Paper bag Penguins

So, continuing with our Penguin theme this week, we made Paper bag Penguins the other day. The kids LOVED making this easy craft, and had an even better time playing with them!

First I cut the strips of paper that we needed to cover the bag, and cut out a big white circle for the belly, and two smaller ones for eyes. I also cut a triangle for the beak, and some feet!

The kids started by gluing the head and body on- the black strips. Then glued on the white circle for the belly. 

After that they glued on the beak, and the eyes- which they coloured before. And finally the feet! 

After they dried the kids put on a wonderful puppet show! 

Dancing Dragon

Today, we were still talking about Chinese New Year. We were talking about the Dancing Dragons. So, of course, we made some! 

First I drew the head, tail and feet of the dragon. Then cut some strips of paper. Got some glue, crayons, and popsicle sticks. I also cut out "fire"- since yesterdays dragon didn't have any and the kids were upset! 

The kids started by colouring the dragon's head, tail, and feet. 

Then, they cut them out. 

After that we fan folded the red strip of paper. And started gluing on the head, tail, and feet. 

Once all of that was glued on, we taped on the popsicle sticks. 

 

Once they are dry, the kids will have dancing dragon puppets! 

Bear puppet

Well, we are back, after a nice holiday! 

Today, we were talking about polar bears, and with that came some bear puppets! We talked about all the different colours that bears could be, and then went to work making our own bear! 

First I traced out the shapes onto the paper. And gathered everything we would need, crayons, glue, scissors, tape, and a straw (you could use popsicle sticks, our bears were just pretty tall, so we went for the straws to hold them up). 

The kids coloured their bears first. Bryce's had to be blue, because we were recently at Build a bear where he made a blue bear! 

Then the older kids cut out their shapes, and I helped the younger ones. 

After the shapes were cut out, we started gluing together the shapes, to form our bears! 

Then, we taped the straws to the back of the bear! 

 And now, the kids are ready to play with their Bear puppets! 

Day 13 of 25 days of Christmas Crafts

Well, we are over the half way point! I can't believe tomorrow is December 1! 

Today we made heart reindeer puppets. It was an easy, quick craft for all ages! 

I cut out 3 heart shapes per child- one of those being a little bigger than the other 2, but not by much! Then, I also cut out eyes and a nose with the foam paper. But, you could use googly eyes and pom poms. And then I got the glue! 

 The kids first glued the two smaller hearts onto the bigger one- at the top, for the antlers. 

 Then, we glued on the eyes and nose. 

 Once those are dry, we will add a popsicle stick, so the kids can use them as puppets! You could also add a ribbon and use them as gift tags or hang on the tree! 

Witches and Bats for Halloween

Starting off our Halloween theme, we made some paper bag witch puppets! The kids enjoyed talking about Halloween, making the puppets and then putting on a puppet show. 

First I collected what we would need- markers, paper bags, glue, and the witch pieces cut out of white paper. I also added some glitter glue because the kids love that stuff! 

 The kids went to work colouring their witches! 

 Then they put the pieces together on their paper bag. We fan folded the legs and arms as well. 

 Then we added glitter glue to the hat! 

 Ready for a puppet show! 

 Today we made footprint ghosts. First we traced each child's foot- have the heels overlap each other. Then draw a half circle on top and cut them out. I cut out ears, fangs, and got some eye shapes ready. Then we decided we would paint with paper towel- so I scrunched up some paper towel and held it together with a clothes pin. To make the paint shiny, I mixed liquid tempra paint with white glue. 

 Then I let the kids get to work! 

 Once they were done painting, they started applying the face to their bat. The good thing with mixing the paint and glue is that we didn't need to bring the glue out too! 

 There we have it! Nice Halloween bats made out of our feet! 

On the farm

Last week, my computer was broken! So, here are the crafts that we did...

We were talking about the farm. So, we started with making some puppets. I drew out a cow and a horse and had the kids colour them. Then we cut them out, and taped them to popsicle sticks. The kids had a blast making a puppet show with their animals, and singing "old MacDonald"!





We also made a lift up tab farm. It takes some time to prepare- well for more than one child, but it is worth it. First I cut the farm shape out of a red piece of paper- you could also use white and have the kids colour it, but I knew they wouldn't last that long! Then I cut the doors and windows out- well three sides of each- so they are flaps. Then on a different piece of paper- just white, I drew out the animals- one for each window/door- you have to put the farm over top so you know where they go and can line them up.


Then I let the kids colour the animals. After colouring, we glued the farm onto the paper with the animals.




With the older kids, we wrote the names of the animals and what they say (animal noise) on the window/door tab! The kids had a great time playing with their farms, as well as knowing the letters in each animal!