Hi mamas!
Normally, I'm a super crafty mom, but I'm just not having any luck thinking of a craft project for my daughter's class. Here's the background: each week, one child in her third-grade glass is chosen as the "VIP" for the week. So on Friday of her VIP week (a week from today), we need to provide a snack, as well as some kind of activity for the class to do. The activity should be less than half an hour long, start to finish, and my daughter must be able to explain and demonstrate the project to her classmates. Most kids have done some kind of craft, though a few have done games. There are 26 children in the class.
I'm racking my brain trying to think of something fun to do, and I'm just not coming up with any viable ideas... mamas, any advice for me??
Thanks in advance - you are all so wonderful!
My 3rd graders enjoy making any origami. Also a "fortune teller" - google if you don't know what it is & how to make it. Very easy to make & fun to play with.
When I was in elementary school, the project that I enjoyed the most was making "warm fuzzies". I don't recall what grade I was in so maybe this is too young for a third grader but, here's a link to describe how to make them.
http://www.craftbits.com/project/warm-fuzzy-friends
In the link they wrapped their yarn around a cd case or something but I remember just rolling it around my hand, then sliding the big group of looped yarn off and tying it up in the middle so it looked like a fat bow. Then cutting the loops on either side so that it puffed into a big fuzzy ball. Making loops of different colored yarn was fun. We used to leave the extra length on the tie off loop so we could attach the fuzzies to our backpacks or shoes.
Not sure how much mess they can make, or if they can take turns at a covered table, but have they ever done string painting?
Each gets a piece of art paper. (Heavier than copy paper.)
Fold the paper in half the long way and then open it back up.
Dip a 25 inch piece of string into a small puddle of paint. Hold onto one end so it stays clean.
On one side of the fold lay the string going back and forth and curling over itself.
Leave the clean couple inches hanging out at the bottom of the paper.
Fold the paper over at the crease.
Lay a book on top of the paper.
Hold it down gently and pull the string out at the bottom.
Open the paper and see the design they made with paint.
They may want to do more than one, and use more than one color paint. I used plastic tops from yogurts and such for the paint. Sometimes if the string is damp first it works better. After they are dry, its neat to run a line of glue on the ridges of paint and sprinkle glitter on it.
Homemade ice cream in a bag. My students always LOVED this and they get to eat it!
mini-marshmallow & toothpicks used for construction.....like ??OMG, what were they called??....the 1960s Tinker Toys!!
Anyway, it's fun & I use this project a lot for the older kids. They can build houses, fences, etc with these supplies.....& the snack is then built-in!
There is a way you can fold up a paper so that a single cut makes a perfect star - all the sides are even. My friend's grandpa showed us this on the bus on a field trip when I was around that age. We thought it was so cool. Wish I could remember how to do it. I'm sure you could find it on-line.
Another project I made in school was a paper box with no tape or glue. You just had fold it up a certain way and make 4 cuts and then do some more folding and tucking. It would take up more time since the project is supposed to be 30 minutes. Good luck.
Why don't you make a snack they can participate in? It could be a 2-in-1 project incorporating project and their snack. There are a tons of ideas out there. My daughter's Sunday school class made mini s'mores with mini marshmallow, choc kiss, and whatever they used for Graham cracker... they "roasted" marshmallow over a candle and put them together. They loved it. That may not be viable, but you could let them decorate cookies or cupcakes, celery boats (cheese whiz, pb, olives, raisins, etc... make into little ships), or they can customize trail mix... you put out ingredients and they go around with their baggie and scoop. When done, they seal the bags, shape them, and eat them. You can label each ingredient and let them fill out recipe cards with their creation's recipe. You could even make a book for the class later, including all recipes. These are some of the ideas that just came flying at me. You could even do the ice cream project... have you seen that? Ask me for more ideas on any of these if you want to use them. I'm inspired myself, hahaha
home made ice cream that the kids can do themselves. Great activity and snack all in one:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/237058/kid_frien...
Also though of like graham crackers and frosting and the kids can makes little gingerbread-like houses, but someone might have already done that around the holidays. Course you could just do cookie decorating, too. Let the kids decorate 3... eat one and take two home.
You could always make cheap paper eye masks and have the kids decorate that, or hats, or crowns or sun visors. (But I'd bet someone's already done that too.)
Painted rocks? course "finding" 30 or so rocks that are large enough to paint might be annoying.
Paper pinwheels?
simple Origami? Although if you don't find some really cool "boy" designs then the boys will resort to paper airplanes, lol.
Foil embossing - http://www.education.com/activity/article/foil-embossing/
Hope you find something!
