Tag: Crafts

Spotlight On: Fraction Friends Mosaics

Fracton Friends_Product Shots_Fan with Scissors

These bright, beautiful circles are printed with fraction lines to create precise, proportional and pretty works of art!

Fraction Friends Mosaics are multi-purpose classroom tools! Designed with both art and math lessons in mind, these circles make a set of unique math manipulatives for early numeracy and a student’s introduction to fractions.

  • Sort and count the circles! The different textures and bright colors make the circles easy to see and differentiate from each other.
  • Practice fine motor skills while cutting out the different fractional pieces!

In art lessons, the pre-printed fractions allow students to cut out the perfect sized pieces to create 20 different animal friends, including:

To create these (and more!) fraction friends, simply cut the circles to the appropriate size, and use a glue stick to glue each animal together using a sheet of craft paper as a base to make take-home art! To add some pizzazz to your art, try using any of our rubbing plates to create a textured background for your fraction friend.

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Marble Paper Art Tiles

15401 Marble paper - Yellow LeavesBring color and beauty to the classroom with these simple but beautiful tiles!15401 Marple Paper - Purple Leaves

The middle of winter can feel long and dreary, so lighten up the atmosphere by creating art tiles! These tiles can be used to create a beautiful bulletin board, classroom door or hallway display. Alternatively, they make a simple but beautiful piece of take-home art.

Age: 4+

Duration: 5 minutes

Learning Outcomes: Explore colors and textures. Mosaic abstract shapes together. Practice fine motor skills.

You’ll Need:

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Start this activity with a sheet of Marble Sculpture Paper. If this is a take-home activity, kids can cut their tiles to whatever size and shape they want. If you plan to use this for a classroom art piece however, it’s easier if all the tiles are the same size. Scraps of the paper can be effectively used as corner frames (like in the yellow tile) if desired.

We suggest using a paint tray in the center of a group table to keep the crafty leaves from flying everywhere. Older students can pop out the die cut leaves on their own. For young students, you may want to pop the pieces out beforehand and let the kids choose and glue them.

Using a glue stick, glue the leaves onto the tiles. Kids can choose to make abstract patterns with their leaves like we did, or they might want to create animals. You can choose a theme for everyone to adhere to, or let the artistic moment dictate decisions.

Once students have completed their tiles, they can either take their artwork home, or it can be used to create a spectacular hallway or bulletin board mosaic!

Bundle Savings

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$16.14 USD
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Spotlight On: Counting Fingers Hand Book

Roylco_7796 Counting Finger Handbook child.jpg

Need a few extra fingers to count with? These hand-sized books make perfect math manipulatives!

Each page is printed in fleshtone colors with foldable fingers to use as a math manipulative. Use the pages to practice numbering, writing out equations or for math journaling. Each book has a card stock front and back cover along with 10 pages and measures 4 x 4½ (10 x 11.5 cm). Fold down the fingers just like you would curl in your own fingers to represent numbers! For example, if you want to show the number 2 with your hand book, fold down the thumb, ring and pinkie fingers on one hand. You can also fold down all but the pointer fingers on two pages.

49145 - Counting Hadbook Stack and Open

Make math facts concrete by folding down fingers and writing the math facts on the palms!

49145 - Counting Handbook 2 and 1

These books are also great for early learners! There are a lot of different ways to write out 4, so match the fingers with the words and symbols!

49145 counting hand book 4 four.jpg

Make a unique “All About Me” book with a numeracy theme! Start with a self portrait, and fill each page with numbered favorites.

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Origami Dinosaurs

These adorable dinosaurs are the perfect addition to a diorama or as a Father’s day gift to a dino-rrific dad!

Age: 4+

Duration: 10 minutes

Learning Outcomes: Integrate art and science! Exercise fine motor skills. Create adorable take-home art.

You’ll Need:

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We loved dinosaurs as children and since the real things are sadly extinct, these adorable paper versions of brontosauruses are the next best thing!

The taller dinosaur is simple to fold, and can be made by students as young as four. Since origami instructions can be complicated and difficult to follow when they are written, we have created a video to show you how to fold this adorable dinosaur:

The longer dinosaur is more challenging to fold, and is more suited to older students. Here is the video with the folding demonstration:

The brontosaurus, or Thunder Lizard, was a four-legged herbivore that lived in the late Jurassic. The largest brontosaurs weighed up to 15 tons and measured up to 22 m (72 ft) long from head to tail. Historically, the Brontosaurus was believed to be too big to support its own weight on dry land, so paleontologists thought they must have lived partly submerged in water, maybe in swamps. Today, however, brontosaurs are thought to have lived just on land.

