4 Crazy Kings: Collage

Showing posts with label Collage. Show all posts

Dragon Crown Craft

Sorry, it is a bit late to be posting a Lunar New Year Craft.

Fortunately, dragon crafts are fun year round.

I volunteered in Em's class this week. I read a book and provided this craft.

I started with 4 packages of bulletin board border paper in red, silver and gold. 2 packs were wide and 2 were thin. I was able to make 23 crowns with lots of paper left over.

Fold the thin border paper in half. Cut. This will be your dragon's body.

The top of the paper is already wavy. Mimic the wave on the body along the bottom. Notice the tail narrows. It was very quick to do. Don't worry about making them identical or perfect.

I stapled the body onto the premeasured (hold up to your child's head and wrap around their head allowing for overlap to accommodate kids with larger heads) wide border paper. Line up the end of the tail to the end of the wide paper and staple.

I used white coffee filters to give the dragon some flair. You can cut them to make them fancier or just fold them in half and glue them on. The head is made from the wider border paper scraps. Fold in half the long way. Cut out 8 shaped head adding as much or as little detail as you want. I glued all the heads onto the crowns since Em's preschool class was going to be making them. Older kids could do this step.

I also added curling ribbon for the whiskers.

Cut out and accordion fold strips for legs. Make sure you cut out extras. Several kids in Em's class glued on 8-10 legs on their dragons.

Make sure you have lots of gems, google eyes, pom poms, feathers, stickers, sequins and paper scraps for the kids to glue on.

Once dry staple crowns closed.

Have fun crafting with your kids! Mama King

Alphabet Nature Collages

We recently had a few days of gorgeous fall weather. The girls and I took the opportunity to get outside and forage for collage materials. The girls had a blast. I always know when an activity is a success when they repeatedly ask to do it again!

We also added some beans, couscous and rice to the mix. We dyed the rice and couscous with food coloring and a squirt of hand sanitizer (in place of the rubbing alcohol.)

Have your child draw the letter of their choice with the glue bottle. You can draw the letter and have them trace it with the glue. Make sure they use a lot of glue! Depending on how quickly your child works, you may need to add more glue in sections as they work.

The final step was adding glitter to fill in all the little nooks and crannies. Let dry then gently shake off excess.

The girls preferred the "sprinkling on method" so I cut up the pine needles and rosemary.

Both girls wanted to keep making letters for their friends.

Have fun crafting with your kids!

Kids Craft: Fall Window Hanging Collage

Lu made this beautiful Fall Collage for her Grammy and Grandpa but...

has decided she likes it too much and doesn't want to give it to them!

This is Lu's newest thing. Art hoarding! Lu won't give up any of her artwork lately. She loves it all! The piles are growing as I write this.

Supplies: plastic take out sushi lid (washed), glue, colored paper or tissue paper, glitter, markers, hole punch, ribbon

Have fun crafting with your kids!

Paper Towel Tube Craft: Crowns

Day 1

Decorate paper towel tube. We used tissue paper, glue & glitter. Let Dry.

Day 2

Flatten tube. Make slits in tube, alternating sides approximately a half inch apart. Make sure you don't cut all the way across.

Puff up tube again. Slowly fold back rings. They will alternate as you go.

Pretty cool! But don't stop there!

Measure around child's head with garland. Trim and tape into crown. Give to child to decorate. Pom poms, feathers, gems, sequins and lots of glue. Let dry.

Just beautiful!

The girls want to do this again but use the garlands to decorate the doorways for Halloween. So we are saving our paper towel tubes! Enjoy crafting with your kids ;-) Mama King

Recycled Kids Craft: Apples

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I'm back! Although summer is still here I have Fall on the brain. Fall is my favorite time of year.

This is an easy craft, especially for all those Pre-K and K classes out there starting off the school year with an A theme. These are so easy to make and would make a great class Apple Tree display.

Supplies: clear glue, paint brush, clear plastic lids, hole punch, white, red or green tissue paper, stem with leaves (or use a brown pipe cleaner and green tissue paper cut into a leaf shape), apple seeds (or brown paper cut into seed shapes)

Day 1

Glue seed to inside of lid. Looks like a petri dish. Have kids arrange seeds using a toothpick.

Let dry overnight.

Adult prep: Determine top of apple and punch hole as far away from outside edge as possible.

Day 2

Rip tissue paper into small pieces.

Glue white tissue paper on inside of lid. Overlap paper for good coverage.

Easiest method. Squirt glue all over lid. Spread it with a paint brush. Lay pieces of tissue on top. Brush with a bit more glue on top. This way fingers should stay clean.

