Materials

• Cardstock
• Printer
• Pencil/eraser
• Crayons, pencil crayons or markers
• Blue watercolour paint (*Optional)
• Thin paintbrush
• Printout grow

We always find these items helpful:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Print your card on cardstock.

• Draw some flowers on the stems.

• Colour them in.

• Outline them with a thin, black marker if you like.

• Paint around them if you like.

• Allow to dry overnight.

• Fold your card in half and write a personal message inside.

• Attach it to a gift for your teacher, instructor or leader.

Purpose

• Thinking of others.

Safety Notes

• We always recommend that you use a craft tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.

Materials

• Cardstock (we used white)
• Printer
• Pencil crayons
• Pencil/ eraser
• Photo of your child at the end of the school year
• Photo safe glue, tape or photo corners
• Printout of Photo & Drawing Sheet  drawing_and_photo_of_me

Directions

• Here is our photo and drawing from the first day of school.  We wanted to see how much our son’s drawing skills had changed.

• Print out the Photo & Drawing Sheet on your cardstock.

• Have your child sketch out a drawing of themselves with pencil and then colour it in.  We used pencil crayons, but you could use other materials as well.

• Attach your photo to the other side.  (Or you could do this before as our son wanted to do.)  Add the Grade and the Year in the provided space.

• Put in a keepsake box or punch holes and store in a binder, beside your piece from the beginning of the year.

• Repeat this each year for a continuum of your child’s growth.

Purpose

• Recording your chid’s growth.
• Showing progress within a year.

Safety Notes

• Use photo safe adhesive for your project.
• Depending on your child’s age and abilities, you may want to cover the work surface with a table cloth, sheet of paper or put the activity sheet on a craft tray.

Materials

• Cardstock
• Printer
• Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Circle punch OR milk jug lid/ pencil/scissors
• BBQ skewers or thin dowels
• Scissors
• Craft glue
• Printout Lollipop

Simplified Version 

• Cardstock
• Pencil/eraser
• Crayons, pencil crayons or markers

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Print your card on cardstock.

• Paint on another blank piece of cardstock.

• Allow to dry overnight.

• Punch circles out of your painted paper OR flip it over, trace around your milk jug lids with a pencil and cut out your circles.

• Have an adult, while wearing safety glasses, trim the sharp ends of the BBQ skewers and then cut them into piece the size of the lollipop sticks.  (We made them a bit longer than the lines on the card.) Glue the sticks onto the card.

• Glue your painted circles onto your sticks.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Once dry, fold your card in half and write a personal message inside.

• Attach it to a gift for your teacher, instructor or leader.

Simplified Version 

• Print your card on cardstock.

• Draw some lollipops on the sticks.  Use a circular object such as a lid to help you.

• Fold your card in half and write a personal message inside.

• Attach it to a gift for your teacher, instructor or leader.

Purpose

• Thinking of others.

Safety Notes

• We always recommend that you use a craft tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Exercise care when using BBQ skewers and have an adult cut them.

Materials

• Poster/ Bristol Board
• Pencil, eraser

Extras:

• Coloured markers
• Outlining markers (thin & thick)
• Felt, faux fur, fabric etc.
• Beads, buttons
• Glue or a glue gun (To be used by an adult or with direct adult supervision, based on the child’s age and abilities)
• Paint
• Paintbrushes
• Scissors

We also always find these items helpful:

Directions

• Go with your child’s energy/interests.  Our son is currently interested in animals as they are studying this at school and he offered to make his former Kindergarten teacher a Woodland Animals bulletin board set for her camping theme.  (Which by the way is awesome!)

• Sketch out your ideas in pencil.

• If you like, colour in some areas with marker or paint them (or both!)  We used a combination of tempera and craft acrylics.

• Allow to dry overnight.  Cut out your work if you like.  At first we just trimmed it down to make it more manageable.

• We then cut out and glued on items to enhance our animals, using felt, faux fur, beads, buttons etc.  Arrange your embellishments and then glue them on.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Once everything is dry, go over your lines with a black marker.

