Paper Plate Bee #2

3 year old boy

Materials:

• Paper plate
• Yellow poster paint
• Black poster paint
• Black pom-pom
• Googly eye
• 2 pipe cleaners
• White craft glue
• Cellotape
• Black kokie

Method:

1. Paint the paper plate yellow and let dry.
2. With the black paint, draw stripes down the bee and let dry.
3. Use craft glue to stick on the googly eye.
4. Use craft glue to stick on the pom-pom as the bee's stinger.
5. Use the black kokie to draw on a mouth.
6. Twist the pipe cleaners into wing shapes and use the cellotape to stick them to the back of the plate.

Paper Plate and Tissue Paper Ladybug

Age Group: 2 years to 6 years
Estimated Time: Around 30 minutes
Messiness: High

Materials:

• 2 paper plates
• Red tissue paper cut into squares
• White craft glue
• Black paint
• Scissors 
• Pipe cleaners
• Cellotape

Method:

1. Cut the middle out of one of the paper plates to make a head.
2. Paint on the dots, stripe and eyes of the ladybug.
3. Once dry, apply a thin layer of craft glue over the entire surface of the ladybug (head and body).
4. Stick the red tissue paper squares onto the glue.
5. Use cellotape to stick the pipe cleaners to the under side of the head to create feelers.

Paper Plate Bee #1

Age Group: 2 years to 6 years
Estimated Time: Under 30 minutes
Messiness: Medium


Materials:

• 2 paper plates
• Yellow paint
• Black paint
• Pipe cleaner
• White craft glue
• Cellotape

Method:

1. Paint both paper plates yellow and leave to dry.
2. Once they have dried, cut out the middle of the one paper plate for the head. 
3. Use black paint to paint on the bee's stripes and face.
4. Cut the pipe cleaner in half and twist each one into shape.
5. Use cellotape to stick each pipe cleaner to the under part of the head.
6. Use craft glue to stick the head to the body.

Leopard Mask

Materials:

• Paper plate
• White cardboard paper
• Black kokie
• Orange poster paint
• Black poster paint
• Brown poster paint
• Scissors
• White craft glue
• 2 black pipe cleaners
• Craft knife (for mask)
• 2 googly eyes (optional)

Method:

1. Paint the underside of the paper plate orange.
2. Cut out 2 large round-edged rectangles from the white card and paint them orange.
3. Cut out 2 smaller round-edged rectangles from the white card and paint them brown.
4. Let everything dry.
5. Once the plate is dry, daub the tip of a paintbrush, covered in black paint, onto the plate to create spots.
6. Cut out a round-edged triangle from the white card for the nose.
7. Once everything has dried, use craft glue to stick them all into place.
8. Bend the pipe cleaners in half and use craft glue to stick them to the paper plate. You will have to hold them down for a minute or 2 to make sure they stick.
9. Use the black kokie to draw on a mouth.
10. If you choose to make the mask, use the craft knife to cut out holes for your child's eyes, otherwise use the craft glue to stick on the googly eyes.

Frozen (Movie) Party Craft Ideas

Olaf Footprint Gift Bag

Materials:

• Brown cardboard gift bag
• White poster paint
• Orange felt
• 2 googly eyes
• White craft glue
• Scissors
• Black kokie
• Pastels
• A foot!!

Method:

1. Paint your child's foot with the white poster paint and place it in the centre of the bag.
2. Wait for it to dry.
3. Use the black kokie to draw the outlines to 3 sections within the footprint for Olaf's body.
4. Draw eyebrows, a mouth and a tooth.
5. Use craft glue to stick on 2 googly eyes.
6. Cut out a small carrot shaped nose from the orange felt and stick it into place.
7. Use a blue pastel to colour in the mouth.
8. Use a brown pastel to draw in arms and hair.
9. Use a black pastel to draw in his "buttons".
10. Use the pastels to decorate the background.

Sven Reindeer Horn "Crown"

Materials:

• 1 A3 piece of brown foam
• Scissors
• Brown/copper glitter
• White craft glue
• Jewels/decorations
• Stapler and staples

Method:

1. Cut out 2 strips about 5 cm high from the foam.
2. Cut out 2 horns from the foam.
3. Spread craft glue over the antlers and generously sprinkle the glitter over the glue.
4. Shake off any excess glitter and wait for it to dry.
5. Use the craft glue to decorate the 2 strips of foam.
6. Staple the ends of the foam together, measure the child's head to make sure the band is not too big or too small.
7. Use craft glue to glue the antlers to the band.

