What's better than a morning of crafting and eating cookies? Struggling to think of an answer? Same here! On Saturday, October 16th we offered a Crafts & Cookies program where families could enjoy a cookie or two (or three or four, we don't count when it comes to cookies) and a variety of fall-themed crafts. If you weren't able to join us, never fear! We're featuring some of the crafts below. We always have activities and crafts available in the Children's Department so make sure to visit and see what you can make with us.
Thankful Turkeys
Materials:
Brown paper bag
Colorful feathers
Construction paper in black, white, orange, and red
Scissors
Markers
Glue
Instructions:
On the smooth side of a paper bag, glue a variety of feathers at the top. Flip the bag over.
Draw and cut out two white colored circles. Draw and cut out two smaller black circles. Glue the black circles onto the white circles to create eyes for your turkey. Glue them on the top rectangle of the paper bag.
Draw and cut out an orange colored triangle for your turkey's beak. Draw and cut out a red colored wiggly line for your turkey's wattle. Glue the beak and wattle under the eyes.
Write what you're thankful for under the turkey's face.
Mini Monsters
Materials:
Play-Doh (We purchased small jars of Play-Doh from Walmart, but feel free to use a DIY recipe to add to the fun)
Pom poms
Pipe cleaners
Googly eyes
Instructions:
Sculpt a monster out of Play-Doh and complete your friend by adding pom poms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and any other crafty accessories you want. Disassemble and reassemble for maximum monster creating. If you'd like your monster friend to be permanent, consider using an airdry clay instead of Play-Doh.
Pasta Pumpkins
Materials:
Pasta noodles in whatever fun shapes you'd like. We used shells for the pumpkin bodies and rigatoni for the stems and leaves. Wheels and fusilli would work nicely too.
Rubbing alcohol
Gel food coloring in green and orange
Foil
Ziploc bag
Construction paper and scissors (optional)
Glue
Instructions:
To get your pasta a pumpkin's signature orange color, you'll need to dye it. Mix together 1/4 cup of rubbing alcohol and 5 to 6 drops of orange gel food coloring in a Ziploc bag. Add a box of pasta noodles to the bag. Toss the bag to coat all the noodles with the mixture. Let the pasta sit for at least 30 minutes. The longer your pasta sits, the brighter the color will be. Remove the pasta from the bag and let it dry on foil.
Repeat the process for the pasta you want to be green. You can use regular food coloring if you don't have the gel version around the house; you'll just need to add more to get the vibrancy that gel food coloring creates.
To make pumpkins, glue orange noodles in pumpkin shapes on a piece of construction paper. Use green noodles for leaves and stems. You can also draw and cut out additional shapes from construction paper to complete your masterpiece.
Beaded Pumpkins & Maize
Materials:
Pipe cleaners in orange, brown, and green
Pony beads in orange, yellow, red, and brown
Pencil
Scissors
Instructions:
To make a pumpkin, twist 6 orange pipe cleaners into a star or snowflake shape. String orange beads onto each leg of the star (each pipe cleaner end). Leave at least 1 inch from each end without beads (about 15 beads total).
Bring all of the ends together and twist them to form the pumpkin's stem. Trim the stem to the size you'd like. Bend the beaded pipe cleaners into a pumpkin shape. Wrap a green pipe cleaner around the stem to make it thicker and green. Wrap another green pipe cleaner around the base of the stem to make vines. Curl the ends with a pencil.
To make maize, follow a similar process. Twist 8 brown pipe cleaners into a star or snowflake shape. String yellow, orange, red, and brown beads in a random pattern onto each leg of the star (each pipe cleaner end). Leave at least 1 inch from the end without beads (about 15 beads total).
Bring all of the ends together. Take 1 pipe cleaner end and wrap it around the others. If it's not secure enough, wrap a new pipe cleaner around the ends. Bend your beaded pipe cleaners up into a narrow corn shape.
Pumpkin Weaving
Materials:
Construction paper in orange and black
Cardstock in fall patterns, cut into 1 inch wide strips
Glue
Pencil
Scissors
Instructions:
Draw and cut out a large pumpkin shape from orange construction paper or cardstock. Fold the pumpkin in half and cut slits across the paper. Start at the fold and stop at least 1 inch before the edge of the paper.
Unfold the paper. Weave paper strips over and under the slits. Alternate the start of each strip: First one starts under, the next one starts over, etc.
When you are done weaving, arrange the strips to your liking, then glue down all the loose ends with a tiny drop of glue. Trim off any extra paper around the pumpkin.
If you want to make your pumpkin a Jack-O-Lantern, draw, cut out, and glue black paper face shapes onto your pumpkin.