Paper Craft Projects for Kids - Page 1

Copyright Notice - While many of the crafts on this site are free, they are still copyrighted. They are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for local church, school, or home use only. The copyright notice must be included on all copies. To request permission to copy this material for any other use contact me by e-mail.

Journal Craft- Even young children (preschool)  that can't write yet enjoy these books. Danielle pretends she is writing by making wavy lines. These make great Sunday school projects for older children.

What you will need: fabric, decorated construction paper, or wall paper samples, string to  bind the book, feathers, beads, sticks, etc. to decorate the book, typing paper, poster board, hole punch, and tacky glue.

What to do:

1. Decide what size journal you want to make. A half a sheet of typing paper or a quarter sheet of typing paper is a good  size. You can recycle used paper by using the back side of the  paper. Cut up the paper to desired size and punch holes in one  side where you want to bind the book.
2. Decide what you want to use for a cover. You can decorate a sheet of construction paper. Collect natural items such as  leaves, pine needles, and seeds. Dip them in different colors of paint and press them onto the paper to make an imprint. If  the items are too thin to hold, glue them on wood blocks to make a stamp and then dip them in paint. If you put your paint on a folded up paper towel on a dish, sometimes that makes it easier to cover the whole stamp.
3. Cut a piece of poster board for the cover to fit over your  paper so that it is about 1/4" bigger on the 3 unfolded  sides.
4. Fold your cover material in half and cut it at least 1"  bigger than the poster board on all three unfolded sides so that  you will be able to fold it over the poster board. Glue the cover  material onto the poster board. Fold over the edges and glue  them down.
5. Now cut another piece of paper to cover the inside of the  cover and glue it in place. Punch holes in the cover to match  the holes you punched in the papers.
6. Now you are ready to bind the book. You can use string, leather strips, or any thing you have available. Decorate the binding  with beads, feathers or other natural items. You can tie a  bead  onto the front cover and glue a loop of braided string onto the  back cover so that when you close the book you can bring the  loop around to hold onto the bead to keep your journal closed.  You can also glue a long braided string onto the inside top cover  to use as a book mark. 

   Check out the beautiful 'Make A Summer Friends Journal' shown on Family.com.

Rainbow Pattern Book - This ideas  comes from a first grade teacher, Patty Ligas, who got the idea  from Paula Chung of California. This is a very easy book to read by young children.  It is called a "pattern" book.  The sentences are all one pattern with only a word or two changed and the change is seen in the picture. This project is great for preschool children and homeschool.

What you will need: Six colored pieces of construction  paper:  red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple in that order.  Stapler, scissors, markers, or computer printer. (I used a half  a sheet each to make the book, and it came out very nice).

What to do:

1. Make a rainbow pattern by folding a piece of construction  paper in half the long way and opening it up. (We call that a  "hot dog" fold as opposed to the "hamburger"  fold the other way.) Round off the corners of the top half of  the paper to form an arch.
2. Use the pattern to cut all six papers.
3. Cascaded the papers about an 1/2 or less apart with red at  the highest point. This makes  the rainbow. Staple the pieces on the RIGHT side two times. Turn the papers over (now the staples  are on the left) and staple again.
4. Cut off all the pieces at the bottom edge so that only one  color shows per page. You can staple two more pieces on for the  covers.
5. On the inside first page hand print or use the computer to  make a sentence strip saying, "I can see red." When  making books for young children, use a large font size (24 or  bigger) and space three or four spaces between words to make  it easier for them to read. Look for fonts that are shaped simply  not fancy. On each page, put "I can see _____." On  the back side of  the purple, put "I can see a rainbow."  (I added a white paper to the back cut the same shape).  To make  this a Bible lesson related craft, instead of putting "I  can see ____." Put Thank you,  God, for ____". and on  the last page put, "Thank you, God, for the Rainbow. When  we see it up above, we are reminded of your love." Or something  like that. If you use a title page, you can put "We thank  God for colors". (top)

 Paper Bag Backpack Craft - Preschool children love this project and it is a great way to recycle your grocery bags.

What you will need: Three brown paper bags for each backpack, buckles, glue, paint.

What to do:

1. If you have the longer type bag, cut one paper bag to measure  14 inches high. Insert the 14 inch bag inside another paper bag.  Cut slits on the four top corners of the outside bag to make  flaps. Fold the flaps to the inside of the bags so that you cover  the top of the first bag. Glue the flaps down. Now you have a  double bag measuring 14" high. If you have the 14"  high bags, just insert one inside the other and glue them together  at the top.
2. To make the front flap of the backpack, cut a piece from the  third bag that measures 14" x 14". Fold the bag on  the dotted lines as indicated on pattern  and then glue the sides together. Glue the flap to the top of  the bag so that it overlaps the bag 2" as indicated diagram  2.
3. Use the pattern provided to make  the shoulder straps then glue them to the backpack as indicated  on the pattern.
4. To make the straps, cut long pieces of the bag 3 times the  size of your buckle. You can buy any number of different kinds  of buckles at fabric stores and outdoor stores but they tend  to  be very expensive. The Wy'East  Online Fabrics Store has them for 20 cents to 50 cents a  piece depending on which type you buy. Glue the straps onto the  shoulder straps and to the  bottom of the backpack so that they  will meet each other and overlap. Attach the buckles to the straps  by inserting the straps through the top of the buckle and folding  over. Secure with glue.
5. Attach more straps (about 9 inches) to the top of the top  flap so that they hang down from  the bottom of the flap about  4 inches. Attach a buckle to the end overlapping the strap about  2 inches. Then attach straps to the bottom of the pack so that  they will match up to the top  flaps and overlap at least 4 inches.
6. Decorate with water paints, markers, or crayons.  

