Crafts for November
Bubblemaker
What you need:
- 1 dowel; little bigger than 1/4" diameter
- 3' long 1 wooden bead; large enough hole in the center to slip over the
end of the dowel *AND* the cording.
- 1 plastic ring; 1" - 1 1/4" in diameter
- cotton cording; about 1 yard.
What to do:
- Knot the cording 3/4" from both ends.
- Tie the ring to the cord 1 1/2' from one knot.
- Slip the ring over the dowel.
- Pull the knotted ends of the cording over one end of the dowel and push the bead over both the cording and the dowel. This should be a *TIGHT* fit.
- Make your bubble solution.
- Dip the cording in the solution and allow to soak for awhile.
- Tip the wand so the *ring* opens and wave slowly.
- Enjoy on a hot, lazy summer's day!
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Bubbles
What you need:
- 1/3 c Dish soap or baby shampoo
- 1 1/4 c Water
- 2 t Sugar
- 1 x Food coloring
What to do:
- Combine ingredients and pour into an unbreakable bottle.
- To blow bubbles, experiment using plastic straws, pipe cleaners formed into loops, strawberry baskets from grocery store, spoons with holes in them and other items you think of.
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Fall Lanterns
What you need:
- Heavy construction paper or heavy white watercolor paper, approximately 9" x 12" or 12" x 18". Size is not crucial, so you can experiment a bit.
- Crayons or Liquid Watercolors and paintbrushes
- Scissors
- Tacky glue, white glue, or glue sticks
- Paper fasteners or 1/4 inch wire
- Warming candles, votive candles or tea lights (available at grocery, hardware or kitchen stores)
- Masking tape
- Tissue paper (optional)
What to do:
- The children decorate their lantern papers by coloring or painting them. Suns, moons, and stars are appropriate decorations, but the younger children will just make color designs. Let the children choose how to color or paint their lanterns. Encourage them to fill the paper with color.
- Make a fold all the way across the paper, approximately 3 inches up from the bottom.
- Cut a fringe of 3 inch wide segments along the bottom folded section.
- Cut several small shapes out of the top portion of the lantern. These are the "windows" that the light shines through; they can be circles, random shapes, or shapes cut in the sun, stars, and moon motif. The sun can be just a circular cut-out with cut or colored "rays."
- Older children can cut their own shapes, though they may need help starting the cuts. Small pieces of tissue paper glued over the inside of the windows create a beautiful effect!
- Form the lantern paper into a cylinder, stapling it at the top and bottom. Fold the fringed edges in and overlap them to make the lantern's bottom. Put small dabs of glue between the fringes to hold them together.
- Add a fairly long handle (12-14 inches) of either 1/4 inch wire poked through the sides and twisted back onto itself to secure it, or cut 1/2 inch wide strips of paper (also 12-15 inches long) and attach them to either end of the lantern with paper fasteners.
- For the light, use votive candles, warming candles, or tea lights that come in individual metal cups. A loop of masking tape placed in the bottom of the lantern holds the candle in place.
Note: As with all activities involving candles, children should never use their lanterns unsupervised. Also, never leave lanterns burning when you are not nearby.
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Jellied Jewel Mobiles
What you need:
- Plain gelatin
- Water
- Your favorite colors of Liquid Watercolor™
- Paper towel tube
- Yarn
- Hole-punch
What to do:
- Mix one envelope of unflavored gelatin with three tablespoons boiling water and a few drops of Liquid Watercolor™.
- Stir quickly until all gelatin is dissolved.
- Pour gelatin mixture into molds or plastic lids and let dry for a half hour.
- Poke a hole into each shape for hanging.
- Paint a paper towel tube, after drying, string yarn through end-to-end.
- Punch holes on the bottom and string yarn pieces through.
- Attach dried jewels to and your done!
Please note: The gelatin can take up to 2 days to dry and some shapes will not dry completely flat.
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Liquid Watercolor Butterflies
What you need:
- Clothespin
- Your favorite colors of Liquid Watercolor™
- Eyedroppers
- Spray bottles
- Texas Snowflake (big coffee filter)
What to do:
- Fill spray bottles and/or eye droppers with your favorite colors of Liquid Watercolor™.
- Dip the clothespin in Liquid Watercolor™.
- Let dry.
- Use eyedroppers and spray bottles to decorate one layer of the Texas snowflake.
- Let dry.
- Once dry, center the colored Texas snowflake in the clothespin and slide the material all the way in.
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Sand Candles
Tourist shops at the beach often sell items made by layering colored sand into a container. You can use salt instead of sand and create a candle on its own holder. Layers of the colored salt can be used to fill jars of all shapes and sizes, and used without wicks too. If filled to the very top, they often hold the layered look for a long time and make handsome gifts.
What you need:
- Salt: about one third box for each candle
- Empty baby food jar
- Candle wick, about 2 inches long
- Food coloring
- Paraffin wax or candle wax
- Empty can to melt wax in
- Double boiler
- Small bowl for each color of salt
What to do:
- First, pour about one ¼ cup of salt into each bowl. Squirt a few drops of food coloring into the salt - one per bowl - and mix well.
- Pour the colored salt into the baby food jar, making each layer of color about ¼ inch to ½ inch deep. Do not shake. Leave top 1 inch of the jar unfilled.
- Melt the wax carefully in a can placed in the top of a double boiler at low heat (both top and bottom of the double boiler should have water in them).
- Have an adult pour hot wax into the jar, over the top of the salt. Fill the jar almost to the top.
- While the wax is still hot, and has not yet begun to set, drop the piece of wick into the wax, letting about 1 inch of the wick stick out at the top.
- Let the candle cool undisturbed.
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Edible Clay
What you need:
- 1/2 Cup Light corn syrup
- 3/4 Cup Peanut butter
- 1/2 Cup Soft margarine
- 1/2 tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Flour
What to do:
- Mix ingredients well and knead until smooth.
- Play!
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Spicy Applesauce Ornaments
What you need:
- 3/4 Cup Ground cinnamon
- 1 Cup Applesauce
- 1 Tbsp. Ground nutmeg
- 1 Tbsp. Ground allspice
- 1 Tbsp. Ground cloves
What to do:
- Mix together above ingredients.
- Roll out the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness
(dust the tabletop and rolling pin with cinnamon to prevent sticking).
- Let the
children use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the dough.
- Place the shapes
on waxed paper. If you plan to hang, poke a hole in the top of each shape.
- Allow the shapes to air-dry for several days (or bake them on a cookie sheet
for several hours at 250 degrees).
- Turn the shapes often to prevent curling.
- To complete the spicy ornaments, tie on loops of ribbon or yarn for hangers.
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