Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Valentine Craft

Hands to work, hearts to God,

Lamb Note Card Holder

Supplies (per student)
2 pinch type clothes pins
4-inch square brown or black cardstock/craft foam etc 
4-inch square white cardstock/craft foam etc.
2 google eyes
1 sheet computer paper (run it through a paper shredder for quick strips)
1 pencil/pen (to curl paper)
glue (cotton swabs or paint brushes would help spread the glue thinly)

Directions

  1. Cut out 4 inch round from white stiff craft material (imperfect circle is best)

  2. Cut out head and ears from black or brown craft foam, glue the head, ears and eyes

  3. Cut strips of white paper 1/4 inch wide, wrap paper strips around a pencil or dowel

  4. Apply thin layer of glue to sheep body, press paper curls into glue

  5. Glue head onto body

  6. Glue clothes pins to back of sheep body

  7. Display photo, note or prayer card in the clips
Here is another version of this craft using cotton swabs instead of paper curls


Hands to work, hearts to God,

Hands to work, hearts to God,

Teacher Gift Idea: Class Tote Bag

Purchase a large, plain tote bag.

Measure out the space needed to paint a circle for each student (leave plenty of room around the edges).

Make a face for each student.

Ask each student to draw their "stick figure" face complete with hair and you can copy the drawing using fabric paints.  If time permits, you can have the students "paint their face" during recess.

Hands to work, hearts to God,
MATERIALS (for each necklace)

30" Leather lacing, approximately (Suede Cord)
7 Translucent blue pony beads
1 White pony bead
glue, optional

DIRECTIONS

Fold the lacing in half and hold on to the folded end.
Push on 2 blue beads on the folded end. Leave a small amount of lacing below the blue beads.
Put one blue bead on each piece of the leather lacing (from the other end).
Push on the remainder (3) of the blue beads onto the leather lacing on both strings.
Tie the two ends of the leather lacing together in a knot.
Push 2 of the blue beads towards the knot. (see photo)
Push the other blue bead that is on both strings towards the beads that are individually strung.
Place a white bead sideways (open ends between the 2 blue beads) and then push the double strung blue bead down until it tightens the necklace to hold the white bead in place.
You may add glue if you wish to hold the white bead in.


Tips:  There is not a bead at the bottom of the necklace. One parent's blue beads have stayed on and have not needed anything at the bottom (an individually strung bead could be placed at the bottom). You may glue the white bead in place if you wish.




Hands to work, hearts to God,

Popscicle Stick Snowman



MATERIALS
6 popsicle sticks/tongue depressors
craft foam sheets (orange, black, red & green)
ribbon (optional - can replace with craft foam)
chenille stem/pip cleaner (black)
hanger (can be ribbon, yarn, chenille stem hook)
google eyes (can be replaced with craft foam)
glue

DIRECTIONS
Line-up sticks for measurement of foam pieces.
Cut out foam pieces.
Line up 3 or 4 popsicle sticks, glue another popsicle stick to the back to keep sticks aligned.
Glue on foam pieces to make your snowman.

Hands to work, hearts to God,

Paper Tube Bugs


Ask class parent volunteers to help cut the paper tubes ahead of time.

Hands to work, hearts to God,

Paper Tube Stamps


Manipulate the paper tubes (toilet paper or paper towel) into your desired shape.  Use hearts, fall leaves, flower petals.



Hands to work, hearts to God,

Cupcake Liner Fish


Hands to work, hearts to God,

St. Nicholas


MATERIALS
Wooden ball
Small clay pot
Felt (red, white and pink/peach/tan)
Chenille stem / Pipe cleaner (gold or brown)
Marker
Paint & brushes
Glue

DIRECTIONS
  1. Paint the wooden ball and clay pot (may be done prior to craft day)
  2. Cut felt pieces for hands, mitre, beard and cape.
  3. Glue head onto clay pot
  4. Shape pipe cleaner into shepard's crook and glue onto clay pot
  5. Glue on hands, beard, mitre and cape

To simplyfy this craft - use a clothes pin or a wooden game piece instead of the ball and pot.

Variations - Use this same idea to make the holy family.

Hands to work, hearts to God,

Liturgical Season Wheel






Hands to work, hearts to God,

Good Deed (or Sacrifice) Beads

Use the beads to count acts of love or sacrifice made in a day.

How to make Good Deed (or Sacrifice) Beads - link to excellent instructions with step by step photos.

MATERIALS
25" piece of cord or string
11 beads (pony or wooden)
1 Miraculous Medal
1 Crucifix/Cross/Saint Medal

Hands to work, hearts to God,

Class Project: Pool Noodle Rosary



Pool Noodle Rosary on Catholic Icing - Use this link to find detailed instructions. 
A great way to up-cycle left over pool noodles.  The ridged noodles make cute flower shaped "beads".

Make a Monstrance

Here are a variety of photos of different projects.

To keep the supply list simple, use paper plates (one for the top and a second to cut out the base) and marker/crayons/dimensional/fabric paints/bingo bottles, etc. to decorate.



Clothespin Priests

Idea from Catholic Icing

Great go along for teaching about the liturgical year and the colors of vestments


Materials
Clothespins/Doll Pins (the ones with the round heads and without the metal spring)
Felt
Glue
Giltter
Paints and brushes

Directions

Assumption of Mary Triptych - August 15th

Photograph borrowed from Catholic Icing

Materials:


Shoebox (you can also do this with a piece of cardboard or stiff posterboard)
Colored paper, like construction paper or scrapbook paper
Printouts or coloring pages of Mary (inquire about your schools resources or search on the Internet)
Gold paint
Magazines, stickers, cotton balls, ribbons, or other materials for embellishments
Scissors, glue or paste, paintbrushes

Directions:

1) Cut one short side off the shoebox. This end will be the top. Open up the other short side and fold back the middle portion of that side to create a stand.

2) Fold in the long sides of the shoe box. These are your outer panels of the triptych, and what was the bottom of the box will be the larger center panel. While all three panels are folded together, cut the top end into the shape of a cathedral arch. (Only the center one will be symmetrical. If you want the two side panels to be smaller but complete arches, you can cut them out separately.)

3) Choose three colored papers for the backgrounds of your panels (or see step 5 for another suggestion). Glue them in and trim them to fit the panels. We chose pink, blue, and yellow construction paper for one. For another we used scrapbook paper for backgrounds of flowers, clouds, and stars.

4) Prepare your three images of Mary--color them, cut them out, arrange them. Whatever you want. For one, we pieced together various elements from different fine art paintings we printed from the computer.

5) Embellish your panels. My favorite was using thinned gold paint on the backgrounds to give a little bit of a gold-leaf impression. To me it gives the idea of an altarpiece. You can even paint the entire background gold and forego the paper if you want.

Here are some other ideas:

A halo of twelve star stickers.
Cotton balls for clouds.
Magazine cutouts of angels.
Flattened artificial flower petals.
A serpent or dragon under Our Lady's feet.
A construction paper moon for her to stand on.
A triangle above her head to symbolize the Trinity.
Hearts drawn to show our love for our Blessed Mother

Welcome!

I hope you will find this a useful resource for ideas to help make your job as room parent a little easier.  I would love to publish your ideas here as well.

Use the keyword cloud or the archive list in the right column to help find particular entries.

If you would like to request a post for a particular idea for a class craft, party or teacher gift, I will do my best to create a post in response to your request.

Have a great year!