Category: Coordination

Pipe Cleaner Snowflake

12/6/2013

Here is a wonderful craft for older children.

Supplies Needed; Pipe cleaners
Directions; Create an X shape with two full length pipe cleaners, twist the two together. Twist in one more pipe cleaner to create 6 equally length ends. Cut 4 gold pipe cleaners in thirds. Twist two gold pipe cleaners onto each white cleaner.

Button Tree - Ornament

12/5/2013

Supplies Needed:

green felt
ribbon
various sized/colored buttons
glue gun
Elmer’s glue

Directions: Print out tree template (below) or draw your own. Cut it out. Trace it onto felt and cut it out. Sort through your buttons and choose your favorites and then use Elmer’s glue to decorate the tree with buttons or other colorful items. Use an awl or the edge of scissors to make a hole through the top of the tree. Thread a piece of ribbon through the hole and tie a knot to make a loop.

Candy Cane Christmas Tree

12/5/2013

Supplies Needed:

Green Felt
glue {craft glue, or hot glue)
beads and/or other assorted “ornaments”
Candy Cane

Instructions: Roughly measure out (or use the stencil below) and cut out a piece of green felt, into a tree shape. You want the candy cane trunk to show
Cut slits where desired for the candy cane to slide through. You want them just big enough for the candy cane.
Now it’s time to decorate. Pull out the candy cane and glue on a star and some ornaments. You can use Elmer’s Glue-All or hot glue depending on ages {and speed you want to go!}. Allow time for the glue to dry before inserting the candy cane again.

Paper Plate Snowman

12/4/2013

Supplies Needed:
2 Paper plates
Black Pipe Cleaners
Orange, black, and brown and colored paper
Ribbon for Scarf
2 Wiggly Eyes
Red Pompom
Glue

Directions:
Glue the two plates together to make your basic snowman. From the scraps of card cut a mouth and a circle for buttons, and glue these to your snowman. Glue on your wiggly eyes, and red pompom nose. Twist your pipe cleaners into arms, and glue them to your snowman. Cut a black hat and glue it to your snowman's head, and hang your snowman on the wall for all to enjoy.

Pine Cone Christmas Tree

12/4/2013

Paper Plate Christmas Tree

12/3/2013

Supplies: 9-inch Paper Plate, Green and Brown Paint, decorations for your tree, Glue, Card Stock or Toilet Paper Tube

Directions: To make the tree trunk use a toilet paper tube so it is six inches long and paint it brown. If you don't have a paper towel tube, you can use card stock. Cut the card stock so it is 6 inches by 8.5 inches and roll it into a tube and glue the side closed. To make the top of the tree paint a paper plate green and let it dry. Roll the paper plate into a cone shape as shown in the picture above. Glue it closed where it overlaps with a low glue. Glue the "tree trunk" inside the top of the tree. To finish glue sequins, pompoms, glitter, or gems on the tree to decorate.

Paper Plate Bell and Holly

11/30/2013

Candy Cane Wreath

11/21/2013

This is a fun and creative project to do with older school-age children, as a gift to share with co-workers, or families. Use caution when handling the glue-gun, and keep it out of reach of young children.

Supplies need; Candy canes (we used 18 small, but large will work too, just be sure to lay out your candy canes to figure out how many you will need), "starlight mints", festive ribbon, glue gun or modgepodge.

Directions; Glue your candy canes into heart shapes, as seen below, with a little glue at the crook and a little at the base where the ends meet. Once you have all the heart shapes you will need to create a circle, start gluing them together at the sides. When you have completed the entire circle, allow it to dry. Once dry, reinforce the back with extra glue. After the reinforcement is dry, turn the wreath back over and glue the "starlight mints" to the base of each of your heart shapes, or as many as your inner area will allow. Take about 10" of ribbon and tie it into a bow. Glue the bow where you think it would look best for your wreath. Finally take another 4" inches of ribbon and tie it into a loop. Slip the loop over two of the crooks in your wreath and you are finished.

*If you remove your candy canes from their plastic coating, you may want to spray them with shellac when you are finished.

Beaded Icicles

11/21/2013

These icicles are a wonderful fine motor activity for children, an exercise in hand-eye co-ordination and an opportunity to explore color and patterns. It’s a lovely sensory experience, and often they’ll stop to talk about the particulars of a bead they’ve found: the color, the shape, how shiny it etc., so while this is a very simple Christmas craft, it still presents lots of opportunities for learning.

Supplies needed; Metallic pipe cleaners, pony beads, a thread for hanging
Directions; Twist a loop at the top of the pipe cleaner, this will be used later to tie on the string. Thread as many beads as desired onto the pipe cleaner. Once the pipe cleaner is sufficiently beaded, twist the bottom of the pipe cleaner around the last bead, to prevent the other beads from falling off. Take the beaded pipe cleaner and twist it around a pencil to create a spiral effect. Finally, tie a 4-6" piece of thread through the loop you created in the beginning and hang.