"Do You Wanna Dye a T-Shirt?" (sung in the melody of "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman")
This is part of our "Frozen" (inspired) Dance Camp Series.
We spend about 30-40 minutes on crafts, but always have a back-up plan for those who lose interest fast (some of the 4 year olds are more interested in the process, than the final product) or who are very detailed (need to place every piece of grass just so).
Good ideas of back-up plans are coloring pages (link to free printable Frozen coloring pages) / activity sheets or clips from the movie, if you have a TV or screen. I actually made a YouTube playlist of Frozen clips on our computer just in case, but we never had to use it.
Now... onto the crafts!
My Camp Director and I pulled a lot of the craft and activity ideas off of Pinterest, so I will try to credit our original inspiration when possible.
Craft #1: Tie-dye T-Shirts
You Will Need:- White T-Shirts
- Fabric Dye (for Frozen, I recommend Purple, Pink, Blue and Light Green)
- Buckets
- Rubberbands
10-second Overview: Wrap shirts with rubber bands. Dip in tie-dye. Rinse. Unwrap and hang to dry.
More Details: The first day of all of our camps we traditionally do tie-dye, as the shirts take some time to dry and we sometimes use the tie-dyed shirts in later projects. This year was no different and we took to the sidewalk outside our school to tie-dye. Before heading outside, we wrapped our shirts with rubber bands. Depending on the age of your kids, you can get pretty creative. Our campers favored the Spiral, Stripes and Dots techniques.
We are fortunate to have a spigot in the front of our building, so we use that to fill up a bunch of tubs mixed with tie-dye and place them on the sidewalk and let the kids have at it. We had a large group, so we took them outside 5-6 at a time so we could keep an eye on everything.
Tip: The younger children always want to dip their shirts in Every. Single. Bucket. because... well, its just fun to dip in the buckets! If you use dark colors, their shirts will end up a not-so-pretty brown color. We try to get colors that are light and will mix well if layered (purple, pink, blue, green).
Craft #2: Elsa "Magic Ice" Ribbon Bracelets
 |
| The inspiration photo, from an item selling on Etsy |
You Will Need for each Camper:
- 2 hairties big enough to go around the wrists comfortably
- Various color ribbon (we used white, blue, purple, silver)
10-second Overview: Tie ribbons onto hairties and wear!
More Details: We used this craft for whenever anyone finished their first craft, they could add more ribbons to their bracelets. We pre-cut the ribbon, but older kids could do the cutting themselves if you wanted. Even the youngest kids could manage to tie. You could also do slipknots.
We used these in our dance and had the girls ball up the ribbon into their fists until the "let it go" to create "ice and snow" during our Let It Go dance. You could also make these into hair accessories.
Some of our finished ribbon bracelets...
The ribbon bracelets in action!
Craft #3: Troll Rocks
Pinterest Inspiration Credit |
| Our Pinterest Inspiration for trolls |
- One medium sized rock
- Googly eyes
- Artificial moss, leaves, grass, straw (for hair)
- Markers, paint, or glitter
- Glue
- Small paintbrush
10-second Overview: Glue eyes and hair onto rocks, draw in other features with marker
More Details: We poured Elmer's glue into dixie cups, enough for one cup per two campers and gave each camper a paintbrush to apply the glue.
Each camper got to choose what type of "hair" their troll would have and they glued that and the googly eyes to their rock, then drew in features and accessories with a marker.
Campers who were done early made "pet" and "baby" trolls out of smaller rocks.
Tip We Learned The Hard Way: Write each child's initials on their rock BEFORE starting the project. The rocks take at least overnight to dry, so turning them over to write names leads to rapid troll hair loss.
Some of our 4-year olds' finished Troll Rocks
Another beautiful creation
Craft #4: Sven The Reindeer
You Will Need:- Craft clothespins (the kind without a spring)
- Googly eyes
- Pom poms (for nose & tail)
- Felt (for saddle)
- Black felt (for eyes, nose and hooves) OR black marker
- Glue
10-second Overview: Glue clothespins together. Glue eyes, nose, tail, saddle onto clothespins. Decorate.
More Details: This craft was a little harder to do with a big group as we had to go step-by-step and wait for each child to be finished with each step to move on. It also required some prep work of my Camp Director, who put together little reindeer packets of all the "ingredients" into plastic sandwich baggies.
Directions: Option #1 - Reindeer like ours
Directions: Option #2 - Sideways-standing Reindeer
Craft #5: Tissue-Paper Olaf
 |
| Example of tissue-paper snowman. I didn't get a chance to take any photos from our camp! |
- Construction Paper (orange, black, white and any color for background)
- White tissue paper, cut into small squares (~2")
- Glue
- Google eyes (optional)
- Crayons or markers (optional)
Overview: We pre-drew an outline of Olaf onto large piece of construction paper. Glue tissue paper in either crumpled balls or flat onto outline. Add other parts (nose, buttons, eyes, arms).
Tip: This can be a very time-consuming activity for those campers who like to be meticulous, but also one where some kids finished really quick. Have a 2nd activity ready for those fast crafters.
Craft #6: Paper snowflakes
You Will Need: |
| Can't have a dance camp without glitter! |
- Scissors
- Decorating supplies (we used glitter and glue)
10-second Overview: Cut-out snowflakes, decorate.
More Details: This was one of those "if you're finished early, make this" crafts. We pre-folded the squares of construction paper and the kids cut out various shapes to make paper snowflakes. Then we let them decorate them with glue and glitter. We used these to decorate our performance space.
For "fancier" snowflakes, check out these instructions:
- 6-sized snowflake instructions (via HighHopes.com)
- 3-D Paper Snowflakes - better for older kids (via Instructables)
I hope you enjoyed our Frozen-Inspired craft round-up!
Did you do a Frozen-themed camp this year? What crafts did you make? Any suggestions?
No comments:
Post a Comment