Tissue Paper Crafts

Do you have small children? Do you take care of small children? Do small children ever come to visit you?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you need to get your cute bum to a dollar store near you and pick up a few packs of multicolored tissue paper. Hours of fun. I promise. I've had to take a new stance on afternoons with the kids at work. It's been over 100 degrees with a code orange or red air quality alert every day, which means outside is a no-go. Hot, sweaty kids that can't breathe aren't fun. And I don't want to end up taking anyone to the hospital! Crafting has been a saving grace and I've had to make it affordable so we can continue doing them through the hottest weeks of summer! Below, you'll find several crafts the kids and I have done with some sort of tissue (or crepe) paper!

Windsocks 

What you'll need: 

- embroidery ring

- glue

- crepe paper (streamers)

How to make it:

1. Remove the inner ring of the embroidery ring.

2. Squirt a line of glue around the inside and outside of the remaining ring

3. Rip streamers and put them all around the ring, folding the top edge over to the inside of the ring.

4. Add more glue and more layers if you want!

5. Put a line of glue on the inside of the ring and insert the inner ring. Tighten and let dry. 

6. Use yarn or string to create a way to hang your windsock!

Sun Catchers

What you'll need:

- construction paper 

- glue stick

(preferably colored... all I had was white and it shows the ripped tissue paper through the light)

- different colors of tissue paper

- a decent free-hand drawing of whatever you want

- scissors or a razor blade and a cutting board

How to make it:

1. Draw or trace your shape onto the construction paper

2. (Adults only!) Cut out shape with scissors or razor blade, being careful not to sabotage the edges of the "frame."

3. Let kids rip tissue paper into small and medium pieces.

4. Glue around the open shapes on the BACK of your "frame."

5. Let the kids (or help them) put tissue paper on the back of the "frame" and press it to the glue. This will make the stained glass effect from the front!

6. Hang on a window with the back facing out and watch the sun light them up!

Trash Crafts

These crafts are great for all of the leftover tissue paper (crepe paper, magazine or newspaper clippings, etc)! It's a green project since you're making use of what would otherwise be trashed!

Ahem, Trash Craft. I'm clever, right?

What you'll need: 

- construction paper

- white glue (like Elmer's)

- trash paper (tissue, magazine, newspaper, etc), ripped into small pieces

How to make it:

1. Squirt glue in shapes, letters, numbers, or at random onto the construction paper.

2. Let the kids take small pieces of "trash" paper and ball it up like garbage.

3. Put the crumpled up paper on the glue!

*yes, that's it*

I'm so excited to be doing crafts and teaching these kids how to use art as a creative outlet. They're all really enjoying our projects, although the 2-year-olds don't have quite the attention span that the 4-year-old does. That's why this handy adult jumps in to help when the going gets tough. *Always* have a game plan and try to make the project interesting! For example, for the trash craft with letters, we made up a song and chanted, "Ball up the tissue, crumple it like trash! Stick it on the glue and then you have a craft!"

If you have any great craft ideas that are affordable and easy for small children, please let me know! And stay tuned because next week we'll be doing shabby-chic bedroom letters and an alphabet board book!