Free Preschool Crafts » recycled crafts

Valentine butterfly toilet paper tube craft

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:22:00 +0000

Butterfly TP tube craft

This pink and red butterfly is a fun Valentine’s Day craft for preschoolers. They’ll love decorating the wings. You can give them a head-start by cutting out the wings ahead of time.

What You Need: 1 toilet paper tube; red and pink construction paper or cardstock (I used cardstock); 1 white pipe cleaner; 2 googly eyes; foam hearts; scissors; glue; black marker; pencil; tape.

How to Make It: Fold red cardstock in half and draw half of a wing shape. Cut and open to reveal wings. Cut pink cardstock the length and width of a toilet paper tube and adhere around the tube using glue or tape. Adult should cut pipe cleaner in half and help child roll ends around a pencil for curly antennae. Tape inside toilet paper tube body. Glue on eyes and draw mouth. Glue or tape wings to back of body and decorate with foam hearts, markers, or any way you’d like.

Egg carton spider

admin — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:57:28 +0000

Great for Halloween or a spider unit in school, these spiders are quick and fun to make. If you want, you can twist one of the pipe cleaner legs to make the spider “hold” a name to identify a child’s desk or as a placecard at a Halloween party.

What You Need: 1 “cup” section from egg carton; black tempera paint; 2 black pipe cleaners; 2 googly eyes; paintbrush; glue; 1/8″ hole punch or poking tool.
How You Make It: Adults should precut egg carton and pipe cleaners and poke the leg holes for littler kids. Paint egg carton section black and let dry. Poke or punch four holes on each of two sides of the egg carton cup. Cut each pipe cleaner in half, poke in one hole and out the opposite side and bend into leg shapes. Use glue to add googly eyes.

Plastic grocery bag ghost

admin — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 05:14:05 +0000

These are fun for a whole class to make. You can hang the ghosts from the ceiling, or just let the preschoolers run around with the ghosts “flying” behind them. At home, hang them around your porch.

What You Need: two plastic grocery bags; white or clear lid (such as from whipped topping or oatmeal container); two white pipe cleaners; scissors; black construction paper; glue; stapler; cellophane tape; hole punch; yarn.

How You Make It: Cut off the bag handles as well as any writing or logos on each bag. Cut 1- to 2-inch strips from the top of bag to about 1 inch from the bottom of the bag. (Do this with both bags). Fold white pipe cleaner into seam of one bag and secure with staples. Do the same with the other bag. Now, bend each pipe cleaner/bag into a semi-circle and insert into inside rim of lid and secure with tape. Do the same with the other pipe cleaner/bag. (They will overlap a bit.) Glue on construction paper ovals for ghost eyes. Punch hole in lid and hang from yarn. Spooky!

Safety Alert: Plastic bags are a suffocation hazard. Please observe children closely when making this craft.

Paper tube castle craft

admin — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 16:51:47 +0000

Preschoolers can use their imaginations decorating this castle! You can use sequins, glitter and whatever else you have on hand. You could even paint a paper plate blue for the moat around the castle.

What You Need: toilet paper or paper towel rolls, tempera paint, paintbrush, glitter glue, scissors, toothpick, construction paper.

How You Make It: Paint toilet paper tubes or cut-up paper towel rolls. Make 8 small cuts at one end of two of the rolls and fold four tabs inward to form turret. Decorate however you’d like and glue edges together to form castle. Cut construction paper into rectangle, fold over toothpick, glue and then trim to triangle flag shape. Glue or tape to inside of castle.

Paper towel roll snake

admin — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:00:45 +0000

This is a craft and a fun toy all in one! Preschoolers design their snake and then they can take it for a “walk” by pulling it along with the yarn.

What You Need: paper towel tube, scissors, tempera or poster paints, googly eyes, scrap of red felt, red yarn, glitter glue, paintbrush, glue.

How You make It: Adult cuts the paper towel roll into six sections of similar width. Preschooler creatively paints the sections, adding glitter glue and other details. Once paint is dry, help preschooler apply googly eyes and glue red felt forked tongue to the “head” tube section. Loop yarn around last section and tie; thread the yarn through the rest of the section, leaving it loose at the head as a leash to pull the snake.

Plastic bag butterfly craft

admin — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 12:00:40 +0000

This project is quick, simple and fun, along with being a great way to use up scraps!

What You Need: zip-close plastic sandwich bag (or larger, depending on the size of your butterfly), half a pipe cleaner, scissors and (here’s the fun part) all kinds of scraps from your “craft pantry”: dyed pasta, bits of yarn, tissue paper squares and paper “confetti” kids cut by themselves, bits of craft foam, sequins, glitter and so on!

How You Make It: Set out a variety of supplies in small containers for preschoolers to choose what to add to their butterfly bag. This is so fun! Then, make sure most of the air is out of the bag, seal the bag and distribute the scraps somewhat evenly on either side of the bag as you “pinch” it together in the middle. Wrap pipe cleaner around middle of bag, twist to secure and bend ends for antennae.