toucanBox

Indoor Craft

Ages 5-7

Time: 20 minutes (plus time to let the paint dry)

An Icosahedron is a 3D shape with twenty faces. A regular Icosahedron consists of twenty equilateral triangles, and has a total of thirty sides. This is a fantastic activity for children to develop their understanding of the differences between 2D and 3D shapes.

Key Words: Icosahedron, equilateral triangle, pentagon, sides, face, corners, chain, fold, staple

You Will Need:

20 paper plates

A stapler

Poster paint (two different colours)

What To Do:

1. Paint the front of ten paper plates the same colour. Then paint the remaining ten plates in a different colour. Leave them to dry.

2. Pick a plate. Make three folds so the circular plate looks more like a triangle. Do this to every plate.

3. Take two different coloured plates. Place two of the folded sides together and staple them so they are secure. Add another plate to either end in the same way. You should be able to then add a fifth plate to create a complete dome of folded paper plates. It should look like a pentagon (a five-sided shape).

4. Create another pentagon dome, using five more plates.

5. With the remaining ten plates, create a chain. To do this, you will have to look at the triangle shapes on each paper plate. Turn one of the triangles upside down, and place it next to a triangle that is the right way up. Push the edges of the plate together and staple them. Then add another upside down triangle. Then one that is the right way up. Keep doing this until you have used all ten plates.

6. Now you should have two pentagonal shapes and a chain of plates. Take the chain and bend it around so the ends meet. Staple them together to form a ring.

7. The pentagons will be the top and bottom of the icosahedron. Place one pentagon on the top of the ring and staple it down. Then turn the shape upside down and staple the other pentagon to the bottom.

Well done, you’ve made an icosahedron! Can you count how many corners it has?

There are lots of brilliant things you can do with your icosahedron – you could hang it from the ceiling with a piece of wool, or even draw numbers on each face to create a twenty-sided die!

Origami is an ancient Japanese art for paper folding.It is a perfect way to spend some quality time with kids without any technology!

Are you ready to learn origami? Check out origami-instructions for a variety of origami ideas. Here’s the link: http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-for-kids.html

Enjoy this educational, fun and relaxing activity!

This home-made super easy salsa is delicious to dip and the recipe is easy enough for kids to follow.

Don’t forget that you can add more vegetables to give it a kick!

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 can diced green chiles
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Preparation:

• Drain tomatoes, reserving only 1/4 cup of the juice
• Combine tomatoes and juice with remaining ingredients
• Cover and chill at least 4 hours
• Serve with tortilla chips
• Makes about 2 1/2 cups

Enjoy !

Earth day is approaching on April 22nd 2013. With this lovely craft, kids will remember that they can change the world and make it a better place.

Things you need:

• Coloured card papers
• white paper plate
• Scissors and glue
• Pencil to trace hands
• Blue and green paint
• Googly eyes and other decorations (optional)

Directions:

• Trace hands with pencil and cut out multiple times. Use different coloured paper
• Write your saying, act of green or statistic on the hand.
• Let kids paint the paper plate green and blue
• Glue the colourful hands around the edge of the circle
• Stick googly eyes and add a smile :)

Here’s a perfect way to keep your kiddos interested in gardening. You can make this fun, indoor plant project throughout the year!

(NOTE: these carrot tops will grow into bushy plants – but it will not grow into a new carrot)

Things you need:

• Carrot
• dish
• sand

Instructions:

• Cut off the top of the carrot about an inch from the crown
• Fill a shallow dish with sand
• Push the carrot top into the sand, pebbles – so the carrot will be in water
• Fill the dish with luke warm water
• Put the dish near the sunny window ⁃ Make sure that you keep the water tapped off so the carrot doesn’t dry!

Make a recycled watering can with things lying around in your house!

Things you need:

• Milk jug
• any sharp object to make holes
• water

Instructions:

• Take all the labels off
• Then use a sharp object to poke holes in the milk carton lid (poke holes from the backside as well)
• Fill the milk jug with water
• Screw the lid back properly

*if you want to give your watering jugs a personal touch then let your kids decorate with stickers, markers etc.

A very simple yet fun project for St Patrick’s day for kids. Make these lovely shamrocks with green card paper, stapler,scissors and pencil.

Things you need:

• Green card paper
• Stapler
• Scissors
• String (optional)

Instructions:

• Draw lines on the green paper (approx 1 inch)
• Cut them intro strips
• Follow the same instructions as the “heart garland” that was uploaded for valentines day (fold the strip in half and bend the ends in together and staple to make individual hearts. or click here to view the heart garland craft)
• Turn these three hearts into a shamrock by stapling them together on the side
• Add a shamrock stem by using a strip of paper and folding it twice about an inch apart
• Punch a hole at the top of the heart and string a piece of yarn through and hang!

Let kids dig this secret hiding place in the garden! It’s fun to put it together and it is perfect for growing pole beans!

Bean teepee will not take more than an hour if you have the right materials.

Here’s the link to kiddie garden’s website where they give clear instructions