Monday, April 20, 2009

St. George's Dragon

I found this neat idea on Activity Village for St. George's Day - this could very easily be turned into a mobile and give you a classroom of swooping dragons! If you use the clear nylon thread with this it really will seem as if they are flying.

Wooden spoon dragon craft

This wooden spoon dragon is incredibly effective and much simpler to make than it looks! It will keep older kids busy for a while and give them a craft to be proud of, too.

You will need:

A wooden spoon
Green paint
Green craft foam
Scraps of red, yellow and orange craft foam
Green glitter glue
PVA glue
Wiggle eyes
Black permanent pen

Instructions:

Paint the spoon with green paint and leave to dry.

Fold the green foam in half. Draw a wing shape with the bottom along the fold. Cut around the wing shape. Unfold and decorate the wings with the glitter glue.

Dragon wings detail

Draw around the bowl of the spoon onto green foam. Cut out and glue to the spoon at the base of the handle (this is the lower part of the jaw).

dragon head detail

Glue the eyes to the back of the spoon, and draw on the nose with black pen.

Cover the middle of the wing piece with the glue and wrap it round the spoon (you may need to tape in place with low mask tape to hold it while the glue dries)

Now cut an arrow-shaped tail from green foam, decorate with glitter glue and glue to the end of the spoon.

Finally cut a flame shape from yellow foam, a slightly smaller one from orange foam and an even smaller one from yellow foam. Glue them together in a pile and stick to the bottom of the dragon’s mouth.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Leap Into Spring!

If you're planning a Lifecycles or Rainforest theme then these frogs will surely want to hop into your display!
FROG 1:
1) Take a paper plate and fold it in half.
2) Using a red crayon colour the inside red.
3) Using green paint cover the outside in green.
4) Cut 4 green card rectangles 1" x 7". Concertina the card in inch squares to make bouncy legs.
5) Cut a red card arch for the tongue and glue it slightly off-centre on the inside of the mouth so the tongue sticks out.
6) Cut 2 1" white circles and 2 1cm black circles for the eyes and glue on.
7) Glue / staple the legs 2 on the left and 2 on the right.

Voila! One bouncy frog that can hang from a ceiling / tree bough or be attached to a wall.

FROG 2:
1) Paint the outside of a burger box green.
2) Follow same steps as above for legs and eyes.
3) For a bit of fun give the lady frogs red lips. Poke short pieces of black pipe-cleaners through the box and curl at the end for eye-lashes.
4) Gentlemen frogs can add a bow tie to the box to jazz them up.

Hope you have a 'hopping' good time making these!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Pretend Stained Glass Mobiles

These mobiles are ideal gifts for Mothers / Fathers Day, simple to make and beautiful to look at. Follow the link to see how to make them at http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Stainedglass.shtml.

You will need:

  • wax paper
  • crayons
  • crayon sharper (or a knife- to make crayon shavings)
  • scissors
  • any flat objects (like glitter, dried leaves, stickers, paper scraps, pictures from magazines, etc.)
  • an iron. You'll encase the flat objects and crayon shavings in waxed paper, iron it, and then hang your masterpiece from a window!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Education Show Seminar

On Friday 27th March I gave a talk at the Education Show about the different aspects of display. I had a great time doing it and it really reinforced for me how much I love this subject because once I got talking about display any nerves that I had vanished! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everybody who came to the seminar and as promised have put the notes on my blog as a downloadable PDF for people to use. It was lovely to be able to help some people with ideas and suggest resources - I am always happy for people to email me if they need some help with display ideas for a project or a starting point for their display.

5Th Wall Display Notes

Monday, March 30, 2009

Spaced Out !

