Little Garden Gnomes ...

Here . I am back . After a very busy month in April and a crazy beginning in May , I finally have time to write a new post on this blog. Since Spring is in full spring , and gardening may have been in your mind , I thought it would be fun to find a project related to it . That is how I came out with the idea of making some little garden gnomes with toilet paper rolls and felt . If you are concerned by the cost of the project , you can easily replace the felt by color paper .

Grade Level : From kindergarten to 5th grade .It can easily be adapted for any grade level . With the smaller children , you may  want to precut the pieces of felt for them . For the older kids , measuring and cutting the felt themselves can be fun and a math exercice ! See what your students are capable of .

Material needed : for this project you will need the following :

                                       * toilet paper rolls (or paper towel rolls cut in smaller sizes )
                                       * felt of different colors
                                       * a ruler
                                       * pencils
                                       * scissors
                                       * fabric glue
                                       * paper plates
                                       * toothpicks
                                       * cotton balls

Activity : (1) The students will start by  measuring , tracing and cutting a piece of felt that will be seen as the face of their little garden gnome . So they should choose a felt color accordingly . This piece of felt , even though it will be the face of the little guy , will cover the entire toilet paper roll . (It is just easier that way .) Which means the length should be 4 inches and the width should be about 6.75 inches .

             (2) Each student should now pour a little bit of fabric glue into a paper plate . Using a toothpick they should apply the glue onto the felt rectangle and glue it neatly to the toilet paper roll .

             (3) Now they should use a different color of felt . This piece will be the jacket of the little garden gnome . This new rectangle should be slightly shorter than the previous one . It will be 2.25 inches long and still 6.75 inches wide .

             (4) The students should glue this new piece of felt on the top of the previous one , so it will look like this ,

             (5) At this time our little gnomes are slowly taking shape . We are going to need to add some  details . The students are going to choose a new piece of felt of another color. They will measure it , trace it and cut it . This one will be 0.5 inches by 6.75 inches . It will serve as a belt . It will be glued about the middle of the jacket . They will also need a small square (or rectangle or oval ) that will serve as a belt buckle .Mine measure about 0.5 inches by 0.5 inches . They should glue it on the top of their belt .

             

This is what we have so far ....

                   (6) Now your students will need to trace two circles (for the eyes ) and one oval (for the nose) .They can choose any color of felt they want to .

           
            (7)  Before gluing the eyes and nose however , you want your students to start working on the hat of the little gnome . They can choose the same color of felt than the belt , as it will be a neat match . It should be a rectangle of  3 inches (height) by 6.75 inches (width) . They should once again trace it , cut it and glue the base of the hat on the top of our toilet paper roll . And this is what it should look like now :    

                              

         
            (8) Now the students can glue the eyes and the nose of their garden gnome .

            (9) They should now try to pinch the top of the hat . This part is a little bit more tricky for the littler students and they may need some help . Once they like what they see , they should add a little bit of glue on the inside top of the hat and pinch it together , just like this :
                                          

       
           (10) Perfect ! Now we are almost done . It is time for your students to add the hair and the beard on the little guy . For that they will simply need to take some cotton balls , tear them apart gently and glue it onto the gnome .And here will be the result ...

               

           
             
                (11) Here is the finished project . Doesn't it look nice next to paper flowers ? This is a sweet indoor garden gnome !

Hope you will all having some fun making them ! See you soon for another project ! Thanks for stopping by :)

Easter Bunny

With Easter approaching ,today we will create some Easter bunnies .

Grade level : This craft is for preschoolers and kindergartners .

Material needed : * toilet paper rolls (1 per student)
                            * white construction paper
                            * sharpies (or pens or crayons)
                            * scissors
                            * pipe cleaners
                            * cotton balls
                            * glue
                            * anything else you would like to decorate your bunny  , like ribbons , pins , pompoms ,etc

And the teacher may want to have a needle handy to poke wholes for the mustache .

Activity :   

(1) The teacher should measure the white construction paper with the following size .
                                  Height : 4.25 inches
                                  Width : 6 inches

(2) The teacher should also trace the ears , and the feet on a white construction paper .

(3) Each student should have one toilet paper roll , one piece of construction paper measuring 4.35" X 6" and a piece of white construction paper with the ears and feet .

(4) The student should glue the white construction paper on the toilet paper roll so it will fit neatly .

(5) While this dries , the student need to cut the ears and the feet with scissors . Using a sharpie they should color the "inside" of the bunny's ears .

(6) Using Sharpies , the student should draw the eyes and the nose of the bunny . He / she should also glue the ears at the back of the bunny's head .

(7) Once all of the above is done , the student will go ask the teacher to poke six wholes to fit the mustache .

(8) After the teacher made the wholes , the student will choose a couple of pipe cleaner . In this example , I made a white bunny ...and I chose a white pipe cleaner . However you can use any color you want ! The student should put the pipe cleaner through the whole , twist the part that is inside the roll . He / she should cut the pipe cleaner outside , at the desired length .

(9) Now the student will take one cotton ball and glue it on the lower back of the bunny .

(10) Now it is time to glue the feet at the bottom of our bunny .

(11) Now our bunny is done . But to make it more fun you can add anything you wish to it . Like a ribbon ....

or pins or buttons (however watch for choking hazard !!!!) or pompoms ...

Have a Happy and Safe Easter everyone =)