 |  | Arts and Crafts (VSO) | ||
 |  | Printing Ideas | ||
|  | (introduction...) | ||
| | Crayon Ideas | ||
| | Other Art Ideas | ||
| | Craft Ideas | ||
| | Musical Instruments | ||
| | Body Art | ||
| | Accessories for the Body | ||
| | Dyeing Material | ||
| | Other Craft Ideas | ||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Equipment
Paper
Paint in shallow dishes
Objects for
printing
Method
1. Dip objects for printing into the paint and print them onto
paper.
2. Different colours can be used and different objects combined to
give interesting patterns.
Ideas
Hands
Feet (need shallow trays with large sheets of paper
very close by)
'Junk' (wheels, bricks, pen tops, sticks....)
Balloons
(blow them up a little, tie the top, and bounce the paint onto the
paper)
Plastic cars with chunky wheels (dip cars in paint, then drive them
across the paper)
Sponge. Cut a sponge into different shapes and sizes (If a
child has difficulty holding
the small sponge, secure it with a large bulldog
clip).
Tennis Balls (good for outdoors, but messy - see balloons)
Fish or
shrimps (the real thing)
Finger tips (maybe to fill in outlines of animals or
shapes etc.)
Plastic or rubber table coverings (these work best if a pattern
is cleanly cut out of the
material then mounted in a cardboard
frame)
Cardboard patterns (strip one side of corrugated cardboard to expose
the inside
ridges. Cut these into different shapes (animals, trees etc). When
they will leave a
stripy shape when used to print.
Fruits and vegetables
(cucumber and squash leave interesting
shapes).
Equipment
Crayons in different colours
Paper
Knife -
for teachers' use only
Objects in interesting shapes (eg coins, leaves
etc)
Grater
Iron
Candle
Ideas
1. Cut notches along the side of a crayon with a craft knife, then use that side of the crayon to draw designs.
2. Use the side of a crayon when rubbing an object placed underneath thin paper
3. Grate crayons (or use a pencil sharpener), then mix colours between two sheets of paper. Rub a warm iron over the top.
4. Hold a crayon (without paper wrapping) in a candle flame, then drip a pattern onto paper.
5. Same as above, but drip crayon onto a plain candle to create a pattern.
Children must be carefully supervised at all times while doing activities 4 and 5.
Rubbings
Equipment
Objects that can be rubbed over: leaves, cut-out
cardboard shapes, buttons, coins,
textured materials, wood, concrete,
sandpaper, fur, corrugated card etc
Crayons or candles
Paint and paint
brushes
Paper
Ideas
1. Give each child a sheet of thin paper and a chunky wax
crayon. Divide the page into sections (one per rubbing). Have the children walk
around the school rubbing objects with different textures (walls, wooden doors,
plastic bottles, materials, tree trunks,
metal poles, stones, etc).
2. Give the children a box of 'rubbable' objects and a tray of wax crayons. Try to help them remember that they have to place the object underneath the paper and rub on top. If the children are capable, have them make rubbings to form a picture (a simple face or tree shape).
3. Use both rubbing and painting: Rub a pattern or picture on to the paper with crayon, and then paint over using thin watercolour paints. Rub an invisible pattern or picture onto the paper with white candles - when the watercolour is painted on, it will only show on the areas not rubbed with wax, revealing the hidden picture.
Salt pictures
Equipment
1 cup paint powder mixed with 1/2 cup of
salt
Paste mixture: 1 cup corn flour + 1 cup cold water
Paint
brushes
Paper
Newspaper
Method
1. Cover work surface with newspaper.
2. Paint a picture on
to paper with the cornflour paste.
3. Sprinkle mixture of paint powder and
salt over the paste to create a picture that will
sparkle.
Marble-rolling pictures
Equipment
Glass marbles
Paint in shallow dishes
Shallow
cardboard box
Paper
Method
1. Place a sheet of plain paper in the bottom of the cardboard
box.
2. Cover each marble in a different colour of paint.
3. Place the
marbles on top of the paper.
4. Tilt the box to roll the marbles around and
create a pattern on the paper.
