Hanging Moose Craft

I decided to do a moose themed Storytime this winter and wanted a cute moose craft to go with it.  You can print out what I made here.  I found the moose head picture here.  

What you need: 

• Card stock
• Crayons
• Hole punch
• Yarn
• Beads (with large enough holes to fit the yarn through)

Print out and cut the moose pieces.  Have children color in their moose.  

Punch a whole in the top of each piece.

Cut a piece of yarn.  It does not need to be too long.  Each moose will need two beads.  I did not use the beads shown in the picture above.  They were too long and made the moose appear floppy.  Instead, I used round ones that were about half that length.  String the legs of the moose, bead, body, bead, and then the head.  Tie the yarn together and now you have this cute little moose.

Moose books to share:

Moose Tracks! by Karma Wilson

 If You Give a Moose a Muffin  by Laura Numeroff
This Moose Belongs To Me by Oliver Jeffers
 Duck Duck Moose  by Dave Horowitz
 The Invisible Moose by Dennis Haseley
 Z Is For Moose  by Kelly L. Bingham
Making the Moose Out Of Life by Nicholas Oldland
Moosestache by Margie Palatini

Moose On the Loose by Kathy-Jo Wargin

Enjoy!

Winter Craft Round Up

Here is a round up of some of my favorite winter crafts from the past couple of years:

Click on the pictures below to learn how to make each craft.   

Glittered Diamond Ornament

Here's a fun craft I recently did with my Teen Art Club.  We made diamond ornaments using cardstock and the template below. I used this template here.  After some trial and error I decided it was easier to print the template directly on some thicker cardstock.  

The teens thought it would be fun to add glitter to the diamonds-I agreed.  We used Elmer's glue and applied thin layers to small sections at a time adding glitter as we went.  The paper warped slightly, but the dried stiff.  It's very important to use a SMALL amount of glue.  Mod Podge would work to, but I only have a matte finish and didn't want to lose the sparkle of the glitter.

Here's what the glued together diamond looks like before glitter.

And here's the glittered out diamond!  If you want to make this into an ornament poke a small whole into the top of the diamond and slip thread or thin fish line into it and tape secure on the underside.  Glue your diamond shut with the string hanging out of the top.

Enjoy!

Foam Penguin Magnet

This foam penguin makes a great storytime craft or winter program craft.  

I cut all these pieces out prior to the program and put them in little bags for the kids to help keep all their pieces contained as they assemble their penguin.

Here's what you need:

• Foam-black, white, and orange
• Scissors
• Wiggly eyes
• Glue
• Magnets
• Foam markers

Cut out all your foam pieces.  You will need one large black circle, one medium white circle, and one small black circle.  These make the body and head.  You can make your stencils easily in a word document and print them out on cardstock.  I drew the circles using the shapes and found a clip art hat that I liked..  The wings and feet I drew by hand.  You can keep all the shapes very simple.

First, glue your medium circle to the large black circle.  Layer the medium black circle onto the large black circle to make the head of the body.  Glue the wings, feet, hat, eyes, and beak to your penguin.  Color your hat, add a magnet to the back and you're done. 

Enjoy!

Foam Snowman Magnet

Here's a fun craft to do with kids this Winter.  The kids will have fun picking out hats, gloves, and a scarf for their snowmen. 

Here's what you will need:

• Foam in a variety of colors
• Markers-I use foam markers, they do not smudge off the foam
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pipe cleaners
• Wiggly eyes
• Small hole punch (if you have one)
• Magnets
• Cardstock (for stencils)

I made my own stencils in a word document using clip art and shapes and then cut them out of some card stock.  Cutting the foam can be a bit tedious.  I used some volunteers to help cut trace and cut out the pieces.

I cut out all the foam pieces ahead of time.  For the program I made a plate of hats, gloves, and scarves.  The kids had a blast designing their snowmen and picking out colors.  

For the arms I used two pieces of a  pipe cleaner cut in quarters.  Simply stick one end into the small hole on the snowman body made by a small whole punch or the tip of your scissors and fold the short end around to secure it in place.  

I gave the kids markers to add designs to their snowman pieces and make a face.

Once the snowman is done, add a magnet to the back and you're done!

Enjoy!

