Gettin' Crafty Holiday Post #1

Since I made my commitment to providing a walk-in craft every weekday except Friday, I have been really developing quite a backlog of crafts to post about. So today I'm pulling together a few of my favorite holiday crafts from this season so far. Next week, though it will be cutting it kind of close to Christmas, I'll share a few more.

1. Pipe Cleaner Candy Canes

Supplies: 

• Red and white pipe cleaner (other colors are also fun, if you have a lot of pipe cleaner)
• Scissors 

I set out the supplies with two sample candy canes, which I made by winding a piece of white pipe cleaner around a piece of red pipe cleaner. I didn't give any instructions and watched as kids of all ages - from three up to about twelve - made all kinds of pipe cleaner creations. It was messier than I expected, since some of them cut their pipe cleaners into little pieces. I put the scissors out because I thought some of  them might want to shorten their pipe cleaners, but wouldn't do so again, since they didn't seem to use them constructively.

2. Make Your Own Gift Wrap

Supplies: 

• Creatology Kids Art rolls of paper from Michael's (I don't see them online anywhere, but I swear I bought them at Michael's!)
• Holiday rubber stamps with red and green ink pads (Also purchased at Michael's in a kit)
• Crayons
• Scissors
• Brown Paper Lunch Bags
• Hole Punch
• Yarn
• White Glue
• Sequins 
• Assorted scrapbooking paper
• Tablecloth

This program was for grades 4 and up, so I didn't do much preparation beyond setting out the supplies and promoting it with signs around the library. The kids - even some of the middle school boys - got really creative with their gift wrap, and one girl even made a paper bag into a Christmas puppet with red and green hair and a festive dress.

3. Paper String of Holiday Lights

Supplies:

• Crayons 
• Christmas lights coloring sheets
• Hole punch
• Yarn 

I cut out each individual Christmas light ahead of time and punched a hole in each one. Then I put three on a green string to demonstrate the final product. I put the pre-cut lights out along with crayons and pre-cut string, and let the kids make their own strands of lights. Some of them opted to make a necklace with just one light, while others did a strand like mine.