Holidays are all about staying out playing until it’s dark. Endless chit-chat with friends and playing around with no time-bound. Holidays are the most awaited moments for children after a long exam period. Children enjoy their holidays till the very last day, but listening to them saying “I am Bored” can bring the biggest question of how to keep them occupied and entertained at the very same time. In the world of technology, we all want our children to do something creative and productive. If the children are at home it doesn’t mean they stop learning. To provide them with something exciting and less boring is a task for parents. Having an amazingly fun day with your child is all about a holiday. Apart from reading the storybooks, let’s have some fun with craft activities.
Turn Your Old Crayon Into a Crayon Candle: Ingredients you need:
- Old Crayons.
- Wax
- Wicks (a strip of porous material up which liquid fuel is drawn by capillary action to the flame in a candle, lamp, or lighter.)
- Container
Procedure:
- Pick out 4 different colours of crayons.
- Break the crayon into 4 pieces and melt. It’s best if you can grate or chop the crayons into the smallest pieces possible so it won’t take a long time and will melt properly.
- To melt the wax, you have to create a double boiler for this use, an empty vessel or a can and a pot.
- Fill the pot with about 1-2 inches of water and bring to a slow simmer.
- Add the wax to the vessel/can and allow the wax to melt until clear. Use an old spatula to stir the wax.
- Once the wax is melted, turn the burner down to low.
- Pour hot wax into the bowl or container with the broken crayon. Use a craft stick to stir and allow the crayon to melt.
- This is also the point where you would add any essential oil. If you want to have a scented candle. You can also use 1 drop of lavender oil per layer.
- Place a wick in the jar and then carefully pour the wax into the jar.
Once the last layer is set, your candle is ready to light!
Make Your Own Paper Mache Bowls
Nobody thought that turning papers into a bowl would be possible until now! Paper Mache bowls is a material that is made of paper mixed with water, glue, and other substances and that hardens as it dries. If your child loves to decorate and is exceptionally creative, paper mache bowls are the most amazing project he/she will enjoy.
Ingredients you need:
- Glass Blow
- Newspaper
- Water
- Flour
- Aluminum Foil
- Acrylic Paint
- Scissors
- PaintBrushes
Procedure:
- Cut your newspaper into 1-inch strips.
- Make your Paper mache mixture.
- For this, you’ll need a 1 part All-purpose white flour(maida), 2 parts Water, Salt (optional), Bowl and a Whisk or spoon.
- Combine the flour and water in a large bowl and stir it well.
- Let the mixture be thin and consistent.
- Continue mixing until there are no lumps left.
- Add a few tablespoons of salt to the batter.
- Use the paper-mache glue immediately for a project or store the paste in a covered bowl or jar in the refrigerator for a few days.
- Grab a kitchen bowl that will be used as a mould for your paper mache.
- Completely cover the outside of the bowl with aluminium foil.
- For some beautiful texture to your bowl let the foil crumple a bit.
- Lightly spray the outside of the foil-covered bowl with cooking spray. This will make it much easier to remove the paper mache from the glass once the bowl is dry.
- Dip the strips of newspaper into the paste.
- Wipe your strips after dipping in the past so they don’t drip and litter the place and apply the strips on top of the bowl.
- Repeat this process with the newspaper strips, laying them in different directions until the whole bowl is covered.
- Allow the bowl to dry. For better results let it dry overnight; however, you can take it off of the bowl mould after two hours. For a quick dry set up a fan blowing on the bowl.
- Once completely dry, pop the paper mache off the bowl, separating the foil carefully.
- Apply a coat of gesso (plaster of Paris or whiting in glue) to the inside of the bowl and let it dry.
- If there are slight drips on the edge of the bowl, use sandpaper to remove.
- Use beautiful acrylic paints to decorate your bowl the way you wish, with a variety of colours and pattern designs.
- Apply a varnish coat to finish the bowl.
- Brush two to three coats of artist acrylic varnish onto the bowl, doing the inside first and then the outside.
- Allow the varnish to dry in between coats.
Hand Painting:
Being messy when you were a child must be the most amazing memories of your childhood. Why not experience it again with your child. Hand Painting is one of the easiest and fun craft activities that your child will enjoy the most.
Ingredients:- Set of beautiful acrylic paint
- A plate for colours to spread
- A paper or cardboard to present its creative thoughts
- An old cloth or newspaper to avoid the messiness from spreading around.
Make sure the paint you are using is not harmful and is easily washable. Be there with your child the whole time if he/she is a tiny toddler so that they don’t eat paint, being messy, spilling the paint and walking all over it is what all children’s love .So,let them enjoy that experience. Admire their creativity by accompanying them in these fun activities. Try printing their palm or fingerprint. Paint infinite shapes and colours with fingers and recreate the scene.
Paper Chain:
Making a paper chain is an amazing and fun craft idea to do along with your child.
Ingredients:- Colourful sheets of paper
- Scissors
- Sticky tape
- Draw multiple vertical lines on the paper at the same distance.
- Using a safety scissor let you cut the paper into strips along the line
- After cutting the paper into strips, fold the paper into a round shape and stick the ends with tape.
- Once the strips are stuck well, then moving forward the activity involves feeding the paper through the previous chain by colour coordinating paper and attaching the sticky tape.
Rock painting:
Rocks are something we all found in our backyard and neighbourhood. And painting them into an animated character is the most fun activity ever. All you need is to hunt for a perfectly shaped rock, acrylic colours and a paintbrush. With a treasure of imagination paint, the rock with a solid colour let it dry and draw on the solid colour rock with a contrasting colour to make it look attractive.
The benefit of Craft Activities:
Craft is the most creative and most fun activity your child can enjoy. It not only engages them in fun & productive learning but also develops Fine motor, Gross motor, Sensory skills and much more. These simple activities will keep the children engaged ,give them an amazing experience and add wings to their creativity. Let’s help nurture their creative spirit with these fun activities and spark their imagination.