Paper Crafts for Children

Some occasions call for a set of greeting cards – so here is one way of making a very special set of invitation or thank you cards. Although there are many many simple print making techniques that can be used, I really like this polystyrene tray print making method. It is simple to do and you are also recycling at the same time. Note that if you want to do text, you will need to do it in reverse so that it prints correctly.

	We usually do our simple design onto paper first and then transfer it onto the polystyrene tray by positioning the paper on the tray and pressing firmly with a pencil. The pencil will dent the tray. Then working directly on the tray, go over the image again so that it is firmly dented into the tray.
	Apply paint onto the tray, use a roller or dabber.
	Carefully place the painted side of the tray onto your paper and press firmly. I usually pick up the two and gently rub with my finger to make sure all the paint is picked up. Do not leave them together for too long in case the paper becomes glued to the polystyrene tray. Then repeat until you have plenty.
	Glue each image onto a simple folded piece of card. To continue the consistency theme you could also print out the same message to glue on the inside of each card.

Is it too early for this sort of craft? No, I didn’t think so either:-).

Recycle your egg cartons to make these very cool bell decorations. They are simple to make, and with the pipe cleaner hangers, they are also very simple for small hands to hang on the tree.

As well as the egg cartons you need some tin foil and pipe cleaners.

Cut the cups out the egg cartons and tear or cut out some pieces of tin foil. Poke the pipe cleaner hooks through the base of the egg cups to make the hook. Wrap the egg cartons with the tin foil and it is ready to hang.

No need to go to the beach to make these sand castles, you just need a small amount of sand, some glue and a few cardboard tubes. The paper plate is also handy to build it on.

	Cut the tubes up into different lengths to create the sandcastle shape.
	Paint some glue onto the tubes and roll them in the sand. We also used some salt that we had colored with food coloring for the top of one of our tubes. I flag cut from an old cereal box completes the castle.

Isn’t it wonderful when a craft idea turns out better than you expected? It is the middle of winter here and this flower has truly brought spring to the kitchen.

Ideally you could make this from all recycled items, but I usually have these in stock more for craft activities like this than for parties. You will need a paper dinner plate, paper cup, an empty toilet roll and an empty long cardboard roll. You will also need some paint – red, orange, yellow and light green, some light green paper and glue. You can use a hot glue gun or white glue, but if you use white goue you must leave it to dry thoroughly

Cut the paper plate into several sections, leave a circle uncut in the center. For younger children it might be a good idea to draw a circle in the middle so they know where to cut up to. I ended up with 14 ‘petals’.

Paint alternate sections in red paint and the remaining sections in orange. Leave to dry.

Cut the paper cup into eight sections …

… fold down and paint yellow. Leave to dry.

Cut the toilet roll into approximately 1cm strips, leaving the bottom 1.5cm-2cm uncut. Fold the strips down. Cut the toilet roll down to size. This will depend on the size of your plate and cup and of course, your personal preference.

Paint the toilet roll using the light green paint. Leave to dry.

Assemble the flower by gluing the cup to the center of the plate and the toilet roll to the center of the cup. If using white glue, apply it liberally to the edges of the cup and toilet roll and once in place, put a bit more glue around the edges. I didn’t think to use a glue gun at this stage so I know this works well. However, you must be patient and let the glue dry for several hours.

Cover the long roll with a piece of A4 paper and cut out two leaf shapes and attach them to the stem.

Using the hot glue gun, glue the flower head to the top of the stem.

This is one of the great classic crafts for children. As well as recycling old cardboard tubes, and having some fun decorating – the children also get to make some noise.

The noise is not too annoying – although if you used plastic over the ends instead of paper as we have done, I am sure you could make them louder – but I quite like the more subtle sounding ones.

Just start with some cardboard tubes and tape some paper over one end. We put lots of tape over the paper to make the ends able to withstand vigorous shaking.

Pour in some hard things like rice, pasta, seeds, dried peas or beans or whatever else you are able to find. We tested the sound after putting it in by holding my hand over the open end and having a test shake. We decided against sunflower seeds after testing them as they were a bit light.

Then cover the other end and tape it shut. Time for some decorating fun! We made three and each is different. We painted one, covered another with contact film and tape, and then glued bits of tissue paper on one. Each is also filled with different materials – we thought the rice made the nicest sound.