Let’s make a Rangoli decorated entryway!

Rangoli Mega Stencils

Roylco Rangoli Artwork Complete

Age: 4+

Duration: 10 minutes

Learning Outcomes:

We want to start a conversation about Indian culture, Hindu traditions and Rangoli art to help us broaden our understanding of the people we share the world with.

Here’s what you need:

Rangoli Mega Stencils (R5621)

Sidewalk Chalk

If you’re looking for a fun, and very simple, summertime activity, this is just for you! All you need is our Rangoli Mega Stencils (R5621) and some sidewalk chalk.

Authentic Rangoli art is spiritually motivated and originates from India. It’s used for decoration and good luck, and it usually coincides with Hindu rituals. Traditionally, women would be the ones to create the Rangoli art. The bright, beautiful patterns are made from a variety of materials, including dried rice, flower petals and sand. 

One of the many uses for Rangoli art is to place the pattern on the ground near the entryway of your home. This is believed to bring good luck and prosperity to all who reside within. Lucky AND beautiful… sounds good to me. Let’s do this!

To create our beautiful patterns, we’re going to be using sidewalk chalk. This is a good medium for decorating your entryway because it’s super simple to clean up, and it will work on pavement, wood and brick. If there isn’t enough space to decorate the floor in front of your door, you could always just decorate the door!

And on that note, a quick message to the kids:

Before you start, make sure the adults in your life know what you’re up to. We already know these stencils are going to look awesome! We just want to make sure they agree with us.

Kid illustration for Little Fingers Big Art Blog

Here’s how you do it:

Step 1: Choose your pattern

The first thing to do is decide which stencil you want to decorate with. The product guide will help you understand how to arrange your shapes. 

Rangoli Entryway Step 1

Step 2: Fill in the shapes

Using your sidewalk chalk, fill in the patterns of your stencil. You can use as many or as few colors as you like. Whatever you think looks best.

Rangoli Entryway Step 2 A

Rangoli Entryway Step 2 B

Rangoli Entryway Step 2 C

Step 3: Admire your work

Come on, admit it… you’re awesome!

Rangoli Entryway Step 3

Consider This:

Do you know anyone who practices Hindu Spirituality?

How are Hindu beliefs different from yours? How are they the same?

What kind of art do the people from your culture create?

If you could share something fun from your culture with the rest of the world, what would it be?

 

Overlapping Stencil Shapes

Overlapping Stencils

Feature-Image-stencilcolouroverlapBlend basic shapes and create a colorful collage art piece! Great for rainy day art projects.Young children will love tracing out the fun shapes. The stencils are easy to manipulate and perfectly-sized for small fingers to handle. Build fine motor skills while combining colors and shapes for interesting effects!

Age: 3-5

Duration: 15-20 minutes

You’ll Need:

R58620 Fine Motor Skills Silly Stencils

• Markers or crayons

• Paper

• Pencils

Line-10Each of the stencils feature a shape that can be popped out, resulting in one stencil and one template. Two students can work at a time using the same shape. There are 27 stencils and 27 templates in total, which gives you the most value for your students’ art!

_5272126Set out all your materials. Each of the stencils are color-coded: The yellow stencils all contain basic shapes such as squares, triangles, trapezoids, hexagons, circles and so on. You can discuss the different shapes with your students and ask them to describe the other shapes they see in the pack.

The red stencils feature slightly more difficult shapes. These shapes are recognizable shapes like hearts, swirls, stars, clovers and more!

The blue stencils are the most challenging shapes to trace out. Use these shapes for more complex drawings.

_5272128Trace out one of the simpler shapes onto the paper sheet. Use pencil to make the tracing. If you make a mistake, you can always go back and erase it. Choose a completely different shape and place it partly over the first drawing. Trace the inside of the shape and remove the stencil. This will result in an overlapping stencil artwork!

_5272129Adjust the directions of the shapes as you overlap them. Only overlap large areas of the stencils to help with the coloring later on. Fill the whole page with as many shapes as you can.

_5272131Go back over top of the pencil lines with black marker. This will help you clearly see all the areas you have to color in.

_5272135Clearly outline all of the shapes with black marker.

_5272136Choose basic colors for each of the shapes. If you are teaching primary colors and color combinations to students, give them only red, blue and yellow markers to color in their art. Fill in the main part of the shapes with one color. Leave blank the parts that overlap.

_5272138Now comes the fun part! Think about what color is created when red and yellow combine–it’s orange! What about yellow and blue? That’s easy–green! Fill in the overlapped areas of the shapes with these combination colors, also called secondary colors. Learn about tertiary colors as well!

