I tried these Halloween DIY Signs once in an after school class. Everyone loved that faux burned look, and the messier the letters, the better! These Halloween DIY signs beat fancy printed ones any day. AND you can recycle old cardboard to make them. MATERIALS Large blank sheets of corrugated cardboard Old paper cutter recommended, for chopping up cardboard White … Read More
I saw this simple weaving for Kids project on Pinterest (thank you to Artrageous Afternoon!) and loved it immediately. It’s a great way to make a little weaving project have more life than just sitting on a shelf or wall somewhere. MATERIALS Corrugated cardboard Hole punch, heavy duty Old paper cutter, recommended Yarn Beads DIRECTIONS Cut chipboard to 2.5″ … Read More
I’ve found that if I just precut some house shapes for a corrugated cardboard craft class, students as young as kinder can easily “build” something and learn how to construct and decorate a house. This adorable house was made by a talented kinder named Audrey. I believe she is six years old but has the focus of someone twice her … Read More
Here is one of my most popular cardboard art projects from one of my after school classes. Great for learning how to make forms from shapes. It takes some time to precut the pieces for little ones, but they have a ball “building” their own little house afterwards. MATERIALS Corrugated cardboard, 12″ squares (I found mine at a local Box … Read More
My love of cardboard and easy yarn crafts keeps growing. This brilliant idea comes from I Heart Crafty Things, I just added the pipe cleaner legs. MATERIALS Old, clean corrugated cardboard, about 10″ x 5″ rectangles Bird template (PDF shared here) Yarn Utility scissors Felt, black and yellow Googly eye Feathers Craft glue Pipe cleaners Decorative string Embroidery needle DIRECTIONS … Read More
I’ve been experimenting with more dimensional after school classes, and am happy to report that my kids seem to love it. When my students made these tree houses, they got so involved in decorating them they worked right through the last minute of class. MATERIALS Cardboard Paper cutter (heavy duty type) Corrugated cardboard Craft sticks (narrow and long type) Match … Read More
Still looking for a good way to store lots of student artwork? I found this pizza box solution years ago. Just fold them inside out to get a plain brown box. Out kinder teachers keep them until spring and then send them home at Open House. A tried and true system for over five years. MATERIALS Pizza boxes, I like … Read More
Once again I have to give credit to an amazing site called Krokotak.com. This cardboard art for kids is just too cute with its Angler fish underbite, spike teeth and pipe cleaner antennae. My students loved it! MATERIALS 16″ square of cardboard cut in half Paper cutter, old school style with arm that can chop (recommended) Utility scissors Black Sharpie … Read More
I keep finding the cutest cardboard crafts for kids at this site called Krokotak.com. They seem to have a knack for collecting really original ideas, which is not easy these days. I love how this project lets artists of all ages use yarn in a creative way. I tried this in my art camp which has kinder through 4th graders, … Read More
I can’t believe how my students are eating this Cardboard Cutaway House project up! To date I have over 40 kids making these after school, and today they worked on making beds from popsicle sticks, chip board and stationary paper. Now granted, I prepped the bed pieces by cutting them out ahead of time (hey, I have even 5 year-olds) … Read More
Here’s what I did recently for an after school cardboard house project. Students built and decorated their house over five weekly classes. I bought lots of 12″ cardboard squares from my local box company, and precut the panels so all the kids had to do in the first class was tape, tape, tape. They loved it! I had a room … Read More