Christmas Twist Stars

Feature-Image-CutFoldStarA whimsical star design hung in your classroom is sure to turn heads! Use our R15350 Cut & Fold Squares for brilliant color.

Age: 6+

Duration: 20-30 minutes

You’ll Need:

• R15350 Cut & Fold Squares

• Tape

• Scissors

• Hole punch

Line-07The great thing about this craft is that it looks complicated, but is actually super-easy to make! All you require is square-cut paper, a simple folding technique and a few snips with scissors. I’ll walk you through the process step-by-step, but I’ve also made a few detailed animations to help you through each step.

IMG_7854Choose your selection of colors. A rainbow-colored star will stand out just as nicely as a red and green arrangement!

StarFoldCutAnimationThe Christmas Star is divided into several parts. Each part can be made simply with one Cut & Fold Square and a few cuts with scissors. First fold your square into a triangle.

From the fold line, close to the edge of the triangle, cut 1 long line towards the point of the triangle. Do not cut all the way across the triangle, but stop about 1/2″ below the edge. Make another cut just beside the first. Stop the cut about 1/2″ below the first cut. Make a third cut beside the second cut. Stop the cut about 1/2″ below the second cut. Mirror the same cuts on the other side of the triangle.

StarFoldTapeAnimationUnfold the triangle back into a square. Turn the square so that it makes a diamond shape. You’ll notice that the cuts make little triangle strips on either side of the diamond shape. Start with the uncolored side facing up. Join the corners of the center together. Use tape to secure.

Next, flip the shape over and join the next two corners together with tape. Flip the shape over again to the uncolored side and join the next two corners. Continue flipping the shape over and joining the next set of corners until you get something like a spiral, which you can see in the last image in the animation.

StarFoldAttachAnimation

In order to make a Christmas Twist Star, you will need 6 of the colorful spirals. Alternate the colors of the spirals (such as red, green, red, green, etc) or make one of each color available in the Cut & Fold Squares pack.

To join the spirals, glue the sides together. You should have all 6 spirals glued side by side in a row. Wait for the glue to dry before bending the whole line of spirals into a circle. Glue the sides of the last two spirals together. The spirals will all angle out from the center to look like a large star!

IMG_7877Punch a hole through the top of one of the spiral points.

IMG_7880Tie a length of string from the hole to hang the star!

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Show us your beautiful Christmas Twist Stars! Send us photos of your students’ work to subscriber@roylco.ca. Wishing you a wonderful winter vacation!

Special Feature this week:

We’ll be updating every day of this week and next week with fantastic holiday crafts you can use in your classroom!

Please note:

LittleFingersBigArt won’t be posting anything between December 18th, 2013 and January 6th, 2014! Have a wonderful winter vacation!

Craft Spotlight: Winter Classroom Mobile

Feature-Image-WinterClassMobileNeed a festive decoration for your classroom? How about a decoration that every student can partake in making? Try the wonderful R51301 Winter Classroom Mobile! Divide your classroom into groups to each decorate their own mobile–then hang it above their desks!

The Winter Mobile features 36 winter-themed ornaments that can be hung from the frame. Use crayons, paint, markers or collage materials to decorate the shapes! There are enough ornaments in the Winter Mobile pack for each student to decorate at least one!
First make the mobile frame. We’ve included a detailed guide with pictures to help you construct the mobile frame. Use the provided Straws and Connectors to assemble the frame. Watch the video below for details!

Decorate the frosted-look ornaments and thread some string through the holes in the top to hang them from the mobile.

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Building a mobile opens up plenty of opportunities to learn some interesting lessons. Talk about the science of air movement (how air particles bounce off the ornaments to always keep them in motion). Encourage teamwork and individual development through decorating and assembling the mobile. You can even incorporate a lesson on learning about multicultural winter celebrations.

Note: The ornaments included in the mobile kit are meant to be universal for all winter celebrations. If children would like to add their own ornaments to the mobile, encourage them to do so!

Line-07Thanks for checking out this Monday post! If you’d like to be featured in one of our posts, send us photos of your students’ work to subscriber@roylco.ca! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Take a tour through our virtual Art Gallery!!

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Welcome to the Little Fingers Big Art gallery wrap-up! Today, we’re going to take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of our favorite crafts of the past year. PLUS: I’ll show you a unique way to display your students’ artwork in the classroom! 

I’ve taken our favorite top ten crafts and compiled them below in honor of Little Finger Big Art blog’s first year on the blogosphere! Just click on any of the images below to get linked directly to the craft post.

TIP: To display your students’ artwork, purchase colorful clipboards from any Dollar store! Use one clipboard per student. Hang the clipboards from a wall. If you are unable to drill nails into walls, consider placing adhesive hooks to the walls and hanging the clipboards off those. You can buy adhesive hooks at any department store nearby you!

When children have finished a piece of art, they can clip their art up to their individual clipboard. Send old artwork home with students to add newer artwork to the clipboard art gallery! Children can update their clipboard galleries anytime they finish a 2D illustration.

View our top-ten favorites below!

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1. CLASSROOM BIRDS

Colorful collage materials add texture and brightness to the beautiful bird designs. Find templates for the bird designs here: Bird Template 1 and Bird Template 2. Each student can make their own unique bird and add it to the overall classroom display of birds! Find out here!