Marbling
Marbling is a technique that can be used to decorate paper, wood, cloth, plastic or metal. If decorating plastic or metal, cover with at least two layers of spray lacquer once ink is dry.
Equipment
Large plastic tray with sides about 10 cm
high
Marbling ink (with dropper). This is a specialist ink; if unavailable,
use a small amount of oil paint from a tube mixed with vegetable oil to make a
runny paste.
Stick or straw for stirring
Paper
Method
1. Half fill the tray with water.
2. Drip a few drops of
marbling ink onto the water.
3. Use 3 or 4 colours.
4. Use the stick to
gently stir the inks that float on the surface (don't stir too fast, or colours
will blend - if so, wait for them to separate).
5. Child then lays the paper
on top of the water.
6. Gently pull paper up, and lay flat to dry.
Smelly pictures
Equipment
Paper with pre-drawn flowers (unless children are
able to draw flowers themselves)
Colouring pencils or
crayons
Glue
Talcum powder
Method
1. Draw a flower with a large centre (it may be easier to give
the child a circle around which they can draw).
2. Colour in the flower
petals and stem.
3. Spread a thin layer of glue in the centre of the
flower
4. Sprinkle the centre with talcum powder.
5. Wait for glue to dry,
then gently blow away excess powder.
Also try changing from flowers to fruits or sweets. Or, add other smells by soaking a cotton wool ball in the scent, then gluing the ball onto the flower. Try garlic, perfume, soap, mothballs, spices.
Stone painting
Equipment
Clean flat stones
Powder paints
Poster
paints
Paint brushes
Varnish, spray-seal or white glue
Permanent pen
Method
1. Chose a stone, and decide which side is top and which is
bottom.
2. Write your name on the bottom with permanent pen.
3. Paint over
the top with powder paint.
4. Allow to dry.
5. Paint on a design with
poster paint.
6. Allow to dry.
7. Paint with varnish, spray-seal or white
glue.
String mats
Equipment
Strong cardboard
String/thick wool/cord
PVC
glue
Scissors
Method
1. Dip a length (30cm) of string, wool or cord into the
glue
2. Coil the string, getting larger and larger, onto the cardboard
3.
Keep adding lengths of string, until the spiral is the size you desire
4.
Leave it to dry
5. Cut out around pattern
Children should always be supervised when using scissors.
Collage
This a simple activity in which pictures can be given texture.
Equipment
Paper
Pens
Interesting objects - see Ideas
below
Method
1. Draw a simple outline for a child on paper, eg animals,
clouds, trees, cars, flowers,
fruit, piece of clothing.
2. Cover the
outline with glue, and then stick on textured material.
Ideas: sand, shells, seaweed, bits of wool, strips of tissue paper, seeds (watermelon or pumpkin), peanut shells, dead leaves, grass, scraps of material from dressmakers.
Make up a picture
The children can make up pictures with scraps of paper, card, plastic, and material. If the children will have a great deal of difficulty cutting the material, then pre-cut shapes can be offered.
Face collage
Equipment
Pre-drawn sheet for each child with the outline of
a simple head and shoulders
Glue
Variety of junk and material for collage
work, including silver foil, straws, wool,
polystyrene pieces, cloth scraps,
buttons, beads, dried beans, pasta.
Method
1. Each child receives a sheet with the outline of a head and
shoulders.
2. The child should paste glue onto the paper and then stick on
the different materials.
3. Using the outline, stick on eyes, nose, mouth,
eyebrows and fill in the T-shirt.
4. The children could also stick on
material for hair, ear-rings and a hat.
5. Leave the picture to dry.
6.
The finished piece will be quite heavy, so it is worth mounting on card first
before displaying on a wall.
The process also works well for other pre-drawn simple pictures, such as:
The seaside with boats, waves, clouds, stones, sand and
fish
Vase of flowers
Body with material clothes
Fruit and vegetable
stall
House
Car
Art for windows
Equipment
Tissue paper
Clear plastic
PVC glue
Method
1. Layer strips of tissue paper onto pieces of clear
plastic.
2. Cover them well with PVC glue.
3. Allow to dry.
4. Stick to
windows to allow light to filter through.