Ideas

  • Once you have folded your brontosaurus, you can add them to birthday or Father’s day cards.
  • Use them with our diorama boxes to add pizzazz to research and reports. fathers day dino diorama.jpg
  • Want to decorate your classroom? Use a hole punch to create holes in your dinosaurs, and string them on yarn to create dinosaur garlands! The 8 different designs and various color schemes of the dinosaur paper will ensure that your garlands will be bright and beautiful.
  • Try using our economy origami paper to fold these dinosaurs. The smaller paper and smaller size of the finished dinosaurs makes them perfect for pop-up cards or necklaces!

dinos different sizes.jpg

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Stretched “Hide” Craft

The ultimate fine motor skills craft, kids will cut, lace and tie to create this old-style hide rack!

Age: 6+

Duration: 15 minutes

Learning Outcomes: Learn about ancient techniques for drying and stretching animal hides and creating leather. Exercise fine motor skills as students cut, lace and tie this challenging craft.

You’ll Need:

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Start by choosing two sheets of craft paper. I chose to use the deer hide and the leather sheets, to show the two possible outcomes of drying animal hides. Use a small loop of tape in the center of the white sides of the sheets to hold them together. This way, both of your hides will be exactly the same shape when you cut them out.

Students can be as creative or literal as they want to when they cut the shape of their hides out. Remember that every animal is a slightly different size, so every hide is unique! I kept my shape vaguely rectangular, but you can choose a wild shape if you want to.

Once you have your hide shape cut out, use your hole punch to make regularly spaced holes. These will allow you to anchor your hide to the frame.

Now it’s time to create your frame. I used four 10″ (25.5 cm) long dowels from the craft store. You can use chopsticks if you want, or students can use small, straight twigs from the playground. Cut four 6″ (15 cm) pieces of yarn. Cross the ends of two of your dowels so that make a right angle. Use a piece of yarn to tie the two together. For a more secure tie, I wrapped my yarn twice in each diagonal, and twice above and below. Trim off any excess yarn.

Continue tying the ends of the dowels together until you have a square frame.

Once your frame is all put together, it’s time to hang your hide on it. Cut a piece of yarn approximately 30″ (76 cm) long, and thread one end through one of our plastic lacing needles. The flexible eye makes threading a breeze! Tie the other end of the yarn to the center of one of your four dowels. Loosely “sew” your hide to your frame. Remember that your hide is supposed to be suspended in the middle of the frame, so don’t pull your yarn too tight. When you come back to the place you started, tie the free end of the yarn to your frame. Trim off any excess yarn.

Now that your hide is stretched, it’s time to decorate! I used washable markers to create a design on the leather side of my hide, and left the deer hide half as it was. Students can use washable markers, crayons or colored pencils to decorate their hides.

This is a great take-home craft, but it also is a great addition to a report or presentation. A dynamic and tactile visual aid can help students absorb information and stay focused!

Bundle Savings

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Elementary Animals: Fold A Mouse!

Welcome to our fifth and final origami animal project: the mouse!15219 - Mouse Carft (eyeballs).jpgThis project is definitely best-suited to third graders because the folds are a little more intricate than our previous projects.

Age: 7+

Duration: 10 minutes

Learning Outcomes: Practice reading and understanding step-by-step directions independently. Exercise fine motor skills. Develop patience.

You’ll Need:

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Start by downloading and printing the mouse folding instructions. This fully illustrated, step-by-step instruction sheet allows students to work independently to create an adorable mouse pal. We have also created a step-by-step video for visual learners:

These adorable mouse pals can serve as take-home art projects in and of themselves. However, if you want to extend the activity, challenge students to use their mice to recreate a favorite scene from their favorite mouse book! Our Set the Scene! Diorama Boxes are an excellent tool for this project. Some great books to use for this project include:

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Origami Marble Paper Crown

15401 Marble Paper - Crwon Head

Crown yourself with a simple origami craft that the Greek statues would be proud to wear!

Age: 5+

Duration: 10 Minutes

Learning Outcomes: Exercise fine motor skills as you fold and construct this crafty crown. Create costume pieces for dramatic play.

You’ll Need:

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Start with a single sheet of marble sculpture paper. To complete this crown you will need 3-4 sheets of paper, depending on the size of your head but I want to start by walking you through the basic component. Start by folding the sheet diagonally, and cut off the excess. Unfold the triangle; you should have a square sheet. Fold the square sheet in half, then open it, and place the white side up on the table.

