We have all seen paper cranes before, but this post is different in that it uses the method of making the paper crane to talk to your children about the disaster in Japan, as well as approaching the topic of death with your children. I would definitely leave the ‘age appropriateness’ up to the parent, but they have some great links on there, and the pictures are so detailed that hopefully we all could make these! The ‘helping’ part of his paper crane tutorial involves a link where you can send your cranes, and they will donate $2 for every crane…they are trying to reach 100,000 cranes! Head on over to Modern Parents, Messy Kids to learn more about this project.
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Patriotic Crafts for Kids
With Memorial Day right around the corner, it feels like we are hitting patriotic crafting season in the United States. We happen to have lots of patriotic holidays during the summer, so anything red, white and blue fits right in. Of course these colors are used by a lot of countries, so just because you’re not American doesn’t mean you can’t use some of these patriotic crafts or adapt them for the colors and symbols of your nation.
This patriotic window decoration from Kinder Craze is a great example. If your flag has a star you can change up the colors, or even just do it with stripes if your flag only has solid colors.
Speaking of stars, this red white and blue star fingerprint craft from Our Kid Things was made for Memorial Day, but it’s great to make any time in the patriotic holiday season. If you’re in a different country and stars aren’t part of your flag, you can just make a fun star craft that isn’t necessarily patriotic.
The red white and blue spinner craft from Crafty Morning is made out of a paper plate and could of course be made in any colors and even with a different shape instead of the star. So cute and a great way to practice scissors skills!
Buggy and Buddy has a cute idea for patriotic wands you can make with leftover ribbons and things if you have the right colors in the house. This version uses a wooden dowel with a screw eye, but you could also just tie the ribbons to a stick if you don’t have a screw eye handy.
Kids can help roll the tubes for this paper wreath craft from Home Talk, but it uses a lot of hot glue so an adult or older kid should be in charge of the assembly. Or practice fine motor skills by making a red, white and blue clothespin wreath, like this one from Kippi at Home.
You can also keep it classic and make a paper chain to use as decor for all your cookouts and patriotic holidays. This one from A Pumpkin and a Princess used striped scrapbook paper and star stickers, but you could do it with just red, white and blue construction paper as well.
Make Straw Rockets for an Easy 4th of July Activity
Steph at Modern Parents Messy Kids says
Thank you so much for including my post on your wonderful site!
Along with the how-to visuals and the links you mentioned, there is also info. on a great project aiming to collect 100,000 paper cranes from students world wide. For every crane collected, $2 is donated towards Japan disaster relief.
Thanks again.
Sweetharsh says
Carters also has a paper crane tie in and thought it flies in the face of DIY I think it’s worth mentioning. You can also receive 10% off when you deliver your cranes. http://www.carters.com/Cranes-For-Kids/cranes-for-kids,default,pg.html