Winter Arts and Crafts

Comical Creations
Materials Needed: white paper; pencils or pens; simple comic strips; colored pencils (if desired)
Preparation: As a class, review several popular comic strips that involve a winter theme. Examine the various types of humor, plot, and drawing style.
Time: 30-90 minutes (may be divide into two or three periods)
Directions: Create a cartoon character with some distinctive feature that suggests winter. (Snowmen, snowflakes, penguins, and people warmly dressed are naturals.) After creating a character, write a short, humorous episode involving your character. Draw three or more comic-style frames to illustrate the episode.

| top of page |

Ice Cube Painting
Materials Needed: white paper; unsweetened Kool-Aid or powdered tempera paints; white paper
Preparation: Fill ice trays with water. After ice begins to freeze, insert a popsicle stick into each ice cube. Let freeze until solid.
Time: 5 or more minutes
Directions: Sprinkle different colors of unsweetened Kool-Aid or powdered tempera paint on a sheet of paper. Rub ice cube over top. See what kinds of designs appear. If desired, activity may be expanded by writing a paragraph or poem which describes the completed ice painting. 

| top of page |

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Materials Needed: paper plates (one per child); brown, black, and red construction paper; scissors; glue; markers or crayons; single whole punch; rubber bands (two per child)
Preparation: For young children, pre-cut antlers and reindeer nose.
Time: 15-20 minutes
Directions: Cut reindeer nose, and antlers out of construction paper. Paste onto plate. Draw mouth. Cut holes out for eyes. Punch hole on both sides of plate and attach rubber bands. Let children wear reindeer masks while singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

| top of page |

Snow Dough
Materials Needed: flour, salt, white powdered tempera paint, silver glitter, water, oil, cream of tarter
Preparation: Mix dough in advance, or plan to make with students
Time: 5 minutes or more
Directions: Mix together the following ingredients:
          1 cup flour
          1/2 cup salt
          1/3 cup white powdered tempera paint
          1/3 cup silver glitter
          1 cup hot water
          2 Tbsp. oil
          1 Tbsp. cream of tartar
Use as you would use play-dough--Review shapes, letters, sounds, vocabulary, numbers, etc....Or just play with the stuff for fun!

| top of page |

Snowscapes
Materials Needed: dark construction paper, white chalk, winter stencils, cotton balls
Preparation: Create winter stencils in advance for young children. Trace winter shapes onto cardstock or manilla folders. Carefully cut shapes out.
Time: 5+ minutes (young children); 10+ minutes (older children)
Directions: Cut winter design out of cardstock or heavy paper. Place stencil on a sheet of dark construction paper. (Paper should be at least 2" larger than stencil on all sides.) Use chalk to trace around stencil. While still holding stencil firmly in place, gently brush chalkline toward edges of paper with cotton ball. Remove the stencil. The shape will be defined by a crisp line, but surrounded by soft "snowy" shadows.

Hint: Use snowscapes to create winter cards or Christmas ornaments.

| top of page |

Snowstorm
Materials Needed: green construction paper; scissors; washable white paint; toothbrushes; box lids; paint smocks (or old clothing)
Time: 5-10 minutes
Directions: Cut an evergreen tree out of green construction paper. Place inside box lid to reduce mess. Dip toothbrush in white paint. Moving brush above picture, gently rub thumb across tops of bristles to spatter paint. The tree will look like it's been caught in a snowstorm.

| top of page |

Snow Pictures
Materials Needed: spray bottles filled with colored water; snow
Preparation: Gather several spray bottles. Fill each with water, and add food coloring to tint it.
Time: 5 or more minutes
Directions: Use colored water to paint pictures in the snow.

Hint: ESL/EFL teachers can add a winter twist to vocabulary lessons by having students illustrate vocabuary words in the snow. Select one student at a time and show him or her a vocabulary word. The student must illustrate it in the snow for the rest of the class to guess. The student who guesses correctly gets the next turn..

| top of page |

Sponge Snow Pals
Materials Needed: Sponge circles cut in a variety of sizes; washable paint; thinned washable white paint paintbrushes; dark construction paper
Preparation: Cut various-sized circles out of sponges.
Time: 15-30 minutes
Directions: Choose a large, medium, and small sponge. Dip the large sponge into thinned white paint. Do not get too much paint on sponge! Stamp on bottom of page. Stamp medium circle above, and small above, to create snowman shape. Paint features and other accents on with paintbrush.

| top of page |

Winter Wonderland
Materials Needed: dark construction paper; glue; white crayons; white paint; any and everything white (cotton balls, gauze, q-tips, tissue, paper, cloth scraps, quilt batting, etc.)
Time: 20-60 minutes
Preparation: About a week before project, send a note home with students. Ask parents to be on the lookout for small white objects or materials and send these to class with their child.
Directions: Divide students into groups of four to six, and give each group roughly the same materials. Give each child a sheet of dark construction paper. Encourage children to visualize a winter scene, then create it using the various white materials available. Older children may write a winter story, then create a collage to illustrate it.

| top of page |