Polystyrene boats
Equipment
Polystyrene blocks (waste from
packaging)
Sticks
Coloured card, tissue, and/or material
Method
1. Cut boat bases from polystyrene.
2. Test the boat in a
bowl of water to see if it will float.
3. Make sails for the boat from sticks
and paper/material/tissue.
4. Sail your boat.
If you plan to sail your boat on the sea or river/canal, then make the base out of something that will rot (banana wood or leaf bases work well) instead of polystyrene.
Lollystick mobiles
Equipment
Lollysticks (cheap from craft shops)
White PVC
glue
Paint
Paintbrushes
String
Method
1. Give the children a set number of sticks each (3, 4, or
5)
2. Let them paint the sticks first.
3. The children arrange the sticks
into an individual pattern. Make sure the sticks touch each other.
4. Stick
the sticks with PVC glue
5. When dry, attach string and hang.
Explosion patterns
Equipment
Sheets from coloured magazines
Sheets of plain
paper (one per child)
Newspaper
Glue
Method
1. Give the child a circle cut out of a coloured magazine page,
or wrapping paper.
2. The child cuts out sections of the coloured paper, and
then sticks them onto the plain paper, slightly away from the main shape as if
the circle is
exploding.
Junk makes good musical instruments, as anything that makes a sound can be used.
Shakers
Ideas
1. Fill empty plastic water bottles with one sort of the
following objects: Small stones, water (mixed with a little food colouring),
sand, buttons, small coins, plastic teaspoons, beads etc.
2. Empty drink cans
can also be easily filled:
Give each child a rectangular piece of paper to
decorate and wrap around the outside of the tin can. Fill the can with objects
(see 1 above). Attach some ribbon streamers and plug the hole of the can.
3.
Yoghurt cartons:
Fill one of the cartons one third full with objects (see 1
above) and then stick the other carton upside down on top. Attach streamers.
Scrapers and pluckers
1. Empty plastic water bottles have ridges near the neck of the bottle that can be scraped with a stick.
2. Corrugated cardboard with the top thin layer removed can also be scraped for an interesting noise.
3. Plastic water bottles with a section cut out of the middle can be 'strung' with elastic bands and plucked to create a sound. Care must be taken as the edges of cut plastic bottles can be extremely sharp if not cut carefully.
Crashers
Equipment
Junk: empty tins, cans, large stones, wood, plastic
bowls
Method
1. Use any two pieces of junk that when 'crashed' together
create a sound.
2. Children can decorate these, but the instruments will make
a quieter sound when covered with
paper.
Big body
Equipment
Large sheets of plain paper or sheets of
newspaper
Marker pen
Scissors
Paint or scraps of cloth and
glue
Mirror
Method
1. Stick together enough sheets of paper so that a child can lie down on it.
2. Using the marker pen draw around the child onto the paper.
3. The teacher should now make sure that the children are aware which parts of the body shape are the head, stomach, arms, hands, legs and feet.
4. Now the children could paint on clothing. It may be a good idea to give the children specific instructions, eg paint on a T-shirt. If the children seem unsure about doing this then have the child identify where a T-shirt would be worn and then the teacher could draw on the T-shirt outline with the marker pen.
5. Instead of painting on articles of clothing, the children could stick on 'real' old clothes or those made from scraps of cloth or even borrow clothes, draw around them carefully onto coloured paper, cut out the paper clothes and stick them onto the body shape.
6. When adding facial features, photocopied facial parts could be stuck on in the relevant places as painting them on is a difficult activity. The children should, if possible, be provided with a mirror to complete this task.
7. Complete all the 'decoration' before cutting out the body shape as this looks much neater. It may be necessary for the teacher to cut out the body.
8. The outline can become a useful teaching tool, if it is drawn on white cardboard in thick marker pen and then covered in clear sheet plastic.
9. The children can use non-permanent markers to draw on clothes or facial features or to mark where certain parts to the body are located, eg knee, neck or shoulder.
Children should always be supervised when using scissors.
