Help I need craft ideas for school children?

Question

I work in an after school care program and look after 5 -12 yr olds. We do not have many resources or alot of money to buy any. The children are getting bored so I want to give them some quick and easy craft to do. Now we also have some special needs children so glue and paint cant just be sitting on tables all the time,

Can any body please help me, I want my children to have FUN!

Answer 1

Instead of liquid glue you may wish to use glue sticks...that usually helps with the mess.  Watercolor paints aren't as messy either.  Since I don't know what the special needs are..this is kind of difficult.  :-)  The favorite thing that my school agers loved was the creation station.  I had a shelving unit that had two shelves for free art...they made their own creations.  They loved it when I had the low temp glue gun out...maybe twice a year.  They made pom pom creatures and craft stick creations the most.  

* Washable markers on coffee filters and then spray with water. They can turn them into flowers or butterflies.

* playdough---what's even more fun and educational is to have the children help make different recipes.  It's great to give these kids a lot of choices...so having different discriptions of the doughs and letting them choose is a great thing.  You can have salt dough and provide poster paints (that have lids on them) to paint them.  The thing is that most school-agers can understand a disability and understand the need to recap the paint when they aren't using a certain color.

* murals were a BIG hit.  I put b.b. paper up long one wall and we did drawing mural...usually going with a theme.  Recently I provided animal cutout copies and crayons and glue sticks.  They made a zoo.  Done the same with transportation.

* marble painting... if you have a long stretch of hallway or space it's fun to put the paper inside of an oatmeal canister and roll it back and forth.

* oil pastels are a neat media for school agers.

It's been awhile since I've done school agers...I suggest that you get the Oriental Trading Hands on Fun catalog and look in it for idea.  Many of those items can be made without purchasing the kid.

Good luck.

Answer 2

My website has lots of free printables, and more added regularly:

http://www.quality-kids-crafts.com/index...

We have coloring pages, kids crafts, templates to cut out for other items, and even a few bulletin board ideas.

You can sign up for the blog at:

http://www.quality-kids-crafts.com/kids-...

You might also see if there is a Child Care Resource and Referral office that has a lending library for activities and such (if you are in the United States): http://www.childcareaware.org/en/parent_...

If you are working at a public school, contact the district headquarters and ask if you have access to the same resources (paper, glue, games, activities, etc.) as teachers.

Hope these suggestions help!  I commend you on your desire to make a difference.

Answer 3

check this website at: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/kids_cr...

Answer 4

There are a bunch of Craft Ideas and directions here:

Craft Kits - http://www.craft-kits.net/craft-projects...

Other ideas are to make pet treats

Dog Treat Recipes - http://www.dog-pound.net/other-dog-treat...

Or if you are into organic these are directions for organic recipes that could be a great craft.

Organic Recipes - http://www.organic-items.com/organic-dir...

Have fun!

HTH

Answer 5

an excellent activity for all ages - as long as scissors are okay - is to make "paper stretchers".

To make a template, fold a piece of A4 paper so it is long and skinny, then draw lines on one side of it:

Starting at one of the long edges of the folded paper (right on the edge), draw lines across, stopping about 1cm from the other edge. draw another line the same 2cm below this one, and so on down the page.

Then turn the paper around and draw lines in between the ones you have just drawn. Start at the other edge and stop 1cm from the edge you started from before. Your folded sheet should look something like the diagram below, all the way down.

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.                |.....................

......................|               .

.                |.....................

......................|               .

.                |.....................

Well, hopefully you get the idea... It's difficult to explain in words, but not difficult to do, and kids love doing this.

The template with the lines you have drawn can be unfolded and photocopied onto paper (not card) - either coloured, or let the kids colour it themselves.

Kids the fold their photocopied template in half and cut along the lines. This can be tricky for 5-6y.o's without one-on-one help for this step, but older children can help!

Once all the lines have been cut along, pick the piece of paper up by one end and watch it stretch!!

The paper stretchers can be used just like this, for decoration (good for christmas or birthdays) or ask students to draw and cut out a head and legs of an animal/creature/person to be stuck onto the top and bottom of the stretcher. These can then be hung on the wall and look fantastic as a display or in kid's bedrooms!!

I hope this explanation helps, and I hope you get an opportunity to try this some time... it really is fun, and kids love seeing their normal sized piece of paper become so long.

Answer 6

Make tissue paper flowers!

You roll the end of a pipe cleaner into a little spiral, then add approx. 8 tissue paper circles and "scrunch" them with your hand (put hand around circle that is all the way up and squeeze). You can use a bunch of different colors of tissue, different shapes, and even different kinds of paper! Klutz.com has the book where they have a ton of great ideas - I think there are a few highlighted pages from the book if you wanted to check that out.

It is glue/paint/mess free, uses lots of creativity, and is pretty age-appropriate and entertaining for your age group!

Hope that works!

-A

Answer 7

Fuse beads (oriental trading/ craft store) The children put the beads on this plastic bead board and make designs. A TEACHER then takes an iron  over the beads and melts them together. Kids love this and it takes 4-ever for them to do and it is CHEAP!!!!!!! Kids 5-12 will enjoy this project.

                                            or

Oriental trading has cheap crafts kits

Answer 8

you could always have contests like tic tac toe and other simple games!

good luck!