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2. SILLY STENCILS FRIENDLY MONSTERS

Grab a handful of Silly Stencils and arrange them to make your very own friendly monster! Any of the stencils can be used as eyes, noses, mouths, legs, bodies and more. Great for exercising dexterity and building image association skills: find out more here!

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3. QUILT MOSAIC BUILDINGS

Arrange beautiful patterned mosaics to make a gorgeous night scene! Use metallic gold and silver gel pens to add detail to the night sky. Learn more about this project here!

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4. ALPHABET TRACING SKILLS

Use our Chipboard Letters to learn about uppercase letters. A great tracing activity that helps encourage image retention through repetition. Try it out!

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5. ROLLY SCROLLY JAPANESE CALLIGRAPHY ART

Use simple brushstrokes to illustrate branches. Add detail with our Leaf Sponges! See the full tutorial here!

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6. JUNK ART ROBOTS

Learn how to put together our Elements Collage pieces to make jivin’ robots! Get inspired to make your own using our instructions. Check it out here!

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7. CRAYON SHAVING STAINED GLASS

Use crayon melts to create a beautiful stained glass material for our Stained Glass Frames. A great way to recycle old crayon stubs! View the full tutorial!

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8. ORIGAMI FIGURES

Stuck trying to make sense of valley folds or inside reverse folds? Don’t stress another minute! Check out our detailed YouTube videos that show you precisely how to make a bird, frog, butterfly, boat, crane and fish! We use our R15208 Really Big Origami Paper so you can see every step along the way.

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9. RUBBING PLATE PLANETS

Our R5841 Optical Illusion Rubbing Plates were used to add interesting effects to planet cutouts. Paired with a cotton swab-brushed background, these planets look stellar! Take a trip to this space-inspired post!

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10. PAPER MACHE BOWL

A happy accident this was! I used a bit of glue with our R15335 Spring and Autumn Leaves and draped them over a plastic bowl to make this colorful creation. Learn more about this project here!

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Thanks for checking out our gallery! We’d love to see some of your artwork! Send us your ideas or photos of projects inspired by our crafts! Send all emails to subscriber@roylco.ca for a chance to be featured in an upcoming blog post. 

Little Fingers Big Art just received the Versatile Blogger Award!!

versatile-blogger-award

Thank you so much to our huge fan, OntheUpCycle, who just recently bestowed us with the Versatile Blogger Award! Learn more about the award HERE. You can check out her amazing projects at ontheupcycle.wordpress.com!

In order to receive the reward, LittleFingersBigArt must participate in the rules required by the status of this award. They are as follows:

1. Display the Award Certificate on your blog. CHECK!

2. Announce your win with a post and thank the blogger who nominated you. CHECK!

3. Present 15 deserving bloggers with the award. SEE BELOW!

4. Link your nominees in the post and let them know of their nomination with a comment. CHECK!

5. Post 7 interesting things about yourself. CHECK!

I want to first honour several of our favorite bloggers with the Versatile Blogger Award. Please check out some of these incredible websites as they strive to give the best content and interact with their fellow bloggers with caring dedication.

Drumroll, please….

1. Squarehead Teachers

2. ArtwithMsK

3. CraftyStaci

4. PeaBea

5. Crafty Madre

6. Crafted in Carhartt

7. Franciful Arts

8. Make Something Mondays

9. Nerd in the Brain

10. Florence and Freddie

11. DaniellaJoe

12. Mummy of Many Talents

13. Craft and Repeat

14. 2 Craft and 2 Create

15. Crayon Box Chronicles

Now onto 7 interesting things about Little Fingers Big Art:

1. The creative folks at Roylco began this website exactly ONE YEAR ago! We’ve made it so far with the help of our favorite crafty fans who always make us feel like our work is worthwhile. Look forward to this week’s Birthday Post!! Check back for more details!

2. The content for Little Fingers Big Art is written in our Canadian office in Waterloo, Ontario. If you would like to get in touch with us about sponsoring for upcoming arts and crafts events, please drop us a line!

3. Here at Roylco, we have a huge manufacturing plant that assists us in keeping our products domestic, affordable and, above all, high quality.

4. This past year, Roylco hosted a 3 day Summer Art Camp for children ages 3-10. We had a blast with our little crafters who let their creativity shine with our versatile products. Stay tuned every Monday for our special Craft Spotlight posts, where we highlight the best products with detailed videos and high resolution photos of our Art Camp exploits! We’ll be updating with more information about Summer Art Camp 2014!

5. Roylco works closely with local organizations such as art galleries, museums and libraries, AND hosts workshops at Early Learning Centers across the province! To learn more about our support or to book a workshop with us, please send an email to subscriber@roylco.ca. You can also visit THIS PAGE for more information!

6. Our ideas are usually produced in our art room, where bundles of materials and supplies are kept for inspiring new products and crafty creations!

7. Finally, Little Fingers Big Art is climbing the ranks in the Martha Stewart American Made contest–please visit THIS page for more information on how to vote for us! We appreciate any votes we get.

Thanks again to On the Upcycle for her award. Happy blogging!

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VOTE FOR US @ Martha Stewart’s American Made Contest!

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BIG IDEAS: Stained Glass Window Tessellations

Cover your entire classroom window with beautiful stained glass designs. Match the edges of the adorable animal shapes to create perfect tessellations. Teach students about tessellations, colors, light refraction, puzzle matching and more! The end result is amazing and everyone … Continue reading