Craft Spotlight: Project Leaves with a Thanksgiving Turkey project!

2014-09-22-FeatureImageIt’s never too early to start thinking about seasonal crafts for the classroom, no matter what time of year! Prepare for Thanksgiving with our true-to-life sized R51080 Project Leaves in a variety of colors and shapes. Use the Project Leaves to create the tail feathers and simple construction paper cutouts to make the turkey head and body. 

Project Leaves feature different colors on each side of the leaf shapes. You can use the shapes to talk about the changing seasons or adapt your fall science unit to include lessons about leaf identification.

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Encourage students to engage with nature while appreciating the science behind it! Students can draw the veins within the leaf shapes to learn about leaf development. Trace out the shapes of the leaves onto sheets of paper, then cut them out and paste into a leaf collage!

Use leftover or traced Project Leaves to make a Thanksgiving turkey decoration! Learn more below.

Age: 4+

Duration: 10 minutes

Learning Objectives: Combine various leaf shapes together into a pleasing arrangement to make the turkey tail feathers. Use scissor skills to make a cut and paste project.

You’ll Need:

R51080 Project Leaves

• Gluestick

• Brown, orange and yellow construction paper

• Marker

• Scissors

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Celebrate Thanksgiving with a turkey decoration that all your students can take home!

P1010327Select 3-4 Project Leaves to make up the turkey’s tail feathers. Alternatively, you can trace the outline of the Project Leaves onto sheets of construction paper and cut them out. You’ll want to choose colors that work with the look of the craft.

P1010328Select the construction paper you will use to make the body. To save on construction paper, you can cut a sheet in half and divide between two students.

P1010330Fold the sheet in half lengthwise.

P1010331Draw a backwards B shape from the fold line. This will be the turkey’s body.

P1010332Cut along the drawn lines and unfold the resulting piece.

P1010333Next, pull out a light-sand colored sheet of construction paper.

P1010336Cut out a little turkey wattle and little turkey feet.

P1010337Finally, get a sheet of yellow construction paper. 

P1010338Cut out a turkey beak.

P1010340Paste the turkey beak, wattle and feet onto the turkey body.

P1010351Make your selection of Project Leaves for the turkey feathers.

P1010352Align two of the leaves together. You will need to angle them outwards.

P1010353Place the third leaf in the middle of the two leaves. This helps to round out the look.

P1010354Finish off with your decorative leaf shape. Place it right on top. Now you’ve easily layered the turkey back feathers!

P1010355Paste the turkey body on top of the leaf arrangement.

P1010356Paste the turkey features on top.

P1010357Finish off with eyes for your turkey. Draw them in with permanent marker or pen.

P1010358Now get ready for a big celebration! Paste the turkeys along a banner and hang up on a wall or arrange your turkeys in a Thanksgiving display!

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Color Diffusing Animal Shapes

color diffusing animal shapesUse the magic of Color Diffusing Paper to make lovely animal designs from basic shapes! View our tutorial and see how our art campers adapted their designs. 

Age: 4+

Duration: Drying time + 10 minutes

Learning Objectives: Use fine motor skills to squeeze paint out of pipettes onto paper. Develop beautiful arrangements of colors and observe how colors blend together to create new colors. Exercise scissor skills through cutting basic shapes. Learn geometric shape concepts and arrange shapes together to make animal designs. Encourage critical thinking and puzzle solving through shape layering. Combine math, science and art into one unified project.

You’ll Need:

R15212 Color Diffusing Paper (12 x 18″)

R54460 Squiggle Pipettes

R7512 Fingerpaint “No Mess” Trays

• Watercolor paint

• Scissors

• Glue

• Card paper sheet

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It is important for students to not only exercise their fine motor development, but to understand the processes behind color mixing, diffusion and artistic composition. This is a great exercise in learning composition as students get to use the shapes they have on hand to create interesting designs!

coloring animalsLay sheets of Color Diffusing Paper onto paint trays. Draw basic shapes on the sheets of paper using permanent markers, rulers and other measurement tools. In the photos above, we’ve drawn basic shapes such as squares, triangles circles, half moon shapes and more!

Next, our careful art campers took pipettes and dropped various paint colors onto the diffusion sheets.

painting diffusing paperThey loved seeing how the colors spread throughout the paper! This is the process of diffusion, where paint molecules spread through the paper molecules to fill in the spaces where there are no paint molecules.

paintingHere, one of the campers has mixed multiple colors together.

pipettesThis camper was careful to paint directly over the shape illustrations, but as the paint molecules diffused through the paper, the paint spread throughout the entire sheet!

watercolor paintHere’s another look!

squiggle pipettes paintIt’s a great process that children can see unfolding right before their eyes!

spraying water onto paintTo give the paint a hand, we sprayed the paper with some water to help push the paint molecules around. Notice how the permanent marker ink doesn’t blend with the rest of the paint, however!

sharpie on color diffusing paperAnother art camper was busy working away at her own diffusing paint canvas.

sharpie paintYou can see the paint already starting to spread across.

paint and sharpieHow cool is that?!

