Craft Sticks

Craft sticks can entertain children for hours. There are so many easy and fun crafty ways to use these sticks. Have your kiddies recycle those popsicle sticks by saving them instead of dropping them in the trash can. It is also a good way to teach the little ones to recycle and reuse as well as the art of crafting. If you don't have enough popsicle sticks, you can buy the craft sticks in any craft department. They are very inexpensive and usually have many in a package.

I searched for some interesting craft stick projects and there are so many it is hard to choose the best. I'm listing just a few that I like but if this is not enough just type popsicle stick crafts or craft stick into google search and you will find many.

Angel Craft

http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/kids_crafts.html

Halloween Crafts

http://www.familycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/ghoulish_stick_figures.shtml

A Frog Door Hanger

http://www.makingfriends.com/Hoponindoorhanger.htm

Christmas Star Ornaments

http://www.daniellesplace.com/html/christmas.html#

Waste Not Picture Frame

http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/puzzleframe.html

A Wishing Well

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/forpreschoolers/l/blwishwll.htm

American Flag

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/july4/craftstickflag/

I like to play with craft sticks too. A few months ago I entered a challenge on a craft message board. The challenge was to make something from craft sticks. I made these two little projects and entered them. Neither of them was a winner but they were so much fun and easy to make.

The snowman was made simply by cutting a piece of card stock for the backing. Paint the popsicle sticks white and glue them side by side to the card stock.The card stock should be cut just a bit smaller than the sticks. Draw a hat shaped pattern and cut it from black foam or felt or card stock, whatever you have that will work. I used sparkly felt and glued a small piece of red ric-rac for the hat band and glued on the plastic snowflake. Cut a piece of wire about twice the size you want the hanger to be. Twirl it around a pencil to form the loops. Slide it off the pencil and bend it to the shape you want. The wire hanger is attached to the sticks or you could make the backing a little taller than the sticks, but below the top of the hat, and run the wire through that. You can add a bead or a little jingle bell to the wire. I used fun foam for the cheeks and nose, added googley eyes and a mouth cut from the same felt as the hat.

The mini message board was made using a 6x6 inch square cork board and 6 inch craft sticks attached to the cork. I embellished it with a few things I already had in my craft room.

Click on each photo for an enlarged view.