Summer Paper Crafts

Summer officially started several days ago but most kids have been out of school for almost a month now and if they are anything like mine boredom is setting in. Here are some crafts that can be done with any combination of paper, paper plates, chenille sticks,glue, markers, craft sticks a wee bit o glue and a little ingenuity. Crafts are good because not only do they help beat boredom but they also develop fine motor skills in little ones as well as help kids to think creatively.


This fan is not only visually stunning but it is also a perfect way to beat the heat. I would recommend using tempera paint due to the fact that this paint cleans fairly easily. Be warned though that as with many paints when it dries it may cause paper to get a tad stiff.   For the melon use some green paint (you may have to use more than one coat since the paint may dry very light) and then stick the various colored paper on the plates.



The directions for this and for others can be found here.

Summers are hot because of the sun so how about making a cool paper plate sun. Paint or color a paper plate yellow and if you have a hole puncher punch some holes around the edges through which you will thread the chenille sticks (you can slip some plastic decorative pieces over those) and if you'd like glue some decorative jewel pieces on the plate.



This next craft is really easy to do and you will need a few different kinds of construction paper which you will then cut in small strips and then fold them and stick them to the craft sticks. Then cut another piece of paper in a circle and stick that on top of everything. It comes out looking very nice.





 The above crafts are perhaps a bit too involved for a preschooler to work on independently so I am including two crafts that are perfect for this age group. In this first craft a grown up will have to cut the fish shape first or perhaps cut the circle before the little one sticks the triangle onto it. Little ones can then stick on little pieces of construction paper to serve as the scales of the fish.





This next craft is one that I like because there are many ways to do it. If you have more than one child you can have them use their hands only or you can do the craft as shown in the pic below and use everyone in the family's hand. If you want you can use plain construction paper and have the child color it, write something on it or even stick something on it to decorate it. When completed you can stick it up somewhere in the house that way you can keep a ready visual of how small the child's hands were at one point.



Till next time, keep crafting!