Felt Christmas Tree

I thought it would be fun to have a large felt tree in the children's section of the library with felt ornaments to trim the it with.  The tree on the book shelf is about 2 1/2 feet tall.  I made a slightly larger one to hang in my Storytime room as well.  The kids will have fun decorating a tree over and over!

 

What you will need:

• Large piece of green felt
• lots of colorful felt for the ornaments (scrap pieces work great for this)
• Permanent markers
• Tape (to adhere felt tree to shelf)
• Scissors
• Pictures of ornaments to trace(optional)

 

Here's the tree all decorated and attached to the side of the shelf. 

The tree is just waiting for little ones to decorate it. 

I made a basket of ornaments for the kids to use.  I will be making a few extra sets incase ornaments get ruined or disappear.  :-) 

Enjoy! 

 

3-D Paper Tree

I found this little guy on Pinterest.  There's an awesome photo tutorial here.  I plan to make this with my teen art club and use them to decorate our gingerbread house display next month.  These are quick and easy to make and you can use all sorts of paper.  My first attempt is below and I made that using regular copier paper.  All you need to do is make sure you start off with a square, fold the paper according to the directions and snip the sides with a pair of scissors. 

Enjoy!

Five Little Turkeys Felt Board Story and Printout

FIVE LITTLE TURKEYS 

Five little turkeys standing by the barn door,
One waddled away, and then there were four.
Four little turkeys out under the tree,
One waddled away, and then there were three.
Three little turkeys with nothing to do,
One waddled away, and then there were two.
Two little turkeys in the noonday sun,
One waddled away, and then there was one.
One little turkey better run away,
Soon will come Thanksgiving day.

I made my turkey using a die cut machine and added some color with fabric markers.

(Feel free to print out the sheet below)

5 Little Ghosts Felt Board and Poem

I found the Five Little Ghost poem in Twiggle Magazine and decided to make a felt haunted house and all the characters to go along with it.  Here's what I and two of my clerks, Robin & Mikayla came up with.

Aren't these adorable?!

We started with the Castle and ghosts.

The ghosts can be taken off and put back as needed for the poem.

I can't wait to share this with my Storytime kids!

UPDATE:  I did this in Storytime and the kids loved it.  I passed out the ghosts as we read the poem and had the kids bring them back up to the haunted house as they counted the ghost in the last verse.  We did this a couple times so everyone could have a chance to put something on the board.  On the second time around I passed out the monster, witch, skeleton, spider, and cat and had the kids bring up the item in their hand as they appeared in the poem.  This kept them engaged as well.

DIY Paper Pinwheel

After much searching on Pinterest and attempting many different methods, I found a great post about making paper pinwheels.  These will make great decorations and are simple enough for teens and older kids to make in a program.  I've already shown my finished to a couple of teens today and they are excited to decorate the Teen Lounge with paper pinwheels!

Here's what you will need:

• Paper (any kind will work.  I used colored copier paper because that is what I had on hand)
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Glue stick
• Paper clips

To make the large pinwheel I used three pieces of 81/2"x11" paper.  Take a piece of paper and fold it accordion style along the short end, like the picture below, until it's completely folded,.  Do this to all three pieces.

Once your pieces of paper are folded, fold each one in half and glue the middle pieces together.  I secured mine with paper clips while the glue dried.

Now that you have three fan-like pieces, glue them together side by side, to create a circle. Secure with pins.  This is your first pinwheel!

While that pinwheel is drying, cut three 4" squares out of different colored paper.  Fold and glue these together like the first pinwheel.

Glue the small pinwheel to the large pinwheel.

Now, you can have some fun with what you put on the middle.  I decided to go the easy route with this one and printed out some free tags from Chic Tags.  Add some ribbon to the back to hang from the ceiling or a wall and you're done.

Enjoy!

Paper Mache Pumpkin

I bought small, brown paper mache pumpkins for kids to color with markers and add glitter to for an evetn I did at the library.  I have some leftover pumpkins and have been dreaming up all the fun things I can do with them.  I decided to continue on with the paper mache route and use orange and yellow tissue paper.  

What you need:

• Orange and yellow tissue paper (or any colors you'd like)
• Mod Podge
• Small paint brush
• Paper mache pumpkin

Cut your tissue paper into one inch strips and then cut the strips into one inch squares.  I did not measure, just a rough guess.  The pieces do not need to be perfect..