Princess Elsa Crown

Materials:

• 1 A3 piece of white foam
• Silver glitter
• Blue glitter
• White craft glue
• Scissors
• Variety of jewels/decorations
• Stapler and staples

Method:

1. Cut out a 5 cm high strip from the white foam for the head band.
2. From the rest of the foam, cut out the crown shape, making sure there is about 2 cm left on each side to staple the band to. 
3. Spread glue on the top outline of the crown and generously sprinkle on blue glitter.
4. Shake off any excess glitter.
5. Spread glue on the rest of the crown and generously sprinkle on the silver glitter.
6. Shake off any excess glitter.
7. Once dried, use the craft glue to stick on the decorations.
8. Staple the band to the ends of the crown, measure the child's head to make sure the band is not too big or too small.

Olaf Paper Bag

Materials:

• Brown paper bag
• White poster paint
• 2 googly eyes
• Brown kokie
• 3 brown pipe cleaners
• Orange felt
• Scissors
• Blue kokie
• White foam
• White craft glue
• 3 small black pom-poms
• Cellotape

Method:

1. Paint one side of the paper bag white.
2. Leave to dry.
3. Whilst drying, cut out a rectangle with curved corners out of the white foam for the tooth.
4. Bend one of the pipe cleaners in half and cut it to make 2 equal parts.
5. Bend one half around one of the full pipe cleaners to create a stick arm. Do this with the other 1 and a half pipe cleaners.
6. From the orange felt, cut out a carrot shaped nose.
7. Once the bag has dried, use the craft glue to stick on the two googly eyes, nose, and 3 pom-poms.
8. Use the brown kokie to draw in eyebrows.
9. Use the blue kokie to draw and colour in a mouth.
10. Use the craft glue to stick the tooth onto the mouth.
11. Use the cellotape to secure the arms onto each side of the paper bag.

Sven Paper Bag

Materials:

• Brown paper bag
• 4 beige fluffy pipe cleaners
• 2 googly eyes
• Brown felt
• Brown button
• White craft glue
• Scissors
• Cellotape

Method:

1. From the brown felt, cut out an oval shape.
2. Use the craft glue to stick the oval shape (snout) onto the middle of the paper bag.
3. Use craft glue to stick the button onto the middle of the snout - you can always use a pom-pom instead of a button should you wish.
4. Use the craft glue to stick the 2 googly eyes into place.
5. Take 2 of the pipe cleaners and twist them together to make a cross shape. Do this with the other pair.
6. Cellotape the long end of the "cross" onto the inside  of the paper bag.
7. Bend the 3 other sections any way you wish to create antlers.

Bottle and Tissue Paper Buzzing Bee

Materials:

• Recycled water bottle
• Yellow tissue paper
• Yellow cardboard paper
• Black cardboard paper
• Scissors
• Black pipe cleaner
• Black kokie
• White craft glue
• Cellotape

Method:

1. Stuff the yellow tissue paper into the dry bottle and close the lid.
2. From the yellow card, cut out wings and a head.
3. Cut out 2 strips from the black card, making sure they fit around the bottle.
4. Poke 2 holes in the adjoining fold in the head and thread through the pipe cleaner. 
5. Twirl the pipe cleaner ends to make feelers.
6. Use the black kokie to draw a face onto the head.
7. Use the craft glue to stick on the head, stripes and wings.
8. Use cellotape to ensure they are all properly secured.

Multi-Medium Garden Scene

Materials:

• White cardboard paper
• Blue watercolour paint
• Yellow pipe cleaner
• Yellow wool
• Green pastel
• Flower shaped buttons
• Googly eye
• Flower and leaf shaped sequins
• Pencil crayons
• Kokies
• Scrap fabric
• Scissors
• White craft glue

Method:

1. Paint your card with the blue watercolour paint.
2. Once dried, use the green pastel to draw in grass and flower stems.
3. Use craft glue to stick the flower shaped buttons onto the stems and grass, leaving one stem free.
4. Cut out a flower shape from the scrap fabric.
5. Use craft glue to stick the piece of fabric to the last flower stem.
6. Use the flower and leaf shaped sequins to decorate the grass and stems.
7. Roll the pipe cleaner into a tight spiral shape and use craft glue to stick it down at the top of the page for the sun.
8. Cut small pieces of yellow wool and use craft glue to stick them as the sun's rays.
9. Use a kokie to draw the outline of a bird in the sky.
10. Use a pencil crayon to colour the bird in.
11. Use craft glue to stick a small googly eye onto the bird.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Recycled Water Bottle