• Wouldn’t this be fun to use to enhance your play, creating a backdrop scene?  Or attach some paint stir sticks and make puppets!

Purpose

• Discovering how to draw on different scales
• Expressing your interests
• Working with various materials and developing one’s fine motor skills

Safety Notes

• Small items such as buttons and beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of reach from children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things in their mouths.
• Be sure to use scissors with care and adult supervision.
• We suggest that you use a smock and craft tray or craft tablecloth to protect work surfaces and one’s clothing.

Materials

• Yarn (various colours)
• Cardboard
• Scissors
• Needle

Directions

• Cut your cardboard into a rectangular shape just a bit longer than the size of the person’s wrist that you want to make the bracelet for.  You may have to measure this with a measuring tape prior to.

• At the ends make small snips.  We found that they were approximately the length of 1 cm and about 1 cm apart.

• Cut a length of yarn and then start on one end on the back, leaving a little extra so you can make an anchor knot.

•  Make columns with your base colour, going sequentially across.

•  Tie your long piece onto the column beside it on both ends.

• Pick the first colour that you would like to use to make your rows.  (We find working with a length of yarn that is the size of your arm to be manageable.)  Tie an anchor knot.  (If you can, try to get it to tie underneath the column whenever you make a knot.)

•  To weave, go “under, over, under, over”, until you reach the end.  Then loop around the last column and then come back doing the opposite pattern: “over, under, over, under.”  Repeat this.

•  When you are approaching the end of your length of one colour and you are near an end column, tie the next colour onto the previous colour, trying to tuck the knot on the underside.  Snip off any excess.

•  Keep going until you reach the other end, alternating colours.

•  When you reach the end, securely knot your row yarn to an end column as shown.

• This is the portion where you may need some assistance from an adult or a friend. Flip over your cardboard to the back and snip your column yarn through the centre.  We folded our cardboard slightly down the centre to make it easy to cut  underneath.

• Remove your weaving from the cardboard frame.

•  Have an adult wrap the weaving around your wrist (or the person it was meant for) with the good side facing inward.

•  Then tie each column strand to its match as shown, making knots.  Be sure not to make it too tight so the person could slip it off.

•  Once you are done knotting, snip off any excess yarn as shown.

•  Turn your bracelet inside out so all of your knots are hidden in the inside, next to the person’s wrist.

•  Enjoy your bracelet or give to someone special!

Purpose

• Thinking of others
• Developing ones’ fine motor skills
• Creating patterns

Safety Notes

• Use scissors with care and adult supervision.
• Yarn, cord etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore use it with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.

Materials

• Cotton swabs (We used the child-safe style for a more full “puff”) OR Cotton balls
• Twigs
• Floral tape
• Inexpensive grey eye shadow
• Clip or stick pin/boutonniere pin
• Scissors
• Felt
• Feathers
• Glue gun (*Optional, but helpful.  To be used by an adult or with direct supervision, assistance)

Directions

• Go on a nature walk with an adult, collecting small twigs.

• Cut your cotton swabs in half.  Cut the tip off.  (You could also use a piece of cotton ball, rolled into an ellipsoid shape.)

• Rub the swab gently in light grey eyeshadow.

• Tape your swab end to your small twig using floral tape.  Remember to pull the tape taut to activate the glue.  You may need some adult assistance for this process.  Make as many pussy willows mini branches as you would like.

• Cut a rectangle out of felt to make it manageable to cut out a leaf shape.

• Add a little sewing detail if you like.

• Put a spot of glue on one end your leaf.  Lay one end of your twig into the glue and gently squeeze the leaf around it.  You could also tape it on, using your floral tape.

• Make a mini bundle of your pussy willow twig(s), leaf branch(es) and a few feathers.  Have an adult help you tape it together.  If you are giving this to a younger person, you could tape or glue your bundle to your clip.  An adult could use a stick or boutonniere pin.

• Give your handmade boutonniere to your dad or someone special!