Using the small paintbrush add a thin layer of Mod Podge to the pumpkin.  Place a piece of tissue paper on the Mod Podged area and use the paint brush to smooth the paper down.  I started at the top and worked around in a circle until the entire pumpkin was cover.  Once you are satisfied with your pumpkin, give it a nice top coat of Mod Podge to seal everything down.  I used a matte finish on my pumpkin so it's not too shiny.

I'm toying with the idea of adding some chunky glitter to this pumpkin.  Sometimes glitter just adds a nice touch, and by sometimes, I mean all the time!

Enjoy!!

Tissue Paper Owl

I got this idea from my favorite blog A Beautiful Mess.  I decided to simplify it a bit and use as a library craft.  After scrounging around in my craft supplies I came up with the following items to make this cute little owl.

• Styrofoam ball
• Tissue paper
• Scrap of felt
• Large wiggly eyes
• Pipe cleaners
• Scissors
• Glue stick

I cut my tissue paper into 3 inch strips and folded them in half.  I then cut the raw edges with scissors to make a fringe about 1 inch about apart.  Do not cut all the way through.  

Using the glue stick I went around the Styrofoam ball and wrapped the fringe in layers .  For the top, I used smaller pieces of fringe and layered them in a tight circle.  

The feet are made out of  pipe cleaners cut in half .

Cut a small triangle out of brown felt and stick some wiggly eyes on the front of the owl.  Stand back and admire your slightly ruffled, slightly circular owl.

Enjoy!

Felt Bat and Poem

I've seen several posts about bat rhymes which inspired me to make my own.  I had a hard time trying to find a good bat picture to use as a stencil so I made my own.  A picture of the stencil is below.  Feel free to copy and print it out if you'd like. 

I made 5 bats and gave them wiggly eyes.

I decided to use this Bat poem found here.

Bat pattern:  

Enjoy!

Apple & Worm Magnet

Perfect Fall craft!

Here's a simple, yet cute Fall craft to do with preschool aged kids.  Here in Hilton, NY we have an annual Apple Fest at the beginning of October.  It's a kind of a big deal.  I like to do apple stories right around that time because the kids are all geared up for the Apple Fest.  

Here's what you need:

• Apple cut outs
• Red and white card stock 
• Small worms (I used a clip art worm)
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Glue
• Pencil
• Crayons
• Magnets

To prep this craft you will need to carefully draw a bite mark out of the side of the red apple.  Cut that out and use your now bitten apple as a stencil for the rest of the apples.  That way your bite will be in the same spot and line up with the white apple when all is said and done.  To make the bite mark on the white apple, use the red cut apple and slide it to the left a little bit so you are cutting a little less out of the white apple.  Line up your apples and make sure it looks alright with the white peeking out a bit.  Go to town stenciling and cutting the rest of the apples. 

Punch a hole in the red apples near the center.  

Cut out small worms that can slide easily into the hole.

Now your project is ready for the kids.

I let the kids color their apples.  Some will color just the stem and leaf, others will make beautiful rainbow colored apples!

Once the kids are done coloring, use a glue stick and dab just a little bit of glue on the back side of the red apple near the hole.  Have the kids slip their worm into the apple and press the worm against the back.

Next, glue the white apple behind the red apple, be sure to try and line up your apples as best as you can.  Add a small magnet strip to the back and your done.

Enjoy!

3-D Christmas Tree

I was cleaning out some things in my storage room and came across this craft I did a few years ago.  It's definitely one I want to revisit this year.  There's a bit of prep work involved, but it makes an adorable decoration.  

What you need:

• Foam tree cutouts, I used my Die Cut machine and cut my own.
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun & glue
• old CDs
• Sequins
• Small holiday decorations
• School glue
• Glitter or fake snow

To make the tree take two tree cutouts and using scissors cut half way through the middle of the tree from top to bottom.  On the other tree cut half way through the middle from bottom toward the top.  Fit the two pieces together by placing them snug into the slots you just cut.  

Using your hot glue gun attach the tree to the middle of the CD with the shiny side of the CD facing up.  Once the tree is dried and standing straight up, glue on the other decorations.  I used a small present and a tiny candy cane.  Now it's ready for the kids!

Have the kids use school glue to add sequins for ornaments.  Once the sequins are on, have the kids spread glue all over the CD and put the white glitter or fake snow on top of the CD.

Enjoy!