_5272141All filled in! You can see the secondary colors that appear in the overlapped parts are either green, purple or orange.

Give students a range of materials to experiment with as they discover new colors! Use paints instead of markers. Paste on collage materials with similar colors onto specific sections; then mix up the contents in the overlapped areas and see what happens! Do you still see different colors?

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What shape is your artwork in? Show us your color combinations and fun stencil artwork by sending us photos! Contact us through the contact form. We will post up your art in one of our upcoming posts!

Stained Glass Christmas Ornaments

Stained Glass Christmas Ornaments

31100 Stainglass Ornaments Collection

Need a fast and fabulous Christmas craft? These beautiful ornaments are the perfect project to spread holiday cheer!

Age: 4+

Duration: 10 minutes

Learning Outcomes: Explore the symbolism behind common Christmas emblems. Create beautiful take-home art that can be given as a gift. Exercise fine motor skills.

You’ll Need: 

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These ornaments are quick and simple to put together. Start by simply popping out the die-cut frames. Next, pop out the internal pieces, and set the frames aside.

Lay the internal pop-out on the stained glass paper and use a pencil to draw around the internal pop out. Make sure that you leave at least 1/4″ of space around the internal pop out so you have enough space to tape the stained glass paper into the frame. Cut out your stained glass pieces, and tape them to the inside (the white side) of the frames. Make sure to leave the small round hole at the top open!

Once your stained glass pieces are taped in place, fold the frame over and tape closed.

To finish off your stained glass ornament, cut a 6″ piece of yarn. Thread the yarn through the small round hole at the top of your ornament, and knot the loose ends into a circle. This will allow you to hang your ornament on your Christmas tree!

ornaments on tree.jpg

Have family members who don’t celebrate Christmas? Gift them the snowman or snowflake ornament and suggest they hang it in a window! Sunlight streams through the stained glass paper beautifully, and adds cheer to winter months.

ornaments on window.jpg

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3D Craft Circle Flower

3D flower finisged craft.jpg

These beautiful flowers will flutter in the breeze!

Age: 3+

Duration: 7-10 Minutes

Learning Outcomes: Exercise fine motor skills. Explore early paper sculpting. Create beautiful take-home artwork.

You’ll Need:

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  1. Choose six of your favorite craft circles and fold them in half. The colored side should be on the outside.
  2. Arrange the half circles in a full circle on your sheet of paper.
  3. Using a glue stick, apply glue to ONE HALF of the folded circles.
  4. Glue the folded circles to the sheet of paper in a circle configuration. You want the top halves to be loose and fluttery, so make sure you don’t overlap the circles.
  5. Add a stem and leaves with a washable marker.

The results are beautiful artwork that is perfectly fridge-worthy!

Ideas

  • Tape our tissue circles to the inside of your folded circles to add a pop of color!
  • Add an emotional component to the activity. Challenge students to draw six different emotions on the white side of the craft circles before you fold and glue them. Your flower will show a range of different feelings!

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Beautiful Birch Bark Baskets

Birch bark Basket Style 1.jpgThis quick and easy cultural craft is also useful both inside and outside the classroom!

This kid-friendly take on a traditional craft is a beautiful take-home piece, but if they stay in the classroom, they’re great for holding pens, pencils, manipulatives and other small personal items.

Age: 4+

Duration: 5 minutes (including printing time)

Learning Outcomes: Explore the tensile strength of paper and it’s similarities to birch bark. Learn about using natural materials to create art that is both beautiful and practical. Exercise fine motor skills by cutting and taping.

You’ll Need:

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Birch trees are found all over North America and Eurasia and before the widespread use of pottery and ceramic containers, birch bark and wood were the most flexible materials available. The wood and bark of this tree were used by a variety of cultures. Native American and First Nations birch bark baskets might be one of the better-known uses for birch bark, but native peoples in North America also use birch bark for canoes, wigwams and tinder.

Asian countries (including Siberia, Ancient China and Ancient Assyria), Scandinavia and Finland used birch bark to make storage containers, roof coverings and waterproof coverings for bows. In Russia and India, birch bark was used to record manuscripts before the availability of parchment, vellum or paper. Some of the oldest known Buddhist texts were written on Birch Bark.

