Kid's Ice Skater Craft

Here's a cute craft I did with my preschool group.  With the help of a few magnets, she's ready to "magically" skate around!

You'll need to buy magnets. I found these strong magnets at our local craft store:

Here's the print out for the ice skater: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3mVQkOWNM4ocFAxMHBqN1FIdHM/view?usp=sharing


Cut the ice skater out, keeping the tabs below connected like shown below:

You may want to let the kids color now, before assembling.

Next, fold at each line. There will be 3 folds and it will look like this:

You will need need to glue a magnet on the bottom section underneath the skater.
Glue another magnet onto the end of a popsicle stick. (Make sure to use very heavy duty, permanent glue and keep this craft away from small children who could swallow the magnet!!)

Then you can secure the top tab to the back of the skater using tape so it forms a triangle.

When the glue is completely dry and you are sure the magnets are very secure, you can try her out!  I gave the kids paper plates for the "ice skating rink" but you could also just use cardstock or cardboard.  The magnets I used were also strong enough to go through thin tables and chairs!

Kid's Halloween Bat Craft (and Dancing Prop)

These little bats with streamers make the perfect prop to dance with at Halloween

What you need:

black cardstock

crepe paper streamers

tape

Trace the bat pattern below onto the cardstock and cut out the shape. 

Cut about 5 or 6 streamers that are about 2-3 feet in length, and attach them to the back of the cardstock with tape. 

I made this with my preschool music class.  We danced to this song:  http://youtu.be/r9y4r-VI_qY?list=PLFA9C3648CDCA747C

This is also a catchy tune if you want to discus echolocation and how bats get around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAvoz_ofoeo

The streamers even make a "wing flapping" sound which the kids thought was pretty cool!


View the bat template here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3mVQkOWNM4ocmtEOXRPNEE1Qkk/view?usp=sharing

Patriotic Flag Craft

Supplies needed: 

Popsicle stick or larger tongue depressor stick

White cardstock

Blue paper (construction paper/scrapbook paper/etc.)

Red ribbon

Silver star stickers (or paper stars if you have a star punch)

Elmer's glue

I did this as an alternative to the very cute flag craft found here:  http://www.vanessasvalues.blogspot.com/2013/07/create-with-kids-popsicle-stick-flag.html 

Although I love the popsicle sticks, I needed something a little faster, easier, and less messy to put together that did not require hot glue and paint since I was doing this craft with a group of 4-6 year olds.  I also prepped everything ahead of time-- I had the white and blue papers cut to size as well as the ribbons cut to size, so all they needed to do with glue the pieces together and stick their star stickers on! 

"April Showers Bring May Flowers" Kid's Craft

This cool paper craft turns a raindrop magically into a flower!

1. Fold a piece of paper or cardstock in half. 

 2. Find the middle of that. Either make a very light fold or a light pencil mark that can later be erased.

3. Fold one side inward to that center mark.

4. Fold the other side inward to the center forming a point.

5. Keeping the paper folded, use the template below to trace and cut out the raindrop shape. You only need to cut a "U" shape-- leave the point and top folds intact.

6. The kids are now ready to do their "magic trick" by unfolding the raindrop to transform it into a flower.  Kids can decorate them by watercolors, crayons, markers, etc. as they learn the phrase "April showers bring May flowers!" 

Here is the template you can cut out to use for tracing. The dotted line is simply where the edges line up where you folded the paper. DO NOT CUT THE FOLDED EDGE. 

 Here are some examples of ones that were made in my class: