Rainbow Creations - Art and Craft for Children - Blog

What better time than Christmas for encouraging children to get busy with their arts and crafts. Not only can children enjoy making their own Christmas presents to give to others, cards, gift tags, decorations for the tree and home, they can make puppets to inspire their imagination for story telling and puppet shows. Based around Christmas characters, their favourite Christmas story book or the Nativity story, a group of children can have have great fun at Christmas time with lolly stick puppets.  To make   Start with the head, adapting to suit the shape of the character's head  (drawing round a jar lid initially might help to get the circle shape, then modify as desired). Using plain foam craft sheets , cut out the shapes and glue together by laying each piece on top of another. Tip - draw and cut out the shapes from paper first, then draw round the paper onto the foam before cutting out the shapes in foam - it might be easier and less wasteful if shap...

Simple printmaking can be done at a very young age. Children can print with any objects that has a shape and a relatively flat surface. Potato printing is a traditional method of printing for young children, where by a shape is cut into the surface of half a potato. Other vegetables can be use for their difference in shape. Painting on half of a sheet of paper and then folding the paper over is another method of printing by mirroring the applied paint on the opposite side of the paper. Finger paintings also can be printed - a pool of paint on a slippery surface, such as a tray, can be swirled around and drawn in with the fingers then printed by placing paper over the top and rubbing firmly.   Household objects can be printed with or any thing which had an interesting texture, such as cotton reels, potato mashers, toy cards, cups etc.   Printing with sponge shapes Printing sponges Foam dabbers Foam dabbers make wonderful prints which can be join...

Exploring paint and painting techniques with children - creative painting. Paint Types for Children's Use Water based paint, known as watercolour is available in many forms. Tempera powder paint , ready mixed paint , the liquid form, and block paints are all used with water as their base. Acrylic paint , being produced from acrylic, is generally thicker and more opaque than watercolour. It can also be diluted with water. Oil paint is not an ideal paint for children to use as it takes so long to dry. Experimenting with Painting Techniques When choosing paint for the piece of art work intended, it is important to realise that the end result will be different, depending on your chosen paint The painting technique used will also give a different outcome. A paint brush does not always have to be used. To help foster creativity within children, encourage them to think of all possibilities of materials used and techniques . Our Painting Session on Chinese Art We re...

Increasing our Christmas range of children's' craft products we have introduced our peg doll angel kits. These kits make a Christmas angel which can be hung on the Christmas tree or in a child's bedroom. The whole pack is ideal for a group, such as Brownies, after school clubs or by teachers for their classes. To make: First make the face by placing the adhesive face sticker on the round end of the peg. Fold the silver doiley in half and half again.Cut a small part off the triangle- enough to enable the peg to slip through.  To make the dress - push the dolly peg through the hole and glue into place. Allow to dry. Cut approx 10cm tinsel string and wrap round the top of the dress. Use a dab of glue to secure. To make the hair - wrap the gold thread around a piece of card, roughly the length of the you require for the angels' hair. Using another small piece of cord secure all threads together by tying a knot. Then tie the two ends together - this fo...

The best type of box to hold children's craft supplies is a container that is inexpensive. The reason is, that as you collect craft materials for your child to use, you will find that the need for a bigger box comes quite quickly. A large shoe box with a lid, covered with either wrapping paper or plain paper, such as brown paper or coloured paper, is a good size box to start off with. Your child could decorate or personalise their box, once covered.  As you progress to a larger box, you could add handles, to carry with, made from thick cord - the type found on gift bags is suitable. Contents When filling a craft box for children, the best thing is to offer a range of craft supplies which can be used in different ways. What to put in a children's craft box Basic equipment you will need Paper scissors, glue spreaders and glue Materials to work with The following craft supplies will provide your child with materials to work with. T...

Have you ever used Mod roc ?  Mod roc is the name given to bandage covered in plaster of paris. It is used to make large structures and models with the advantage of being light in weight and easy to use. Once dry, the model will be strong. Mod roc is a superb art material for building scenery, making masks, puppet, castings and sculptures. Children can use Mod roc under adult supervision. This Mod roc hedgehog was constructed with scrunched up newspaper, Mod roc and cocktail sticks by Elliot, Year 10. To make a Mod roc model   It is necessary to decide what you will construct the model's support from. A structure can be formed from cardboard, wire, scrunched up newspaper, cotton wool, foam, card board tubes, pipe cleaners or even a blown up balloon. Use plenty of tape to create the basic shape. Once the structure is made Mod roc is draped over the structure. This will level and make your structure continuous. It will smooth out and manipulate the shape ...

Rainbow Creations Paint Sets   for young children are now available. These are intended for beginners; suitable for children age 3-4 years old. For children who have not painted before, these first painting sets would make a lovely gift. The brushes are specially designed for little children to hold in their palm as this is how young children naturally hold a brush at that age. They are short brushes which will not roll off the table when put down as they have a little ridge all the way down to stop them. If they are held upright with paint on, paint will not run down the handle. The bowls enable children to see the paint and the brush will fit into the bowl. The brightly coloured painting bowls are made from strong plastic  - one of each colour, red, yellow, blue and green. Four bottles of children's poster paint are supplied to complete the kit. If your child enjoys painting, further colours of paint are also available. Protective clothing shoul...