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We left the paint to dry in the sun, which made the process happen a lot quicker!

cut and paste activityThe campers then cut up the various pieces following the outlines on the paper.

geometry shapes artThey are careful to follow the lines and reaffirm their knowledge of each shape. For instance, it’s easy to tell that this particular shape the art camper is cutting is a square. But how would you describe the candy-cane like shape?

cutting shapesWhile students are cutting, it’s a good idea to ask them what the various shapes can be used to make. Help them visualize their final designs as they are cutting the shapes out.

cutting paper shapesAsk students to use descriptive words when talking about their shapes.

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Now let’s piece it all together! Here, one of the art campers has started to create the body and the head of an animal.

paper shapesUsing white glue and goo spreaders (read more about these awesome glue tools here!), the art campers pasted their pieces onto a large sheet of card paper.

glue paperCan you guess what kind of animal this art camper is making?

paper animalA cute piggy!

color diffusing animalHere’s another variation of our adorable piglets! This art camper even drew a smiley face!

paste colorful shapesHow about this work of art?

paste colorful shapesThe art camper here is adding on the legs…

underwater animal craftTo make an adorable crab picture! Isn’t that artwork so neat? Thanks for hanging out with us today. It’s been a blast!

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Craft Spotlight: Flower Forms

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Flower Forms are plastic flower bases with slots for threading through your own petal designs! Make your own chain of flowers or use to decorate hair bands or bracelets! 

Flower Forms come in a variety of colors to match various different types of petals. They are sturdy enough to hold the shape of the flower form, but flexible enough to allow tiny fingers to manipulate and place petals through.

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You can use either decorative papers, printed flower images, Color Diffusing Paper or tissue paper to form your petals. To decorate Color Diffusing Paper, drop some liquid watercolor onto the sheet. Watch the color expand across the sheet, then drop another color to see how they blend to create new colors! Leave the Color Diffusing Paper to dry overnight. You can use the colored sheet to cut out large peanut-shaped petals, or simply cut out from decorative paper.

Accordion fold the paper shape across so that it is thin enough to fit into the Flower Form slots. Slide one end of the folded shape into one slot, and thread out through the slot on the opposite end of the Flower Form.

To view detailed information on how to put together your Flower Form, watch the video below!

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Craft Spotlight: Architecture Paper

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Draw houses and fill in the details with Architecture Paper! This special paper takes the best elements of a building, and spruces them up with a range of gorgeous designs. Switch out a brown door for a red door, add planters beneath the windows or place a statue in front. 

There’s lots you can do with the Architecture Paper. Most of the elements are made up of basic shapes that you can use to introduce young students to geometric concepts.

IMG_2548We used a large roll of brown art paper to provide our crafting friends with a backdrop for their artwork.

IMG_2543We drew several different “house” or “building” shapes and then asked the crafters to fill in the details using the Architecture Paper.

IMG_2539The crafters cut out the basic shaped architecture elements and pasted them onto the brown paper.

IMG_2538It was easy to spread on the glue using our fantastic Goo Spreaders. Simply pour a bit of white school glue into a plastic container to allow groups of children to use the glue from one station.

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To add some dimension to their cityscape, we asked the crafters to glue down cotton balls, which represented clouds in the skyline.

IMG_2589Here’s a look at our lovely neighborhood!

_DSC0360Thanks so much for all the fun!

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Mother’s Day Crowns

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Make Mom a queen for the day with these embellished R22025 Color In Crowns! Add details with collage materials and a few of our own fun craft products, such as R24560 Bouquet Paper and R15657 Wild Flower Paper Bits!

Age: 4+

Duration: 15 minutes

You’ll Need:

 • R22025 Color In Crowns

R24560 Bouquet Paper

R15657 Wild Flower Paper Bits

R5870 Linear Rubbing Plates

• Pipe cleaners

• Scissors

• Crayons

• Glue

• Sequins / Dollar store rhinestones

• Tape

• Pencil

• Ruler

• Strip of paper from 11 x 17″ sheet (28 x 43 cm)

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Mom will love to feel lavished with this beautiful, handmade crown. Choose mom’s favorite colors and combine printed paper flowers. Although you can embellish the crown with real flowers, you can use our life-like Bouquet Paper to add on flower combinations that will never wilt!

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The crowns come in a variety of different styles, so you don’t have to be limited by one type. In addition, each of the crowns features die-cut holes that can be popped out from the interior of the crown. These can be used to attach the bouquet flowers. I’ll show you more in the steps below!

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First we will rub a pattern onto the Color-In Crown. Flip the crown so that the non-glossy side faces down onto the rubbing plate pattern.