Purpose

• Thinking of others
• Developing one’s fine motor skills

Safety Notes

• Be sure to go on a nature walk with an adult, selecting only sticks that you find on the ground.  (Rather than removing from trees.)
• A glue gun should be used by an adult or with direct adult supervision.
• Use stick or boutonniere pins with caution.
• Use scissors with care and supervision.

CAKE TOPPERS

Materials

• Flagging tape (you can get this at hardware and dollar stores)
• BBQ skewers (Have an adult cut the sharp tips off.)
• Hole punch
• Beads
• Scissors

Directions

• Put a small bead onto your skewer to serve as an anchor.  Your beads may fit snuggly, but if they don’t, put a drop of glue onto the skewer in the desired spot before sliding your bead on.

• Cut and fold a length of your flagging tape back and forth (some people refer to this style of folding as accordion folding).  With the help of an adult, punch a hole in the middle of your folded tape and then thread it onto your skewer.  Repeat with various colours.

• Add beads to the tops and bottoms of your tape.

• If you haven’t already, have an adult cut off the tip of the skewer or be sure to wear safety googles if you do it yourself.

• Pop these into a cake for a punch of colour!

BIRTHDAY WRAP

Materials

• Flagging tape (you can get this at hardware stores and dollar stores)
• Kraft paper, newsprint etc.
• Paint
• Painting materials (brushes, sponges etc.)
• Scissors

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Who doesn’t love kid-painted wrapping paper!  It is playful, inexpensive and lends a personal touch to any gift.

• Don your smock and paint your paper.

• Allow to dry overnight.

• Use your flagging tape as you would ribbon to accent your gift.

PHOTO BACKDROP

Materials

• Flagging tape (you can get this at hardware stores and dollar stores)
• Tacks or tape
• Scissors (Whoops!  It seems we forgot these in the photo!)

Directions

• This is an activity for slightly older kids.

• Use your flagging tape to create a simple photo backdrop for snapping  photos with your friends.   You could go with simple stripes, diagonal lines or weave the tape as we did. (Make the columns and the go “under, over” with the rows.)  Cut manageable strips and secure the ends with tacks (ask an adult before doing this) or tape.

• Take a photo with you and your friends in the centre and then use the crop function on your camera or phone to edit out the ends of the strips/tacks.

• Voila!  A colourful and fun background for your party memories!

Purpose

• Creating with inexpensive materials

Safety Notes

• Beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 or those that tend to put things in their mouths.
• Be sure to use flagging tape with supervision and caution as it can be a strangulation hazard.

Materials

• Two packages of iron-on jean knee patches (You can buy these at dollar stores and fabric stores, ours were adult size and came in a two pack, for a total of four.  They come in a few washes.)
• Scissors
• Iron (to be used by an adult)
• Ribbon, fabric scraps

Directions

• Take your patches out of the wrap and flatten them by putting a few heavy books on them (if they were folded like ours.)

• Fold one jean patch (as seen below) and make snips (so that the cuts will be slightly wider than your ribbon) to form a row.   We experimented with alternating between bigger and smaller spaces in between snips with each row, making 2-3 rows.  Be sure not to make your snips too close to the edge.

• Cut your ribbon into pieces longer than your patches OR using another patch, cut it into strips a bit smaller in width than your slits.

• Weave your ribbon or strips into your slits. (Go up through one slit and down through the next, repeat.)

• Once done, trim your ribbon to be slightly shorter than the edge of the jean patch so that the two adhesive sides will make contact still and stick together.

• Add another patch onto the back (so that the two adhesive sides are facing each other) and have an adult iron each of the sides (left and right) and the bottom (so only three sides are ironed, leaving an opening).  We ironed only the edges 1/2 an inch/1.25 cm to an inch/2.5 cm in.  (We added a bit of sewing in yellow thread, only so that you could see the approximate lines.)

• Allow to cool and pop in your little gift!

Purpose

• Thinking of others
• Experimenting with various materials
• Learning to weave, developing one’s fine motor skills

Safety Notes

• Use scissors with care and direct supervision.
• An iron should be used by an adult.