This cute craft is a lovely one for working outside on warm sunny days with paper mache, and fun for younger children. It was a project that I made up when my own children were small, and one my son remembers especially well 😊 Compulsively saving everything back in those days, I had a lot of left-over raisin boxes, and their boxy-square shape worked so well for this craft. Adults or older children might want to work with younger children to construct and paper mache the basic shapes for the robot, but young children can have plenty of fun painting and decorating their robot and turning it into a character. I’ve used some ‘googly eyes’, also saved from younger days, but if you don’t want to use those because of the plastic, feel free to make your own eyes using white card and a black marker, or draw them on with paint pens. You could leave your robot quite minimal, or add buttons and gems to give the impression of machine-like buttons on your robot.
For a more open-ended, process-led springtime/summery simple collage-craft I’ve included pictures of a piece my daughter made in one of our group sessions last year (shared with her permission 😊) – and the very simple materials she used to create it… For this collage activity, we replaced papers with fabric, for a different kind of tactile and sensory experience. My daughter’s design was based on flowers that she cut by hand herself. You could choose to do this as well, or use some pre-cut felt/fabric flowers, or come up with your own theme for your design. It could be an abstract theme, working with texture and colour, or something more recognisable – it’s up to you!
This kind of fabric collage would make a lovely wall-hanging, or a tactile collage if secured to an open frame (with the glass/front panel removed). You could even attempt a much larger-scale fabric collage that you gradually add to over the summer, experimenting with lots of different shapes, textures and layers.
Whatever your creative adventures might be over the coming weeks, wishing you plenty of warm and sunny days…
Happy Crafting!
© 2024 Abigail Cole
For more creative ideas visit PowerWood’s creative corner by Abigail and Abigail’s own creative website: www.forgetfulfairyartstudio.com