Crafts

Looking for some craft inspiration, or ideas for activities, scroll below…

Elephant:

1. Trim a plastic milk bottle around the end of the handle. Cut out 4 semi circles, one out the front and back and one on each side, to shape legs.
2. Use the off cuts to make ears. Carefully fold a tab on the flat end of the semi-circle.
3. Cut a slit in each side of the bottle. Slide the ears into the slits and tape them in place.
4. Using PVA glue and newspaper, cover the elephant.
5. Add googly eyes.
6. (Optional) Make a family of elephants using different bottle sizes.

 

Fish:

1. Using a water bottle remove the lid and flatten the lower half of the bottle.
2. Cut a triangle shape out of the bottom of the bottle to make it look like a fish tail.
3. Cut out a triangle from the top and bottom of the fish to shape the body and tail.
4. Tape together the end of the tail to hold it together and cover any sharp edges
5. Using PVA glue, decorate with squares of tissue paper and googly eyes.

Home-made Paint Brushes

It seemed impossible that the children would be able to paint anything with these brushes, put together from bits they found in the garden and some string.

However, as it turned out, they created some very interesting textures, which all the children enjoyed experimenting with.

One of the children particularly liked painting a stormy sea with his little mound of fern leaves!

This project was an idea in our ‘Layers of Learning’ curriculum, inspired by a medieval artist who made his own paint brushes – Giotto di Bondone.

It would also be a fun activity to add to a nature study. Maybe during the evergreen week, coming up in the third week of February, in the ‘Exploring Nature with Children’ curriculum.

Printing with pine cones could make some interesting textures too!

Egg Stamp Cards:

This is a fun craft to do in the build up to Easter. Using twine to design your own stamps is a cheap and easy way to experiment with printmaking in art too.

You will need:

• Cardboard
• PVA glue
• Twine (or wool)
• Paint
• Cardstock
• Patterned egg template for younger children (We used the template in this lovely ‘Extraordinary Eggs Nature Unit Study’, currently free from Wildflowers by Sarah.

Instructions:

• Glue your template onto cardboard or draw a simple image onto the cardboard.
• Apply PVA glue to the lines drawn.
• Glue the twine over the lines and wait for the glue to dry.
• Once dry, paint the twine and print your pattern onto your cardstock. You may wish to test it on scrap paper first.
• Allow to dry and add text to the front of the card if desired.

Christmas Table Decorations

You will need:

Wood slice
Small candle
Play dough
Small pine cones
Mini baubles
Glue gun
Spray glue or spray varnish
Glitter
Ribbon
(Optional) Additional decorations eg holy or evergreen

Instructions:

Place a piece of play dough in the centre of the wood slice
Push in the candle
Place decorations around the candle, gluing in place with a glue gun.
Finish with a piece of ribbon tied into a bow.
Spray a little glue or varnish and quickly sprinkle with glitter.
Allow to dry.

Seed Decorations
Jesus’ birth sowed the seeds of peace. From sowing seeds to seed baubles. One of our favourite Christmas decorations to make are these festive bird feeders.

You will need:

• 500g Lard
• 575g Wild bird seed
• 150g Dried fruit
• 150g fresh cranberries
• Bundt tin
• Large ribbon

 

Instructions:

• Melt lard
• Add seeds and fresh cranberries
• Stir and pour into a bundt tin
• Allow it set hard in the fridge
• Remove and tie with a thick ribbon.
• Hang from a tree in the garden.

 

 

 

Peanut Butter Baubles

You will need:

• Empty toilet rolls
• Peanut butter
• Wild bird seed
• Jute string

 

Instructions:

• Cut toilet rolls in half
• Smear with peanut butter
• Roll in seeds
• Attach string and hang from trees and bushes in your garden.

 

Homemade Coasters

You will need:

• Felt
• Tiles around 10cm in diameter
• PVA glue
• Scissors
• Posca Permanent Paint Pens

Instructions:

• Draw your design on the tile and wait for it to dry
• Trace around your tile onto felt using a pencil
• Cut out the felt along the lines drawn using sharp scissors
• Glue the felt to the underside of the tile and wait for it to dry

Tips:

We picked up our tiles on gumtree. You can decorate plain tiles, or use tiles which already have a pattern. Feel free to play around with different colour felt. You can even make your tiles from air-dry clay.

Stained Glass Tea Lights:

No wires are used in the making of these festive lights!

You will need:

Glass jar
Tissue paper
Paper doiley, beads and sequins (optional)
PVA glue
Glue stick or paint brush

Instructions:

Paint the glass with glue
Cover with squares of different colour tissue paper
Cover with a paper doiley, sequins, beads or other decorations
Paint over the top with glue to seal the decorations and give it a shiny finish.
Allow to dry and place a tea light inside.

For a simpler variation of this craft you can draw on jars with colourful permanent markers and glitter glue.

 

Science Experiment – Insulators

One of my favourite science experiments is testing which materials are the best insulators. It’s colourful, messy and hands-on. We didn’t actually use hair in our experiment. However, bubble wrap makes a good alternative and illustrates how hair works, trapping pockets of warm air around the body.

This experiment can be used when looking at animal adaptations, or when studying the explorers who first reached the North and South Poles, or as part of a study in textiles, or even during a space topic (as astronauts need to be well insulated in space).