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Place the crown onto the rubbing plate. Rub the side of a crayon to help distribute the pattern evenly across the crown. Choose a color that will allow the pattern to really pop out! Darker colors work best, but here, I’ve used orange and it still managed to turn out nicely.

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All finished. How does that swirl pattern look?

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Next, we will create the flowers to decorate your Mother’s Day Crown. First, cut a length of pipe cleaner into quarters. These will be used as stems to hold the Bouquet Paper pieces together.

P1018852Pop out the pieces from the paper backing. The graphics are double-sided with different colors so you can easily alternate the design of your flowers.

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Grab a bunch of different petal colors, shapes and sizes. The Bouquet Paper includes leaf and center graphics.

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I’ll show you how to layer the various kinds of flowers I will make for the crown. First, choose a daisy-like flower with a red center and its twin with a yellow center.

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Each Bouquet Paper graphic features small nicks in the paper to help you thread pipe cleaner through. Thread one of the small pipe cleaner lengths through the yellow center.

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Continue to thread the pipe cleaner through the next flower until it sits perfectly on top of the first. Fan out the petals so that they alternate between dark orange and soft yellow. To secure, press the top of the pipe cleaner on its side like a hook.

P1018861For the next type of flower, choose a daisy-like flower with a yellow center, another similar flower with a reddish-orange center and a long thin flower with light pink petals. Thread the pipe cleaner through the reddish-orange flower first.

P1018862Next, thread the yellow centered flower behind the first.

P1018863Finish with the thin pink flower behind the first two. Press the top of the pipe cleaner down to hold the arrangement in place.

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You can make further variations of these flowers using other combinations.

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Choose the double-petal graphics in four different colors. I popped out an additional center for the final flower design.

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First, thread the pipe cleaner through the flower center. Bend the end of it to secure.

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Layer the rest of the petals behind the flower center. Fan them all out equally so you can clearly see the various colors.

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You can add dimension to the flowers to make them look even more realistic! These particular petals feature a score line along their length. Pinch the sides of the petal together to bend them inwards.

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What a neat lifelike effect!

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Now it’s time to decorate your crown!

P1018896Pop out the interior cutouts. These will be helpful for stringing through the flower designs.

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Thread the pipe cleaner stem of one flower through the popped-out opening.

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Flip the crown over to the opposite side. You will see where the rest of the stem is poking through. Tape it down to the back of the crown with tape.

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Thread the rest of the flowers through and tape down.

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Ta-DA! Already looking fashionable!

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Now for some details. I pasted large rhinestones in different colors on the tips of the crown arches.

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To give our crown a bit more flair, I’ve popped out various flowers from the Wild Flower Paper Bits sheets. There are over 1000 different flower pieces to choose from, so mixing and matching the various patterns is so much fun!

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Paste on the flower bits to cover up some empty spots.

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Instead of popping out the provided flower centers for the Wild Flower Paper Bits, I decided to press in some rhinestones for the centers. So flashy!

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Next, we will need to make the headband for the crown. Cut a strip of paper from the 11 x 17″ sheet. The strip will need to be about 1 1/2″ wide and 17″ long. Color in the paper strip headband with the same color of crayon you used to make the print.

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Tape the sides of the headband to the sides of the crown.

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Now would be a good time to measure the headband and see if needs to be cut at any shorter.

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Double up on tape to secure the band.

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And voila!! Ready for Mom to wear!

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Mom will be so excited! You can make crowns to celebrate any time of the year, or just to feel like royalty for one day!

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Loralee Lewis uses our Paper Doll Pads!

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Loralee Lewis makes beautiful stationery for sale at her website here. Loralee’s experience with paper makes this Paper Doll Pad project an innovative craft for Thanksgiving! Celebrate diversity with fun paper doll characters for your Thanksgiving table!

Loralee Lewis posted her craft on November 22, 2008, entitled: “Gathering Together Activity and Thanksgiving Kids’ Table.” She notes that Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate diversity, and what better way to do so than through customizable paper dolls?

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The Paper Doll Pads come in a variety of skin tones! Use construction paper for the clothes and decorate the faces with black marker. To stand the paper dolls up, glue on clothespins to the paper backing! Loralee shows you how at her blog post.

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Tape the hands together to represent the importance of community! Tip: Decorate characters to look like historical figures.

Thanks to Loralee for this post!

Images and original post © Loralee Lewis.

This post was not sponsored for a review. At LittleFingersBigArt, our mission is to present to our readers and viewers the newest and most creative craft ideas that fans of Roylco have made on their own. Our goal is to allow you and other educators and parents to reuse our products in fun ways so that children always get the best educational experience from them!

We’d love to see more ideas like this one! If you’ve got a brilliant craft idea or have made a version of one of our crafts that you would like to share with us, send an email to subscriber@roylco.ca with photos, descriptions or a link to your work. We will create a feature post and link back to you with full credit. We’d love to hear from you!

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