Shamrock Suncatcher

Posted in Craft, Holiday by teachingeveryday

My friend invited us over for a St. Pat’s crafting playdate. We made a shamrock suncatcher! It is a great project for preschoolers or elementary students. Younger kids might need help cutting or gluing, but they will definitely be able to do the confetti all by themselves!

Materials:

two pieces of green scrapbook paper (or green construction paper or cardstock)
glitter and/or confetti
wax paper
glue

Time investment: 15 minutes

Difficulty: Easy to do….can be difficult to clean up.

Trace or freehand draw a shamrock on green scrapbook paper.
Cut out INSIDE the shamrock and throw away.
Use the shamrock outline to trace on another sheet of green paper and repeat step 2.
Glue a piece of wax paper to the green paper with shamrock cut-out.
Spread glue over the wax paper and sprinkle glitter or confetti on it.
Glue another wax paper on top so the glitter is trapped between the two wax papers.
Glue the other green paper on top (make sure the shamrocks line up!)

23Dec2013

Reindeer Handprint Craft

Posted in Holiday by teachingeveryday

Here is an easy last minute holiday craft that is perfect gift for grandparents. Who doesn’t love little handprints?

Step 1: Paint your little one’s hand with brown (washable!) paint and make two handprints at the top of the paper. Then immediately wash those hands!

Step 2: Trace your kiddo’s foot on brown paper and cut out. Then glue between the handprints (with the heel at te bottom of the page.)

Step 3: Cut out one red circle and two white circles. Draw smaller black circles on the white paper to make eyes. Glue on the brown paper to make eyes and nose.

I did this reindeer with my two-year-old. I did all the cutting and she did the gluing. Older kids can do the cutting, too. My four year old wanted to draw her eyes on with marker instead of using white paper.

Materials:

red, green, brown, and white construction paper
scissors
glue stick
brown paint
paintbrush
black marker

Time investment: 10 minutes

Difficulty: Easy as long as you can keep those brown handprints on the paper and not around your house!

10Dec2013

Shape Christmas Tree

Posted in Colors, Holiday, Projects, Shapes by teachingeveryday

Here’s an easy Christmas craft…and a great way to practice shapes and colors, too! This would work great at a preschool/kindergarten holiday party. I did the first two steps myself because my girls aren’t great with scissors.

1. Cut out 5 green triangles. Start with a small one and get gradually bigger. My smallest is about 3 inches across the largest is about 8 inches.

2. Cut out shapes in different colors. I stuck with circle, triangle, square, and rectangle, but you could get all fancy with hexagons, ovals, and trapezoids for older kiddos.

3. Get your crafty kiddos and talk about how triangles could make a tree. Have them arrange the triangles from largest to smallest.

4. Glue the top couple inches of the biggest triangle and place the next biggest triangle on top of it. Continue until all triangles are glued together.

5. Glue on the shape ornaments. I found it is easier for kids to make a dot with the glue stick directly on the tree, then stick the ornament on the dot.

6. Have fun decorating the tree with shapes! Identify the shape and color of the ornament when they pick it up or ask them to identify. See if they want to make a pattern.

Here’s my four-year-old’s masterpiece glued on red paper. She is so proud that it is now part of our Christmas decorations!