Our paper version of this ancient craft is quick and simple. Start by downloading the Birch Bark Basket template. The template contains two different style of basket. Print out the templates on a sheet of craft paper. It may take some experimenting to see which way you need to put the craft paper into the printer so the lines print on the white side. We used the birch bark design for our basket, but you can choose your favorite paper! These templates would also work well with our R15294 Terrific Tree Craft Paper.

Once you have printed out the templates, cut along the solid lines. To construct your basket, simply overlap the edges of the template and tape closed. We have created a video to demonstrate the construction:

Once your basket is ready, you can add embellishments. We used the leather design paper to create a fringe for our basket, but you can leave it plain too.

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Prehistoric Marbled Slinky Fish

15401 Marble Paper - Fish

This adorable fish is fun to make and even more fun to play with!

Age: 5+

Duration: 15 minutes

Learning Outcomes: Exercise fine motor skills. Create a 3D pal for dramatic play.

You’ll Need:

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Start with a sheet of marble paper, white side up. Fold it diagonally, and trim off the excess. When you unfold the sheet, you should have a square.

 

Still with the white side up, turn the sheet so it looks like a diamond, and the fold line is vertical. Next, fold the left and right points of the diamond in, until you have an inverted kite shape.

 

Trim the shorter point so it is rounded. Next, unfold the two sides.

DSC_6989

Fold your paper in half along the original fold line, and carefully cut a series of slits from the point to about 2″ before the curve. Your cuts should only be as deep as your second set of fold lines.

 

Overlap the two outside triangle and tape them securely to create the 3D body of your fish. You should have a triangular prism.

 

Choose another sheet of marble paper, preferably in a contrasting pattern from the body of your fish. Fold the sheet so you have approximately 2″ of paper below the fold.

 

Draw shapes for fins and a tail for your fish. I drew triangles for the fins, and rounded shapes for the tail, and then cut them out on the fold. You’ll need to cut the fins apart, but leave the tail as one piece. Tape the fins and tail to the underside of your fish.

To give your fish some personality, add eyes and a tongue! I used the blue marble paper for the eyes, and the pink paper for the tongue. Tape the tongue inside your fish’s mouth, and the eyes to his head in front of the slits.

DSC_7001

Now your fish is ready to swim!

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Let’s Make a Mother’s Day Bouquet!

Roylco Mothers Day Bouquet 

Age: 6+

Duration: 1 hour, plus drying time.

Learning Outcomes:

We’re learning how to complete a project made of several different components, and how each of those unique parts is needed to create the final craft.

Here’s what you need:

Color Diffusing Paper 9”x12” (R15213)

Fancy Stringing Rings (R2183)

Botanical Cuts (R15333)

Chenille Stems

Straws

Glue

Water

Paints (liquid watercolors & acrylics recommended)

Fine Mist Spray Bottles

Brush (foam or bristle)

Cotton Balls

Small Rock (optional)

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, so now is a good time to get crafty. We’re going to make a bouquet of flowers to show Mom that we appreciate all that she does for us everyday. A garden bouquet looks best when you mix a few different things together, so we’ll do that one step at a time, following the instructions below.

 

Roylco Mothers Day Bouquet Craft Parts Display

   Roylco Sketch Art of Flower

Here’s how you do it:

Step 1:

Prepare your work surface. If you don’t want to mess up your table, cover with some newsprint or butcher paper.

 

Step 2:

To begin, we need to paint our 9”x12” Color Diffusing Paper (R15213). This is what we’ll use to cut our flower shapes from. You’ll need 2–4 sheets. To get the most beautiful color blends, I recommend using liquid watercolor paint in a mister bottle. Spray the colors you like onto the sheet of diffusion paper. Then use another mister bottle to spray clean water over your colors.

 

Set aside to dry. Be careful where you put them, they can make a mess. To speed up the drying time, I like to hang them up for good air circulation. They should be dry enough to use in about 30 mins.

 

Step 3:

Okay, let’s find a cardboard tube. A toilet paper roll works great. Yeah, that’s right — we use those things! If you don’t have one handy (might want to take care of that), try a paper towel roll. For our bouquet, it will need to be about 3.75” long.

 

Now, we want to paint the tube. What’s your Mom’s favorite color?

 

Sounds like a good color to me. Go ahead and paint the tube. Acrylic paint is probably going to work best and dry fastest. Set the tube aside to dry.

 Roylco Mothers Day Bouquet Painting Tube

 

Consider this:

I thought it would be cool to paint the inside of the tube. I used a different color than the outside. You can use the same color, or not paint the inside. It’s up to you.

 

You’ll only need to paint one side. The bottom of the tube will be covered.

