Before beginning any
arts & craft activity, go over the directions with an adult. Enjoy!
Snowflakes
Martin Luther King Banners
Pine Cone Bird Feeders
Apple
Prints
Leaf Rubbings
String Paintings
Friendship Wreaths
Abraham Lincoln Masks
Valentine's Day Cards
Telescopes
Snowflakes!
Material Needed:
- White paper
- Scissors
- Imagination
Instructions:
-You must cut your white paper into a square.
-Fold one top corner down diagonally to touch the opposite side.
-You have a triangle on top and a rectangle below.
-Cut the rectangle off and you have a square folded in half to make a
triangle.
-Fold the triangle in half to make another triangle, again to make
another, and, if you can, perhaps fold it in half one more time.
-Now it is time for creative cutting! You may cut into each side, but
be sure you don’t cut away all of one side.
-When you are done, unfold your paper and see what a beautiful
snowflake you’ve made.
-Try different ways of cutting and see how different your snowflakes
are. Each snowflake that nature makes is completely unique – make yours
unique, too!
Martin Luther King Banners
Material Needed:
- Paper (newsprint or typing)
- Cereal box cardboard
- String, yarn or ribbon
- Glue
- Brown and peach paint (washable tempera paint) or other skin colors
- Paintbrush
- Old pie plates or wide shallow containers for each paint color
- Marker
- Old newspapers to work on (or a safe, washable surface)
Instructions:
-Cut a 1 ˝ inch wide strip of cardboard 9 inches long to form a
support for the top of the banner.
-Cut a 2 foot length of yarn and tie the ends together to make a hanger
for the banner.
-Fold the top of your paper down over the yarn hanger and the cardboard
support and glue the paper down and the cardboard and yarn in place.
-Paint your palm one skin color.
-Make a handprint with the fingers pointing to the top of the paper.
-With a clean brush, paint your palm a different skin color.
-Make a second handprint in the opposite direction just touching the
first handprint.
-On your banner, write the famous words that Martin Luther King said:
"I have a dream."
-After it dries, hang your banner with pride!
Pine Cone Birdfeeders
Material Needed:
- Pinecone
- String or yarn
- Peanut butter
- Butter knife or spreader
- Birdseed
- Old pie plate or wide shallow container for birdseed
- Old newspapers to work on (or a safe, washable surface)
Instructions:
-Take the string or yarn and tie a loop onto the tip of the pinecone.
-With your butter knife or spreader, cover the pinecone with peanut
butter.
-Roll the peanut butter-covered pinecone in the birdseed so it is
completely covered.
-Hang your pinecone birdfeeder in a tree and see how many birds come by
for lunch!
Apple Prints
Material Needed:
- Heavy white paper
-
Red paint (washable tempera paint)
-
Apple
-
Old pie plate or wide shallow container for paint
-
Old newspapers to work on (or a safe, washable surface)
Instructions:
-Have a grown up cut apple in half (from side to side, not stem to bottom).
-Place red paint in pie plate or other pan.
-Put materials on a safe, washable surface.
-Dip cut side of apple into paint and place on paper. Be creative!
Leaf Rubbings
Materials Needed:
- Big, interesting leaves
-
Thin paper (like newsprint or copier paper)
-
Crayons with no paper on them
Instructions:
-Turn leaves backside up, so their veins show.
-Place the paper on top of the leaves. You may want to tape the paper down so it stays
put during the crayon rubbing.
-With the side edge of the crayon, rub firmly over the leaves beneath the paper. Are
you surprised at what appears?
String Paintings
Materials Needed:
- String (like yarn, cotton string or twine)
- Paper (construction paper, copier paper or newsprint)
- Paint in up to three colors (washable tempera paint)
- Old pie plate or wide shallow container for paint
- Old newspapers to work on (or other safe, washable surface)
Instructions:
-Place paints in pie plates or other shallow container.
-Cut string so it is about 18 inches long (or a little longer than your paper is).
