Dragon Crafts

 
It's the height of Summer Reading, and this year we're doing a Games theme ("Come Inside and Play!")

This week's theme is Dungeons and Dragons! And as such, we have celebrated Harry Potter, watched The Sorcerer's Stone, and done THREE dragon crafts - one for kids, one for teens, and one for little guys at storytime. I know you're super excited to hear about all three, so I've put them all in this one post.
  

Little Kids

For dragon-themed storytime, we read Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin, If I Had a Dragon by Tom and Amanda Ellery, and When A Dragon Moves In by Jodi Moore. (Note: Dragons Love Tacos is much longer than I usually do for storytime, but it went really well!)We did the dragon hokey-pokey, sang "Pop Goes the Dragon,"and made what I was calling "dragon blowers," for lack of a better name.

You need:

• Green cardstock
• Paper streamers (red, orange, yellow)
• crayons, markers, etc.
• Stapler

You can use toilet paper tubes for these, but then you'd have to paint them all green, so I just made tubes out of green cardstock (cut in half and stapled at the back). We glued strips of paper streamers (the kind you use for parties - it's about $0.99 for a huge roll) to the inside. Draw eyes on the end that doesn't have fire coming out, and a couple nostrils, and you're all set! If you blow through the end with the eyes, the paper flames will flow out and look like he's breathing fire! SO COOL! A note: These are much easier to decorate *before* you staple the paper rolls together.

To be totally honest, I wasn't super thrilled with the way this craft turned out, but the kids loved it, and that was the important part.

Kids

Cut, decorate, staple - done!

His name is Norbert.

With elementary school age kids, we made dragons out of paper plates. I found this on the Pink Stripey Socks blog - you can download the template there for free.  I printed out the template on neon green cardstock (it's easier to see on a white paper plate), and cut out five copies - one for each of my four craft tables, and one extra in case it was needed. The kids were supposed to trace the pattern, cut it out, and then decorate. It mostly worked, but I neglected to realize exactly how hard it is for little guys to trace things, and I did a fair amount of helping - not that I mind, as long as I have a free hand. (They were pretty good at the cutting part, and excellent at the decorating).

Once you cut and color your dragon (we used markers and crayons), you staple him together and he's ready to be played with. That easy!

My dragon is rainbow tie-dye, because I made him and I enjoy cheerful things.

Teens

IT'S SO COOL!

The teen craft this week was dragon keychains. If you haven't made beaded keychains before, there are lots of tutorials online, and lots of patterns once you've got the basics, and while it looks somewhat complicated, it's really not that hard once you get the hang of it. I found this amazing beaded dragon keychain on DeviantArt, and cobbled together a pattern based on it.

You need:

• string/jewelry cord
• beads (pony beads work perfectly)
• Keychains/fasteners 
• Tape (optional, but helpful)

The first thing you do tape your keychain to the table, so you have a nice, stable working area. Next, cut a super long segment of string - like, 4 feet long. Better too long and cut off the ends, than too short and have to try to tie more on. Knot the middle of the string tightly to the keychain.

Let's take a look at our pattern.
The knot at the center of the circle (the keychain) is really one long string, but the two halves are colored blue and orange on the pattern, so you can see the difference between the two strings.

Our first line (going top-down) has our orange string going through two beads - go ahead and do that. The blue string also goes through the same two beads, but in the opposite direction. When you do this, you'll have two beads on your string, with the ends hanging down on each side (kinda like a bolo tie - see below). 

String beads on both strings.

Start your second line the exact same way: string three beads on the "orange" string, then string the same three on the "blue," going the opposite direction. Continue as per the pattern.

The tricky part here (which I simplified from the photo I saw on Deviant Art) is the wings. I only used one string for each wing, doubling back on itself at both the outer tip of the wing, and the bead closest to the dragon's body. I hope the pattern makes sense to you. 

The teens needed a little help getting started, and a little help with the wings, but they had a great time, and wanted to know when we could meet again and do different characters (I'd printed out some examples, like a butterfly and a Pikachu).

Finished dragon.

Overall

Dungeons & Dragons Week went well! The kids had fun, I had fun, a good time was had by all. I will definitely do the beaded keychains again, and the other ones were cute (but I don't like to repeat too often).

Cupcake Wrapper Owls

I can't remember the first time I made these. It's been a few years, and every so often, I drag it out and do it again, because it's cute as all heck. I pulled it out this summer because we did an Oregon Trail themed week, and had the local Audubon Society come and do a show with live owls (which was SO COOL, you guys!).

So, of course, we had to make our own owls, and they're super easy and also adorable, and cheap. (Easy, cheap, and adorable is the magical trifecta of kids' crafts, in my book.) Here's how we did it:

Supplies:

• Toilet paper tubes (or paper towel roll tubes, cut to size, if you have concerns about hygiene)
• Cupcake wrappers (2 per owl)
• Construction paper or cardstock
• Markers or crayons
• Glue

Directions:

1.  Flatten your cupcake wrappers, and decorate with markers or crayons, if desired. 
2. Using your thumb, push in two sides of the top of the tube to make the owl's head, with "feather tufts" sticking up on either side. (See photo for what I'm talking about.)
3. Cut two large circles from colored paper/cardstock, and smaller ones from white. Cut one orange triangle for a beak. Glue the face together as shown in the photo above, overlapping the colored paper slightly. Set aside.
4. Cut one of your cupcake wrappers in half; these are your wings. Cut the other into quarters; these are your tail and feathers. I found it easiest to start with the bottom-front feather, overlapping slightly to make a "ruffle" on the bird's front. Then, glue the tail, and finally, the wings (which you can position however you like - is he taking flight? Perched on a branch?)
5. Once the feathers are all glued on, glue the face on the roll, overlapping the top of your feathers. Et voila!

Variation: If you don't have cupcake wrappers, you can use coffee filters (the white kind with the wavy edges). Flatten out the filter and cut off about an inch around the outside. The inside circle can be cut in half for the wings, and the wavy strip from the outside can be trimmed into 3" sections to use for belly feathers and a tail. If going this route, you probably want to decorate it before you cut. This would be really cool if you did the whole markers/rubbing alcohol craft, but you'd have to let that dry really well before starting.