Kid Craft
Flip Flop
Make your own memory game
Put the analytical left side of your brain to the test while exploring right-brained creativity at the same time!
Difficulty Level:
Easy
Time:
20-30 minutes
Thunder and Lightning
Shake up a storm with your very own rain stick!
Materials:
• Awl or sharp knife
• Cardboard cylinder from toilet paper or paper towel roll
• Two small pieces of cardboard
• Toothpicks
• Scissors or nail clippers
• Colored paper or fabric
• Masking tape
• Rice, millet, buckwheat or other small grains
Difficulty Level:
Intermediate
Time:
30 minutes
Color Crazy
Recycle old crayons into something new and wacky
Time:
20 minutes
Difficulty Level:
Easy
Materials:
• Old, broken crayons
• Knife (optional)
• Small paper cupcake liner or paper cups
• Microwave
Color Me Natural
How to decorate eggs using plant-based dyes
Time:
Half hour to make, with additional time to dry
Difficulty: Intermediate
Materials:
• White eggs
• White vinegar
• Awl (available at local hardware/supply shops); a needle or nail will work as well
• Small bowl
• String
• Homemade dyes (see below)
• Empty glass containers, one for each egg
• Large metal spoon
• Skewers
• Ribbon
• Optional: Alum (明矾) to make colors brighter – available at local vegetable markets
BOOK IT!
How To Make Your Own Journals And Notebooks Materials: Glue stick Preparing The Pages 1. Fold each piece of office paper in half. If you are recycling scratch paper, make sure the printed side of the paper is folded inside and the blank side is visible.
Time:
30 minutes to an hour
Easy to medium
Holiday Gift Tags
Finish off your gift-wrapping with a personal touch
Beijing Tags
Find some small red jian zhi, or Chinese paper cuts, available at Hongqiao and Yashow markets. Using a glue stick, carefully attach your paper cut to white paper then cut around it with decorative-edged scissors. Paste the tag to a larger piece of red card and trim to size. Make sure you leave a space at the top to punch a hole for ribbon. Flip the tag to write your Christmas message and attach it to your gift.
It's a Wrap!
How to make your own wrapping paper
Can’t find the perfect gift-wrap around town?
Why not create your own? Make gift-giving more personal this year with homemade wrapping paper!
Time:
30 minutes to an hour to make, several hours to dry
Difficulty:
Intermediate (may require some parental supervision)
Materials:
• Paper (depending on the item you’re planning to wrap, can be white or colored, large or small)
• Watercolors or paint (and a shallow dish)
• Newspaper
• Kitchen knife
• Exacto knife
• Pencil
• Paintbrush
• Shapes for stamping (suggestions: a potato, lotus root, button mushrooms, sponges, bottle caps, coins; fingers and small hands are also ready alternatives)
Smitten with Mittens
Trade in your old sweaters for a new set of hand warmers
Have a sweater you love that doesn’t fit anymore? Or perhaps it’s become ridden with too many holes. Worry not! You don’t have to throw it away. Just reinvent it into mittens to keep your paws warm.
Make A Magical Mobile
Who says ceilings don’t deserve decoration? Forget about hanging stuff on your boring old walls – this month’s craft is a fancy mobile that will swing from your ceiling in style. If there’s a new baby in your house, a mobile is perfect for hanging over a crib, but this cool version will look great in the kitchen, the hallway, or anywhere else that could use a little fun decoration.
Difficulty Level: Advanced
Time: One hour
Materials:
6 sheets of cardstock paper in 6 different colors
4 meters of thin, transparent fishing line (diaòyú xiàn 钓鱼线)
2 circular objects of different sizes, one larger than the other – jars, lids or rolls of tape work well for this. One should be about 8cm wide, the other should be about 4.5cm wide
Ruler
Scissors
1 chopstick
2 popsicle sticks
Needle
90cm of ribbon or string (optional)
Bubble Bonanza
Summertime is bubble time!
When I was young, summertime meant bubbles. I made homemade bubble solution and blew giant bubbles in all kinds of crazy shapes, and I used colored bubble solution to make bubble prints on paper that I turned into stationery and envelopes. Summer doesn’t last long and neither do bubbles, so enjoy them both as they float on by. Here’s a recipe for bubble solution, instructions for two cool bubble wands, and everything you need to know to make your own bubble print paper.
