Easy Craft Stick Bookmark Craft for Kids

Reading is a priority for us. We enjoy reading together and it's something we do daily but I have to admit that it gets a little hard to keep up with our daily reading during the summer. To keep the Lil Divas motivated to read this summer we are taking in part in a few awesome summer reading programs, delving into some fun new chapter book series and enjoying lots of crafts and activities.

One of the crafts we recently enjoyed was making our very own personalized bookmarks. I wanted to encourage reading and give the girls a chance to express themselves creatively. We all loved how they turned out. The bookmarks were super to make, each one was unique and it served as great mommy-daughter time because even I made one.

What You Need:
Jumbo Craft Sticks
Sharpie Permanent Markers (Assorted Colors)

What To Do:
Provide your child with the craft sticks and markers and let their creativity be their guide! The great thing about this craft is that they can do whatever they like - draw a picture, create a pattern, write words, etc. It's entirely up to them.

Here's what the Lil Divas and I made:

Aren't they fabulous?! We LOVE them and all 3 of us have been making daily use of our personalized bookmarks.

What will you & your child(ren) create?

Bern

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Although they have been added for your convenience, I do receive a small commission for items purchased via my links. Thank you.

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Exploring Russian Stories & Folklore

2 of the books I chose to read this month for our exploration of Russia (part of our Around the World in 12 Dishes Challenge) had a definite specific theme to them - greedy, self centered characters. The Lil Divas were quite appalled at some of the behavior (which made my mama heart proud!).

The Magic Gold Fish - A Russian Folktale

I remember hearing this story growing up and it was fun to share it with the girls. I read it to them and we discussed what happened in the story. The Lil Divas felt so bad for the poor fisherman and how his wife treated him. They thought she was very mean and selfish. 

I thought this was the perfect kind of story to re-create so we set to work making stick puppets and props to re-tell the story. 

The Oldest Diva really got into this activity - isn't her mean Old Lady hilarious! I love the face she put on her - it's very cross.

Then we got to work re-telling the story with our stick puppets. I helped along the way if they got stuck remembering what happened next but they did a great job capturing the overall major points of the folktale.

It was a lovely book and a fun activity which also worked on reading comprehension, story retelling,  story sequence, planning & decision making (deciding what characters & props we needed), fine motor skills (drawing, coloring & cutting) and of course working cooperatively. So much fun & learning packed into one activity! 

The Book:

(we borrowed it from our local library)

Babushka's Doll by Patricia Polacco

A story about a demanding (& selfish) little girl and her Babushka's even more demanding and selfish doll. A different twist to the morale that being greedy and selfish won't lead to good things in the end. The Lil Divas couldn't help but laugh at the dolls antics and were quite pleased that Natasha learned a valuable lesson in the end and was hopefully going to be more patient, kinder and unselfish with her grandmother.

For our activity we made paper nesting dolls (or Matryoshkas). It didn't really go 100% with the story but they are such a big part of Russian culture and I really wanted to introduce the girls to them as part of our Russian exploration, so we went for it. I found a few great sites to show photos of real matryoshkas to the girls online -  wikipedia and RussianCrafts.com.

Then, we got to work making our own. I cut out simple shaped templates for the girls to design and decorate as desired. 

We ended up with some lovely designs.

Then I used sentence strip paper to form circular backings behind the dolls. Each one was a bit smaller than the previous so they would be able to nestle within each other in the end. 

The girls glued the strips to their dolls and then tested them out.

Success!

We now have our very own Russian Paper Matryoshkas (aka Nesting Dolls).

The Book:

Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco

We didn't do an activity to go with this book because we had just recently spent so much time on egg related activities for Easter but a great activity to go with this book would be Melted Crayon Egg Designs. The eggs in the story were lovingly crafted by Babushka and then laid by the goose so it is a wonderful story tie-in activity.  

The Book:

Be sure to explore the other great Russian themed activities on our Around the World in 12 Dishes linky this month and don't forget to check out our dish - Russian Tea Cakes (YUM!)

Bern

5 Homemade Craft Stick Christmas Ornaments for Kids

This week I am happy to bring to you a week of ideas for
  Homemade Kids Christmas Ornaments

We had so much fun making all of our ornaments -
(even the hubby helped for some of our fun!)
& I truly hope you will be inspired to set aside some
family time to make some homemade ornaments for your tree
and/or to give as gifts to lucky family members/friends this year.

