Puzzle Piece Snowflake

Here is the craft I made last night with my evening storytime kids.  They LOVED it.  Especially when I mentioned we would be adding some glitter to our projects.  Glitter just makes everything better.

What you need:

• Cardstock
• Snowflake template (I found one online)
• Blue and white puzzle pieces (or you can have the kids paint them)
• Liquid glue
• Glitter
• Hole punch
• Fishing line

I cut out all the snowflakes ahead of time and double layered the cardstock to make it sturdy.  If I had thicker cardstock on hand, I would have just used that instead.   Punch a hole in the snowflake and tie some fishing line onto it.  To keep things a little on the cleaner side, I put swirls of glue on the snowflake for the kids to cover with puzzle pieces and added the swirls of glue on top of the puzzle pieces for the glitter.  This kept the mess to a minimum.

The kids had a blast making this craft and were very exited to learn that they did not have to put all the puzzle pieces together!

Enjoy!

Polar Bear Snow Globe

Here is a sneak peak at one of my crafts for Winter Evening Storytime.  I wanted to do a polar bear theme again, but wanted to switch up the craft.  The globe and stand are made out of cardstock.  The bear and die-cut tree are made out of regular paper.  Add some white pom poms and you have yourself an adorable snow globe.

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!

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!

Picture Book Winter Book List

·         There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow by Lucille Colandro

·         Is That You , Winter? By Stephen Gammell

·         Snow day! by Barbara Joosse

·         Snowmen All Year by Caralyn Buehner

·         Dream Snow by Eric Carle

·         The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

·         Tracks in the Snow by Wong Herbert Yee

·         It’s Snowing! It’s Snowing! by Jack Prelutsky

·         Snow in the Woods- Carl R. Sams II & Jean Stoick

·         Frosty the Snowman by Steve Nelson

·         Snow Day for Mouse by Judy Cox

·         It’s Snowing! by Gail Gibbons

·         Snow Happy by Patricia Hubbell

·         Let It Snow by Maryanne Cocca-Leffler

·         Snowbots by Aaron Reynolds

Winter/Holiday books for Young Adults

After searching for what seemed like days I have found a nice selection of YA books that have either a winter or holiday theme for the season.  I've been working on a display in the Teen Lounge and found enough of these books in my collection to make it look alright.  :-)
Here's what I've come up with.

• Icing on the Lake by Catherine Clark
• Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater 
• Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn
• The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
• The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean
• Trapped by Michael Northrop
• Winter's End by Jean-Claude Mourlevat
• Let it Snow by John Green
• Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
• Love on the Lifts by Rachel Hawthorne
• Sun & Moon, Ice & Snow by Jessica Day George
• As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway
• Kissing Snowflakes by Abby Sher
• Far From You by Lisa Schroeder
• Secret Santa by Sabrina James
• Winter's Kiss by Jennifer Echols
• Winter Town by Stephen Emond
• Snowed In by Rachel Hawthorne
• Mistletoe: Four Holiday Stories by Hailey Abbott

Whimsical Tree

I saw a picture the other day of a pretty whimsical tree with swirls and buttons.  I drew my own tree design and added some buttons and jewels.  I thought this would be fun for teens to do as the front of a holiday card or for kids to do as a picture during their holiday break.

Here is what my whimsical tree looks like:

Star Wars Snowflakes

This is just awesome!  I found this craft on Pinterest.  The link has patterns of snowflakes that you cut to make different Star Wars characters and ships.  Some patterns are easier than others.

I suggest using nail scissors and an exacto knife to cut all the small pieces out.  I would consider this for a teen program.  Right now I've just made a few myself and will hang them in the children's area among the other snowflakes.  It will be a fun surprise for all the Star War fans and they will have fun trying to spot the Death Star and Darth Vader.

Star Wars Snowflakes

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Contest!

This will be the third year of this contest at the library.  The first year I did this I had 24 houses submitted.  The last year there were a few less, but more groups involved and extremely detailed structures.  This is a super easy program, that the whole community can get involved in.  This year a local coffee shop is donating the prizes.  I give out prizes to every age category and the group category.  We have a big display window in the front of our library so I make a winter gingerbread village in there and number the houses so people can come in the library and vote.  People really get into this program and of course we put out a display of all our gingerbread constructing books!

Preparing for winter

I know it's only the beginning of October, but I've started planning my crafts for the winter sessions of evening storytime.  I came across a post on Pinterest of this nice picture of stained glass trees made from tissue paper.  I thought this would make an adorable project for storytime, so I came up with this:

I'll have the kids make one tree on half a sheet of light gray card stock.  The sky is made using blue liquid watercolor diluted with water.  Snowflakes were made with a standard hole punch.  I wanted to add a little something extra so I included a snowflake poem that I found with a Google search.  There's tons out there so pick which one you like best.  :-)
Steps:
Paint top half of paper blue
Tree:  Make triangles in a word document.  Have kids glue (I used glue sticks) squares of tissue paper onto the triangle.  Make sure they over lap and go beyond the outline of the triangle.  Once that is completely covered cut out triangle.
Glue triangle to paper and use a piece of tissue paper for the trunk.
Glue white dots for snow all over the paper and tree.
Glue snow poem.
And now you have an adorable winter picture to put on the fridge or frame!

There are so many pictures books that can go along with this craft.  I will post a list later this month of winter storytime books that I like to use.