Rip green or red tissue into thin strips. Add glue around inside edge. Place tissue down and using the paint brush - gently push and coax paper into place. Children will need an adult to demonstrate how to do this. It doesn't need to be perfect. It actually looks better the less precise it is. Let dry.

Adult prep: Glue stems into holes. A glue gun is probably the fastest. Older kids can glue the stem into place when gluing the tissue on by laying pieces of tissue over stem like bandages to secure.

They make great sun catchers too! Tie a thread or ribbon through the hole so kids can hang them from a window.

Aluminum Foil Bookmarks

Em's Mermaid & Lu's Fairy

Our first official craft project in the new home is actually an old project. Last winter we made a mermaid bookmark utilizing this same technique. Lu found her mermaid bookmark in one of the many boxes marked "miscellaneous"still left to unpack. She begged to make a new one. Feeling guilty for subjecting the girls to an afternoon of watching me unpack, I tore open a couple of craft boxes and found all the materials needed.

Supplies: Scissors, Aluminum Foil, Contact Paper, Permanent Markers

Optional: Glitter and Tissue Paper

Have child draw picture on piece of aluminum foil. Trim design if desired. Cut 2 pieces of contact paper to size. one for the front and one for the back. Make sure there is enough room along edges to create a seal. Peel off backing of contact paper. Add glitter and tissue if desired. Place aluminum foil picture face down onto contact paper. Place a second piece of contact paper on back. Smooth and make sure edges are sealed shut. Trim if desired.

Kids can create a two sided book mark by drawing a picture on the other side. Older kids could illustrate two main characters from a favorite story, one on each side.

Nature Collages

Mother's Day weekend was windy here in NJ! The ground was covered with a treasure trove of leaves, pine needles and seed pods. We bundled up to weather the winds and set off with our collection buckets. The next day we made pictures using our finds. Lu drew a picture of her on our walk and added some of her specimens.

Emme made a beautiful collage by shaking everything in her bucket onto her paper.

I even got in on the action!

Spring Flower Collages

Turn those flower catalogs that are arriving right about now into beautiful Spring collages.

Just cut out lots of flowers. Crop in close to the bloom.

I do it while watching TV or talking on the phone. It doesn't take long to compile a stack.

Glue, paper, paintbrushes, tissue squares and glitter round out your supplies.

I like to have them use colorful paper as the background.

Em chose to use more tissue than flowers.

Lu was all about the flowers.

In the end we had several sheets of flower collages.

So, we turned them into...

Easter Eggs

And Paper Chains

Valentine's Day Craft: Sailor Valentines

Sailor Valentines date back to the 1800's. Traditionally made from seashells arranged in intricate designs, usually hearts or flowers. My version uses noodles dyed with food coloring and heart doilies. Of course if you have sea shells why not create an authentic Sailor Valentine.

Begin by dying your noodles. We made a ton to give away as party favors for a craft themed party. I boxed them up in some stationary boxes and wrapped a strip of paper and ribbon around them. I did write on the back, DO NOT EAT! Just in case...

The instructions for coloring the noodles can be found all over the blogging world. Basically all you need is noodles, food coloring and rubbing alcohol or Purell. Be aware food coloring stains and if little hands are helping you they are bound to get quite colorful. This is especially important for kids who do not like to be dirty. It really bugged Lu that after washing her hands 5X that they were still stained. Plastic gloves can solve this problem.

Next glue your doilies to a piece of card board. Dry and then cut out.

There are two types of kids, one who glues noodle by noodle and is very methodical and the other just dumps the noodles on is ready to make another one. If you have the second kind of child make several of these because they will be ready to move on quickly.

Squirt glue into the center of the heart - be liberal with the glue. Place a handful of noodles in a child safe container and let them arrange the noodles on the heart. I say a handful of noodles because the likelihood of them ending up on the floor is very high. You can always refill the container. After they are finished they can add a little glitter to the top. These hearts can be added to Valentines, attached to a gift or glued together as a hanging decoration (make two, sandwich a string or ribbon between the two, glue, dry and hang.)

Valentine Craft: Prints

Use packing bubble sheets and heart doilies.

Bubble Prints: Let kids roll paint on to bubble sheets. Place paint side down onto paper. Let kids gentle rub. Have kids peel up bubble sheet up. Experiment with cutting shapes out of bubble sheets.

Doilies Prints: Use a low tack glue stick to apply doilies to paper. Have kids roll on paint. Peel off doilies.