole and bend it to be the front legs. Secure it with some glue.
Fold the longer chenille stem piece in half and then fold down both ends so it resembles a 'M'. Use glue to glue the chenille stem 'M' just behind the spring of the clothespin to be the hind legs.


Make Bugs from Egg Cartons

Materials:  Egg Cartons, paint, Glue, and Misc. Supplies (wiggle eyes, felt, chenille stems, sequins, etc.)
Instructions:
Use egg carton cups to make a variety of bugs! Cut a long row of cups and make a caterpillar. Use two sections and some tissue paper and make a butterfly. Make a spider with long, chenille stems legs! Use your imagination and I bet you can think of a lot more!

Caterpillar Suggestion from Denise: Paint half the bump side of an egg carton any color and let dry. Make two holes in top of one end section and insert chenille stem down and up so both ends of stem stick out on top of bump. Shape ends of stems for antennae. Add wiggle eyes to front of bump for caterpillar eyes.

Spider Suggestion from Denise: Trim an egg carton cup to even it out a bit. Paint inside and outside black. Let dry. Poke a hole in the middle of cup and four holes in each side. Put string through top hole and tie off. (Elastic string works great for a drag line.) Put twist ties in each side hole and bend back ends inside cup to hold. You may need to add glue or tape to hold in place. Glue eyes on.

Again, this is a great website for ideas http://familycrafts.about.com.

Share your ideas on this or anything here on the blog either here or e-mail me at stipple@verizon.net.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Sandi