Party Crafts and Activities

Finger-painting - for young children (pre-K-1st grade)

1. Use finger-paint or make your own by mixing soap flakes in a bowl with a small amount of water. Beat the mixture with a fork and add powdered tempera paint or food coloring.

2. Spread out newspapers or a large plastic table covers on the floor.

3. Tape a big piece of paper on top.

4. Cover your child's clothes with a large old shirt or apron.

5. Have your child put the paint on the paper with her fingers.

6. Let your child express himself. Some children will use large, wide strokes, others will focus on small spaces.

Found Art for beginning artists (K-5th grade)

Some artists create art from old junk, things they have found on the beach or even at dumps.

1. Go on a treasure hunt outside to find things that could be used in a collage, a picture where shapes and colors are pasted on a piece of paper or cardboard: sticks and leaves, flowers to be pressed, feathers, berries to be crushed to use as paint, pebbles, shells, pieces of blunt-edged metal.

2. Go on a treasure hunt inside to find other things such as scraps of paper, buttons, pieces of cloth, ribbon.

3. Look for some heavy cardboard or wood to use as a backing.

4. Have your child lay out the materials in a design on the backing. Have your child move things around until the design is what she wants.

5. Using a heavy duty glue, have your child glue the items on the backing.

Tip:
Use plastic table covers to protect your table tops during craft projects.

Post It! for more advanced artists (3rd-6th grade)

1. Make a list of family safety tips. They might include: wash your hands before meals, walk don't run, always buckle your seat belt, wear your bicycle helmet, sit in your seat on the school bus, make sure the water isn't too hot when you get in the shower.

2. Design a poster with one or more tips on it.

3. Think about what will catch a person's eye. Decide what lettering to use (type style), what colors to use, what pictures you want to have (graphics and illustrations), where you will put the lettering and pictures (lay-out) on the page.

4. Do a draft of the poster by drawing sketches and experimenting with lettering. Cut the sketches and letters out and move them around on a piece of paper to get the effect you want.

5. Draw, paint, or paste-up the final poster.

Tip: Use plastic table covers to protect your table tops during craft project.

Resources: Information for this "Learning Partner" was taken from "Helping Your Child Get Ready for School", U.S. Department of Education