Hands and feet
Equipment
Coloured paper
Plain
paper
Scissors
Glue
Pencils
Method
1. The children choose a sheet of coloured paper and then help each other to draw around their hands or wait their turn as the teacher draws around each child's hands.
2. The children need to be reminded to keep their hands still and their fingers splayed out.
3. If the children are able, let them cut out the outline of their hands.
4. The children then place the two hands side by side, with the thumbs on the inside, on the plain paper and stick them down with the glue.
5. Once the glue is dry, mix up the sheets and see if the children can identify, by laying their hands on top of the silhouettes, which pair of hands belong to which child.
Variations
Also try this activity with feet - it tends to tickle, so there is a lot of giggling! If none of the children in the group are able to cut using scissors then maybe they could print their hands instead. The teacher would need to make up quite a thick consistency of paint in shallow trays and the children could print their hands straight onto the plain paper.
The hands or feet could also be used to create a joint picture, eg leaves on a group tree or curly hair on a giant head.
Children should always be supervised when using scissors.
Head and faces
Equipment
Large sheets of plain paper (2 sheets of A4 stuck
together is ideal)
Marker pen
Scissors
Glue
Mirrors
Colouring
pencils
Duplicated sheet of facial features: 2 eyes, 2 ears, nose and mouth
Method
1. The children take it in turns to lie down, looking at the
ceiling, with their heads on a
sheet of paper.
2. The teacher draws around the head as accurately as possible, including hair and ears, using a marker pen.
3. The children receive a small duplicated sheet of facial features.
4. The teacher then helps them identify the facial features. Have the children look at each other's faces and then their own in the mirror. Also draw the children's attention to the fact that sometimes we have 2 of something, eg eyes and sometimes just 1, eg nose.
5. Then help the children decide which colour the eyes and mouth should be.
6. The children colour the facial features .
7. The parts do not really have to be cut around very carefully, as long as both the background paper and duplicating paper are the same colour.
8. The children then, using the mirror, stick the facial features on 'their' head in the correct position.
Long fingers
Equipment
Sheets of newspaper
Sellotape
Method
1. Roll sheets of newspaper up into tubes and have the children wear one on each finger.
2. Have the children try to pick up different objects. The longer the fingers and the smaller the object, the harder the task.
Newspaper clothes
Equipment
Cardboard
Marker pens
Scissors
String,
wool etc
Staples and stapler
Newspaper
Paint, crayons etc
Sellotape
Shoes
Draw around the child's shoes or feet onto cardboard and cut out the shape. Cut out 2 extra thin strips of paper (or use string) and staple together to make a 'flip-flop' type shoe.
Clothes
Tear and stick sheets of newspaper around a child to form a cloak, long skirt, coat, apron, etc.
Hats
Simple cone shapes which the children can decorate are easy and stay well on a child's head.
1. Decorate with paint, crayons, buttons, stars, string, cotton wool etc. Use a double sheet of newspaper, folded length-ways, to make a good, strong, simple crown.
2. Have the children decorate their crowns before they are stapled to the correct size for the child.
Bags
The strongest and easiest bags are made out of small cardboard boxes.
1. Seal the box with sellotape and then have the children decorate the box with whatever they wish.
2. Cut the box as shown by the dotted line in the diagram to
make a flap that will open
and close.
3. Also punch 2 holes in the sides and have the child pass through string or thick wool.
4. Then the teacher can knot the string or stick with sellotape.
Masks
Equipment
Paper plates
Paints, crayons, felt-tip pens
etc
String and elastic bands
Small pieces of cloth
Silver paper and
glitter, if available
Paper plate masks
Paper plates can be made into simple masks.
Method
1. It is easier if the teacher cuts the eyes out first for the
child and allows the child to hold it in front of their face, whilst standing
before a mirror, so that the child gets some idea of what they are attempting to
make.
2. If the mask is supposed to represent a particular face then help the
child to roughly mark what should go where, eg nose, whiskers or teeth.
3.
The child then decorates the mask with paints, crayons, felt-tip pens and/or
sticks on small pieces of cloth, paper, string etc.
4. The teacher can then
help the child to add extras such as ears and nose for a pig or ears and trunk
for an elephant.