Are you thinking of exploring space with your children? Need some new ideas? Then look no further, check out these ideas below:

1) Attach fairy lights to your ceiling and cover them over with black backing paper, pushing them through to create the night sky. If you are able try to push them through in patterns to create some of the simpler constellations for the children to learn.
2) Make rockets from kitchen roll tubes and insert an electrical circuit to make them light up. If you use orange / red / yellow cellophane for the flames the light will make it glow beautifully.
3) Wish upon a star - draw a large star and tail for the children to decorate. Get them to write what they would wish for and why and hang it underneath.
4) Follow this link http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/astronomy/solarsystemmodel/to see how to make a solar system mobile.
5) Use kitchen foil and cocktail sticks to make astronauts that can float in space or be pinned to your wall display. Scrunch the foil to mould into the various body parts and secure together using the cocktail sticks and sellotape, but try to have as few separate pieces as possible.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Bumble Bee Mobile

Here's an idea I found on www.craftsfor kids.com - follow the link to go and see more.
Take a buzz through the garden with a honey bee mobile. Did you know that bees can fly 22 miles per hour and their wings beat 180 beats per second? You'll really need to be "buzzing" to keep up with them. Bees unwittingly carry pollen on their back legs from flower to flower so that the plant can produce seeds for the next crop.

You will nee
Bumble Bee Mobiled:
  • 4 Styrofoam 2" eggs
  • 3" Styrofoam egg
  • 24 Yellow 6mm chenille stems
  • 18 Black 6mm chenille stems
  • Wiggle eyes
  • Black craft wire
  • Jute
  • 16 large wood teardrops
  • 2 Small wood rectangles
  • White acrylic paint
  • Paint brush
  • Glue
  • Nylon thread
  • 18 gauge Wire stem
  • Wire snips

Instructions:

Ear Pattern

  1. Wrap each 2" styrofoam egg with yellow chenille stems. Starting at the widest part of the egg, push one end of a stem into the styrofoam then wrap the chenille between the yellow for stripes. To cover each end, form black chennile stem into a circle. Bend the ends outward then attach one circle to each end of the egg by pushing the ends into the body. Secure with glue.
  2. Cut one chenille stem into 6 pieces. Push ends into the body then bend to make legs.
  3. Paint the wood teardrops white. Let dry then push the pointed ends of four teardrops into each bee. To make antennae, cut 6" piece of craft wire. Fold in half then twist together. Curl each end around a paintbrush handle. Fold in half then push head. Glue wiggle eyes in place.
  4. Unbend four paperclips. Push one into the top of each bee for a hanger.
  5. Unbend a paperclip then push into the pointed end of the large styrofoam egg. Tie end of jute to the clip. Cover part of the egg with glue, then wrap the egg completely with jute keeping strands close together. Paint the rectangles white. Let dry then write "HOME SWEET HOME" on one side with the black marker.
  6. To assemble, cut the wire stem in half then tie the two pieces together at the center to make a cross. Curl each end to make a hook. Tie invisible thread to each bee then tie the opposite ends to the ends of the wire. Tie the beehive to the center of the crossed wires. Glue the rectangles together on either side of the thread with the lettering to the outside.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Woven Fish Mobiles

Use this fish as part of a sea / underwater theme, as a fun recycling project or incorporate it into a rainforest project.

Promote recycling with fun activities that use the humble plastic bag!

plastic bag fish mobile

Woven fish mobiles

You will need: a selection of different coloured plastic bags; sticky tape; scissors; card; glue; thread and drawing materials.

What to do:

1. Each child will need four bags in a variety of colours. Remove the handles and cutting down the sides to make oblongs around 70×30cms. To save time, ask your TA to cut these lengthways into long strips roughly 5–6cms wide. Each child will need around 20 strips.

2. Decide on an appropriate colour sequence and place half the plastic strips horizontally in close rows on a large flat surface. Secure the loose short ends to the surface with sticky tape.

3. At right angles, lie the remaining strips vertically on top of the horizontal ones in preparation for weaving. Ensure that a few inches of loose ends remain on all four sides. Attach the top of the vertical strips to a long piece of card.

4. Thread the top strips over and under the bottom ones in alternate rows. Keep the weaving flat – not pulling too tight – and ensure that the ends are long enough on each side so as to not come undone.

5. When completed, remove the sticky tape securing the short ends to the work surface. Lift the card and gently fold the weaving in half (top to bottom). Remove the card and tie pairs of ends together along the bottom edge.

6. Carefully gather the loose strips emerging from one end (left or right) and secure these together with a big knot – leaving the ends to dangle. Secure the other ends neatly with sticky tape. The weaving should now resemble a fish, with dorsal fins composed of individual ties and a streamer-like tail made up of separate strips gathered together by one knot.

7. Ask the children to make a fish head out of card and glue it in place. Use thread to dangle the fishes around the classroom.