Kid Crafty - Macaroni Snowflakes

Payton's First Grade teacher asked me to come up with the class Christmas gifts this year.  I've been so busy with school that I jumped all over the chance to participate with her class AND do something crafty.

What I came up with were macaroni snowflake ornaments.  Her teacher also asked that we incorporate a photo with their gift, so I snapped photos of each child when I was there too.

This is what we came up with:

How to make macaroni snowflakes:

Supplies:
wax paper
Macaroni - I used the large wagon wheel shapes, and also a small flower shape.  Fiori, I think they were called.
Aleene's tacky glue
glitter - large
ribbon


I began this project with an example.  With kids this age, you need to give them an example.  Not all of them will be willing to come up with their own design, and with a class of 25, it was best to work with them in small groups of 4-6, and have a set example.

I started by having each child use one wagon wheel for the center.  Then they each picked out 7 fiori/flower shapes and put them around the outside.  Originally I planned to have them use paintbrushes in the glue, but then a brilliant little 6 year old boy suggested we dip each macaroni piece in the glue, and that made the project much faster and easier.  Kids are so smart!

After that we got one last round of wagon wheels and put them on the outside.  

The project does stick to the wax paper so if you don't have time to rotate, peel carefully.  

When I did this project, the kids created their snowflake, and then I took them home and spray painted them white.  Then I took them back to school the next day and they painted glue and sprinkled glitter on the project.

VARIATION:

Another way to do this project would be to mix equal parts Elmers glue and white tempera paint, mix in the macaroni, and have students get their hands dirty and assemble that way.  This is a messier way to do it but it's one way to get the whole project done in one sitting.  After their snowflake was assembled they sprinkled the glitter and were done.

I punched out their photos with a circle punch, punched a hole, had students choose their ribbon, and then had them write 2012 one side, and their name on the flip side of a little tag that we also strung on.  And then voila, they were done!  

The kids loved them.  We put them in paper bags that the kids decorated by cutting geometric shapes to create a snowman.  It was a great project!

I had to play with this at home too, but this time, I let the kids do their own design:

Morgan is making a snowflake picture frame.  

This is a fun, easy, and very inexpensive craft.  I will have macaroni for a long time.  That class of 25 students didn't use up one box of either type of macaroni.

This would make a fun winter/ Christmas craft to do while the kids are on vacation from school!

Have a great day!  Davinie