Tag: crafts

dinosaur stick puppet craft or 2 dinosaur puppets
Uncategorized

Create Fun Dinosaur Stick Puppets for Kids

Jennifer
dinosaur stick puppet craft or 2 dinosaur puppets

Create your own dinosaur stick puppets with this cute dinosaur template. The template (found below) is a free, downloadable PDF for your personal use. Stick puppets are a simple, affordable, and entertaining craft that encourages creativity, storytelling, and imaginative play. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or caregiver, making stick puppets with children is a wonderful way to combine art and learning while creating hours of imaginative fun.

Why make stick puppets? Stick puppet crafts are fantastic for developing fine motor skills! Cutting, coloring, gluing, and assembling puppets strengthen hand muscles and improve coordination. Also, stick puppet play inspires children to create dialogue, tell stories, and practice communication skills. Young learners often become more comfortable expressing themselves through puppet characters. Children can use puppets to explore emotions, solve problems, and practice empathy by acting out different situations.

Craft Supplies:

*if you do not have craft sticks, feel free to use any stick like things you have at home such as straws, or grab sticks from outside.

Instructions:

FIRST: Print the free Dinosaur Stick Puppets template. Cardstock holds up the best, but regular copy works too.

SECOND: Color your two dinosaur pictures.

THIRD: Cut around the dotted circles.( Cutting in a circular shape is an important skill for children to practice.)

FOURTH: Grab your two craft sticks, and attach a stick to the back of each picture with either glue to tape.

Now it’s play time! Grab your dinosaur stick puppets and start playing with them. Give your dinosaurs a name, and create an adventure for them to go on.

Dinosaur Stick Puppets Template:

Dinosaur Stick PuppetsDownload

More Dinosaur Craft Fun!

Thank you for crafting with me!

paper plate donut craft
Uncategorized

Paper Plate Donut Craft

Jennifer
paper plate donut craft
Paper Plate Donut Craft

D is for donut! Let’s make a donut out of a paper plate. What kind of “icing” will your paper plate donut have?

Paper plate crafts are much more than a fun afternoon activity—they help children develop important skills that support learning, creativity, and everyday development. Here are some of the biggest benefits:

  • 1. Fine Motor Skills
  • 2. Hand-Eye Coordination
  • 3. Creativity and Imagination
  • 4. Problem-Solving Skills
  • 5. Following Directions
  • 6. Patience and Perseverance

Supplies Needed:

  • 1 paper plate
  • watercolor paint
  • paintbrush
  • construction paper (we used pink)
  • scissors
  • white glue
  • sprinkles

Instructions:

1.Children need to paint their entire plate. My son painted his plate light brown using watercolor paints.

2. While it was drying, we picked our construction paper for the donut icing. We went with the classic pink for our donut, but also strongly considered brown for a chocolate icing. Adults can cut out a wavy shape in the pink paper.

3. After the donut plate is dry, adults can cut out the center to give it the donut shape.

4. Now it’s time to glue on the construciton paper icing. My son used white, school glue to attach the icing to the plate.

5. No donut is complete without sprinkles! Grag your rainbow sprinkles and glue and glue on sprinkles to complete your paper plate donut.

Check out the Learning Letter D page for donut stories and more Letter D learning activities!

patriotic image of children celebrating in a park
Uncategorized

250th Birthday of America: Books, Crafts, and Worksheets for Preschoolers

Jennifer

America’s 250th birthday is a historic milestone that offers families and communities a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the nation’s history, values, and traditions. While preschoolers may be too young to fully understand the significance of 250 years of American history, they can still participate in meaningful, age-appropriate activities that help them learn about their country while having fun.

Here is a list of fun books to read, crafts to make together, and Fourth of July themed worksheets for preschoolers.

patriotic celebration in a park

Children want to join in the 4th of July celebrations too!

Learn through Stories:

Reading books about the United States of America, its symbols, and its history is a great way to introduce preschoolers to the nation’s 250th birthday celebration. Choose books that explain concepts in simple language and feature colorful illustrations. Stories about the American flag, national landmarks, and historical figures can spark curiosity and encourage questions.

8 BOOKS to read about the Fourth of the July full of family, flags, fireworks, and fun!

Patriotic Crafts:

Craft projects allow preschoolers to actively participate in the celebration while developing fine motor skills and utilizing their creativity.

Worksheets:

America’s 250th birthday provides an excellent opportunity to introduce preschoolers to national symbols.