For the rest of the folding instructions, I have created a video for you:

  1. Fold the top two corners to meet at the center fold line. Your sheet should have a point at one end.
  2. Fold the square bottom up to meet the bottom of the arrows. Crease firmly.
  3. Fold the folded rectangle up, and flip the whole sheet over. You should have a triangle with flaps sticking out from behind on either side.
  4. Pleat the triangle by folding it down, then folding it up approximately 1/2″ above your first fold. Repeat 1-2 times to create the graduated steps that serve as decorations.
  5. Repeat steps 1-4 three more times, until you have four components.
  6. Choose one component. Lay it on the table in front of you with the triangle’s point facing away from you. Open the component so you can see the white inside. Slide the squared edge of another component onto the white area, overlapping the two pieces by 1-2″.
  7. Fold the rear flap and triangle over top of the second component.
  8. Carefully slide a third component into the second component, repeating steps 6-7. Be careful not to pull the second component out of the first component.
  9. Add the fourth component into the third component.
  10. Now it’s time to finish the loop and make your crown wearable. Using steps 6-7 again, place the free end of the first component inside the free end of the fourth component. Now you should have a “seamless” loop. The components can slide in and out of each other, so you can make small adjustments for individual head sizes. For adults, you may need to add a fifth component. Very young children may only need three components.

You can even make a crown for your best furry friend:

15401 Marble Paper - Crown Bunny

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Sensory Collage Easter Egg Art Project

Are you looking for Easter egg ideas? The sensory collage Easter egg art project is great for your classroom activities. It introduces children to the important senses of the human body with Roylco’s Sensory Collage Kit. It’s also great for working on fine motor skills.

Age: 5+

Duration: 15 minutes

Learning Outcomes: Exercise fine motor skills. Practice sorting materials by color and texture. Learn about collage art. Develop sensory awareness.

You’ll Need: 

Pull out a wavy sheet from the R15413 Sensory Paper package, choose your favorite pastel color, and draw an outline of an egg. Encourage kids to slowly move their palms and fingertips over the paper to feel the small raised patterns. Some kids may want to follow the patterns on the paper to create their designs, while others may want to create their own designs. You can color the wavy lines on the paper and it will divide the egg into different sections. You can make these lines as bold as you like.

Next, plan and place the sensory art materials you like on your egg. The Sensory Collage Kit contains 20 different sensory art packs to use in creating unique illustrations.

Before gluing the sensory art materials onto the artwork, you can play with the colors and the different textures. Think about which sensory art materials would best represent your Easter egg artwork.

Encourage children to talk about the color and the texture they use on the artwork and discuss what they feel. Is the color a warm color or a cool color? Is the material rough, hard, scratchy, smooth or bubbly? After exploring the materials, children can start to glue the sensory materials onto the artwork.

The artwork is almost finished. Have the children cut out the egg and glue it on to the  cardstock. Here is our sensory collage Easter egg artwork. Write your name on the artwork and take it home for your Easter celebration!

For more information please visit https://roylcostore.com/products/sensory-collage-kit 

 

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in this project and save 15%!

$47.58 USD
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Make your own Origami Rabbit

Are you looking for more Easter ideas this week? Making origami rabbit is fun and easy. Today we are going to show you how to make these cute origami rabbits.

Age: 4+

Duration: 6 Minutes

Learning Outcomes: Practice following step-by-step instructions while exercising fine motor and spatial skills.

You’ll Need: 

Step-by-step Instructions ( Please see the graphic above ):

  1. Fold your paper in half to make a triangle.
  2. Fold the creased side of the triangle up about 3/4″.
  3. Fold one side toward the center, line up the points and crease.
  4. Fold another side toward the center. Line up the points and crease.
  5. Fold the bottom up.
  6. Flip it over. Fold the top point inside to create the top of the rabbit’s head. You can see the rabbit’s head is ready now.
  7. Let’s work on the rabbit’s body. Take another piece of paper. Please check the graphic, fold one side of the paper to make a triangle. Then line up the points and fold another side into a triangle.
  8. Flip it over. Align with the point at the bottom, fold the paper to make a triangle. Then line up the points and fold another side into a triangle.
  9. Align with the points in the middle, then fold the shape into half to create a rabbit’s body. Put the rabbit’s head on the top of the body. The basic shape of rabbit is ready.

Ideas:

  • Roylco’s R15219 Elemetary Origami Animals pack provides different patterns and bright colors of origami paper. Contrasting colors are printed on the reverse side. Use the fun bright paper to create your own designs.
  • You can draw different cute facial features on the rabbit. Or you can use other craft paper to cut out the features and glue them on the rabbit.
  • Check out our blog post on “How to make origami carrots” and make a couple of carrots for your rabbits.
  • Display the rabbits somewhere festive, hide them around the house, or around the neighborhood where friends might find them.
  • Punch a hole at the back of the rabbit. Thread a piece of yarn with all the rabbits you make. Hang the rabbits from the ceiling or use them to decorate bulletin boards, doors and hallways!

Please visit https://roylcostore.com/products/elementary-origami-animals for more information.

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