Mini Basketball Hoop

Here's one more sports craft for you. I didn't get a chance to try this out before my kids made them, so I was crossing my fingers the whole time! We used Jello pudding cups for the hoops. I cut out the bottom of the cups and the kids decorated them with Sharpies.

I used a coloring page as my template for a backboard. I traced it onto card stock so it would be sturdy.

The kids decorated the backboard with sparkly star stickers.

I cut the rim of the pudding cups off on one side so it would be easier to attach them to the backboards.

Then I just stapled it on.

I used straws for the poles and taped them to the back.

To make it stand up, I stuck the straw in an egg carton cup. Of course the straw tipped because it was too loose, so I used a bunch of masking tape so it would stand up straight.

It seemed to do the trick. For basketballs, we used orange pom poms!

The kids had fun playing basketball in our classroom!

Paper Pom Poms

To go with our sports theme this week, we made some simple pom poms! I cut a bunch of neon paper into 1/4-inch strips.

I was planning on using our paper shredder, but I forgot that it was broken until last night when I asked my husband where it was. Oops! But using a paper cutter wasn't so bad. I cut contact paper into rectangles that were the same width as a piece of paper. The kids stuck the strips of paper onto the contact paper.

Then I flipped it over and stuck the whole thing to a half-sheet of neon paper.

After that, all I had to do was roll the paper up and tape it closed. Ta-dah!

Obviously, the more strips of paper you use, the fuller your pom pom will be. But trust me, the kids were ready to quit after only a few and I had to encourage them to do more. Then I got a picture of the kids shaking them in front of our Play Ball wall!

They are actually quite fun. I was playing around with one during nap time (shhh!) and I was so enthralled with it. I think they would be fun to make in red, white and blue for Independence Day, or as a New Year's Eve party toy!

Sports Balls

We've been working on a few sports crafts this week and they are all simple so I decided to combine them into one post. Each one takes only a few minutes to make, but they are cute and the kids get some fine motor practice as well!
For the footballs, I traced a template onto brown paper (it was just a coloring sheet I found). The kids cut it out themselves.

They used a big paint brush for the stripes on the ends,

and a skinny paint brush for the stitching in the middle.

 

For the soccer balls, I cut out a bunch of pentagons from black paper and the kids glued them onto a white circle.

For the basketballs, the kids used pom poms dipped in paint. We used two colors. One was regular orange and the other was a mixture of yellow and orange. They painted a white circle.

When it was dry, we added the black lines with a Sharpie.

And for the baseball, I cut out small white circles and used a pencil to draw in the lines and stitches. I made it very simple with big stitches so it would be easy to trace.

The kids traced the "arrows" with a red marker.

Then they traced the curved line with glue,

and added red glitter.

I displayed them all on one wall with the words, Play Ball.

I even added red stitching to my letters, just for fun!

A is for Animal

A couple weeks ago (yes, I'm way behind) we discussed the letter A. I thought it would be fun for the kids to make animals out of pipe cleaners. I received this bag of pipe cleaners, pom poms and wiggle eyes from CraftProjectIdeas.com.

I loved that some of the pipe cleaners were striped. They would make perfect tigers! Because it's hard to glue pom poms to pipe cleaners (you either need to use a glue gun or hold them together for a very long time -- not ideal for kids) I decided to have them glue their animals to construction paper. I have a very small class this summer so I was able to sit down with two students at a time to help them work on these. Once they picked which animal they wanted to make, I cut up the pipe cleaners into body parts. For the most part, four legs, a body, a neck and a tail. The kids put the pieces together on their paper before using any glue. Then they picked up one piece at a time and added glue with a toothpick.

We used craft glue, but I think Elmer's glue would work as well. Some kids chose to use a pom pom for the head. The wiggle eyes were added last.

We had a few tigers,

a zebra,

and an alligator.

Yep, that's it. I told you I have a small class! But it was fun and I plan on doing it again soon!

Neon Fireworks

Here is a fun Fourth of July project that's easy enough for the little ones. I bought some neon paint at Michaels and brought in my Martha Stewart crystal glitter.

I put small blobs of paint on black construction paper and the kids used a Q-tip to spread the paint from the center of the blob outward.

They could make it look like a starburst or curve the lines a bit to make it look more like a firework. This was much easier than when the kids made them with a glue bottle. They have more control with the Q-tip.

As pretty as they are just like that, they needed a little sparkle. I didn't want to cover up the neon colors so we sprinkled on some clear glitter.

Beautiful, right?

Once dry, I hung them in the hallway.

If you don't have neon paint, you could use glue and spread it with a Q-tip. Then just sprinkle colored glitter on top!
Have a wonderful and safe Independence Day!