Age Range: 6 years to 10 years
Estimated Time: Over 1 Hour
Messiness: High

Materials:

• Plastic water bottle
• Various shades of green tissue paper
• Red tissue paper
• Pipe cleaner
• Craft knife
• White craft glue
• Bostik glue
• Yellow cardboard paper
• White cardboard paper
• Green paper
• Small green pom-pom
• Pritt glue
• Scissors
• Green poster paint
• Black poster paint
• Yellow poster paint

Method:

1. Cut out 2 yellow circles for eyes (about 2cm across) and 2 green circles (about 1.5cm across).
2. Use Pritt glue to stick the green circles onto the bigger yellow circles.
3. Spread craft glue on the underneath of the bottle and about 1cm around the edge of the bottom of the bottle.
4. Stick pieces of red tissue paper onto the glue.
5. Use craft glue to stick the eyes onto the bottom of the bottle.
6. Use craft glue to stick the pom-pom on as the nose.
7. Spread craft glue over the rest of the bottle.
8. Stick on strips of tissue paper in the different shades of green.
9. Let dry.
10. Use the craft knife to poke a hole on the top of the caterpillar just where the red tissue paper ends.
11. Fold the pipe cleaner in half and push the fold through the hole as feelers.
12. To make the leaf, cut out a leaf shape from the white card.
13. Paint the entire cut-out green.
14. On one side of the leaf, paint over with yellow to create lime green. 
15. On the other side of the leaf, use a tiny bit of black paint to create the darker effect.
16. Cut out a "bite mark" on the edge of the leaf.
17. Use Bostik glue to stick the Caterpillar onto the leaf!

Silly Plastic Cup Monster

Materials:

• Plastic cup
• Acrylic paint
• Black permanent marker
• Bostik glue
• White cardboard paper
• 2 different coloured pipe cleaners
• Scissors
• Craft knife

Method:

1. Paint the cup using the acrylic paint (any other paint just chips off) and leave to dry.
2. Cut out 2 circles from the white card as eyes and 2 triangles for teeth.
3. Once the cup has dried, use the Bostik glue to stick on the eyes and teeth.
4. Use the permanent marker to draw in a mouth and pupils on the eyes.
5. Use the craft knife to cut 4 holes into the side of the bottom part of the cup. Make sure 2 are on one side and the other 2 are exactly opposite to them.
6. Thread the pipe cleaners through the holes.

Ladybug

Age Range: 3 years (with help) to 6 years
Estimated Time: 15 to 20 minutes
Messiness: Medium

Materials:

• A4 black cardboard paper
• A4 red cardboard paper
• 2 split pins
• Black paint
• White paint
• Red pipe cleaner
• 2 googly eyes
• Pritt glue
• White craft glue
• Scissors
• Cellotape

Method:

1. Cut out 2 circles from the black card - 1 big (for the body) and 1 small (for the head).
2. Cut out 1 circle from the red card the same size as the big black circle.
3. Use Pritt glue to paste the little circle to the back of the big circle.
4. Cut the red circle in half.
5. Use split pins to join each red semi-circle to the big black circle at the top, so that they open like wings.
6. Use black paint to paint circles onto the red wings.
7. Use craft glue to stick the googly eyes to the small black circle.
8. Paint in a mouth with the white paint.
9. Bend the pipe cleaner in half and cellotape the bend to the back of the head for feelers.

Cute Plastic Cup Whale

Age Group: 4 years (with help) to 10 years

Estimated Time: Under 30 minutes
Messiness: Medium

Materials:

• Plastic cup
• Blue acrylic paint
• Blue cardboard paper
• White cardboard paper
• Scissors
• Blue or grey buttons
• White craft glue
• White pipe cleaners
• Permanent marker
• 2 googly eyes

Method:

1. Paint the plastic cup blue with the acrylic paint (if the paint is not acrylic, it will just peel off).
2. Cut out 2 fins from the blue card.
3. Draw around the cup and extend into a tail and cut it out (so that the cup can be glued to the tail)
4. Once the cup has dried, use craft glue to stick the fins on either side of the cup and the top of the cup (the drinking part) onto the circular part of the tail.
5. Poke a hole in the bottom of the cup (now the top of the whale's head), and push in white pipe cleaners to mimic water.
6. Around the pipe cleaners, glue some blue buttons.
7. Glue on the googly eyes.
8. Draw in a nose and mouth.

Egg Carton Very Hungry Caterpillar

Age Group: 2 years (with help) to 6 years
Estimated Time: Under 30 minutes
Messiness: Medium

Materials:

• 1 six egg, egg carton
• Red paint
• Green paint
• Orange paint
• 3 pipe cleaners
• 2 googly eyes
• Scissors
• White craft glue
• Craft knife (adults only!!)

