Minecraft Hama Beads

Materials needed:

• Hama beads
• Hama bead board
• Iron (Make sure adults do the ironing part!)
• Key rings

Age:

5+

Approximate time required:

20 minutes

Instructions:

Hama beads are quite self-explanatory, so I'll just leave a few guideline points and the templates for you to follow!

• Make sure not to over-iron the bead near the edge, you'll want to be able to slip the metal clasp into the hama bead hole
• Make sure to iron the bead with the key ring through it again to secure

Have fun and get creative!

Feel free to request other templates!

Smiley Stress Balls

Materials needed:

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 1 tablespoon of cooking oil
• 1 cup of cold water
• 1 x bowl for mixing ingredients
• Balloons!
• Permanent marker
• Soft cardboard pieces

Age:

5+

Approximate time required:

30 minutes +

Instructions:

1. Place the plain flour, salt and cooking oil into the mixing bowl.
2. Slowly add in the water to the bowl while mixing. You may not need to add one whole cup of water, so add according. Make sure the dough isn't too wet! (Encourage children to take turns and mix with their hands! It'll help develop fine motor skills for the younger kids)
3. Start to stretch out the opening of the balloons.
4. Insert rolled up pieces of the soft cardboard into the opening.
5. Push the dough into the balloon through the cardboard until desired size.
6. Tie the end in a knot.
7. Draw on your faces!

Side note: Try to buy more durable/thicker balloons as the normal balloons tend to break quite easily. If you only have the thinner balloons, you can double up the balloons by placing one within another before putting the dough in. :)

Cupcake Carnations

Materials needed:

• 8 x cupcake holders
• Pipe-cleaner (green)
• Stapler
• Scissors

Age:
7+

Approximate time required:
10 minutes

Instructions:

1. Fold the cupcake holders in half, three times! Repeat for all 8 holders.

2. Staple 4 pieces together at the bottom. Make sure all the holders are facing the same direction. (Have all the "open" ends facing the same way.) You will have two separate units now.




3. Pull apart both sections as shown below. Make sure the sides with the openings are facing out.

4. Place pipe-cleaner as shown and twist bottom to secure.



Pull open the cupcake holders until desired effect. You may choose to use scissors to cut the tips slightly to create more of a "petal" effect, but this may be harder for younger children.

Enjoy! :)

Pom Pom Pets

Materials needed:

• Pom poms! Preferably 3 different sizes (Head, body, arms/legs/nose)
• Googly eyes
• Ribbon
• Large button
• Craft glue

Age:

5+

Approximate time required:

5 minutes! (Not including glue drying time)

Instructions:

Well, I don't really think this craft needs any step by step instructions... So just a few points:

• The "large button" in the materials list is to be stuck on the bottom so the pet can sit upright.
• For the ribbon, I've just tied it into a little bow for decoration. (Stuck on head for the girl pets, or a bow-tie for boy pets)
• Make sure you don't add too much glue! It'll make the fur look tacky!

Enjoy :)

Beaded Star

Materials needed:

• Beads!
• Fishing wire
• Scissors
• Metal clasp (Only if you want to make it into a key chain)

Age:

9+ (I don't suggest you try make a small one as shown in the second sample with the kids, it is only shown for effect and for you teachers out there to make one for yourself!)

Approximate time required:

45min~1hr

Instructions:

(Please use the above image as a reference, it will save you a lot of confusion!) Also, please assume you have to pull tightly after each step! :)

1. The length of the fishing wire you use really depends on the size of your beads, but for the orange star, I used a little less than 3 feet (1 meter-ish) of wire.
2. To start, feed through 6 beads, then crossover the last bead so it makes a circle.

3. Add 3 beads to the left and 2 beads to the right wire.
4. Crossover the 3rd bead on the left.
   
5. Repeat steps 3 & 4 eight times. After doing this, you should have a chain of nine circles! (Each circle should have six beads per.)
6. Add 2 beads to the left, and 2 beads to the right wire.
7. Now, crossover the MIDDLE bead from the first circle you've made, to create a complete loop/ring.

8. Add 1 bead left, and 1 bead right.
9. Skip ONE middle bead (as shown in picture), then crossover the next middle bead!

10. Repeat steps 8 & 9 four times. There should be five visible points now.
11. With the loose ends, repeatedly thread through the already existent beads to tighten the form of the star!