 

Step 4:

We’re going to need 3 straws to make our flower stems. I cut mine to lengths of 6.5”, 7” and 8”.

 

Paint the straws. The bottoms of our stems will not be visible from inside the tube, so you can hold one side and paint the other.

 

I painted mine green, but if you like red or purple flower stems, go for it. Set the straws aside to dry.

 Roylco Mother's Day Bouquet Painting Straws

Step 5:

I’m using some really neat Botanical Cuts (R15333) to add some garden flair to my bouquet. There are plenty of patterns to choose from in the pack. I chose 3 of them. If you’d like to add these in, now is a good time to decide on your patterns.

 

Step 6:

Now, let’s go back to our color diffusing paper. What we want to do is cut 4” round flower shapes from our beautifully painted paper. I like to look for the best patterns within the color and use them for outlining my flower shapes.

We’ll need to cut 4 shapes.

I’ve included a PDF template in case you would like to use it. Otherwise, create any flower shape you can imagine. Just remember, it will need to be about 4” round to work with all our other bouquet components.

 Mothers Day Bouquet-Flower Petal Template

 

Step 7:

We’re going to use one of our flower shapes for covering the bottom of the tube. Add some glue to one side in each of the petals. Then, place the tube in the center of the flower shape and fold the petals up. They should attach to the sides of the tube, closing up the bottom. I added 3 cotton balls to the bottom of my tube to keep the straws from poking through the bottom.

 

Step 8:

Speaking of the straws, let’s go ahead and add those in. Just add some glue to one side and place them in the tube. Press the straw against the tube to help the glue hold. Attach all 3 straws in this way.

 

Step 9:

Let’s make our 3 flowers next. Using a sharpened pencil, poke a hole through the center of your flower petals. Don’t make the hole too big. The pencil point should be enough.

 

Next, we need to use our 3 chenille stems. I cut mine to the same length — about 6”. On one side of the chenille stem, starting about an inch from the end, bend a right angle. Then make a “U” shape in the center of that bend (see the image).

Put one of the flower shapes onto a stem, moving it down to the bottom of the “U” shape.

 

To give my bouquet a jewel-like quality, I added a Fancy Stringing Ring (R2183) in front of the flower. Place it into the “U” shape as well, and then curl the end of the chenille stem around the ring to hold it in place.

 

Finish all 3 flowers.

 

Consider this:

These little flowers are so simple and beautiful, they kind of work on their own. If you want to do a quick craft, try just making the flowers, with the beads and the chenille stems. Tie them together with some ribbon, or a Fabric Strip (15655), and you’ll have a simple and sweet bouquet for Mom.

 

Step 10:

If you decided to go with the botanical cuts, this is where you’ll attach them. Use your creativity here. I chose 3 patterns and attached them with glue to the outside of the tube, from the bottom up. Pay attention to where your flower stems are. I think it’s neat to curl them botanical cuts around the straws a little.

 

 

Step 11:

Simply place the chenille flower stems inside each straw. Push them all the way down to the bend.

 

 

That’s it. You did it!

Your garden bouquet is ready to make your Mother’s day complete!

Consider this:

If your bouquet is a little wobbly, drop a rock in it. You may even want to fill the tube with colorful beads or small stones.

 Roylco Sketch Art of Kid 1

Let’s Make A Window Cling!

BP- Window Cling Rubbing Plates 4 Large

Age: 4+

Duration: 30 minutes (or more, depending on your design preferences), plus drying time.

Learning Outcomes:

We’re going to be mixing ingredients, painting and decorating with our creations.  We can learn about the subjects related to our rubbing plates, nature, science, etc. And, we can even have a discussion about sunlight and color as we enjoy our window clings.

Here’s what you need:

Any of our Rubbing Plates will work perfectly for this project.

Non-Toxic White Glue

Dish Soap

Food Coloring (liquid or gel)

Glitter (optional)

Brush (foam or bristle)

Sandwich Bag (optional – for detailed application of color)

If you’ve worked with our rubbing plates before, you’re going to love this project. It’s easy — and fun to mix, make, and use! I’m using the Insect Rubbing Plates (R5803), but our entire line of Rubbing Plates can be used in this way.

We’re going to create a very cool window cling using non-toxic white glue, some dish soap, and food coloring (you can use liquid or gel food coloring — both work great).

Kids as young as 4 will enjoy this project, with some help and guidance. Kids 4+ will need minimal help but will probably have an excellent time.

