art

Valentine’s Day Owl Craft

February 10, 2024 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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Here’s a cute Valentine’s Day owl craft that doubles as a fun card to give to someone you love on February 14. It can be made entirely from paper or embellished with a few more supplies. Download the free template to make craft preparation easy.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Supplies To Collect

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Gather the following supplies for this sweet owl-themed Valentine’s Day craft:

various colors cardstock or construction paper
8 ½-inch x 11-inch white cardstock paper
wiggly eyes
eyelash stickers
thin felt pen
scissors and pencil
glue stick

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The Valentine’s Day Owl Craft

This owl-dorable Valentine’s Day craft is so easy to make. The first thing to do is pick a few different colors of cardstock or construction paper to use.

Then, download this template and use it to cut out the owl’s body, wings, beak, and feet. Pick different colors of paper for the task.

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Get the free printable:

Valentine’s Day Owl Craft PrintableDownload

This printable is for individual or one classroom use only.

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Next, use a glue stick to affix the body onto a neutral-colored sheet of 8 ½ inch x 11-inch cardstock paper.

Afterward, cut out a paper heart and glue it in the center of the body.

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Then glue a wing on either side, positioning each one to touch the edge of the heart.

Glue on two small hearts on the bottom of the body to serve as feet.

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Then add two eyelash stickers or wiggly eyes to the head, and glue a paper beak. Or draw in the eyes with a thin felt marker or pencil.

Finally, add the words “You Have My Hoot” to the top of the picture using the art medium of your choice.

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The owl-themed saying on this craft can be varied. Below, the Valentine’s message is “You Hoot a Song in My Heart,” and the large heart is cut from musical note-themed scrapbook paper.

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The Valentine’s Day Owl Craft Simplified

For a simple classroom or home-based activity, print the free owl craft template below onto copy paper. Give a template to each child participating in the craft. Invite participants to color each owl body part with crayons or pencil crayons, and cut the parts out. Then have them glue the colored shapes to a cardstock background to create the Valentine’s Day owl craft. Finally, have everyone draw eyelashes or eyes on their bird and add the words “You Have My Hoot” with a felt pen or pencil.

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Get the free printable:

Valentine’s Day Owl Craft Printable 2Download

This printable is for individual or one classroom use only.

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More Valentine’s Day Crafts

Origami Heart Valentines

Woolly Sheep Valentine’s Day Craft

Dinosaur Valentine Craft

Heart Doily Gnome Valentines

Ladybug Wand Craft

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[Read more…]

Chinese New Year Dragon Craft

February 7, 2024 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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The Chinese New Year celebration is just around the corner, and this year the feature animal is a dragon. The imaginary animal is fifth in the Chinese Zodiac and is linked with the element wood in the year 2024. So naturally, wood products are incorporated in this Chinese New Year dragon craft.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Dragon Craft Supplies

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The supplies in this spectacular dragon craft are:

sandpaper
wood sample chips
wiggly eye
11-inch x 14-inch sturdy paper
Asian coin play money
white glue and glue paddle
pencil and scissors

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The Chinese New Year Dragon Craft

For this woodsy dragon, I enlarged a dragon necklace pattern, a free printable on the blog. I used it to cut out the head, legs, and tail from a sheet of course sandpaper.

Small rectangular wood sample chips, donated from a hardware store, make up the curvy body.

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Gold Asian play coins add glitz to the design.

The creative invitation makes a unique transient art activity. Or the supplies can be glued onto a large piece of sturdy paper using white glue and a glue paddle.

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Variations Of The Dragon Craft

Instead of using wood sample chips, rectangles cut from wood-themed scrapbook paper would work beautifully.

Circles cut or punched from metallic or glitter gold cardstock could serve as the play money.

The entire project would look equally stunning made from one or more colors of construction paper.

The Chinese New Year dragon craft is a great fit for Lunar New Year 2024. Since dragons are part of the celebrations every year, it could become an annual project.

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More Chinese New Year Activities

Chinese New Year Pretend Play

Chinese New Year Sensory Tub

Orange-scented Playdough Invitation

Chinese Money Tree Art and Sensory Activities

Chinese New Year DIY Decorating

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[Read more…]

Polar Scene Snow Painting

February 6, 2024 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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This polar scene snow painting activity was a last minute set up after a group discussion about igloos and the possibility of making one. We just happened to have a lot of snow in our city that week, so it was a good fit. Save this idea for the next time you have snow…the art and sensory activity is sure to be a hit.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

Supplies to Collect

Just the following few supplies are needed for this polar scene snow painting activity:

sensory tray
bus tub
large bowl
polar animal figurines
ice cubes or acrylic ice cubes
snow
paint pots and paintbrushes
neon food coloring or liquid food colors
stage light (optional)

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Polar Scene Snow Painting

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To set up this snowy sensory set up, the first thing to do is to select a sensory tray. For this activity, I picked a large active world tray. It is gernously-sized, and has room for six to eight children to paint at a time. For three to four children, a smaller tray or bin would work just fine.

Next, fill a bus tub or similar-sized utility box with snow and pour it into the bin.

Afterward, pack a salad bowl-sized metal bowl full of snow and let it sit for a few minutes.

Then tip the bowl over in the center of the snow-filled tray to create an igloo. Pack more snow around the dome if necessary to ensure a rounded shape.

Dig a little hole in one part of the igloo to become an entrance.

Then add ice cubes or acrylic ice cubes around the snow house.

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Next, generously squirt neon food colors such as green, pink, and purple into paint pots half-filled with water. Add a paintbrush to each pot.

Note: The food color choices are inspired by hues displayed in northern lights, which frequently flood the arctic skies and illuminate the land.