Today,  we proudly bring you
  5 Craft Stick Christmas Ornaments for Kids

The Lil Divas worked so hard on these over the weekend
and we are so pleased with how they turned out!
Can you say C-U-T-E?!


#1 

Craft Stick Reindeer Ornament

What You Need:

3 craft sticks

brown paint

paint brush

pom pom (nose)

wiggly eyes

glue

brown or black pipe cleaner 

What We Did:

1. Paint craft sticks brown & allow to dry

2. Once craft sticks are dry form a triangle with them & glue.

3. Point side down will be nose - glue pom pom there.

4. Add wiggly eyes (one on each side near top)

5. Form antlers from pipe cleaner -

I cut about 1/3 piece from end and then cut that in half to make additional antler  points. To set them in place, I wrapped them around the top craft stick.

We made Rudolph

and Clarice

To turn into an  ornament simply tie some ribbon onto the top 

& hang on your tree!

#2 

Craft Stick Tree Ornament

What You Need:
3 and 1/2 craft sticks
green & brown paint
paintbrush
glue
sequins

What To Do:

1. Paint 3 long craft sticks green & the 1/2 stick brown

and allow drying time

2. Using 3 green craft sticks form a triangle & glue in place.

3. Add brown craft stick to bottom as trunk

4. Decorate with sequins as desired.

To turn into an  ornament simply tie some ribbon onto the top 

& hang on your tree!

#3

Craft Stick Snowflake Ornament

What You Need:
4 craft sticks
white paint
paint brush
glitter

What To Do:

1. Paint craft sticks white & allow to dry

2. Form a t with 2 craft sticks - 

gluing them together in the middle.

3. Glue the other 2 craft sticks forming an x on top of the t.

4. Apply glue onto snowflake with a paintbrush

5. Add glitter as desired.

To turn into an ornament simply glue ribbon onto the back via the middle 

& hang on your tree!

#4

Craft Stick Snowman Ornament

What You Need:

8 craft sticks

black & white paint

paintbrushes

glue

wiggly eyes

small piece of orange foam, felt or paper

red foam, felt or paper

black pom poms or buttons

What To Do:
Note: I used a black sharpie to make a black line about 1/3 from the top
so the girls could easily distinguish between the space for the hat & face

1. Paint larger section of 6 craft sticks white

2. Paint top sections black

3. Paint remaining craft stick all black

Allow to dry

4. Glue the 6 white & black craft sticks together evenly

5. Glue black craft stick along the bottom of the black section

this is the rim of the snowman's top hat.

6. Add eyes, carrot nose and mouth of pom poms or buttons

7. Add piece of red felt, paper or foam above rim of hat.

8. Add a flower sequin if desired.

To turn into an ornament simply glue ribbon onto the back near the top 

& hang on your tree!

#5

Craft Stick Gingerbread House Ornament

Note: This was by far the trickiest ornament we made

but it was a fabulous parent/child collaboration project!

It took some trial & error but we finally came up with a 

design for the gingerbread house that we liked.

Here it is unpainted:

Here's What We Did:

1. Base & roof were made using 4 craft sticks

two were broken into halves as shown below.

2. To form base glue pieces to form a rectangle

3. Add remaining half pieces to top to form a triangle roof

as shown below

4. Using 2 craft sticks cover the long pieces of the rectangle

- this will hide the ends of the roof.

5. Add another craft stick under the top one

(see photo below)

6. Cut 3 craft sticks into halves and glue them from each side

This will give the effect of an open door.

(see 2nd photo below)

7. To close the roof I glued some small pieces of craft stick to the back

Finished house!

8. Allow to set then paint entire house brown

9. Allow to dry then adorn with fun stickers or foam

we used candy canes & peppermint candies

Our finished houses

To turn into an ornament simply tie ribbon through top 

(there was some space left) & hang on your tree!

I hope you enjoy making some of these craft stick ornaments!

I have to give a special thank you to CraftProjectIdeas.com

for suppling us with all these craft sticks as part of the rainy day kit

they sent us a few months ago. All the supplies they sent us

are definitely still going to some fun crafty use!

Bern