Christmas decorations! Quilling is so creative!
Quilling for Kids -“GLUEOLOGY” RULES
Quilling is the art of creating designs with narrow strips of paper that have been wound around a quilling tool to create a basic shape.(s-shape, heart, eyeball, coil, spiral,etc) The shapes are glued together and arranged to form all kinds of snazzy designs. Some would have you believe that this craft must be done with precision, with special tools, with only that one right kind of paper, and done itty bitty. The kits and instruction books let you teach yourself how to do it.
BUT!
You can do quilling with kids –and we have adapted quilling for kids! Hang loose, have fun with it, and forget precision! It’s creativity time!
This is an overview:
GLUEOLOGY and FLEXIBILITY are the key!
DON’T WORRY SO MUCH about the exact right paper, perfect tools or best glue.
Materials you need:
Scissors –kid size
Any paper. Any color. Construction paper can be clunky, but it still works. The BEST paper is recycled (and free). Go to a printer and ask them for their trimmings. Their leftovers. Don’t BUY paper unless you have to. A few reams of bright copy paper is good though.
Use a paper cutter, and ahead of time cut the paper in strips that are approximately ½ to 1 inch wide. They don’t all have to be exactly the same. Use a big enough paper cutter so that you can cut some lengthwise (11 inches long.) Cut scads of it so kids have lots of choices.
White “school glue”. The BIG important instruction about using the glue is this:”Use TINY drops of glue!” I have often put the glue out in tiny cups with toothpicks sticking out, so the kids can only apply the glue in tiny bits with the toothpick.
Sticks – little round wooden sticks, toothpicks, or pencils work, determining how tight the curls will be. Preschoolers can wrap a strip of paper tightly around a pencil. Older kids are more successful with a toothpick.
The Action:
ROLLING the paper: there are a variety of basic curls.(see below) You want to be constantly demonstrating these, and have a variety of completed pieces available to see. Have pictures of the basic curls printed out for people to see.
You especially want to have samples made of very basic quilling art: a mouse, a heart. A mouse is 3 teardrops, a loosely curled tail, a roll for an eye, and that’s it…or you can go the next step and fill the mousie body with lots of s shape curls. A heart: use a heavier wider strip for the outside heart, and fill the heart with shapes.
Great use of creative imagination is what helps to make this so fun,and each piece so unique!
See the basic shapes pictured below.
SCIENCE MOMENT!!!!! GLUEOLOGY! Here’s the key to your success! The science of glue is this – the reason glue sticks things together is that the glue molecules mix with the paper molecules. SO if you apply a puddle of glue, it’s harder for the glue molecules to get mixed in with the paper molecules. SO- put a teensy bit of glue on one spot, and then you put the two papers together that you want to stick together, and then you SQUEEZE the papers together, with the glue drop in the middle-wow! Quickly it sticks and you can get on with it. Important for the kids to be able to get on with it!
WEAR IT- at a fair, kids need a way to take their creations along with them. Their quilling project could be fragile. Use heavy fishing line (oh thrifty you!).Hang their heart or mousie, butterfly or flower off it, and they wear it as a necklace. Make sure everyone has an instruction sheet tucked in their pocket, so they can get good and hooked on this marvelously creative craft!
HOLIDAY THEMES: One year I made quilling snowflakes, glittered them,and gave them as holiday gifts to everyone I knew. Halloween, Valentines Day, Christmas,Dwali,Kwanza…it works.
There are so many ways to use quilling for gifts, ornaments, cards! This is a lifetime skill!
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About Melinda Wallis,”Kids Art Goddess”-
For 20 years, we’ve been doing art with crowds at fairs, festivals, malls, camps, parties, library programs, and yes, some creative schools!
Since 1989, I’ve been inventing creative projects for kids, to give them the thrill of using materials that they often don’t get their hands on otherwise! REAL clay and clay tools, colored tumbled glass bits, leather, yards of windsock fabric, outdated phone equipment to make robots with… tons of interesting recycled stuff! Doing art with crowds is a FINE art in itself, and HAVE ART WE’LL TRAVEL knows how to do it!
www.bestartprojectsforkids.com