 Paper Kite Craft - Fold, tape, decorate, tie, and then your are ready to fly!
What you need: Legal sized paper 8 1/2" by 14",  plastic straw, tape, paper or plastic, string.

What to do: Look at the pattern to help you understand the following directions.

1. Fold a sheet of legal sized paper in half to form a folded  paper that measures 8 1/2" by 7".
2. Fold down each side at an angle as indicated on the pattern  to form the wings. Tape the wings together at the fold.
3. Tape a plastic straw across the widest part of the wings to  keep the wings from blowing back in the wind.
4. Place a piece of tape over the area you want to punch a hole  in for the string. Then punch a hole through the tape and the  paper.
5. Attach the string.
6. Cut a snake from a 6" circle to attach to the end of  your kite for a tail.
7. Decorate your kite so it looks pretty up in the sky. (top)

 

Paper Crafts on The Resource Room You can find more paper crafts on The Resource Room. The Resource Room is designed specifically for Sunday School teachers and Christian homeschool parents. We have Bible lessons for preschool and primary age children.  Each lesson comes with activity and craft ideas to reinforce the lesson.

Paper Quilt Craft - Here is a fun group project. Or save your child's pictures as she makes them and then put them all together to make this quilt.

What you will need: Construction paper, markers or crayons, stapler, fancy scissors.

What to do:

1. Have each child draw a picture on a piece of light colored construction paper. You may want to use just half a piece of construction paper if you have a lot of pictures so that the quilt doesn't get too big. Instruct the children not to draw to close to the edge of the paper.
2. When all the pictures are complete arrange them in the order   you want them to appear on the quilt.
3. With right sides together (the picture side) staple the first  two pictures together in the first horizontal row, open them  up and fold back.
4. Staple on the next picture in the row, and continue until the first row is all stapled together.
5. Staple the next horizontal row together and the next until  all the rows are complete.
6. Now staple the first and second horizontal rows together with  right sides together.
7. Use some of those scissors that cut fancy edges to cut a border  for your quilt. Staple it on  the same way you did the pictures.(top)

Paper Chain Butterfly Craft - A fun project that even very small children  can help with. My child's response to seeing her first paper chain was "Wow!" © Carolyn Warvel

What you will need: Paper (any type colored  paper or plain paper) We used standard typing paper, Scissors (a good pair since you will be cutting at least  4 layers at once), Paint, markers, crayons etc. (optional) and tape.

 What to do:

1. Paint the paper with finger paints by putting dabs of  color on the paper and folding over the paper to make a pretty  pattern. (Small children as young as one year old will have fun  with this step. Let the paper dry. Or use crayons or markers to decorate the paper.
2. Fold the paper in half from the long end. Unfold. Use the fold as a guide to fold the paper in a fan pattern with 4 equal  sections.
3. Print out the butterfly (pattern) and  use tracing paper to copy it to the folded paper. (The pattern  should fit on 3 times).
4. Cut out the butterflies remembering to leave the tip of the  wings attached. Tape the 3 chains together to make one long chain.

No Mess Sand Art Craft - Do this project outside in the sand box and you won't have to clean up a big mess in your house.

What you need: Heavy paper, white glue, water color paint, and sand.

What to do: Draw a design on the heavy paper with the glue. Place the picture in the sand box and sprinkle sand all over the design. Dump off the excess sand. Let dry for a little  bit and then paint with water colors. (top)

Card Fan Craft - use old cards to make these fans. Makes beautiful yet cheap mother's day gift. © Carolyn Warvel

 What you will need:
Old cards, things to decorate card with such as Rick Rack, buttons, sequins, ribbon, beads,  etc. four craft sticks, hot melt glue

To Make:

1. Paint four crafts sticks and let dry. When dry glue together to form the bottom of the fan, then glue to the bottom, inside of the card. Glue the card closed.
2. Decorate.

Other ideas to recycle old cards:

1. Use old cards or parts of old cards to make little notebooks.  Just cut out the part of the  card you want. Then cut paper to fit inside the card cover. Staple to form a book. Children love  these little notebooks.
2. Save your old Christmas cards. Cut the pretty pictures out with religious themes and have your Sunday school class make a group mural out of them.  Just tape a piece of poster board to the wall and let the kids take turns glueing on the pictures and decorating the picture.
3. Here's another idea to use your old Christmas cards. Instead of buying gift tags, cut out the pictures from your cards and wright on the backs the "to" and "from" to make your own gift tags.

 Do you have any other ideas to use old cards? We would  love to hear from you.

Other Ideas from our Readers

1..  An idea for using old greeting cards is to cut them to size for bookmarks. Use pinking shears, or other edged shaped scissors to cut out the part of the card you like, use a hole punch at the top and loop ribbon, cording, or a tassel through the hole.  If you would like to "laminate" the bookmark, use clear contact paper before punching the hole.  Sincerely, Traci  Thanks for sharing your ideas with us, Traci  (top)