Finally, invite your little charges to paint the igloo and snow.

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To extend this transient art invitation and add ambiance, set up a stage light and position it to shine on the igloo and animal figurines while the children are participating in the polar scene snow painting activity.

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Children may wish to paint the animal figurines during the art and sensory experience. The paint washes off easily with a little soap and water.

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More Northern Lights-inspired Activities

Igloo “Glamping” Pretend Play

Polar Bear Small World

Northern Lights Squish Painting

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[Read more…]

Giant Snowflake Printmaking

January 26, 2024 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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This giant snowflake printmaking project gives children a chance to paint on a different canvas and practice a printmaking technique in an ombre color scheme. A large, slatted wooden snowflake is the inspiration and unique find for this printmaking activity.

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Follow me on Pinterest for more early learning ideas.

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Snowflake Printmaking Craft Supplies

For this gigantic snowflake printmaking activity, gather the following supplies:

large slatted wooden snowflake
turquoise, red, blue, and white tempera paints
paint pots and paintbrushes
spoons
large sheets of paper

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The Giant Snowflake Printmaking Process

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To do this snowflake printmaking activity, select a large, wooden snowflake for the canvas. This oversized snowflake with four wooden slats works perfectly for an ombre painting activity.

Next, choose tempera paint colors. In this ombre design, the chosen colors are shades of blue, pink, and turquoise.

Then stir white paint into the red, blue, and turquoise temperas to create hues to your liking. Varying amounts of white mixed with blue tempera paint make the light and medium blue hues. White added to red makes a pastel pink shade. And white added to turquoise makes the lighter hue.

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Afterward, set out the paints in pots and add a paintbrush to each one.

Paint each slat a different paint color. Apply the colors generously, and make sure to give the outside edges an extra good coat.

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Finally, carefully flip the wooden snowflake over onto an 11-inch x 14-inch piece of sturdy art paper, or an 11-inch x 17-inch piece of copy paper. Press firmly on all parts of the unpainted side of the snowflake, and then lift it off carefully.

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Tip: You may want to make two prints for your first try with this painting technique. The tempera paint will transfer over better on the second try.

When the paint print snowflake is dry, trim the top and bottom edges of the paper. Or cut the colorful snowflake out.

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The wooden snowflake canvas can be used over and over if you are introducing this printmaking activity to a group of children.

Large printed snowflakes positioned at different angles display beautifully together.

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Helping Little Learners Experience The Printmaking Process

Little learners will need help when performing this giant snowflake printmaking activity in the following ways:

painting each slat the appropriate color
applying paint to all areas of the wooden canvas
flipping the snowflake over to make a print on paper

In this activity, they can label and match colors, learn about an ombre color scheme, and practice a printmaking art activity.

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Variations Of This Giant Snowflake Printmaking Activity

To follow up this art experience, invite participants to paint the snowflake canvas any way they would like to allow for individual creativity.

A second idea is to offer wooden snowflakes in a smaller size. This gives little learners a chance to make snowflake prints independently.

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More Winter Activities

Winter Playdough Recipe

Spray Paint Snowflake Silhouette

Blue Candy Cane Science Experiment

Winter-themed Treasure Blocks

Igloo Camping Pretend Play

Polar Bear Small World

Winter Sensory Trays

Painting Ice and Snow

Winter Wreath Paper Plate Craft

Ice Drum Musical Instruments

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[Read more…]

Snowflake Reindeer Craft

December 21, 2023 by Annette Kaminsky Leave a Comment

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This snowflake reindeer craft is a fun Christmas one to include in your rotation of festive activities. It gives little learners a chance to use scissors and paint and help create an animal craft. Download the free printable to make this craft super easy to put together.

The original plan for this activity was to create a neutral snowflake reindeer paper craft. The neutral paper proved to be a little hard to cut into snowflakes, so my little charges moved on to cutting shapes from coffee filters instead. This led to painting them in pink, purple, and turquoise hues, not anywhere near actual reindeer colors. So we ended up making brown red-nosed reindeer, and others in turquoise, pink, and purple hues.

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Snowflake Reindeer Craft Supplies

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Gather the following supplies to make this cute snowflake reindeer craft:

round coffee filters
brown, pink, purple, and turquoise liquid watercolors or tempera paint blocks
paint pots
paintbrushes
brown, turquoise, purple, white, cream, and grey cardstock paper
red, pink, and teal pompoms
wiggly eyes
glue stick
white glue
scissors

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The Snowflake Reindeer Craft

To make the reindeer craft, start by having participants fold and cut coffee filters into snowflake designs. A lovely blog post by supermakeit.com shows how to create them.

Next, invite participants to paint a snowflake light brown, using liquid watercolor paint or tempera blocks made wet with water.

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While the painted coffee filter snowflakes are drying, cut reindeer heads and legs from brown cardstock, and antlers from cream-colored cardstock. Older children can do this themselves. Feel free to download this pattern to make craft preparation easier.

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Reindeer Craft PatternDownload

This printable is for individual or one classroom use only.

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Afterward, have participants use a glue stick to adhere their decorated snowflake to the center of 8 ½ x 11-inch or 12-inch x 12-inch cardstock paper.

Then guide them in using their glue stick to tack on the reindeer’s head, antlers, and legs.

Finally, have them use white glue to adhere two wiggly eyes and a red pompom nose to their reindeer.

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In addition to having children paint snowflakes in a neutral hue, set out a few other paint colors. Purple, pink, and turquoise are good color choices for painting them. Offer complementary-colored cardstock for the reindeer heads, antlers, noses, and legs.