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Summer Arts & Crafts Ideas

 

   

Dotted Ice-creams


    
(Photo submitted by Nanette)

Pre-cut ice cream scoops out of white paper, and cone out of brown and added ink
details. Kids used dot painters to paint scoops and glued scoops to cone with glue stick.

   

(Photo submitted by Nanette)

(Click HERE for free Ice Cream & Cone pattern)

 

  

Watercolor Sunset

Have each child to use a spray bottle to dampen a sheet of white construction paper with water.
  Then have him/her use watercolors to paint bands of colors across the paper.  Hold the paper by the top corners
over a tray, allowing the paint to drip and the colors to blend together.  When the paint is dry, have
 the child glue a half circle cut from fluorescent orange paper near the bottom of the scene.  Finally,
help the child to glue on a torn strip of blue paper to simulate the ocean's waves.

 

Make Sunglasses:

 Cut sunglasses shape out of cardboard.  Glue on colored saran wrap to make lenses.

 

Shaving Cream Scoops

To make this melting ice cream cone craft, first mix together one part glue, one part shaving cream,
 and a few drops of food coloring.  Glue a tan cone shape onto a sheet of construction paper.  Dab a bit of the
 mixture over the top of the cone and gently form it into the shape of an ice cream scoop.  Then hang the project to
 dry for 24 hours.  The ice cream mixture will puff up and some of it will run, giving the effect that the ice cream is melting.

 

Sidewalk Art

Provide your children with colored chalk. Invite them to use their imagination to create designs on a cement
 sidewalk or patio.  Let the children use a hose to wash away the chalk designs or leave them until the next rainfall.

 

Painted Desert

Fill spray bottles with food color water and let the kids spray the sandbox  sand.  You'll have your own painted desert.
Then show them how to magically  return the sand to normal by turning over with a sand shovel and start again.

 

Sand Pictures

Materials Needed:
A sheet of 9"x12" white construction paper,
 various colored construction paper,
 diluted glue and sand

Directions:
The child spreads the thinned glue over the paper below the horizontal line. (A brush or fingers may be used.) Sand
 is sprinkled on the glue and the excess is shaken off. An umbrella and a beach ball are then glued on the paper.

   

Summer Collage

Materials Needed:
Magazines, travel brochures, and posters Glue Construction Paper

Directions:
Have the children cut pictures of things that remind them of summer.  Foods, camping,
sailing, summer sports, swimming, etc. Glue them onto the paper to make a summer collage.

    

Summer Fun Watercolors*

Materials Needed:
Tempera Paint, Sand, Paper, Brushes

Teacher Preparation:
Mix a small amount of sand into the paint to give it a textured look and feel.

Directions:
Give the children a piece of paper and let them free paint with the textured paint.

   

Hand Print Suns

Dip or paint child's hands yellow and put them down on a paper in a circular pattern (like the sun).
  We added faces and smiles!  They were really cute and looked great on the bulletin board!

 

Koosh Ball Painting

Tape a very large piece of paper to a wall or fence. Obtain several rubber band Koosh balls in different
 sizes. Dip each one in a color of washable tempera paint. Have the children throw the balls at the paper.

 

Picnic Bags

Give your children paper lunch bags to decorate with crayons, felt tip markers, or rubber
 stamps.  Let them use their bags for packing lunches before going outdoors for a picnic.

   

Barefoot Painting

 Materials needed: 
Butcher Paper
Paint
An outside area, near dirt or sand.
Aluminum Pie pans
A chair
Soapy water

Teacher Prep:
Place a long strip of butcher paper on the ground near your sand or dirt source.  Place
 chairs next to pans of paint along the edges.  Place a bucket of soapy water nearby.
  
Process:
Have the children sit in the chairs and dip their feet in the paint.
  Then have them dip their painted feet into the sand or dirt.
  Let them walk along the paper, leaving "dirty" footprints.
 Have them wash their feet in the soapy water when finished. 

Concepts learned: 
Sand is squishy when wet.
  Sand helps us to not slip in the wet paint. 
 We leave footprints when we walk.
  Soap and water make us all clean again.   

 

Butterflies

Let each of your children flatten a paper baking cup and decorate it with crayons or felt tip markers. 
Show the children how to make a butterfly shape by pinching together the center of the flattened cup. 
Then help each child twist a pipe cleaner around the pinched center and curl the ends to resemble antennae.

 

Sunflower Delight

In advance, cut several potatoes in half.  Trim some of the halves to make a petal shaped prints and some to make
 square prints.  To create a sunflower, dip a square printer into brown paint; then repeatedly press it onto a large sheet
 of art paper, creating a somewhat circular design.  Outside this, use a petal shaped printer and yellow paint to encircle
 the brown area.  When the paint is dry, cut around the flower shape.

 

Glittering Sunshine

Draw or trace a large sunshine shape on yellow construction paper and cut it out. 
Use markers to draw a smiling face in the middle of the cutout. Using thinned glue to
 which a lot of gold glitter has been added, "paint" the pointed rays of your sun.