  • I Spy Fourth of July — put your observational skills to work and count how many of each picture you find!
  • Math Worksheets — 9 pages of math worksheets that includes numerical order, counting, and critical thinking skills.
spinning firework children's craft
Uncategorized

Children’s Spinning Firework Craft

Jennifer

Interactive crafts are so fun! Your child is going to love making and playing with this spinning firework craft. This craft is perfect for the Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve. Craft is geared for ages 3 and up to help with fine motor skills, creativity, and inclusion of holiday fun.

spinning firework craft for children

Supplies:

  • Spinning Firework Craft Template
  • Toilet paper roll tube
  • Glue
  • Brad (warning this is small and could be a choking hazard)
  • Crayons or markers
  • Pencil or pen
  • Glitter glue (optional)

How To:

Print the free Spinning Firework Craft template. It is a downloadable single page PDF.

Children can color their craft, using their imagination and favorite things to color with to design a firework. After coloring, we added glitter glue to the round “exploding” piece, but this is optional. Children love using glitter glue and it gives the craft a fun sparkle as it spins.

Next, glue the striped rectangle to your empty toilet paper roll tube. We used white glue, but a glue stick also works.

Now it is time to attach the circular “explosion” part of the craft. Adults can use a pencil or pen to poke a hole through the toilet paper roll tube. Stick the brad through the center of the circle paper, and then through the hole you just made in the toilet paper roll tube. Attach the brad’s arms to the inside of the tube–this will let the craft spin.

Once the craft is assembled, gently turn the circular piece and watch as your firework spins around.

Printable Template:

Spinning Firework CraftDownload

Fourth of July Crafts:

Q-Tip star painting fine motor skills craft

Red, White, and Blue Stars: work on fine motor skills by painting stars with Q-Tips.

Independence Day Shakers: a fun, musical craft made out of toilet paper rolls and dried beans.

Fall

Thanksgiving Stick Puppets

Jennifer

Create your own Thanksgiving stick puppets with this pie and turkey template. The template (found below) is a free, downloadable PDF for your personal use. Are you team pie or team turkey? I am definitely team pie! Make both and ask your family and friends to vote for their favorite Thanksgiving stick puppet. Find more fall crafts to make together: https://imaginationsrunningwild.com/fall-crafts/

Thanksgiving Stick Puppets of a slice of pie and turkey

Supplies:

  • Free template
  • 2 craft sticks  (We used the 6″x3/4″ craft sticks)
  • 1 cotton ball
  • markers or crayons
  • scissors
  • glue
  • tape (optional)

Instructions:

Print the free Thanksgiving stick puppets template. Cardstock works best, but regular copy works too. Color your pie (I chose a pumpkin pie) and your turkey. Then cut around the dotted circles. Grab your two craft sticks and with glue or tape one stick to the back of each picture.

For the “whipped cream,” I added a cotton ball to the pie. I gently pulled on the cotton ball to make it look fluffier before gluing it on. Now your pie is complete! Let it dry before playing with your stick puppets.

Template:

Thanksgiving Stick PuppetsDownload
Spring

Hanging Bee Paper Chain Craft

Jennifer

This hanging bee paper chain craft was easy to make and turned out adorable! It is perfect for preschoolers who want to make spring decorations. I love this craft because it doesn’t make much of a mess (outside of glue). Plus it can be assembled pretty quickly so children don’t lose interest in the activity. 

hanging bee paper chain craft

For more bee fun, try our toilet paper roll bee craft! There is also a printable bee maze, a bug graphing STEM activity (which has a cute little bee), and fun selection of bug stories that your preschooler will enjoy.

Supplies Needed:

How To:

Print the free Hanging Bee Paper Chain Craft template.

Color your craft. Then, cut out all of the pieces: 6 chain pieces, 1 beehive, and 1 strip to attach hive to the chain.

Begin making your chain by folding your first strip of paper into a circle and glue the ends together. Next, take your second strip and stick it through your circle. Glue the ends of the second strip together forming a circle. Repeat this process with the remaining strips of paper until all 6 pieces are connected in a chain.

To connect the beehive to the chain, take your connect strip and connect it to the bottom of your chain. Glue your beehive onto this strip to finish forming your craft.

We used a pipe cleaner to hang our craft, but ribbon or yarn will work too. Loop your hanging material through the top chain to compete your project. Find a great spot to hang up your craft!

Free Printable PDF Template:

Hanging Bee Chain Craft (1)Download
Christmas

Christmas Wrapping Paper Collage

Jennifer

After you open Christmas presents, instead of quickly tossing the torn wrapping paper, let your child cut out pieces to make a collage. Not only this a fun way to upcycle materials, but this Christmas wrapping paper collage lets little ones hold onto the magic of Christmas a little longer as this craft project helps preserve some of the Christmas memories. My son had a hard time parting with the wrapping paper he really liked, so making a collage helped with to be able to part with the big pieces of wrapping paper. He was able to reuse some of the bows and gifts tags too!

Supplies and How To:

Christmas wrapping paper collage
Christmas Wrapping Paper Collage

This project is pretty quick and easy. All you need are wrapping paper, scissors, glue (we used a glue stick), and a piece of construction paper or cardstock — you want sturdy paper to support the collage. My son picked white card stock to glue his pictures onto, and it actually took 3 sheets for him to be able to fit all of the pieces he had cut out from the wrapping paper.