Method:

1. Cut out the egg carton into individual egg cartons.
2. Paint one of the egg cartons red and leave to dry.
3. Paint 3 more orange and 2 more green and leave to dry.
4. Once dry, use a craft knife to cut holes in the sides of the individual cartons.
5. Thread one pipe cleaner through the egg cartons.
6. Poke the other two pipe cleaners through the top of the red carton to make feelers.
7. Use craft glue to stick on the googly eyes.

Pipe Cleaner Fishing

Very simple, fun and different! Generally better for younger children - under 4 years old.

Age Group: 2 years to 4 years
Estimated Time: Depends on child's concentration span
Messiness: Low

Materials:

• Pipe cleaners
• Magnet and string / magnetic fishing rod
• Blue card or paper (optional)

Method:

1. Cut out the blue card or paper into a pond type of shape.
2. Twist the pipe cleaners into a basic fish shape.
3. Start fishing!
4. Because the pipe cleaners and made out of metal, they are magnetic!

Tissue Paper Chick

Brilliant Easter craft!

Age Group: 2 years (with help) to 5 years
Estimated Time: Around 30 minutes
Messiness: Low

Materials:

• Yellow cardboard paper
• White craft glue
• 2 googly eyes
• Orange tissue paper
• 2 orange pipe cleaners
• 2 feathers
• Cellotape

Method:

1. Cut out a small circle from the yellow card.
2. Roll up pieces of tissue paper in small balls.
3. Spread a layer of white craft glue onto the circle and paste down the tissue paper balls.
4. Use craft glue to stick on a triangular beak and googly eyes.
5. Once it has dried, turn it over and cellotape the feathers and legs to the circle.

Cotton Wool Bunny

Age Group: 2 years to 8 years

Estimated Time: Under 30 minutes
Messiness: Medium

Materials:

• Paper plate
• Small pink pom-pom
• 2 googly eyes
• Cotton wool
• 2 black pipe cleaners
• 2 pink pipe cleaners
• Pink paint
• White cardboard paper
• White craft glue

Method:

1. Cut out rabbit shaped ears from the white cardboard.
2. Paint a smaller section of the rabbit ears pink and set aside to dry.
3. Cover the paper plate with white craft glue.
4. Stick small puffs of cotton wool all over the paper plate.
5. Glue on the googly eyes and pom-pom.
6. Cut both black pipe cleaners in half and glue into place as whiskers.
7. Shape each pink pipe cleaner and glue them as the rabbit's mouth.
8. Glue the ears onto the back of the paper plate.

Pet Rock

Pet rocks are simple yet fun to make and have no design limitations!

Age Group: 2 years (with help) to 8 years
Estimated Time: Under 30 minutes
Messiness: Medium

Materials:

• Rock
• Acrylic paint
• Googly eyes
• Pipe cleaners
• Pom-poms
• Any other decorative material

Method:

1. Make sure your rock is clean and dry.
2. Choose any colour or colours of acrylic paint to paint your rock.
3. Once dry, decorate in any way your imagination takes you!
4. If you want, add glitter to the wet paint to create a lovely shimmering effect.

Clothes Theme - Dinosaur Style!!

Dinosaurs are an absolute favourite for Christopher, the little 2.5 year old Slovakian boy I teach 3 times a week. To get him to do anything, I have to incorporate some sort of dinosaur into the mix!! (Please keep in mind that these designs were out of the head of a 2.5 year old!!)

Age Group: 2 years (with help) to 6 years
Estimated Time: Under 30 minutes
Messiness: High

Materials:

• Paper plate
• Poster paint
• Coloured cardboard paper
• White cardboard paper
• Big pom-pom
• 2 googly eyes
• Tissue paper cut into small squares
• Shredded tissue paper
• Scissors
• White craft glue
• Pritt glue

Method:

1. Paint the paper plate any colour of your choice.
2. Whilst the paper plate is drying, cut out the dinosaur's arms and legs. Christopher wanted very BIG feet with 3 pointy toes and very small arms with 3 pointy fingers - sort of like a T-Rex. As he is still too small to cut out fine details, I did the cutting for him.
3. I then cut out the teeth. He wanted 4, big, sharp teeth for his dinosaur.
4. We then moved onto the clothing part of the lesson. I drew a beanie sort of hat and cut it out.
5. Christopher chose orange tissue paper for the bottom part of the beanie. He glued these small squares (which I had pre-cut) onto the card with normal Pritt glue.
6. He then chose the colour of the "wool" (shredded tissue paper) he wanted to use on the hat. This we stuck down with white craft glue.
7. He then chose the biggest pom-pom I had to glue onto the top of the hat - also with craft glue.
8. Once the paper plate was dry, we stuck everything into place with craft glue.
9. Lastly, we stuck on the googly eyes (also craft glue)

