Contact Paper Ornaments

Want a quick way to make ornaments with your children? Well,  make some Contact Paper Ornaments. They are so easy to make.  My daughter loves to draw so this was a fun way to incorporate her drawings into some fun tree decorations.

For Contact Paper Ornaments you'll need :

-White paper or card stock

-markers or crayons

-contact paper

-hole puncher

-wire or pipe cleaners

First, start drawing lots of fun Holiday or Winter themed ideas onto white paper or card stock. We did this together.  I started to draw,  and then my six year old joined in.  Lots of Christmas trees and candy canes.

Santa and reindeer.

Then after you have a bunch of drawings, cover each side of the drawing with contact paper.

Lastly, cut around the drawings,  punch a hole, and then add wire or pipe cleaners for hanging. They are ready to hang or to be given as unique gifts that I know many people will truly LOVE!

Paper Plate Turkey Wreaths

Here is my last Thanksgiving post...Paper Plate Turkey Wreaths.  This can be a nice quick project to do before the holiday!

To create a Paper Plate Turkey Wreath you'll need:

a paper plate

scissors

 paint or crayons

real feathers or construction paper feathers

glue

First, draw a a circle in the inner part of a paper plate and add a turkey head within the circle.

Then, cut that part out.

Now, either paint the paper plate and let it dry or color it with crayons to make it a quick project without dry time.

Then,  add an eye, beak, wattle and feather lines. We used real feathers, but you could use construction paper feathers too. You can hang it on your door for a festive decoration.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Turkey Pinch Pots

This is a fun clay project that can be done with fire clay, air dry clay, or even play dough. We've done it with all kinds of clays and doughs and it works well.  I've made them with elementary art students in the past and most recently with my daughter C.  These Turkey Pinch Pots make great Thanksgiving Day decorations and gifts.

To create Turkey Pinch Pots you'll need:

Clay or Play Dough (We use Crayola Air Dry Clay)

A pencil or a pointy object for adding detail

Acrylic or Tempera paint

Mod Podge if a shiny finish is desired

First,  begin with a small golf ball size of clay or smaller.

Use your thumb to create a hole, but not all the way through.

Pinch out the hole more by turning it.  Don't make it too thin because you want to add the head and tail later.

Pinch out the head and wattle.

Then pinch out the tail.

Use a pencil or toothpick to add eyes, wings , and detail on the feathers.  Now let dry for a few days if air dry clay.  If play dough, just have fun creating turkeys and make new ones the nest day.

Now,  paint the turkeys.  We used brown, orange, yellow, and red.

Then display or give as gifts.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Enjoy your family and friends this week and be thankful for them too!

Contact Paper Turkey Sun Catchers

We created Contact Paper Turkey Sun Catchers after realizing our dreary windows needed cheering up for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving seems to get left out and I began brainstorming for some crafty ideas to make including this one.  Some of my beat ideas seem to come from these moments. Keep reading to find out how we made our Turkey Sun Catchers.

For Contact Paper Turkey Sun Catchers you'll need:

Contact Paper

Tissue Paper

Wire or String

First peel back the non-sticky layer of contact paper to reveal the sticky sheet side up.

Then start placing torn and crinkled sheets of tissue paper down on to the sticky contact paper.  We began with the brown turkey body, head, and wings.

Then added details on the head and add the feet.

Add colorful tissue paper for the feathers.

Then place the non-sticky layer of contact paper on top of the sticky and tissue paper layer.  Press down. Trim around the picture or turkey. Add string or wire to hang. Let the line shine through your creations for an upcoming Thanksgiving sunny day!

This is a turkey without trimming.

More Turkey ideas:

Coffee Filter Turkey Cards

Quick Turkey Art with Paper Plates

Photography: ABC Scavenger Hunt

This such a fun activity that I've done with my daughter and my High School Art Students. The assignment is to search for letters in the environment and take pictures of them. This project forces you to be a better observer and to get close when taking pictures, which are great skills to teach a beginning photographer. To make it simple, start with finding letters of your name and maybe move on to the whole alphabet.  Here are some of our letters.

You can also do this project without a camera.  It makes a walk around the neighborhood more fun and interesting!  It also is educational for little ones in reinforcing their alphabet recognition!

Check out more fun that we've had with photography in these posts: 

Photography From A Preschooler

Scratch Through Photos

Making Art On The Scanner

More Photography Posts will be coming your way in future posts so stay tuned!

How to Make a Simple Kazoo

I love simple and easy projects made with recycled materials and here is one of them.  We made Kazoos. Find out how below.

All you need to create a simple kazoo is:

A cardboard tube

a small square of wax paper

rubber bands (or elastics)

paint or markers for decorating

First we painted and decorated our cardboard tubes and let them dry.

Next,  put a square of wax paper  over one end and attach it with a rubber band.

Then, hum or sing through the other end! So easy...and fun...

What musical instruments have you made with your kids?