Good luck! Feel free to contact me if you're having any trouble with this one. :)

Popsicle Frame

Materials needed:

• 6 x Popsicle sticks
• PVA glue
• Buttons/beads (or whatever else you would like for decoration!)
• Cardboard
• Colored pencils/markers

Age:

5+

Approximate time required:

5-10 minutes

Instructions:

1. Get two Popsicle sticks and place glue on both ends.
2. Stack the next two on top.
3. Repeat 1 & 2!
4. For the picture, cut the cardboard according to the frame made. Although this craft is simple, you will be able to see what each child values highly!
5. Decorate! :)

Styrofoam Egg Baby

As this craft is quite easy, I haven't put in any step to step pictures. Feel free to contact me if you would like them put up. :)

Materials needed:

• Styrofoam egg-shaped balls
• Cupcake holders
• Googly eyes
• Pipe-cleaner
• Sequins (or whatever else you would like to use for decoration)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Markers

Age:

5+

Approximate time required:

Around 15~20 minutes including decorating time

Instructions:

1. Get two different colors of cupcake holders and cut out the base.
2. Apply glue to the edge of the holders and wrap around the Styrofoam egg. Make sure to stick the top layer (yellow in the sample) a bit further up from the bottom layer (red in sample) so you can see the different clothing colors.
3. Proceed to glue on the eyes, and draw a mouth.
4. For the arms and legs, cut out 4 equal pieces of pipe-cleaner and push firmly into the foam.
5. Bend the pipe-cleaner at the end sticking out to create a hand/foot effect!
6. For the bow, shape a pipe-cleaner into a figure 8, then push both ends into the Styrofoam.
7. In my sample, I have used a flower sequin to decorate the baby, but you may choose to be more environmentally friendly by using hole-punched circles/magazine cut-outs to decorate.
8. Enjoy your finished product!

Paper Dolls

Materials needed:

• Pencil
• Colored pencils or markers
• Scissors
• Square pieces of white paper (Make sure the paper is quite thin, as children will need to cut through a few layers)

Age: 

5+ This purely depends if you decide to provide a template for the children, or if you get them to draw it themselves. I found that children below the age of 8 were unable to draw the pattern themselves and needed the aid of a template to trace.

Approximate time required:

10 minutes for the pattern, unlimited for decorating!

Instructions:

1. Fold the square piece of paper as shown below.

2. Follow the template provided below. Make sure you draw exactly as it's shown, otherwise the dolls won't connect!

3. Cut along the drawn lines, then unfold.
4. Decorate! :)

Rainbow Bird

Materials needed:

• Colored paper cut into thin strips (Mine are cut into 3/4inch in width to cater for younger children, width may be changed according to your own liking)
• Glue
• Scissors
• Round pen/pencil (Used for curling the paper)

Age:
5+ (Depends on the development of fine-motor skills) The younger children may choose to make the bird a bit larger if they're struggling.

Approximate time required:
15~30 minutes

Instructions:

1. Allow each child to have one set of colors, a pen/pencil, and a pair of scissors.
2. Begin with cutting a strip of the colored paper to create the inner circle .Add glue to one end of of the strip to stick them together. Use the pen/pencil to help with holding the circle until the adhesive is dry enough. (This should only take a few seconds of holding to dry)

3. Use another to create the next circle. Make sure a longer length of paper is used than the first circle! Glue together as step 2.
4. Make a third circle which is biggest of the three.
5. After creating the three circles, proceed to glue them together. I chose to add glue to the outer part of the circle where the paper ends to cover up any parts that don't look as nice. (Use the pen/pencil to help!)

6. Repeat steps 2~5 to create the head!
7. For the beak: Cut out a square from the paper strips, fold into quarters. Proceed to add glue to the two outer quarters and stick to the head.

8. For the headpiece: Cut a strip to the size of your liking, curl the end with the pen/pencil, and attach to head.
9. For the base, feet/tail: Cut a longer piece of paper for this! Prepare as shown below. (The "Glue here" in the photo is where you stick the body)

10. Stick all your bits together, and you've finished. Enjoy your colorful birds! :)

Welcome to Crafting4Kids!

Welcome to Crafting4Kids!

Posted here will be many craft ideas designed to improve and refine mostly fine-motor skills and perceptual motor skills of children in the primary school age (5 years+). Feel free to leave comments and post up your own creations after following a guide! :)

The age recommendation provided will of course, vary from child to child. As I am a teacher, all the projects available on this site (unless otherwise specified) are child-friendly!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact me via email. I will get back to you as soon as time allows me to. :)

Entries will be slowly added as I try the crafts out with the children before I post. Subscribe to get updates when I have new stuff out!