AUTUMN LEAVES

It may be a little bit late to post these autumn leaves, but they are worth it. I saw the initial idea in my child’s creche. It took me some time to perfect the pattern and the instructions.

You will need: colored printer sheets, a pair of scissors, a pencil and some glue.

These are the two basic leaf shapes. 

BATS in the ROOM

You can use these paper bats to decorate the room and make it eery and scary for Halloween.

You will need black cardboard, a pair of scissors and something circular to trace (e.g. a plate). Give the child the important task of tracing the circles and cut them with the scissors (a good fine motor skills excercise).

You will need 3 semicircles to make each bat.

Use the first semi-circle to make the body. Use the other two to make the wings. We have shown the exact method on the photos.

Attach the wings at the back with glue or masking tape. Glue on eyes and a ‘blood thirsty’ mouth with two teeth.

Black Cardboard SWALLOW

A flying swallow!

SPRING HAS COME!!!

Copy the printable template onto black cardboard and white paper. The cardboard you will need should be bigger than A4, because the template doesn’t cover the whole tail, and besides, you will need to copy the wing template twice. You can assemble the bird with a stapler – it’s easy and it’s strong enough.

For the swallow’s body and head, bend the strips and staple them closed.

Glue the white parts on the head and the body. Attach the head to the body.

Add the beak and the eyes. Attach the wings.

BLUE WHALE Paper Toy

It’s been one of my dreams to see a real blue whale in the ocean  This will happen one day… but not exactly now. 

Our last paper toys turned out beautiful – and very easy to make.

You will need: blue A4 cardboard sheets, a white sheet of paper, some glue, a felt-tip pen and a pair of scissors. Cut the blue paper in two lengthwise – you will only need one half. Cut it again into two strips of different lengths (see above for the approximate proportions).

Fold up about 0. 5 cm from the shorter one.

Draw the tail on the other side and cut out the tails on the two strips together.

Glue the two tail-ends together. Glue the other ends of the strips together to make the head.

Add a white strip to make the mouth. Draw in the plates with a felt-tip pen.

The fountain is also easy to make – cut a fringe of white paper then roll it tightly and glue it on the whale.

Cardboad Box HENS

The season of hens, rabbits and colored eggs is near. I hope we can make you smile on this sad and gloomy day with a bit of color. 

Preparing the basic shape is a mother’s job. After that you can leave the kids to decorate the hen. We used the papier-mache technique. The only improvement we made was using tissue paper so we wouldn’t have to paing the hen after it dries. You can use oridnary paper and then color it with acrylic or tempera paints.

We had different sorts of empty boxes. That’s why sometimes we had to change the shape a little, but, basically, it’s the same idea all over.

1. This hen was made from a box with a narrow bottom panel.

2. This hen was made from a box with a wider bottom panel. Here we had to add a few pieces to close the upper part. 

Cover the whole hen with torn pieces of tissue paper (you can use paper napkins or plain paper) and very diluted PVA glue. Place the paper piece then wet thoroughly with the diluted glue. Make several layers. When the hen is dry, it’s ready for the finishing touches – we made ours with wide markers. We cut the dots from white paper and glued them on.

Cheerful OCTOPUSES

To make these octopuses, you will need an empty roll of toilet paper. Make a fringe cut at one of the ends (as shown above) and turn the strips outwards. The body is ready. As it’s hollow inside, we decided to make a lid. See pictures 1 2, 3, 4 and 5 for instructions. Color it with watercolors and felt-tip pens.

To make an octopus mobile, use a drinking straw to make the base. 

DIY Little People

An empty roll of toilet paper can help you make a whole lot of this little red-and-white folk for Baba Marta.

You need some soft paper – it could be tissue or crepe, or just red and white paper napkins.

Wrap the toilet roll with a piece of paper. Push one end in and tie the other one with a piece of yarn (like candy).

Fold a new piece of paper in half and make a row of snips (as you would when you’re making a paper lantern). Glue it to the lower part of the roll.

Add a face and two eyes. Your doll is ready.

DIY Paper SPINNER

It spins beautifully  The kids can spin it, too, with a bit of practice.

A small spinner made from a toothpick and colored paper strips held together with glue.

Cut cardboard or printer paper in different colors into strips. Start winding them carefully around a toothpick, adding a little glue from time to time – it will make the paper easier to bend. When you’re done, cover the sides with glue so the rolled paper will not rotate around the axis. The spinner will be ready to play with as soon as the glue has dried.

DUCK HAT

Тhis duck hat is made from colored cardboard. Print out the template  HERE (4 pages) then carefully cut out and glue the pages. As the colored cardboard/paper is quite sturdy, add an elastic band so the hat will not fall off.

How To Make a Spiderweb

You will need: a garbage bag, some plastic bags, sticky tape and a creative mood!

The stuffing for the heads is made from kitchen roll paper.

We have nothing to add – except the instructions for making the spiderweb