Surf's Up on a New School Year!

Surf’s up!  Let your kids surf into the summer or new school year with this fun craft activity.

Materials: fine grain sandpaper, 150 grit works well.
light blue and light brown paper, two 9X12 pieces for each student.
glue, crayons, scissors, and surfer boy and girl patterns. The free download (click on the picture) has all the patterns you need for this craft activity.

You'll need sandpaper for the surfboards.  Let the kids trace the surfboard pattern onto the sandpaper and cut them out.  Then have them color the designs on the sandy side of the sandpaper.  Simple designs work best.  It's also important that they color very darkly.  Have them press firmly as they color so the surfboard is completely covered with the wax from the crayon.  You'll be using an iron to transfer the crayon wax to the final picture, so you need a heavy layer of crayon on the sandpaper surfboard.

For the background you can use blue and beige paper, blue for the ocean and beige for the beach.  I had the students cut a wavy line off the edge of the beige paper and glue the pieces together to make one tall background.

Students can decide if they want the surfboard standing with them on the beach, or in the ocean with their character riding the waves. In the free download you'll find the patterns for the surfboards, the girl and boy figure, plus a few accessories.  The kids can draw and color in anything else they want in their beach scene. 

Hope your kids enjoy this activity to surf into the summer or sail into a new school year!

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Valentine's Day Quick Idea

With just a few days before this fun holiday I thought you might like a quick and easy craft to do with your kids.  I subbed in a second grade classroom last week for a good friend of mine.  She said I could do what ever I wanted with her students so I came up with this idea.  I had a blast and I think the kids liked it too.

 

Start by having students make the chocolate drop flowers. These are the same flowers I described in an earlier post.  All you need is a wooden stick, a small cupcake wrapper and a wrapped chocolate candy.  The cupcake wrappers I bought were white on the inside and colored on the outside so I had the kids turn them inside out.  Glue the wrapper to the stick and then glue the candy in the center.  Then have some green paper available to use as leaves. Students can set these aside so the glue can dry.

Next, pass out the hand card. 

Click on picture for pattern

  

I had the cards folded and the slits cut before I handed them out.  This saved lots of class time.  In order for the hand to hold the flower you need to cut a slit below the thumb and below the palm. 

The kids had a great time coloring and decorating the hand.  They can write anything they want on the inside and front of the card.  A few even came up with a name for their card company and wrote it on the back.

After the coloring the wooden stick can be slipped through the slits and the card is ready!





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Poinsettias

Easy Poinsettia

I love making this easy holiday poinsettia with my kids.  It's super easy and makes our room look so festive.

Materials:  

Large, medium and small petal templates, 

red, pink, white, and green construction paper,

brad, glitter (optional) , single hole punch tool

1. Make enough leaf templates for students to share.  I made the templates with tagboard or card stock.  The thick paper is easier to trace around and should last for several holiday seasons.

2. Students will choose to make a red, pink, or white poinsettia.

3. Each poinsettia needs 3-5 small, 3-5 medium, and 3-5 large petals of the chosen color. The flower also needs 3-5 large green petals. Students trace and cut out the leaves they need for their flowers.

4.    Punch a hole at the end of each petal.

5.   Put brad through each petal going from smallest to largest so the brad opening ends up at the back.

6.    Spread out the leaves

7.    You can add a few dots of white glue and then sprinkle on gold glitter. This step is optional.

These look beautiful displayed around the room during the holiday season.

Click here for directions and patterns.

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Gingerbread Man

Spicy Gingerbread Man

Your kids will love making these gingerbread men.  With the paper stuffing and real spices, they'll be almost like real cookies. 

Materials:  gingerbread man template, large brown paper bags (have the kids bring them in), glue, spices (ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg or any other spice you have that smells like yummy cookies), small pieces of tissue paper.

1.    Copy patterns heavy card stock or lightweight cardboard to use as a tracing template.  I usually had one template for every 4 students to share.  You can use the templates for many years.

2.    Students trace and cut out two gingerbread men from the brown paper bag.  It’s okay if there is printing on the bag.  It can be on the inside of the gingerbread man.

3.    Color one side of the gingerbread man.  You can also glue on ribbons, glitter, sequins or any other decorations you have on hand.

4.    Put glue around 3 sides of one gingerbread man piece.

5.    Place the other gingerbread man piece on top and let the pieces dry for 10-15 minutes.

6.     Crumple the tissue paper and use it to stuff into the gingerbread man through the open side.  Gently push the tissue paper into each arm, leg, and head with the eraser end of a pencil.

7.     Put the spices in the center of a piece of tissue.  Fold up the tissue and stuff it into the gingerbread man.

8.     Glue the open side together.

Click here for directions and pattern.

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Stitched Stocking

Stitched Stocking

Materials: stocking and cuff pattern, construction paper, yarn, cotton balls

Steps:

1.Copy stocking and cuff pattern on construction pattern.  Or have stocking patterns available as templates and let students trace and cut them out.  Each student will need two stockings and two cuffs.

2.With both stocking pieces together, punch holes around sides and bottom.  Punch the holes about ¾” apart, and at least ¼” from the edge.

3.Cut 3’-4’  piece of yarn.  If the yarn unravels easily you can put masking tape around one end.  You may need more or less yarn, depending on the number of holes.

4.Start lacing at the top.  Lace around the two stocking pieces and tie the string at the end.

Cuff options:

1.Write student name with pencil and then trace with a thin line of glue. Sprinkle glitter on the glue line and gently shake off.  Let this dry for at least 15 minutes. Glue the two cuff pieces to the stocking.

2.Or . . . Fluff up the cotton balls and glue to the cuff.

Click here for directions and pattern.

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Paper Strip Trees

Paper Strips Tree

  

Materials: Strips of paper ½” wide.  For younger children you can use wider strips.

For hanging tree:  ribbon, bell

For card:  8 ½ X 11” piece of white card stock folded in half.

This easy craft is super cute.  The uneven layers make it even more adorable.

1.Cut ½” strips of paper.  You can use paper with a printed design or plain, colored paper. 

Hanging Tree:

     Plan the layers by putting two strips back to back.  The next layer should be slightly smaller, keep going until you reach the top.

When you’re ready to glue the tree together, tie the bell on the end of the ribbon.  Lay the ribbon on a flat surface.  Take the longest pair of strips and put glue on one piece.  Place it under the ribbon and put the matching strip on top.  Make sure the strip is centered on the ribbon.  Continue gluing the strips up the ribbon.  Tie the extra ribbon at the top to form a loop.

Card:  Glue the longest strip at the bottom, continue gluing shorter strips up the front of the card to form a tree shape.  Draw a star, cut it out and glue it to the top of the tree.

Paper Strips Ornament Ball

Paper Strips Ornament Ball

Materials: 8 strips of paper (1” X 6”) for each ornament.  You can use printed paper, or plain paper and let students color or decorate the pieces. Two brads, 8” thin ribbon, bell, hole punch.

1.Cut the strips and punch a hole at both ends.  It might save time to have the holes punched before you give them to the students.

2.Put the brad through the bottom holes for all 8 pieces.

3.Make sure the brad will open on the back side of the

          paper strips.

4.     Put the bell on the ribbon.  Put the ribbon ends through

         the top hole so the bell stays on the back of the strips,

         which will be the inside of the ornament.

5.Put the other brad through the hole with the

        opening on the inside,  by the bell.

6.     Spread out the strips to form the ball.

Click here for directions.

Click here for directions and pattern.