Here’s how you do it:

Step 1:

Anytime you’re working with glue things can get a little messy. You’ll be doing yourself a favor if you put some wax or parchment paper down on your work surface. This will also help to keep your rubbing plates from sticking to stuff.

Step 2:

Time to mix some colors! All these materials are safe, so it’s okay to use a cup or a bowl from the kitchen to mix your ingredients.

Start with about 2 tablespoons of white glue. Add a couple of drops of dish soap. It’s okay if your measurements are not super precise.

Next, add the food coloring. A little is plenty. For darker colors, add more. If you don’t have the color you need, try mixing the colors you have. You could also leave the color out to create a translucent appearance (perfect for bug wings).

Consider this:

If you want to use more than one color, you’re awesome! It might be a good idea to prepare all your colors during this step.

Also, glitter doesn’t work great everywhere — but it works great here! Add some glitter to your color during this step, and it will really add a nice, sparkly effect to your window cling. It will be so pretty when the sun is shining through!

 

Step 3:

Before you begin, make sure to use the side of the rubbing plate on which the pattern is sunk (not raised). It’ll help to keep the color in place.

A foam, or bristle brush, will work great for covering the bug with your mixture. For more precision, try using a pastry bag. Just pour the mixture into a sandwich bag, pushing it down to the corner, then snip a tiny hole in the point.

Really precise images will take some practice. You learn the best amount of glue as you go. But, keep in mind, the thinner the coverage, the more fragile your window cling will be.

Step 4:

We need to let it dry. Depending on how much glue you used, it could take up to 12 hours to dry.

Step 5:

Removal. You know how when you get some glue on your finger, and after it dries you peel it off, and somehow that makes you really happy? This step is like that — times 10.

Watch the edges. The glue can get under the plate, so make sure to peel any away from the back.

AHHhhh… that was fun.

Now you have a window cling!

Consider this:

Trim the edges for a more elegant design.

Step 6:

The time has come to display your creation! Find a good spot in the window and give it a quick wipe with a damp paper towel. Be sure to dry it. Now, use your wet paper towel to dampen the flat side of your window cling. Press it firmly onto the window.

You did it!

Roylco Window Cling Tie Dye Look

Roylco Window Cling Blue and Green Bug

Roylco Window Cling Green Cut Out Bug

This is a great way to add a fun, science and nature theme to any environment —classroom, bedroom, kitchen, office — anywhere you want to hang up some inspiration.

Use your rubbing plates as many times as you like to create more window clings. Experiment with colors, color placement, backgrounds, trimming… get creative and make it your own!

Roylco Sketch Art of Kid on Tricyle

Make Marvelous Marble Marquetry

15401 Marble Paper - OrgBlue Mosiac

Marquetry is the art of using thin pieces of veneer to craft beautiful images and patterns. Now you can create your own beautiful marble marquetry! 

Age: 5+

Duration: 15-30 minutes

Learning Outcomes: Practice fine motor skills while you cut and fold. Encourage early geometry by talking about different shapes, patterns, and types of symmetry.

You’ll Need:

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This craft looks like marquetry, but it actually combines a marquetry effect with a technique we call Shapegami. Start by downloading and printing the Shapegami Folding Instructions. This set of instructions includes step-by-step folding instructions for ten different shapes, basic geometric vocabulary, and design ideas. Start by taking the time to discuss different shapes and their attributes! Each of these shapes can be folded with an 8 1/2 x 11″ sheet of paper AND with the special sized rectangles in the marquetry template.

Once students are familiar with the different shapes, they can practice folding them with white printer paper and start thinking about the design they want to make with their shapes. Students can design their own marquetry designs, or choose from the Shapegami idea list. I decided to create a flower design using folded kite shapes.

Once students feel confident, break out your Marble Paper and download the Marble Paper Marquetry Template. It may take some experimenting to see which way you need to put the craft paper into the printer so the lines print on the white side. I used the orange and blue sheets to create a strong color contrast, but you can choose any sheets you like!

marquetry 1

Start by carefully cutting out the variously sized rectangles. To make each size easier to find, I sorted my rectangles by size as I cut them. Once your rectangles are all cut out, it’s time to start folding! I folded all my rectangles into kite shapes, keeping them arranged by size. This makes it easier to compose your marquetry design.

To create your marquetry design, start with a piece of white paper. Beginning with the largest of my kite shapes, I used loops of tape to secure each shape to the paper in the design I wanted.

Simply repeat this process using progressively smaller folded shapes, and you will have created a beautiful piece of geometric marquetry art!

marquetry 8

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