Well,
there are always times during your stay of visits that you’ll be asked to do
more than just teach. When in
doubt, make something. It’s not
always a common occurrence to do crafts with kids, but when suddenly slapped
with a single answer request, here’s a nice list of things you can do. Some assembly required, so make sure you
know a head of time if they have this in mind.
In
order to make your cards or letters more realistic you can make the students
write cards for your friends and family back home. If possible ask your friends
or family to write back, one card for all the students in the classroom. The
students will enjoy this as they will get a chance to have their mail replied
in English!!!!
New Years
Postcards and New Year Cards
Many of
the schools or local children’s centers (municipally run) have the necessary frames and other
equipment to make washi (Japanese paper) postcards.
Get them to help you make the pulp, and you’re set. Make New Year’s postcards with the
students, and teach them New Year’s Greetings from home.
Valentine`s
Day
Valentine’s Day cards
For little
kids, you could make a card yourself, photocopy it, and let the kids color it
in. Or cut out a heart-shaped
sponge, potato or daikon for them to dip in paint and
stamp on their cards. Teach them
simple Valentine’s greetings and write their favorites in the cards.
St. Patrick’s Day
Paint clovers on kid’s cheeks
Use food
coloring and eat green foods, drink green milk, etc.
Easter
Preparing eggs for dyeing
Most
people hardboil their eggs, but kids are sometimes
sad to have to ruin their artwork to eat the egg. Try blowing out the eggs. To do this, you need a pin and a bowl. Poke the pin through one end of the
egg. Then make an approximately 2mm
hole in the opposite end of the egg.
Make sure the pin goes through the membrane of the yolk. Hold the egg over the bowl and blow
through the small hole. The yolk
will come out the big hole, making the kids laugh and squirm, and you can use
the yolk for an omelet or something.
Now you can dye the egg and keep it for years!
Decorative
Eggs
You can
make the dye with a tablespoon (or more) of food coloring, 1/4 cup vinegar
and 1/4 cup water. Put in a glass
or a glass bowl. Put newspaper down
and supervise students to help keep them from spilling (stains are VERY hard to
get out). Use a spoon to scoop eggs out of water. If you want, try writing on
the egg before hand with a wax crayon or a candle. The dye will not stick to those
places. Have older kids try rubbing
fat lightly on the egg to make it shine.
Coffee and onion skin
eggs
An eastern
European way to dye eggs. Wrap a
raw egg in brown onionskins. Keep the
skins in place with string. Put the
wrapped eggs in a pot, cover
the eggs with water and add coffee grounds. Boil for 10 minutes. Unwrap the
egg. It should have a brown,
marbled pattern.
Yarn
Easter egg
Inflate a
balloon to desired size and wrap lengths of yarn (depending on the size of the
balloon: 30-60cm) that have been dipped in laundry starch around the
balloon. Wrap as many strings as
desired, but you should still be able to see the balloon underneath. Let the
balloon hang dry overnight, and then pop the balloon. You will be left with a hollow egg!
Mother’s/Father’s Day
Mother’s Day cards
Fold a
piece of paper to make a card, then cut out a piece of paper in the
form of a vase and glue it to the front of the card: but only on the
edges, leave the top unglued so the vase makes a kind of pocket. Attach paper flowers to Popsicle sticks,
so the sticks become stems. Help
the child write something that the child will do for mom (help with the
laundry, set the table, etc) then put the stems into the vase.
Father’s Day cards
Modify the
above Mother’s Day idea, or see the example in the following materials.
Sukkah
Paper chain-making to decorate the Sukkah
A Sukkah is a structure which recalls the type of building
the Jews lived in during their journey from
Halloween
Ghosts from Handkerchiefs/Kleenex
Using
tissues or an old white handkerchief that children have brought from home, ball
up some tissues and put them in the middle of the handkerchief or another piece
of tissue. Gather the tissue or
handkerchief around the tissue ball to make a head, with the "sheet"
hanging below. Use a rubber band to
hold it in place, and with a marker draw in the face. (The Japanese hang similar objects
outside for good weather, they’re called teruteru bozu).
Jack o` Lantern faces
on kaki (persimmons)
Most towns
have an abundance of persimmons in October. Using a black felt pen, draw scary faces
on the persimmons. Use a
water-based marker so you can eat them later.
Carving
Try to
find the largest pumpkin (kabocha) in the town and
carve it up. Older elementary
school kids could try to carve one too, while you and the teacher could
carve the faces that the younger kids draw. Get the young children to help clean
out the inside. Note that the
little green pumpkins that you will
probably have to use are pretty difficult to carve and you might need to
help
them start it.
Other activities
Make
little Jack O`Lantern pendants with orange and black
paper or paper
Jack O`Lantern masks...who is the scariest?
Or, draw or photograph a
Halloween scene and have the kids color it in.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving turkey puppets
Students
trace the outline of their hand onto white paper. Their thumbs become the head of the
turkey and their fingers become the feathers. Color it in. If you want, you can cut it out and
attach it to a Popsicle stick to make a puppet.
Hanukkah
Dreidel
Make a dreidel (see the following pages of materials) and play the
game.
Piñata
Make a piñata and
play the game (see the following pages of materials).
Christmas
Make Christmas cards
This is a very popular activity and the students love to make and
decorate their own cards. Be sure to write greetings on the board and an
example of what a Christmas card look like.
Advent calendar
Make
advent calendars with older children, or make one yourself for younger kids to
enjoy. Select a simple Christmas
scene, or make one yourself. Lay
out where you will place the doors from 1-24 by using a template. Make #24 a bit larger. Then use the template on a separate
thick piece of paper to draw in the windows. Draw festive pictures. Let the students open the doors to count
down to Christmas and their winter holidays. or, draw a picture of Santa with a
huge beard. Draw 24 circles on his beard and number them. Have the kids glue a
ball of cotton onto the beard everyday and Santa Claus will have a full, snowy
beard for Christmas.
Christmas
tree
Make a
poster of a Christmas tree with no decorations. Have the kids make various ornaments
(popcorn garlands, snowflakes, etc) and decorate the tree with them when they
have finished.
Leis
You will
need straws, colored paper flowers, and string. Cut the straws into
strips. Then string the
straws and flowers to make a lei.
Boomerangs
This
is a very easy activity, just cut out the shape of a boomerang out in order to
make a mould for your
students. Make sure your mold is
made from cardboard so that all of the students are able to trace your original
design. Later get the students to cut out
and design their own boomerang by using your cardboard mold. You can now
have a throwing boomerang competition. The student who can throw it and then
catch it wins!!!!!
Note:
Make sure you practice first so that the students can follow your instruction
when throwing and catching the boomerangs.