You will need:

• Sandwich bags
• Feathers
• Lard or coconut oil (solid fat to represent blubber)
• Bubble wrap
• Tin foil
• Leather glove
• Anything else you’d like to test for its insulating abilities!
• Large bowl of water
• Lots of ice
• Thermometers

Instructions:

• Prepare a large bowl of icy cold water, by adding lots of ice cubes.
• Place your test material in one sandwich bag, then place your hand in another sandwich bag and nestle it among the material in the first sandwich bag.
• Dunk your hand in the icy water and time how long it is before it starts to feel cold. For more accurate results you could use a thermometer. But I would definitely get the children to stick their hands in first – this stage is a lot of fun.
• Do the same with each material.
• Be sure to do a test run with two empty bags, to see if the materials really make any difference.
• Ask the children how to make the test fair, e.g. should you keep the water in the bowl a consistent temperature? Should you use the same sort of sandwich bags each time? What quantity of each material should you use? (It’s probably easier to measure volume rather than weight).
• Record your results in a table and plot them on a graph, if you like.

Treasure maps

Ageing paper is such a simple craft, but fun and effective.

We made these maps a few days before our second ‘Theme day Thursday.’

You will need:

Coffee grains (you can also use a tea bag)
Hot water
Paper
Paint brush
Lighter or matches (optional)
Pens and pencils

Instructions:

Mix one heaped teaspoon of coffee with half a cup of hot water (young children will need an adult to do this)
Paint the paper with the coffee mix
Scatter a few grains of coffee on the wet paper (optional)
Allow paper to dry
Draw your treasure map
An adult can then very carefully burn some of the edges of the paper, using a lighter or match. Just do small bits at a time, blowing it out quickly as you go. I usually do this over a sink.

 

Salt Gems

You will need:

4 tbsp course salt
1 tbsp PVA glue
2-3 drops of food colouring

Instructions:

Place it all in a food bag and squish together.
Take out lumps and place them on a plate to dry out for at least a few hours.
Enjoy your sparkly gems!

 

Lava Lamp 

 

Homemade stickers

You will need;

1/2 sachet of gelatine or 2 leaves
4 tbsp hot water

Instructions:

1. Draw and colour in the pictures You would like to turn into stickers.
2. Stir the gelatine in the hot water until it is dissolved. (Young children will need an adult to do this step.)
3. Paint the gelatine mix on the back of the sticker.
4. Wait for it to dry completely (about 3 hours).
5. Cut out the sticker, lick and stick it where you want. We decorated a toy box and some of the kids school workbooks.

 

Engineering Lessons

You will need:

Toothpicks

Mini marshmallows

Instructions:

1. Remind the children to be careful with sharps edges.

2. Have them make squares and triangles with the toothpicks and marshmallows.

3. Have them try to build towers and find out which shape and structure stands tallest or for the longest.

 

A Jar of Hope:

Recently somebody posted a fantastic idea on Facebook which we have implemented in our house.

We have a jar on the side and when we feel like we wish we could go somewhere or see someone, we write it on a slip of paper and stick it in our ‘jar of hope’.

Mostly it is just simple things like “play football at the home school group”, “go to the cinema”, “have a swimming lesson”, or “see our friends”. 

When all this is over we will take out each slip of paper and try to do what is written on it, or make steps toward it – and be thankful for the simple pleasures we will be able to enjoy. 

 

Bean Tepee

• Place a folded piece of kitchen roll around the inside of a couple of glass jars and dampen it carefully.
• Place three runner bean seeds around each jar between the glass and the kitchen roll.
• Keep the kitchen roll damp and in a few days you will begin to see roots emerge from the seed. This is great for young children to see the stages of germination.
• When the stem and leaves begin to appear, allow them to grow to around 5 inches before planting out.
• Prepare an area of ground that gets at least 6 hours full sun, by digging to loosen the soil and removing any weeds.
• Insert bean poles in a tepee formation and tie with string at the top to provide stability.
• Plant the beans next to each bean pole and very gently guide the bean plant around the pole.  (Plant out at the end of April when there is no longer a risk of frost and keep the plants watered, especially when they go into flower).

 

Owl craft

You will need:

• Air drying clay (you can also use salt dough for a cheaper alternative)
• Thick felt tip pen lid
• Lollipop stick

Instructions:

1. Roll a small piece of clay into a ball
2. Flatten it into a circle
3. Use the pen lid to make semi circle patterns on the middle of the circle of clay to look like feathers
4. Fold over a small piece either side to look like wings
5. Fold down the top to make a face and shape the ears
6. Press the top of the pen lid down in the clay to make eyes
7. Use the lollipop stick to make a nose.
8. Make a hole in the top with a skewer so you can hang your creations (optional).
9. Allow to harden and paint if desired.

 

Christmas decorations

You will need;
Large cardboard box
Stanley knife, sharp knife or large scissors
Pencil
Paint

Instructions
1.Draw a large gingerbread man on your cardboard box.

2.Cut it out (depending on the thickness of the card a knife will be a lot easier than scissors).

3.Paint on a face, buttons and decorations. You will need at least 2 coats of paint.

 

Peter’s Boat Craft

 

You will need:

Sponge

Straw

Self adhesive foam sheets (we used these)

Glue gun

Netting (we used the net from a pack of nectarines)

scissors

Instructions:

1.Cut corners off the end of the sponge and make a hole in the middle to insert straw. 

2.Slide some netting onto the straw

3.Cut 2 triangular sails out of foam, and stick together.

4.Make a hole in the top and bottom of the sail using the scissors and insert the straw through them (alternatively stick the sails straight onto the straw, see pic above)

5.Use a glue gun (out of reach of small children) to glue the straw in place.

6.Decorate the sail (optional). 

7.Let the kids play with them in the sink/bath or paddling pool encouraging them to re-enact the bible stories.