Crafty Compendium

Welcome to the Wilmette Park District's Craft Compendium. Use this as a resource to find craft ideas for your event!

[crafty-compendium]

Paper Quilting

Materials Needed:

Plain white printer paper

12 squares of differently colored construction paper

Crayons (I used pastel crayons, but any kind should work fine)

Glue sticks

Optional:

Pom poms

Beads

Yarn or string

Suggested Age Range:

7-14 Years Old

Detailed Instructions:

Start with the plain sheet of printer paper, this will be the base of your project. Participants can then pick out the squares of colorful construction paper that will become their quilt "panels". If you did not precut the construction paper, I would encourage participants to draw out the general shape that they want their quilt to look like.

After they have all their paper panels set out, they can begin to glue them down to the sheet of printer paper. The result should look something like this:

After all the pieces have been glued down and the quilt base has been completely covered with the colorful construction paper, participants can begin to decorate using available materials. I decorated the sample using only crayons, but if pom poms, string or beads are available they could make for good decoration to make the quilt look more exciting. To make it look more like a quilt encourage participants to draw "stitches" along the boarders of each "panel", they can then draw fun designs inside each "panel". Or if string is available they could use that to create the "stitched" edges.

This is how my quilt turned out, but again the more creative freedom the better. The result does not need to look the same.

Suggestions for this Craft:

This craft is a great base for a themed week, as they participants can decorate it based on any theme. I went with an underwater theme for my own.

You can encourage participants to change the "stitch" style on the edge of their squares to change up the look of each segment.

You can either precut the squares for this project, or have the participants cut their own.

If you do have the participants cut their own materials, you can show them different kinds of quilts and encourage them to do more than just square shaped pieces.

[crafty-compendium]

"Papier-Mache" Snowman

Materials Needed:

Plain blue construction paper (can be any shade)

Plain white printer paper

Glue stick

Crayons (especially white and black crayons)

Optional:

Pom poms

Beads

Yarn or string

Suggested Age Range:

5-10 Years

Detailed Instructions:

Start with the plain sheet of blue construction paper, this will be the base of your project. Have participants trace the general shape of their snowman with a white crayon as a guideline to begin with. Snowmen come in all shapes and form, encourage them to stack their snowmen as high as they would like to and experiment with the size of each segment.

After they are done drawing out the shape, they can begin to rip up the white paper that will be used in the next part of the craft. One sheet of paper should be enough to create the snowman. The pieces that they rip up can be as big or as small as they would like them to be, but please note that the smaller the pieces are the better the "papier-mache" effect will be.

Once the paper has been ripped up, begin gluing the pieces following the guidelines they had traced for their snowman.

After all the pieces have been glued down and the snowman base has been completely covered with white paper, participants can begin to decorate using available materials. I decorated the sample using pom poms and crayons, but if string or beads are available they could make a good stand in for a scarf and the classic snowman buttons.

Once they have decorated their snowmen they can begin to add details to the background. I added some snowflakes and a basic snowy ground for my snowman to stand on.

This is how my snowman turned out, but again the more creative freedom the better. The result does not need to look the same.

Suggestions for this Craft:

You can make the snowman look more in its environment by drawing snowflakes on top of it's arms/snow gear.

I suggest printer paper for the craft because it isn't as heavy as construction paper or card stock, but both of those items can also be used in a pinch.

Snowmen typically live in cold environments, but you can always get fun with it and adapt the craft to be a summery- beachman!

[crafty-compendium]

"Calico Corn" on the Cob

Materials Needed:

Pipe cleaners (preferably green/brown/black, but any color will work)

Pony beads

Suggest Age Range:

3+ Years Old

Detailed Instructions:

Begin this craft with four pipe cleaners, line them up so that they are even with one another. Once they are lined up, twist them together at the middle, which should leave you with eight segments that you can separate into a spider like formation, like this:

This is the base of your "corn", from here you can begin to put beads on each segment, leaving and inch of space at the end of each one. I love this craft because you can get very creative with the coloring. Calico corn can be yellow, red, brown or even blue and pink!

Once you have finished lining each segment with beads, simply bring the ends together and twist them a few times. If needed you can use a pair of scissors to even out the remaining bit. This part represents the husk of the corn, which is why I recommend using green, brown or black for the pipe cleaners.

This is how my calico corn turned out. I went with more natural corn colors, but in reality calico corn can be very vibrant. I would definitely let participants know that corn can be more than just yellow if you choose to do this craft.

Suggestions for this Craft:

Pony beads work best for this craft since they most closely resemble corn kernels, but if you have other bead types that you would like to use those could also work in a pinch.

This craft is great for practicing fine motor skills and is incredibly straightforward, so I definitely recommend this craft for kids of all ages.

[crafty-compendium]

Paper Plate Fish

Materials Needed:

Scalloped edged paper plates

Any kind of washable markers (alcohol or acrylic based work best)

Kiddie scissors

Optional:

Large googly eyes

Sequins

Beads

Glue sticks

Suggested Age Range:

4-12 Years Old

Detailed Instructions:

Start by turning the plate over to trace the shape of the fish along the backside of the plate. To trace the shape, draw along the edge of the center circle of the plate, leaving a small gap at any point in the circle. The gap may be as big or as small as you desire, this will be the fin of your fish. Where the gap is, draw two lines outwards towards the edge of the plate, once you have done that cut along the line you have just traced.

Once you have finished cutting you should have a template that looks like this:

Again, if desired you can make the tailfin larger or smaller depending on the effect you wish to go for. This is simply the baseline for what the result could be.

After you have your template your participants can begin to decorate using available materials. I decorated the sample using only acrylic markers, but if sequins or beads are available they could make a good stand in for scales. This is the stage where participants have creative freedom, a fish can be any color and as detailed or plain as they would like it to be.

This is how my fish turned out, but again this is more for participants to express themselves how they would like. The result does not need to look the same.

Suggestions for this Craft:

If using sequins and beads for the decorations, googly eyes will need to be use in place of drawing the eyes on.

Scalloped edged plates give the best effect for the tail fin, but other plates can be used if you are in a pinch.

The fish do not need to be anatomically correct, but it might be helpful to remind participants that their fish will need a head and eyes to see!

This craft can be modified to be more complex, adding two extra gaps in the template where a "dorsal fin" and "ventral fin" can be placed at the top and bottom of the plate.