Tag Archives: art

Fly You High

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flying booksWe brought this flying book craft to a community event. It’s simple to prep, easy to make, and the smile you get when a finished book “flies” off the table is priceless!

You’ll need:

Start by cutting the construction paper into quarters, resulting in four, 4″ x 6″ rectangles. 1 rectangle = 1 book cover. Next, cut the standard white paper into quarters, resulting in four, 4.5″ x 5.5″ rectangles. The white paper rectangles will be the pages of your book. Fold two white paper rectangles into the construction paper cover and staple it to create a book.

Punch a hole in the top of the book, about 1″ away from the spine. Then run a piece of patterned tape (or color masking tape) down each side of the book to create a “spine.” Or, you can skip this step and simply use markers to decorate the spine and cover of the book.

book spine step 2One boy wanted to make a “monster” book, so I created a spiky spine on his book using color masking tape. To make a spiky spine, stick one piece of tape right on edge of the spine. Repeat on the other side. Press the tape together.

monster spine step 1Then cut out the monster spines!

monster spine step 2Use the markers to customize your wings, then attach a wing to each side of the book with glue dots. Finish by running a piece of elastic beading cord through the punched hole, loop the ends together, and knot. Dangle, flip, jiggle, and swoop your book at the end of the cord for full-on flying action!

book spine step 2

PVC!

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pvc cutterSay hello to my little friend! This PVC cutter is one of the most-loved items in my strange and bizarre box of outreach tools (also included – thunder tubes, egg timers, a train whistle, an overhead projector, and black eyeliner). Why?

Because PVC pipe is such a fantastic arts & crafts item. It’s cheap, it’s clean, it’s sturdy, it’s hollow so you can stick things in it. The only problem is that the 1/2″ PVC pipe I use only comes in 10-foot tubes. Enter the PVC cutter. It nips the PVC pipe down to just the right size.

pvc-pipe1I made my fantastic PVC discovery when I was racking my brain trying to find a cheap way to make 500 Harry Potter wands. The wands needed hollow centers for phoenix feathers, dragon heartstrings, and unicorn hair. I was thinking about bubble tea straws but they were just too fragile and short. Then one day, wandering through the hardware store, I landed in the plumbing section and my problems were solved! I was able to cut 12, 10″ PVC wands from each tube for a grand total of 15 cents a wand.

After stuffing the core of their wands, kids wrapped them with color masking tape or brown masking tape. But wood patterned masking tape (or duct tape) would look fantastic as well.

If you’re looking for a few more Harry Potter ideas, check out this post. It’s a tally of all the Harry Potter activities we’ve done on this blog (and I try to keep it updated as we add projects).

Since my amazing PVC discovery, I’ve used it in projects involving marionettes, a boom mic for a camera set, sturdy flower stems, stick horses, robotic arms, butterfly nets, and more traditional magic wands (like the one that accompanies this fabulous little magic set).

Bling Bin

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bling binIf you craft with kids, you need a BLING BIN!

My bling bin is a 18″ x 11″ x 7″ plastic tub filled with all sorts of odds and ends. Glittery stickers, sparkle stems, shiny paper, mylar squares, pom-poms, tissue paper, metallic poster board pieces, gold curling ribbon, the works! When I have a project that requires free-form creative decoration, I bring out the bling bin so kids can pick and choose what they would like to use.

In fact, to break out my Educational Psychologist hat for a moment, I always try to build choice into all my projects, so kids will exercise those decisive brain muscles and feel a sense of ownership. This technique can be quite simple. If the project calls for a pipe cleaner, let them pick the color they want from a pile. If you’re making a box dog, give them a few “dog” colors to choose from (and always have pink on hand because someone always asks!).

And before you ask, yes, my Educational Psychologist hat looks exactly like Dumbledore’s hat, complete with gold tassel.

The bling bin is also a nifty recycling bin. If I have something shiny left over from a program, I toss it in the bin for a later date. I love seeing the metallic stars we used for a tooth fairy project show up on a robot marionette a few weeks later.