5. Then attach either string or elastic at the sides to keep
the mask in place.
It is very important that the children can see themselves in a mirror whilst wearing the mask.
Cut-out Faces
Method
1. Use thin plain card to cut out a face shape, eg an animal
face.
2. Give the children equipment to decorate their masks.
3. Tie the
mask at the sides with elastic or string and allow the children to look at
themselves in a mirror.
This is more time-consuming for the teacher but it is probably more likely to be recognisable than a paper-plate version.
Ballroom Masks
Method
1. Use the template on page 23 to make masks out of thin card and allow the children to decorate them. Silver paper and glitter look especially good on these: if possible, cut the masks out of a dark coloured card.
Many children do not like having their whole face covered and so may prefer these as they cover just the eyes. Also many children do not like the feel of a mask touching their face so instead of using string or elastic, a stick or straw could be stuck at the side of the mask so that the child can hold it against their face.
Children should always be supervised when using scissors.
Mouth masks
These are very easy masks that almost all children could attempt.
Method
1. Cut a paper plate in half.
2. On one side draw a sad,
unhappy mouth and on the reverse draw a happy, smiling mouth.
3. The children
can then colour these in.
4. Staple a straw at the side for the children to
hold their mask against their mouth.
5. Stand the children in front of a
mirror so that they can see how they change expression by switching the mask
back and forth.
The children could also add a beard, moustache, scar or spots.
Sunglasses
Equipment
Use template on the following page to cut out
glasses frames in thin card.
Clear plastic in strips, just wider than the
eyepieces of the glasses frames
Permanent markers
Felt tips or
crayons
Glue
Mirror
Method
1. Give each child cardboard frames for them to colour.
2.
Give each child a strip of clear plastic, which they colour using the
permanent
markers. Either colour the strip in one or two colours.
3. The
child then sticks the plastic strip to the inside of the glasses, covering
the
eyepieces.
4. When the glue has dried, the teacher trims the plastic
to fit the frames.
5. Make sure the child can see in a mirror when they try
their glasses on.
6. Now everything they are looking at should have changed
colour!
Binoculars
Equipment
2 toilet roll tubes
String or
wool
Stapler
Sellotape
Hole punch
Clear plastic
Permanent marker
pens
Method
1. The children decorate the outsides of the cardboard
tubes.
2. Give each child 2 squares of clear plastic and help the children
tape these over the ends of the two tubes.
3. Staple the two tubes
together.
4. Help the children to punch a hole each side of the binoculars
and thread through the string.
5. The teacher then ties a knot or sticks the
string with
sellotape.
Basic Process
Equipment
Dylon cold water dye (comes with a cold water
fixing agent)
Salt
Plastic gloves
Cheap cotton cloth - calico works
well
Bucket or bowl
Stick or large spoon for stirring
Method
1. Make up the dye solution according to the manufacturer's
instructions.
2. Mix the dye with the stick or spoon.
3. Give each child a
piece of material.
4. The children thoroughly rinse their material in clean
water.
5. Squeeze out all the excess moisture.
6. Place the clean wet
cloth into the bucket for about 30 minutes.
7. The child will now need to put
on the plastic gloves to take out their cloth, squeezing out the excess dye over
the bucket.
8. Rinse the cloth well in clean water and hang out to dry.
Things to remember:
You can write the child's name on the cloth using permanent
pen.
Cold water dyes are much safer than hot water dyes but the colours tend
to be less intense.
If the material is likely to be washed, then on the first
occasion pre-soak in a strong salt solution.
Tie-dyeing circles
Equipment
Dylon cold water dye (comes with a cold water
fixing agent)
Salt
Plastic gloves
Cheap cotton cloth - calico works
well
Bucket or bowl
Stick or large spoon for stirring
One clean
stone
String
Method
1. Place the washed stone in the middle of the square of
cloth.
2. Cut a length of string and tie the cloth just behind the stone, as
tightly as possible.
3. It will probably be necessary to help the children
with this, because if the string is loose the dye can get underneath and colour
the material.
4. Leave a gap of about 5cm and then tie the material again
with a length of string.