Cut out pictures from the wrapping paper. Once you have cut out all of the pictures you want, glue them onto a piece of construction paper or cardstock. Overlap the pictures, let them hand off of the sides of the paper, add bows and gift tags, and embrace the art of collage! Once your project dries, you will have your own Christmas wrapping paper collage to display!

You don’t have to wait until after Christmas to make this collage. If you have left over pieces of wrapping paper, your child can make a collage before Christmas too. For more Christmas crafts, check out my Winter Crafts page — I have more quick and easy, low-prep ideas to keep your child entertained and their imaginations running wild!

Animals, Fall

Secret Hiding Squirrel Craft

Jennifer

This moveable secret hiding squirrel craft is easy and fun to make! I think your preschooler will love this one. It’s an adorable fall craft with a fun twist on the squirrel hiding acorns — this time the acorn is hiding the squirrel!

secret hiding squirrel craft

Supplies Needed:

How To:

After you print the template, color the squirrel and the acorn. Be creative! Don’t forget to give your squirrel and cute little face.

Cut out the acorn and the squirrel. Once you have your acorn cut out, cut along the dotted zigzag line, turning your acorn into two pieces.

Stick the brad through the dark circle (on the left side) of the top acorn piece. Then stick the same brad through the dark circle of the bottom acorn piece. Close the brad. Now you have created a hinge that allows your acorn to open and close.

secret hiding squirrel craft

It’s time to attach the squirrel! Add glue to the front side of the squirrel’s body and then stick it onto the backside of the bottom acorn piece. Make sure to leave the squirrel’s head sticking up so that you will see it when you open the acorn. Let your project dry before having lots of fun opening and closing your acorn to reveal the secret hiding squirrel.

Read some squirrel stories together to go with your craft. Here is a list of 10 adorable squirrel stories for preschoolers. Be on the lookout for acorns in these books!

PRINTABLE TEMPLATE:

secret hiding squirrel craftDownload
Fall

Farmer Paper Bag Puppet Craft

Jennifer

It’s harvest time! Here is a cute farmer paper bag puppet craft that you and your preschooler can make together. I love paper bag puppets because they are easy to make and allow for creative play.

Farmer paper bag puppet craft

Supplies Needed:

How To:

Print out the farmer paper bag craft template. I made it available as a free PDF download.

Color your farmer template. The template has three pieces: 1 head, 1 body, and a chicken.

Grown ups can cut out the three pieces.

Now it’s time to glue! The side of the bag with the flap is the front. Glue the body onto the main part of the bag. Glue sticks work best because they don’t bleed through the paper. The farmer’s head will go on the flap of the bag so when you stick your hand in the paper bag, you can move the flap and make it look like the farmer is “talking.” Glue the head on to the flap carefully, making sure that you don’t accidently glue it onto the main part of the bag.

Let your project dry before playing with your farmer paper bag puppet. Once dry, show your farmer some of your favorite foods! Do you think your farmer grows any of your favorites on their farm?

farmer paper bag puppet

More Farm Fun!

Pair this craft with some awesome vegetables stories to get your kid excited about vegetables. This is a great opportunity to talk about where food comes from.

Love tractors? Here 8 preschool-level tractor stories. What’s a farm without a tractor!

FREE TEMPLATE:

farmer (2)Download
Animals, Spring

Frog Hand Puppet

Jennifer

Make this cute frog hand puppet with your preschooler! This craft is perfect for spring time and fits in perfectly with any pond-themed lesson plans. Download and print the free template and then follow the step-by-step instructions. I have included pictures with the instructions to help this craft assembly go smoothly.

Frog Hand Puppet Craft

Supplies Needed:

Frog Hand Puppet Template

How-To:

  • print the free frog hand puppet template.
  • color your frog puppet.
  • cut out along the outer lines. Ignore the dotted lines right now.
  • fold the frog in half, face down, at line 1.
frog hand puppet instructions
fold in half at line 1
  • fold the top and bottom pieces back at lines 2 and 3.This makes the frog’s face show, while the mouth looks closed.
frog hand puppet instructions
fold top and bottom pieces at lines 2 and 3
  • cut out straps and fold ends back at the dotted lines.
frog hand puppet instructions
fold the X piece backward
  • glue the X side of straps to backside of puppet. Glue one strap above line 1 and the other strap below line 1 to help hold fingers in place to make the puppet talk.
frog hand puppet instructions
straps glued above and below line 1
  • let your puppet dry before playing with it!

Check out our crafts page for more fun things to make together! https://imaginationsrunningwild.com/crafts/

TEMPLATE

frog-hand-puppetDownload