 

Sun Catchers

 Cut out 2 of any shapes of contact paper, (square, circle, triangle), let the children put on ANYTHING that goes,
 scraps of small paper, glitter, bits of curling ribbon, colored hole punches, you name it... Then using the other
 sheet of contact paper, lay it on top the first one, smooth it out, trim the edges, hole punch it and hang
 in a window and you have a beautiful sun catcher.  

 

Dandelion Jewelry

 If your yard is "blessed" with dandelion weeds, this is the perfect activity for you!!  Get the kids to pick the
 dandelions... go for the best ones, with long stems.  Collect a couple dozen or so.  The easiest way to
 connect them is to wrap one stem carefully around another and tie a knot.  Another way is to carefully
 slit the stem of one dandelion close to the flower, then feed the stem of another one through it.
 (You will need dandelions with thick stems for that one).
Make some bracelets, necklaces, anklets, headbands etc!!

 

Toss 'N' Paint

Cover a small section of sidewalk or work area with newspaper.  Set a large cardboard box in the center
 of the paper. Place several shallow pans of paint and a supply of sponges a short distance away from the
 box.  To begin the activity, a child places a sheet of white construction paper inside the box.  She dips a
 damp sponge into a pan of paint and then tosses the sponge into the box.  The child retrieves the sponge
 and continues painting in this manner.  When her design is complete, she removes the paper
 from the box and sets it aside to dry.

 

Box House

Ask a local appliance store to donate several large appliance boxes. Take the boxes outside and let your
children help you arrange them to make a house.  Duct tape the boxes in place.  Cut out windows and
 doors.  Let your children paint their box house.  Help them experiment with different ways to apply the paint,
such as using small and large paint brushes, cotton balls, spray bottles (dilute the paint first), hands, feet,
and other ideas they think up.  When the paint is dry, give your children markers or crayons to decorate
 the inside of their house.  Let them bring out a selection of items from your housekeeping area to
 use while playing in their box house.... for example, plastic food, dishes, and so on.

 

Sun Tambourines

We created sun tambourines. Start with paper plates, and paint them yellow.
 We cut out eyes from black construction paper and and made them a face.
 We used a red marker for the mouth. After they dried we stapled them together,
 placing beans inside before we did and yellow and orange streamers around
 the edge. The kids loved them and the parents thought they were great as well.

 

Beach Bunnies

For each of your children, tape a long piece of butcher paper to the floor. Have each child lie on the paper
 and pose as desired, while you trace around his or her body with a dark crayon.  Help the children draw on
 facial features and other details.  Let them decorate their shapes with paint, crayons, or felt tip markers
before you cut the shapes out. Draw a bathing suit on each child's shape for him or her to color.  Let your
children decorate butcher paper "beach towels" to use as a background display for their shapes.

 

Sand Castles

If you have a sandbox, wet down the sand and build sand castles.

 

Sun Catchers

Mix together two parts liquid starch to one part water.  Cut cheesecloth into 4 to 5 inch squares. 
 Let your children dip the squares into the starch mixture, squeeze out the excess, and flatten on
 waxed paper and squeeze on drops of various colors of food coloring.  Allow the shapes to stiffen and
dry for several hours or overnight. Once the sun catchers are completely dry, hang them in a window.

 

Palm Trees

Give each of your children a cardboard toilet tissue tube for a tree trunk.  Help each child make several
 hand shapes out of green construction paper for palm fronds by tracing their hands onto the green paper. 
Let your children glue or tape their fronds to the inside of the top of their tissue tube  tree trunks.

 

Popsicle Puppets

From different colors of construction paper, cut out shapes that resemble the frozen part of Popsicles.
 Let your children use felt tip markers to add faces and other desired details to the shapes. Then help
 them glue on plain craft sticks  for handles.  Encourage the children to use the puppets for telling stories.

 

Sun Collage

Have the children cut out pictures of people doing things out in the sun.

 

Ice Cube Painting

Make ice cubes in an ice cube tray.  When half way frozen, stick a popsicle stick in. When ice is
 completely frozen,  you are ready to begin. Sprinkle some powdered paint on a piece of paper.  Use
different colors. Give each child an ice cube with stick and let them rub or drag it on the paper. Ask
 them what is happening to the powered paint.  What has happened to the ice cube?

 

Squirt Gun Drawings

Use squirt guns to draw designs on the pavement.
Also, make a target on the pavement with chalk and have the
 children make it disappear with the squirt guns.  If you don't allow your
 children to play with squirt guns, you can purchase little squirt toys to use instead

  

 

Pre-K Fun Theme Pages are for educational reference only! 
No copyright infringement is intended.
I do not claim any of these as my own ideas.  
They are shared from friends and fellow group members.  
Thanks for sharing all your great ideas!
      

     

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