5. Tie a third time in the same way.
6. Dye in
exactly the same way as in 'Basic process'.
7. Help the children to cut the
string from around the cloth before it is rinsed and hung out to dry.
8. The
children will find that as long as the string was tied tightly enough, where the
string bound the cloth the dye has been unable to penetrate, leaving three white
circles.
Lines of colour
Equipment
Dylon cold water dye (comes with a cold water
fixing agent)
Salt
Plastic gloves
Cheap cotton cloth - calico works
well
Bucket or bowl
Stick or large spoon for stirring
Large darning
needle and thread or pegs
Method
1. Help the children to fold a square of cloth back and forth
into a concertina shape.
2. To keep the cloth in place either hold together
with a few pegs or sew down the centre of the strip with large stitches.
3.
Dye the cloth in exactly the same way as in 'Basic Process'.
4. Help the
children to remove the pegs or cut away the stitches before they rinse the cloth
and hang it out to dry.
The process gives a very subtle effect.
Plastic bag dyeing
Equipment
Dylon cold water dye (comes with a cold water
fixing agent)
Salt
Plastic gloves
Cheap cotton cloth - calico works
well
Bucket or bowl
Stick or large spoon for stirring
Small plastic
bags
Rubber bands
Large needle
Method
1. Have the children rinse their piece of cloth in clean
water.
2. Squeeze well, scrunch up material and place inside plastic
bag.
3. Seal the plastic bag with a rubber band after forcing out as much air
as possible.
4. Punch holes in the bag with the needle.
5. Dye the cloth
in the same way as in 'Basic Process'.
6. Help the child to cut away the
plastic bag before they rinse the cloth and hang it out to dry.
This process produces an interesting mottled effect.
It is also possible to use the dye to paint straight onto the cloth after rinsing it first and laying it out flat on many sheets of newspaper. The best effect seems to be using a variety of colours. These all 'run' into each other but can look very pretty.
Indian eyes
Equipment
2 sticks for each child
Wool in four or more
colours
Scissors
Method
1. The teacher helps the child to tie the 2 sticks together to
form a cross.
2. The child holds the cross steady in one hand and with the
other hand winds the wool around one stick in a circle.
3. The child then
moves onto the next stick and does the same, moving the cross around as they do
so. (See diagram)
4. After the child has wound on 2-3cm then change the
colour of the wool.
5. After every 2-3cm, change the wool colour.
6. Make
a loop at the top of one of the sticks to hang the 'Indian Eye'.
7. Could
also hang 2 little bells on the side sticks that would chime in a breeze.
This is quite a difficult process for the children to understand at first but most children do manage.
Weaving
Equipment
Empty box, eg a shoe box
String or plastic
string or strips of material
Scissors
Hole punch
Method
1. Use the hole punch to pierce holes every 2cm along the two
sides of the box, ensuring that the holes are opposite each other.
2. Thread
strings straight across the width of the box, making the strings parallel to
each other.
3. Now the children are ready to weave.
4. Weave strips of
material or plastic string over and under the string strung across the box. See
diagram below.
5. Explain to the children that with the first string they
must weave first over and then under, over and under etc. With the second string
they must weave first under and then over, under and over etc.
Once the piece of weaving is finished, remove the weaving, either by destroying the box by cutting down to the holes and removing the weaving as a whole piece, or by cutting the side strings and carefully tying them together to stop the weaving unravelling.
Snails
Equipment
Strip of corrugated cardboard, about 40cm long for
each child (peel one side of the cardboard away so that one side is
ridged)
Drinking straws, cut into small pieces
Sellotape
Crayons or
colouring pencils
Method
1. Give each child a length of the corrugated card.
2. The
child then decorates the side with ridges with patterns or stripes of
colour.
3. Curl the strip into a snail shape and hold in place with
sellotape.
4. Stick on 2 pieces of straw for snail feelers.
5. Draw on a
face.
6. If making into a mobile attach a piece of string and hang up.
Twister
Equipment
Circle of thin card for each child , about 30cm in
diameter.
Colouring pencils, crayons or felt-tip pens.
