Crafts | powassanlibrary

The Rainbow Fish (Craft)

(Marcus Pfister)

What You'll Need:

Instructions:

Create your own rainbow fish, complete with shiny scales.
Start with the body. If you're using a paper plate, encourage your child to use the scissors to cut out a mouth! Make sure to save that piece, as we will be using it later on for the tail.
If you're using paper instead, have your child search for something circular to trace in the house. Allow them to trace it and cut it out. This will likely be difficult for them (circles can be so hard to cut!) but encourage them to persevere. Tips: encourage them to keep their 'thumbs up' (both on the scissor hand and the holding hand) and rotate the paper as needed. Of course, ensure they're being safe with scissors.
Cut out or draw on the ordinary coloured scales. Have them name the colours they're using.
Finally, select a special place for the special scale! Cut a small piece of tinfoil and have them glue it on.

So ... What Are We Learning?

Fine Motor Skills: the ability to safely use scissors is so important, but most children don't have a lot of exposure to using scissors! Working with your child at home is the best place to strengthen their scissor skills, because you can work closely with them - much more so than educators can in a childcare or school-setting. If your child can successfully use scissors upon entering kindergarten, they'll be much more independent throughout their schooling!
Colours: Naming the colours is important! Try having a dialogue with them as you go through. "Do you see anything in this room that is also this colour?"
Self-regulation: Discuss the message in the story! When Rainbow Fish kept all of the beautiful scales to himself and spoke rudely to the other fish, they did not want to play with him. However, when he decided to share, his 'heart felt happy'!

Please email us a photo of your Rainbow Fish creation! We'll feature it on our social media and here on the website!

Boy and Bot (Craft)

(Ame Dyckman)

What You'll Need:

Instructions:

Use the recycled materials and craft supplies to build your own robot!
Ask your child to imagine they went on an adventure with their robot. What would they do? Where would they go?

So ... What Are We Learning?

Innovation Skills: Using open-ended materials encourages your child to be innovative, and 'think outside the box.' This will help them become creative problem-solvers!
Fine Motor Skills: Cutting, drawing and gluing all help to build up the small muscles in your little ones' hands! These muscles are important for tasks like writing in the future.
Language Skills: Depending on your child's level, he or she can tell you about their adventures with their robot or write about them. Rather than telling your child how to spell a word, encourage them to identify the sounds they hear in the word and 'stretch' the word out. Encourage your child to explain to you what each part of the robot does - enrich their vocabulary by helping them use correct terms for what they are explaining.

Please email us a photo of your Recycled Robot! We'll feature it on our social media and here on the website!

What You'll Need:

Instructions:

Take a walk through your backyard to look for small flowers and leaves. Try and collect a variety of shapes and sizes - the more unique, the better!
Once you have collected your flowers/plants, it is time to press them! To do this, place between the pages of a large book, and leave for 3-4 days.
Once your flowers/leaves are pressed, cut your card stock (or thick paper) into the preferred size for your bookmark.
Place the pressed flowers onto the card stock, and play around with the placement until you find a design that you like! Then, use your glue stick (or tape) to keep everything in place.
You may want to take this extra step and laminate your bookmark to make sure everything stays in place - but don't be worried if you don't have a laminator or contact paper at home! You may just want to be a bit more gentle with your bookmark so that the flowers don't fall off.
You may also wish to take this project a step further by using a whole punch to create small holes around the border of the bookmark. Then, using your string (or ribbon/yarn) begin weaving in and out of the holes until you reach a spiral effect (kind of like the spine of a ringed booklet!)

Please email us a photo of you using your bookmark! We'll feature it on our social media and here on the website!

What You'll Need:

Instructions:

Begin by using the black marker to trace the shape of your berry onto the coloured card-stock. Depending on what berry you choose, you can pick whatever colour you like - blue card-stock, red card-stock, purple card-stock ... so many choices!
Next, you are going to take the black marker and with the help of a grown-up (this part can be a little bit tricky) trace both of your handprints onto a green piece of card-stock/paper.
Using scissors, carefully cut out your berry and handprints.
The next step is to piece everything together! Begin by laying your berry down on the table, then using glue or tape, attach your two handprints to the top (these should look like two green leaves). Then, using our scrap paper, we are going to cut out a small rectangle from our left-over green construction paper. Glue this to the top to look like a stem.
Finally, we are going to take our black marker and add the final details to our craft. This is the part where you can be very creative! You might want to keep your berry realistic and just add seeds, or you could draw a silly face on it. Whatever you want!

Please email us a photo of your finished craft! We'll feature it on our social media and here on the website!