![]() ![]() They can string beads onto the pipe cleaner and twist the ends to make a bracelet. Kids can twist two pipe cleaners together to make a candy cane or barber shop pole design. I don’t recommend them for really tiny kids, since the ends can be sharp, but for ages 4 and up, they can provide hours of entertainment. Kids are fascinated with pipe cleaners, and it is virtually impossible to make a mess with them. Some templates that have been especially popular are Masquerade Masks and Animal Masks, which both come from First Palette. I provide crayons or markers, Scotch tape, and popsicle sticks, and the kids turn themselves into everything from lions to superheroes. Often, they are intended as parts of more elaborate projects with papier-mâché and other materials, but I find they work just as well on their own. Lots of different websites provide templates for making masks. Simply print out a few copies of a coloring page and put out whatever leftover stickers you have hanging around from previous programs. Oriental Trading sells these, but you don’t need to purchase kits to do this craft. Kids choose how to arrange a set of stickers on a given background to create a picture of their own. I have had great success with sticker scenes. To make this an even neater project (no scraps!), use a paper cutter to make strips of construction paper and invite kids to write and draw their own designs. Kids Can Have Fun provides a free printable where children can color and cut out their own paper friendship bracelets, which they can easily fasten around their wrists using tape or a staple. Below are some simple, fun (and budget-friendly) crafts that allow kids to express their creativity without jeopardizing the craft-phobic librarian’s sanity. Still, I know it’s not fair to deprive an entire community of crafts just because I don’t like them. The thought of allowing a group of children free rein with anything more than a crayon or a glue stick makes me nervous, and the clean-up process alone is enough to make me want to lock myself in my office and never come out. Children come marching out of their story times carrying gorgeously decorated projects, and afterward, those librarians set right to work cheerily cleaning up the layers of marker caps, paper scraps, and wet clumps of glue-soaked glitter the budding artists have left behind. They happily pull out the glitter and never bat an eyelash at the thought of allowing the kids to paint. The Library Adventure uses affiliate links, see our policies for more information.
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