Weaving with construction paper

Since we have been in a construction paper crafty mood, I decided to show my daughter how to weave using construction paper.  I saw an art teacher doing this with some of her students and thought this might be pretty easy for my first grade daughter to do.  I showed her how to cut lines down the length of the paper and then cut strips from a different color piece of construction paper.  She weaved them in and out, alternating the starting point.  She had a little trouble with this, which I helped her with.

Snowman

My daughter and I have been using up some of our construction paper.  Here is a cute little snowman my daughter made.  It was really easy for her to do on her own.  I made one first and showed her what to do and then she did it on her own. 

Snowflakes

This is a such a fun and easy activity to do with any child.  My daughter is now in first grade and is getting pretty good with the scissors.  Here are a few of the snowflakes her and I made one day after school this past week.

Napkin holder made from mini cereal box

We have been trying to figure out what to do with all these cereal boxes that my daughter, Alex, has been saving for art projects.  I really do hope she does not turn out to be a hoarder, because now she does not want to throw away anything in hopes to save items for future art projects.  So today we decided to make little napkin holders.

The first step was to cut the box sides leaving one side together, the bottom, as pictured above.

Then we used construction paper and stickers to decorate the box.  You can see I added a little strip of paper to the end of the box to hold it together.  It worked out OK but I think I need to figure out a different way to keep the box together so the napkins can hang out both ends.

Making a fan

I never thought my daughter would have so much fun with something so simple.  I taught her how to make a fan the other day and now she is decorating paper and folding it into a fan.  This could be a beginner paper craft project for any child.

Pizza Collage

To make the pizza collage you only need glue, construction paper, and scissors.

She used the brown for the crust, then glued on the red for the tomato sauce.  White for onions, brown for mushrooms, black for black olives, yellow for cheese, etc. 

Just cut out your pieces and glue them all together!  My daughter had so much fun with this!

Construction paper animals

My daughter decided to take the initiative and do some crafts on her own since she loves cutting and gluing.  Here are three animals she made:  beaver, elephant, and bat!  So cute and I just love her imagination!

What to do with those small cereal boxes

My daughter loves these small cereal boxes, because she gets to choose from a different cereal everyday.  We decided to use them to make a city on a piece of cardboard.

She wanted to keep the tops open so she could put her littlest pet shop toys in them.  We found a butterfly in our craft box and glued it to the top of one building. 

Instead of using construction paper to cover the boxes you could use paint or cut out doors in the front of them.   Another idea is using cotton balls to make a wintery scene!

We also used the construction paper to make a street and flowers.  Super cute and my daughter loves it!

Pie Pins/ Girl Scout Swaps

I made these cute little pins (also called swaps) with my daughter and her girl scout troop this past weekend.

This is what you will need:
Bottle caps
Brooch pins (you can buy these at Michaels)
brown felt or construction paper
small beads
glue
glue gun

Step 1:  Using the glue gun, glue the brooch pin to the back of a bottle cap.

Step 2:  Fill the inside of the bottle cap with glue.

Step 3:  Put the beads on top of the glue and let dry for a few minutes.

Step 4:  Glue the pieces of construction paper or felt on top to make the top of the pie.  I like using felt more, but I was out of the light brown color so I used construction paper.

Paper Fortune Tellers

As I looked around on the internet for some easy paper crafts, I came across paper fortune tellers.  Pictured above is the finished product.  I remember doing these as a child and had forgotten all about them.  A fun and easy craft to do with your child.  You may even be able to use this project to help with sight words.  Check out this website to make your own paper fortune teller.

cotton ball sheep

My daughter wanted to do an art project with cotton balls the other day so we made this cute little sheep.

Materials needed:
cotton balls
bowl of glue (to dip cotton balls in)
paper/construction paper
scissors

1.  cut out the body, legs, tail, head, and eye.
2.  glue the body parts to the body.
3.  glue the cotton balls to the body.

If you have a little googly eye you can use that for the eye instead.  This is really cute.  

Hand Bouquet

Making a bouquet by tracing the hand is an easy and personable touch to any gift or greeting card.  All you need is a few pieces of construction paper, a pencil, scissors, and tape.

First trace the hand a few times on some construction paper.  Your child can trace his or her own hand and then cut it.  Put the hand cut-outs together in a bouquet and tape together.