Activity: Paper Plate Spin Art!

You Will Need:

• A paper plate
• One cardboard box with the top flaps removed
• Tempera paint (or acrylic paint mixed with water)
• A paintbrush
• A flat surface

 

Instructions:

1.       Place the paper plate into the cardboard box
2.    Drip some of the paint onto the paintbrush with the paintbrush
3.       Spin the box around

Be sure to set up this craft somewhere where paint won’t get on any other objects, such as outdoors! Every time you spin the box, the shape of the paint will change – combine different colors and see what happens.

-Miss Juliana

Activity: Marble Art

 

You Will Need:

• A piece of paper

• A marble

• A baking tin

• Washable paint

Instructions:

Step 1: Place the sheet of paper in the bottom of the baking tin.

Step 2: Dip the marble into the washable paint.

Step 3: Place the marble on top of the paper in the baking tin.

Step 4: Gently roll the marble around by holding the sides of the tin and tilting it in different directions. Be careful not to tip it over too much! Use different colors and motions in order to make a painting! Add multiple marbles for a more colorful effect.

Step 5: Place the painting to the side and let it dry. You can repeat these steps with new pieces of paper, or different sized marbles!

What kind of shapes did the marble make? 

Craft: Paper Plate Ocean Sunfish

 Have you ever heard of sunfish? They're one of the heaviest boned-fish in the world! Sunfish (also known as Mola) can grow up to 11 feet, and weigh several tons. Make your own (much smaller) Mola fish at home with this craft!

You Will Need:

• White paper plates
• Scissors
• Glue
• Gray tempera paint (or mix black and white paint together) or you can use gray crayons or markers.
• Scraps of paper and markers or crayons

Instructions:

1. Take a single paper plate. Cut off part of the plate as shown in the photo below. You’ll basically be leaving one ridged edge of the plate as the tail and cutting off the remaining ridged edge.

2. Cut out two triangles from another paper plate.

3. Glue one on top and one on the bottom of your paper plate. Allow the glue to dry.

4. Paint your entire sunfish gray, or, feel free to color and decorate your fish however you want!

4. Cut out an eye and a mouth from your scraps. Use marker or crayon to color them.

 

5. Glue your mouth and eye to your sunfish and let dry. That’s it!

Craft idea and craft pictures credit to Buggy and Buddy.

Craft: Cupcake Liner Fish

 

You Will Need:

• Blue sheet of paper
• Cupcake liners (any size)
• Glue
• Markers
• Blue and white crayon
• Googly eyes

Instructions:

Step 1. Use one whole cupcake liner for each fish body. Cut your other cupcake liner in half and one of those pieces in half again. One of those pieces will be your back tail fin. For the side tail fin, cut a small amount off the other quarter piece of cupcake liner and cut off the triangle tip. Glue all of the pieces together on your paper to make your fish.

Step 2. Glue a googly eye on each fish and use a marker to draw a mouth on each fish.

Step 3. Draw bubbles in the background with a white crayon. Use your blue crayon to draw water squiggles on your paper. Decorate however you would like!

Craft instructions and pictures belong to IHeartCraftyThings.

Activity: Paper Chain Squid/Octopus Craft

 

Summer Reading is coming up soon, and this year's theme is Oceans of Possibilities! Make this cool ocean-themed craft to celebrate.

You Will Need:

• Construction paper (any color)
• Black paper
• White paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pen

Instructions:

Start by cutting your some of your paper into 6 inch long by 1 inch wide strips (NOTE: do not use the black and white paper yet). You’ll need 60 strips total. Now we’re going to make paper chains! Place a strip of glue at the end of one strip, and roll it into a circle, overlapping the ends to glue them together.

Thread the next paper strip through the circle, and glue it in the same way. Go ahead and make your paper chain 10 circles long. If this is too much paper, fee free to make the chains shorter!

Now make 5 more, for a total of 6 paper chains. Next, you’re going to take another sheet of purple paper and cut out a squid/octopus head shape. Make the head fairly large. Then on your white paper, draw two oval eye shapes.

And on your black paper, draw two round eye pupil shapes. Cut out both pieces of the eyes, and glue them onto the head. Decorate the face any way you would like! Is your squid/octopus happy? Sad? Angry?

Now place some glue near the bottom of the head, and start gluing on your paper chain tentacles!

You’re all done! You can hang your octopus from the ceiling or a wall. 

Activity: Diving Dolphin

 

You Will Need:

• 2 paper plates

• Dark blue and sky blue paint

• Construction paper

• Split pin/paper fastener

• Glue

Instructions:

Paint the plates so one is dark blue and one is sky blue.

Cut a wave design across the dark blue plate. You need to make sure the center of the plate is part of your sea design.

Place the dark plate on top of the sky blue plate.

Use a pencil to push a hole through the mid-points of both plates and push a split pin through to connect them.

Cut a dolphin from the construction paper and glue to the sky blue plate. You can also make shapes such as a sun and clouds!

Now hold the sea and turn the sky blue plate - it will look like the dolphin is jumping in and out of the waves!

Credit to Activity Village for this craft idea.

Pride Month Craft: Straw Blowing Rainbow Art

You Will Need:

• White or plain Paper (cardstock or construction paper works best)
• Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue and Purple Paint (in squeeze bottles works best)
• A Straw

 

Instructions:

Make lines of paint on the paper in the form of a rainbow.

 

Hold the straw slightly above the first line of paint and blow through the straw.  The paint will spread, splatter and mix, making a fun pattern.

Repeat this step for each line of paint, blowing through the straw as you follow the arch of paint to the end.

Once you have finished with each arch, take a large breath and blow through the straw in random directions, encouraging the paint to spread even more.  Then allow your art to dry.

*Note: Make sure to cover your workspace well as this craft can get messy.

Activity: Straw Pan Flute

 YOU WILL NEED:

-8 plastic straws

-Tape 

-Scissors

-A ruler

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.    Cut each straw so that each one is half an inch shorter than the next. Use the ruler to measure each half inch.

2.    Fold a piece of tape over one side of each straw to block the hole.

3.    Line up the straws in height order from tallest to shortest, and make sure the open ends are aligned with each other.

4.    Take a long piece of tape and tape all of the straws together in a flat line.

5.    To play the instrument, blow across the tops of the straws.

Which length straws make the highest notes? Which ones make the lowest? Have fun making up your own songs or learning to play your favorites!

Activity: Sticky Spider Web

YOU WILL NEED:

-Tape (masking tape or painter’s tape)

-Newspaper or wrapping paper

-Balloons (optional)

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Use the tape to make a web-like design on a doorway or hallway opening.

Step 2: Scrunch up some newspaper or wrapping paper.

Step 3: Have your kids throw the paper at the web and see if it sticks! Try other light objects such as balloons.

 

See who can stick the most objects to the web, and see what kinds of objects don’t stick. Why do some objects stick and some don’t? Look at the picture below for inspiration and follow us for more fun activity ideas!

Have fun!

-Miss Juliana