Age Group: 3 years (with help) to 6 years
Estimated Time: Under 30 minutes
Messiness: High

Materials:

• 2 paper plates
• A variety of poster paints
• 4 A4 sheets of coloured cardboard paper
• White cardboard paper
• 3 big pom-poms
• 2 cupcake liners
• 2 large pieces of felt
• 1 pipe cleaner
• Scissors
• White craft glue
• Black kokie

Method:

1. The theme for this lesson was "shoes" but Christopher, of course, insisted on making a dinosaur - so I decided to compromise and we made the dinosaur with shoes!
2. We started by painting the 2 paper plates in different colours and put them aside to dry.
3. We then painted 2 A4 cardboard sheets one colour and the other 2 another colour, as we used 1 sheet for each arm and each leg.
4. Whilst those were drying, Christopher chose 2 different coloured pieces of felt and I cut out a very simple shoe pattern. As Christopher had decided that his dinosaur needed very BIG feet, I had to cut out very BIG shoes.
5. We then cut a pipe cleaner in half and bent each half into a heart shape to resemble laces.
6. We stuck the "laces" onto the "shoes" with white craft glue - you have to hold the pipe cleaners in place whilst the glue dries (about 2 minutes), otherwise they will not stick.
7. I then used the black kokie to draw large dots onto each cupcake liner to make big eyes.
8. I cut out triangular teeth from the white card.
9. Once all was dry, we stuck it all together using white craft glue.
10. It was quite tricky sticking the cupcake liners down without squashing them flat by mistake! But after a few attempts, we managed.
11. Christopher chose where to put the feet and arms, and thus, we ended up with feet on the one side and arms on the other!

Ice-cream Stick Chameleon

This is great fun for older children (above 4 years old)

Age Group: 4 years to 10 years
Estimated Time: Under 15 minutes
Messiness: Low

Materials:

• 2 thin pipe cleaners
• 1 thick (preferably multi-coloured) pipe cleaner
• 2 googly eyes
• 3 pom-poms
• Ice-cream stick
• Bostik
• Cellotape

Method:

1. Twist the thin pipe cleaners around the ice-cream stick to make 4 legs.
2. Twist the thick pipe cleaner around your finger once to create a tongue.
3. Cellotape the tongue to the underneath of the ice-cream stick so that the cellotape is not visible.
4. Use the Bostik to stick on the googly eyes and pom-poms
5. You may have to play around with the angles of the legs to make the chameleon stand on its own!!

Fizz-Pop Spider

This is a really simple yet fun and creative activity to do with your kids. If your child is not too good with manipulating objects such as pipe cleaners, you may have to help out a bit.

Age Group: 2 years (with help) to 10 years
Estimated Time: Under 10 minutes
Messiness: Low

Materials:

• Fizz-Pop or Lollipop that your child enjoys
• 4 pipe cleaners
• 2 googly eyes
• Bostik

Method:

1. Twist each pipe cleaner around the stick of the Fizz-Pop. Make sure you twist in the middle of the pipe cleaner so that each leg is the same size! 
2. Glue the googly eyes on with a blob of Bostik.

The kids loved it - even though it didn't stay closed for too long! This could also make great Halloween treats.

Sensory Rainbow

Below are two variants of a "sensory rainbow". The second one is made out of very different textured materials for each colour and the other is a little simpler.

Age Group: 2 years to 6 years
Estimated Time: Under 15 minutes
Messiness: Medium

Materials:

• Crayons in rainbow colours
• Pom-poms
• Felt
• Ribbon
• Buttons
• White card (A4)

Method:

1. Draw the rainbow in the correct colour order.
2. Let the child choose what material he/she would like to stick onto each colour.
3. Make sure that the object they choose is the same as the colour of that stripe in the rainbow!

Age Group: 4 years to 8 years
Estimated Time: Under 15 minutes
Messiness: Medium

Materials:

• Pink felt
• Purple pom-poms
• Blue pipe cleaner
• Green feathers
• Sandpaper coloured in yellow
• Orange tissue paper rolled into balls
• Red kokie

Method: 

1. Stick all the items in the correct colour order.
2. This is a brilliant activity for tactile stimulation!