Scissors
String
Method
1. The child decorates both sides of the circle.
2. The
circle then needs to be cut in one long continuous spiral. If the child is able
to do this, draw a spiral in pencil as a guideline; otherwise, cut the spiral
for the child. Children should always be supervised when using scissors.
3.
Pierce a hole in the middle of the circle .
4. Thread through a piece of
string and hang up to catch a breeze.
Whizzer
Equipment
A circle of thin card for each child, about 20cm
across
String
Ruler
Colouring pencils, crayons or felt-tip pens
Method
1. Using the ruler divide the circle into 8 segments on both
sides of the card.
2. Colour the different sections different colours.
3.
Make 2 holes very near the centre of the circle (see diagram).
4. Thread a
long piece of string through both holes and tie the string to make a loop.
5.
Help the children to place their hands apart with the string behind their
fingers.
6. Then twist the circle over and over.
7. As the circle is let
go and starts to spin, tell the child to pull the string taut and then relax
their hands.
8. As the circle spins all the colours become blurred; if it
spins fast enough, the colours appear white. There is also a 'whizzing' sound as
it turns quickly.
Newspaper palm tree
Equipment
A large newspaper for each child
A plastic
container or flowerpot for each child
Marker pens or coloured
paper
Glue
Sand or plasticine
Sellotape
Scissors
Method
1. Write the child's name on the bottom of the pot using
permanent marker.
2. Decorate the outside of the pot using markers or by
glueing coloured paper onto it.
3. Fill the pot half full with either sand or
plasticine.
4. Open up the newspaper, halve it and lay one half over the
other (see diagram).
5. Roll the newspaper into a tube.
6. Cut 3 slits
down the side of the tube to at least half way down.
7. Use fingers to gently
pull out the inside branches.
8. Pull the whole thing upwards to make a palm
tree.
Children should always be supervised when using scissors.
Invisible patterns
Equipment
Lemon juice
Paint brushes
White
paper
Candle and matches
Method
1. Give each child a piece of paper.
2. The child then paints
a pattern using the lemon juice.
3. Allow about 5 minutes for this to
dry.
4. Light the candle and hold the paper just above.
5. As the lemon
juice warms it will turn brown and so revealing a previously hidden pattern.
Paper bird mobile
Equipment
Thin card for bird body: either give the children a
pre-cut shape or make stencils
Crayons, colouring pencils or felt-tip
pens
Scissors
Thin elastic
Decorative paper: shiny or wrapping paper is
best, about 20cm x 20cm.
Method
1. Use the stencil to draw around and cut out a bird body.
2.
Draw on an eye and beak on both sides.
3. Colour both sides of the
bird.
4. With the scissors make a slit through the middle of the bird about
3cm long.
5. Fold the square of decorative paper back and forth like a
concertina.
6. Slot this through the slit and gently pull the folded paper to
make wings.
7. Make a hole along the back of the bird and thread through the
elastic.
8. Hang the bird and pull gently to help the bird fly.
Potted gardens
Equipment
Small plastic pots - those used for ice-cream are
ideal
Permanent markers
Old plasticine or sand
Dried grasses, flowers
and leaves
Method
Send the children, in a safe area, to collect grasses, leaves,
sticks and flowers.
The children can then push their 'finds' into the sand or
plasticine to create a miniature garden.
Modelling Materials
Slime
Add one cup of soap flakes to 2 litres of water and a
few drops of food colouring; whisk together.
Goop
Mix together a small packet of cornflour with a cup of
water and a few drops of food colouring. As it is mixed, the texture goes
through a variety of stages, all of which can be used.
Cornflour paste
This paste can be added to powder paint to
make finger paint. Mix 2 tablespoons of cornflour with a little water to form a
paste. Add 1 cup of water and cook to a custard consistency.
Playdough
Mix the following together in a saucepan and heat
for 4 - 5 minutes: 2 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of salt, 2 cups of water, 2
tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar.
[ Source: VSO Books Working papers in Development series - https://www.oneworld.org/vso - with kind permission to take over this publication on this Library for sustainable development and Basic Human Needs CD-Rom series]
 |
 |
