Arts and crafts can be educational.
Making arts and crafts with children can be fun and educational. Art promotes self expression and crafting gives children opportunities to design using their imagination. Doing arts and crafts focused on other countries and cultures helps children to learn about countries that are foreign to them. Multicultural crafts also help children to appreciate other cultures.
Native American Vest
To make a Native American vest you'll need a brown paper grocery bag, paint or markers, yarn, scissors and a hole punch. Cut a vertical line in the middle of the front of the bag and then cut a neck hole. Cut into the sides of the bag to make armholes. Cut fringe all the way around the bottom. Hole punch two holes near the neck opening. Using a 12-inch piece of yarn, thread it through both the holes and tie a bow to hold your vest together. Decorate your Native American vest with markers or paint. Horses, stars and rainclouds are popular Native American pictures to draw on your vest. Listen to American Indian music by artists like Douglas Spotting Eagle while making your vest.
Hispanic Paper Flowers
Paper flowers are a traditional craft in Mexico and Central America. To make the paper flowers, you will need 5-by-5-inch pieces of tissue paper in assorted colors, pipe cleaners, scissors and a pencil. Cut each piece of tissue paper into ovals and circles of different sizes. Layer the pieces together, going from large to small, and poke two holes in the center of the bunched tissue papers. Work a pipe cleaner up one hole, bend it and feed it down through the other hole. Pull the pipe cleaner so it is even, then twist the two ends together to make the stem.
Eskimo Laughing Mask
A long time ago, Eskimos used wooden Laughing Masks to make people laugh. A serious group would gather in a circle to see who could make them laugh the hardest using their mask and telling jokes. Make your Eskimo Laughing Mask using wooden craft sticks, egg cartons, construction paper, crayons, glue and feathers. Draw a silly face on the construction paper, then cut holes in the paper for your eyes. Cut two of the egg carton sections and glue them over the eye holes, making sure to cut holes to see through. Glue feathers around the top of the mask. Color a few wooden craft sticks, then glue one to the bottom of the mask for a handle and one on either side of the mask for arms. Now, who ever gets the loudest laugh, wins.
African Paper Kufi
To show pride in their heritage, young Africans wear a round hat called a Kufi. Make your own Kufi using a 24 inch by 2 inch strip of dark-colored construction paper for the headband, six 12 inch by 1 inch strips of construction paper in red, yellow and green, a stapler and scissors. Fit the headband snugly around your head and staple it together. Arrange the six strips of colored paper so they overlap to form a star, or wheel shape. Staple at the center, where all the paper strips cross in the middle. To connect the headband, place one strip along the outside edge of the headband. Staple this down, then repeat with the other strips all the way around.
Japanese Uchiwa Fan
The Japanese use Uchiwa fans to cool themselves. You can make one using a 7 by 7 inch piece of poster board, scrap papers, a wooden tongue depressor, markers, scissors, stencils and a stapler. Cut the edges of the poster board to be rounded. Staple the tongue depressor to the poster board. Color pictures of leaves and flowers on the fan or use stencils. Remember to keep it simple, as the real Uchiwa Fans are very simply decorated.
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