Using various wooden items to make something else is a great open-ended activity to keep kids engaged over the holidays.  Go with your child(ren)’s interests.  Here was our son’s idea! 

Materials

• Wooden materials (he chose these little boxes, blocks and various other wooden embellishments)

• Glue gun/glue (You could go with wood glue if you like)
• Acrylic paint
• Brushes
• Sand paper (If needed)
• Cotton batting or cotton balls

• Gesso (Optional, but it helps the paint adhere to the wood)
• Any other materials you may like to create a background scene, diorama feel etc.  (For example he used felt, tissue paper, glitter paint, metallic pastels, watercolour paints, paintbrushes etc.)

We always find a smock helpful for these types of projects too:

Directions

• Don your smock. Glue together any items to form your train and that you want to paint the same colour.  (As you can see our son re-evaluated his decision regarding the wheels- which he popped off to paint black.  It is good for children to make these discoveries on their own and re-work their plans accordingly.  All these experiences lend to future abilities to plan, assess and re-configure projects.)

• Cover your train with a thin layer of gesso.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Paint your train and the additional wooden parts that you would like to add whatever colours you like.  For example our son and daughter painted the wheels black and the train body red.  You may need a few coats.

• Glue your embellishment pieces on.  We used a glue gun, but you could go with the option of wood glue if you like.

• Create a base for the world your train will be in.  Our son went with two pieces of paper glued together, a tissue paper lake and a coating of glitter paint to create a sparkly snow effect.  Create any other items to enhance your environment such as the 3-D mountain (tissue paper glued and painted over an existing plastic train tunnel), the 2-D mountain background (made with pastels and a watercolour wash) and the northern lights (on the backs of the mountains).  He added a little bit of cotton batting to form the train’s smoke and snow.  His track was made from a little picket fence.  Go with whatever you would like and the materials you have on hand!

• With the extra pieces our son created another miniature train for his train-loving little brother for Christmas!  (Shhhh…)

Purpose

• Creating models and backgrounds a process that is transferrable to many school projects and construction explorations in the future.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and the glue gun with care and direct adult supervision and guidance.
• Small, wooden items can be a choking hazard therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.

Materials

• Liquid watercolour paint
• Plastic containers
• Water (to dilute your paints)
• Paint brushes
• Watercolour paper
• Metallic permanent pen and/or white crayon
• Scissors
• Card set (or make your own out of cardstock and an envelope)
• Pencil/eraser
• Craft tray
• Glue stick (Whoops!  It seemed to have migrated from the shot!)

We always a smock helpful too:

Directions

• Don your smock.  We used a few items to create a resist, drawing out our designs using metallic pens and a white crayon.  You could go with any techniques that you are interested in exploring or currently enjoy.

• Paint your work with your diluted watercolours.

• Allow to dry overnight.  If your work slightly curls when dried, flip it over and pile some heavy books on top of it and leave it overnight.

• Decide on a phrase for your card.  Lightly sketch out your letters on your paper and cut them out.  One trick to hide the pencil line is to cut slightly inside of it!

• Glue them to the front of your card with your glue stick (applying the glue to back of the letters).  Again if you want them to dry flat, apply heavy books and allow it to dry overnight.  We punched some circles to add to the envelope.

• Once dry, write a personal message in the interior of the card and give it to a friend or family member!

Purpose

• Exploring various painting techniques and tools for resists.
• Developing one’s fine motor skills (drawing out letters, cutting, gluing etc.)
• Creating occasions for meaningful writing.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and adult supervision.

When we were children we drew on paper hot plates with crayons and loved it.  This memory was brought back by seeing Wee Warhol’s (http://www.weewarhols.com/) recent Instagram photograph, exploring crayons on candle warmers and we wanted to give it a try with our children.  (Of course, this is an activity intended for older children with direct supervision and guidance, based on your discretion- enjoy carefully!)

Materials

• Candle warmer
• Wax crayons (with the paper removed)
• Lids (we used these inserts from the granola cups for yogurt from Starbucks)
• Watercolour paints (and water to dilute if you like as well as containers)
• Scissors
• Paint brushes
• Ribbon
• Pencil/paper
• Watercolour paper
• Glue gun
• Silver paper (You could use heavy duty tin foil alternatively)

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Don your smock.  Trace around lids to form circles to fit on your candle warmer surface.  Cut them out.  You will need two pieces per ornament.

• Lay your paper circle on the candle warmer and apply your crayon.  We found allowing a few seconds for the paper to warm and applying pressure to the crayon produced the best results.  Your child could wear an oven mitt or a work glove if you feel more comfortable with that.  Carefully remove your paper with a butter knife to avoiding touching the warmer.

• Paint over your crayon designs with watercolour paints.  Allow to dry.

• Cut out your ornament caps from your silver paper.  (Remember you will need two- one for each side!)  You could either fold the paper to make two exact copies or as our son did- make one, cut it out and then use it as a tracer for the second!  (These are the times I am most impressed with my child’s ingenuity!)

• Glue your caps to your ornaments.

• Cut enough ribbon to make a small loop and then glue it to the back of the ornament.  Glue your other ornament on top so that the caps line up with each other.  Trim the edges if need be.

• Allow your ornament to dry and then hang it on your tree or string a few of them into a garland.

Purpose

• Exploring various kinds of resists.
• Recognizing seasonal/ celebratory symbols.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use the candle warmer, glue gun and scissors with care and direct adult supervision/guidance.  (This is not an activity intended for younger children.)
• Cord, yarn, ribbon etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.