Quick and Easy Fireworks

Supplies:

black construction paper

cupcake liners

markers

glitter

scissors

glue

Directions:

Color on flattened cupcake liners with the markers. If it's difficult to color and hold the liner then tape the edge with masking tape.

Fold the cupcake liners in half and then in half again so you have somewhat of a triangle shape. Cut slits starting at the widest part. Do not cut all the way to the point or you will cut your liner apart.

Add glue to your black paper or to the back of your cupcake liner and put your fireworks on the black paper.

Add glitter.

Butterflies

Here are a couple of quick, easy and adaptable crafts, using materials that most of us probably already have at home.

Hand print Butterflies

Materials needed:

• Construction paper
• Butterfly "body" template
  
• Scissors
• Glue
• Googly eyes
• Marker
• Pompoms
• Stickers

Help child to assemble the butterfly as shown in picture. If you prefer, instead of tracing their hands on paper, you could actually have them dip their hands into paint and make real hand prints for the wings! You can decorate the wings with sticker, glitter, or even just crayons. If you don't have any pompoms for the body, you could use cotton balls, buttons, or anything else circular you have laying around.

Butterfly Garden

Materials needed:

• Construction paper
• Paint
  
• Butterfly sponge (I just cut a basic butterfly shape out of a regular rectangular kitchen sponge)
• White cupcake papers
  
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers/crayons

Have child dip sponge into paint and then press onto paper. For the "flowers", have child color the cupcake papers. Caleb wanted to just color the middle of each. After they are done coloring, tear the side of the flowers to give the effect of petals. Or, you could use scissors, or have the child use scissors. Add construction paper stems and leaves.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

Materials Needed:

• White round coffee filter
• Watercolor paints
• Clothes pin
• Markers
• Small googley eyes
• Pipe cleaner
• Yarn
  
• Glue gun
  

Procedure:

1. Flatten coffee filter so that the child can paint it. Encourage him/her to paint the entire filter. The less white the better. If you're like me, you might have to "let go" of the urge to paint all the white parts that the kiddos did not cover. =)
2. When child is finished painting, set the filter aside to dry.
3. While the filter is drying, have the child use markers, or more paint, to color the clothespin.
4. Glue googley eyes on to one end of the clothespin. Make sure that the part of the clothespin that clasps is up...that's the end you'll glue the eyes on to.
5. Form the pipe cleaner into the shape of antennae. Glue this on to the butterfly's "head".
6. Once the coffee filter is dry, pinch the top and bottom together and use the clothespin to hold it there. "Fan" out the sides until they look like the wings you want them to be.
7. Optional: Glue yarn to the back of the clothespin to hang it up.

Rainbows

Here are 2 rainbow projects we did, and both kids enjoyed them very much!

1. Paper Squares Rainbow

Supplies Needed:

• White poster board
• Construction paper
• Cotton balls
• White card stock
• Scissors
• Glue

Prep Work:

• Cut rainbow shape out of poster board.
• Cut 2-inch (or so) squares out of colored construction paper.
• Cut 2 cloud shapes out of white card stock.

Procedure:

1. Have the kids glue on the squares. Depending on the age/development of the kids, you can either have them put the glue on, or you can do the glue and then have them place the paper squares on the glue.
2. Have kids glue cotton balls to the pre-cut clouds.
3. Glue clouds on to each end of the rainbow.
4. Label each color arc with the name of the color.

Important things the kids can learn:

• Facts about rainbows (you can talk about the color order, how a rainbow is formed, etc.)
• Spiritual significance of a rainbow (Genesis 9:12-17)
• Color identification
• Color word recognition

2. Noah's Ark

Supplies Needed:

• Paper plate
• Brown construction paper cut into a half circle, the same size as half of the paper plate you are using
• Paint and paintbrushes
• Stickers
• Glue

Procedure:

1. Have the child paint a rainbow in the top half of the paper plate. If you have a little one,
like I do, the rainbow might look more like this, and that's okay.=):

2. Glue the brown "ark" on the bottom half of the plate.
3. Have kids pick out animal stickers to put on the ark. Caleb was a bit concerned that there
was no Noah, so you could always add him as well (a sticker or an image printed off of the
computer). If possible, include 2 of each animal, to stress that important part of the story!

Important things the kids can learn:

• Story of Noah and the Ark (Genesis 6-9)
• Color identification
• Order of colors in a rainbow

I got the idea for the Noah's Ark craft from here. I modified it to what would work for my kids (ie: stickers instead of animals printed off the computer that needed to be colored), as well as to what materials we had (ie: no brown paint, so we used construction paper).

Tissue Paper Flowers

Supplies:

-tissue paper

-green pipe cleaners

-scissors

-ruler (optional)

Directions:
-Cut a few pieces tissue paper into roughly 5x7 inches pieces. Exact size is not important, the bigger your pieces the bigger the flower. The more pieces the fuller the flower, 15 pieces is often suggested.
-Stack the pieces of tissue paper. Use the same color or different colors.
-Accordion pleat the tissue paper working from the long side.
-Wind one end of the pipe cleaner around the middle of the pleated tissue paper.
-Trim the ends of each side to give the petals a unique look. (Trim to a point or rounded for example.)
-Gently separate each layer pulling upwards toward the middle of the flower on one side, then the other.

Tip: If you want your flower to have some leaves, place a small stack (maybe 2-6 sheets) of green tissue paper on top of your other stack before folding. Trim the green paper into the shape of a leaf.

Marble Painting

Supplies:

• Paint: fingerpaints or Crayola washable kids' paints work well.
• Small cups or bowls: one for each color you plan to use
• Box: shoeboxes or any box with a lid (I did not use a lid and it was fine)
• Paper: small enough to lay flat inside the shoebox
• Marbles or small balls
• Tape

How to make:

1. Cut a piece of paper small enough to fit inside the box.
2. Tape the piece of paper to the bottom of the box. The best way to do this is to make a circle out of the tape, with sticky side on the outside. Put the tape on the bottom of the box and place paper on top of it.
3. Pour a small amount of paint into the cup or bowl.
4. Place 1 marble or ball inside each cup of paint.
5. Ensure the marble is covered with paint.
6. Place 1 marble on top of piece of paper.
7. Put lid on the box.
8. Shake the box.
9. Remove lid and marble.
10. Repeat steps 6-9 until all colored marbles have been used.
11. Set aside to dry.

From: http://www.examiner.com/children-s-crafts-in-norfolk/painting-with-marbles-toddlers-and-preschoolers-love-it

My Favorite Craft Supply

This stuff is awesome. My mom introduced this to me when I was trying to cut a pattern for a sewing project. Then as I started doing more crafts with Jack, I realized how useful this paper could be. I use it for almost every project we do. One side is plastic coated which makes it great to put down on the table while your child works on something messy. Makes clean-up so easy. We also use it just as big paper to color on or the plastic side would be good for finger painting or pudding painting. I'm also using it for our homemade wrapping paper this year. Freezer paper has pretty much found a permanent home in my craft supply box.