Paper and cardboard are perhaps the most affordable craft materials. In stores, you can buy paper of a variety of grades, including self-adhesive, and you can make a lot out of it, from a greeting card to a real home. You can make bulky toys and jewelry together with your child.
Christmas ball
A voluminous Christmas ball can be made in several ways. There is a very simple option when making a craft takes only a few minutes. For such a ball, you will need thin opaque colored paper, a pair of compasses or a jar with a round bottom, scissors, glue and threads.
It is more convenient to first cut the paper into squares of approximately the same size. You can also take colored office paper - it is usually sold in packs of A5 or A6 format. Stack the squares together. To prevent the sheets from falling apart, you can fasten them in one or two corners with paper clips.
Draw a circle on the top sheet, and then cut out circles from all sheets at once. Bend each circle in half. Place two blanks next to them, wrong side up. Glue the right half of one circle with glue and glue the left half of the second to it. Then the left of the third is glued to the right half of the second circle, etc.
Before attaching the last circle, glue the thread to the folds by folding it in a loop. Let the ball dry, then straighten it in the folds and hang it on the tree. Such a toy can be one-color or multi-colored. The ball will look interesting if each blank is decorated with a large applique.
In this way, you can make not only a volumetric ball, but also a cone, only for it you need to cut not circles, but equilateral triangles.
Furniture for a doll's corner
Paper is a wonderful material for making doll furniture. You will need:
- paper or cardboard;
- PVA glue;
- a sharp knife;
- self-adhesive film or paper;
- water-based paint;
- gouache;
- varnish.
Any piece of furniture can be thought of as a combination of several planes. So, for a table you will need 2 squares and a rectangle, for a sofa - 2 identical rectangles and 2 identical squares, for an armchair - 4 identical squares, for a chair - 2 squares and a rectangle. In all cases, the short side of the rectangle must be equal to the side of the square.
Make templates for each plane, and then cut out the blanks from paper or cardboard. You need a lot of blanks, the thinner the paper, the more there will be. The procedure for making a doll sofa will be as follows. For example, cut 20 blanks for each plane. Glue together the rectangles intended for the seat and backrest - 10 blanks will go for each part. Coat the entire surface with PVA glue.
Make the backs the same way - in this case, square. Assemble the sofa by gluing the backrest to the side of the seat. It is best to place them at right angles to each other. Glue the armrests. Let your art dry and then cover it with glue-coated paper. You can arrange the sofa in another way - cover it with water-based paint, paint it with gouache, and varnish it on top.
If you are using paints, choose ones that are harmless to the baby.
Jewelry for a little fashionista
Your little daughter will surely like paper beads. It is very easy to make them. Take a cover from a glossy magazine. Draw it into strips 1 cm wide. Draw each strip diagonally. Cut out blanks that are right-angled triangles with one very long leg and the other very short.
Take one such strip, grease it with glue on the seamy side, and then twist it tightly into a tube, starting from the 1 cm side. The sharp corner should be on top. Let the straw dry. Make the rest of the beads in the same way, and then string them on a string. Beads can be varnished.
