Flag Craft

What you will need:
cardboard
construction paper or grocery store paper bags
markers or crayons
glue

Instructions:
I used a piece of a cardboard box cut into strips and the side panels of a paper bag. I used the larger portions of the paper bag for another craft, which I will post in the future. I then decorated the paper with symbols that represent me, this is a part of an activity where children are creating their own imaginary country. You could use this for any flag craft you wanted to do, such as a pirate flag or Flag Day. I then glued the paper to the top of the cardboard strip. So, the craft is very inexpensive, recycles material, and is very easy for little ones because all they need to do is color and glue.

Good luck and Happy crafting!

Monster Mash

What you will need:
markers or crayons or colored pencils
scissors
hole punch
Chenille stems (pipe cleaners)
Monster Template such as http://www.squidoo.com/monster-coloring-pages


Color your template, cut it out, punch holes on both sides, and then slip the Chenille stem (pipe cleaner) through the holes.

Then you have a cute monster!

Frog Puppet

For the beginning of the school year we read, Froggy Goes to School by Jonathan London.

The craft that I chose was a simple one that allows the kids room for a lot of creativity. A Frog paper bag hand puppet, this is what you will need:
 
Frog template http://www.abcteach.com/free/b/bagpuppet_frog.pdf
Paper bags
Markers or crayons
Glue
Scissors

Shell Fan

I noticed that I posted a fan craft before, but this is what I did last week.

It went well when paired with the picture book:  Looking closely along the shore / Frank Serafini.

Materials used: card stock, crayons, markers, craft sticks, scissors, and tape.

I printed the seashell pattern (found here: http://sweetclipart.com/seashell-lineart-731) on card stock, had the kids color and cut out the shells, then taped those shells onto the craft sticks.

The kids loved it and the book with craft took 30 minutes.

Seasons of the year

What you will need:

Bare tree graphic such as this: http://chipmanscornerpreschool.blogspot.com/2010/10/f-is-for.html

Tissue paper squares

Glue

Card stock

Crayons or colored pencils

Directions: Take a bare tree graphic and cut and paste it 4 times into a Microsoft Word or Publisher document and type Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall beside each. Print the number of copies you need on card stock. Ball up tissue squares and glue on (or in the case of Fall around) the tree. Color trees. Voilà!

Dreamcatcher

What you will need:

Paper plates

Yarn

Feathers

Pony beads

Markers or Crayons or Color Pencils or Pens

Hole Puncher

Scissors

How to put it together:

 1. Cut out the inner circle from the paper plate, I started the circle by punching a few holes with the hole puncher where I wanted to start.

2. Punch holes where you want your yarn to go: around the edge of the inner circle, three at the bottom, and one at the top to string yarn through to hang it up.

3. String yarn through inner circle holes, when you find a spot where you want a pony bead loop the yarn around one side so it doesn't slide around.

4. Run one long string through two of your holes at the bottom and one medium length string through the third hole at the bottom (tying it onto the plate to secure it).

5. Slide a pony bead (or a few) through each strand of yarn at the bottom then tie each strand to a feather.

6. Tie a loop of yarn through your top hole.

7. Decorate with markers or whatever you prefer {also if you have it lying around you could always fancy it up some with sequins, glitter, sand, or pom poms)