Sparkly Bow Band Craft for Kids!

Would you like to know a ‘not-so-secret’ way to jumpstart your child’s imagination? Create a craft or activity centered around a book they love! That is exactly what I did with this super fun Sparkly Bow Band, which is based on Minnie Be My Sparkly Valentine, one of Sweet Pea’s top books for February! Check out how easy it was to make this little dress-up treasure and I hope this might inspire you to create your own ideas for other fun crafts for kids based on books too!

Sparkly Bow Bands Crafts for Kids

Sparkly Bow Band!

 

Material Needed:

  • large sheet of red foam (by large, I mean about 18″ long, not 3 feet or something like that)
  • Heart-shaped puncher (I am a paper crafter at heart, so I had a good-sized hole punch. You could also use a die cut machine)
  • Stuff to decorate your bow band. We used:
    • foam heart stickers
    • jewels
    • glitter glue
  • crafting glue
  • hole punch
  • piece of yarn, about 6 inches long (totally depends on the size of your kid’s head)
  • 2 chenille pipe cleaners in the color of your choice
  • glitter cardstock paper

Sparkly Bow Bands Crafts for Kids

How do you make it?

  • Cut the large sheet of memory foam lengthwise into a 3-4″ strip. This is the ‘band.’
  • Set out the sparkly decorations. If you child is on the young side (Sweet Pea is almost 2 1/2), you will want to supervise this process.
  • We started with stickers, which is a great fine motor development skill. Sweet Pea picked out the heart she wanted, I started peeling the sticker, and then she peeled the rest and placed it on the band.
  • Next up for us were the jewels. Since this step involved glue, I ‘assisted’ by dotting the open areas of the bow band first, and then Sweet Pea picked out her jewels and stuck them into the glue.

Sparkly Bow Bands Crafts for Kids

  • After the jewels, I broke out a very special stick of pink glitter glue. I helped Sweet Pea work on squeezing and then let her drizzle the bow band with some sparkly glue. Fun!
  • To make the heart antenna, just punch two hearts out of the glitter cardstock. I like cardstock because it is sturdier than construction paper. If you child has the hand strength, it is perfectly safe for them to punch the heart out. Otherwise, you will need to do it.
  • For an added element of sparkly flair, we stuck a sparkly foam sticker onto each of the glittery hearts.
  • Use the hole punch to punch two holes onto the top of the band for the antennae.
  • Glue the punched out hearts onto the ends of the pipe cleaners. I found it helpful to run the pipe cleaner the entire length of the heart. This will give the antennae more stability (ie: they won’t flop over).
  • Twist the pipe cleaner antennae so that they are curly and feed the other end of the pipe cleaner through the hole in the band. Tie the end into a knot.

Sparkly Bow Bands Crafts for KidsIf your child has a small head, you might get to skip this step. Alas, Sweet Pea’s head is not small. So, the bow band did not fit without modifications.

  • If needed, punch a hole at both ends of the bow band.
  • Cut the desired length of yarn, feed each end through one of the holes, and tie each end off into a knot.
  • You may want your child present for this step in order to ensure proper fit. We adjusted about three times.

Sparkly Bow Bands Crafts for Kids

There you have it! — a Sparkly Bow Band, just like Minnie Mouse! Clearly, there are a lot of adaptations with this cute little craft. I think the best part for Sweet Pea is that she got to design her own crown, and then wear it around the house. Now, when we read Minnie Be My Sparkly Valentine, Sweet Pea immediately recognizes that she too created something fun and festive. Needless to say, it fuels her desire to read that book over and over again. That is not a bad thing at all!

Thanks for reading and you know, go do the ‘hot dog dance’ or something. 😉
Sara

For more great ideas for crafts inspired by books, check out these sites!

http://www.theeducatorsspinonit.com/2012/06/join-fun-with-eric-carle.html
http://www.pleasantestthing.com/2014/07/childrens-books-activities.html
http://buggyandbuddy.com/watercolor-art-activity-kids-inspired-catch-star/
http://www.herecomethegirlsblog.com/2012/07/02/the-worst-princess.html
http://homegrownfriends.com/home/pete-cat-four-groovy-buttons-activities/
http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2012/09/reading-strategies-first-week-highlights.html?m=1

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