-Fold paper in half. The string paintings work best if you fold it side to side like
this:
-Dip string into the paint so it is well-covered and lay it down on one side of your
opened paper, leaving part of the string hanging out.
-Refold the paper, hold it down and PULL the string out quickly.
-When you open the paper, you should see a symmetrical surprise!
-Repeat as many times as you want, or move on to another string painting.
Friendship Wreaths
Material Needed:
-Posterboard
-Yarn, string or ribbon
-Colored construction paper
-Pen or pencil
-Scissors
-Glue
-Old newspapers to work on (or a safe, washable surface)
Instructions:
-To celebrate Black History Month and the legacy of Martin Luther King, we
are making Friendship wreaths. Friendship wreaths are best made with many people
helping out.
-Cut a wreath shape (a big doughnut) out of posterboard and attach the
string, yarn or ribbon to the back as a hanger.
-Each person should trace their right and left hands on a construction paper
color of their choice.
-After cutting out their hand, each person can glue them onto a section of
the friendship wreath. There should be different hands going all around the
wreath.
-Give yourselves a hand! You just made a friendship wreath!
Valentine’s Day Cards
Material Needed:
-Colored construction paper
-Scissors
-Markers
-Any pretty odds and ends like lace, feathers, glitter, ribbons, doilies,
sequins, tissue paper…
Instructions:
-Anything you can create will make a wonderful Valentine’s Day Card, but if
you need a few suggestions…
-Valentine’s Day colors are usually red, white and pink.
-Fold a piece of construction paper in half, putting the two shortest ends of
paper together.
-This first piece of paper will be your card.
-Now to cut out a heart. Take another piece of construction paper, in a
different color from the first, and fold it in half with the two shortest ends
together.
-About 2/3 of the way up the folded end of the paper, begin cutting a half of
a heart. It’s like the letter C.
-Cut two rectangles of paper from the scraps left over and glue half of one
to the left side of the heart, and half of another to the right side of the
heart, so the unglued half sticks out on either side.
-Then, on the inside of your card, glue the heart by the tabs you made with
the rectangles, placing the heart so its fold is exactly over the card’s fold.
-Curl the rectangles so you glue the top side of the tab to the paper, like
you glued to the top of the tab to the heart. This will make the heart "pop
up" when someone opens the card.
-Now be creative! Decorate the heart and the cover of your card and don’t
forget to wish your Valentine, "Happy Valentine’s Day!"
Abraham Lincoln Masks
Material Needed:
-Paper plate
-Scissors
-Black poster paint
-Paintbrush
-Black construction paper
-Glue
-Stapler
-Old newspapers to work on (or a safe, washable surface)
Instructions:
-Take a paper plate and cut the middle out of it, leaving the rim.
-Paint the rim of the plate completely black. This will be Abe Lincoln’s
beard!
-From the black construction paper, cut a rectangle about 7 inches by 8
inches.
-Glue one of the shorter ends of the paper to the edge of the black rim
beard. This is part of Abe Lincoln’s trademark stovepipe hat!
-Now cut a strip of black paper about 2 inches wide and a few inches longer
than the rectangle. Glue it along the bottom of the rectangle to make the brim
of the hat.
-Cut out a much longer strip of black paper to make band for the mask.
-Staple one end of the band to a side of the mask, fit it around your head
and have someone else staple the other end in place.
-Now you look just like Honest Abe!
Telescopes
Material Needed:
-Paper towel roll tube
-Toilet tissue roll tube (single roll)
-Silver or gold glitter (and glue) or star stickers
Instructions:
-Benjamin Banneker, the son of former slaves, was a very intelligent man who
was interested in many things. At the age of 58, he took up astronomy, the study
of planets, stars and moons, and was soon predicting eclipses and other
astronomical events for almanacs. To study astronomy, he used a telescope.
-By fitting the paper towel roll into the toilet tissue roll, you make a
contraption that looks like a telescope!
-With glue and glitter or star stickers, you can decorate the outside of your
telescope with constellations and other celestial patterns.
