Wood Crafts

You need patience and a steady hand to create this toothpick shark sculpture, but your kids' amazement is well worth the effort.

What You'll Need:

How to Make a Toothpick Shark Sculpture:

Step 1: Cover your work surface with a sheet of waxed paper. Glue toothpicks together to make a skeleton shape of a shark. Dip the toothpick ends in glue; then glue each toothpick together piece by piece.

Step 2: After you've created the base of the shark, fill in the body with long and broken toothpicks until the shape is rounded.

Step 3: Add fins and a tail. Let the glue dry.

Step 4: Now make a display stand for your sculpture. Fold a piece of blue construction paper in half lengthwise. Draw on some waves. Glue the shark to the paper.

What else can you make from toothpicks? Learn how to make a toothpick person, triangle, and building in the next section.

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With toothpick architecture, you and your kids can create a tiny city, geometric shapes, or a circus tent with clowns. This art craft lets you build whatever your imagination dreams up!

What You'll Need:

How to Make Toothpick Architecture:

Step 1: Place a sheet of waxed paper over your work surface. Roll the plastic-based clay into several 1/4- to 1/2-inch balls. (The amount will depend on what you're making, since the clay balls are the anchor joints of your toothpick creation.)

To make a person, you will need 7 balls of clay; to make a building, you will need 14 balls of clay; and to make a triangle shape, you will need 4 balls of clay.

Step 2: Insert a toothpick into a ball of clay. Connect the toothpick to another ball of clay. Continue connecting toothpicks with the clay until you have completed your structure.

Step 3: Place the finished projects on a piece of poster board to display your architecture.

Keep reading to learn how to make some pocket-sized toothpick pals.

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These tiny toothpick dolls can keep your kids company wherever they go. Slip them into your kids' pockets, notebooks, or schoolbags for a friendly hello during the day.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Toothpick Dolls:

Step 1: Help kids cut off 1-1/4 inches from one end of 1 toothpick. This is the body. For the legs, cut off 5/8 inch from one end of 2 toothpicks.

To make the arms, cut off 1-3/4 inches from one end of the remaining two toothpicks. Throw away toothpick scraps.

Step 2: Glue one leg to each side of the toothpick body. Let the glue set. Apply a dot of glue to the side of one leg near the top, and place one end of the embroidery floss on the glue.

Wrap the floss around the toothpicks, working your way down. Continue wrapping until you reach 1/2 inch from the end of the legs. Trim the floss, and glue the end in back.

Step 3: Wrap each toothpick arm with floss. Glue the arms to the wrapped body. To make the shoulders, add a dot of glue to the toothpick body just above the floss.

Place the end of the floss on the glue, and wrap it down around the body and the tops of the arms about 6 or 7 times. Trim the floss. Glue the end in back.

Step 4: Make the head by wrapping floss into a ball around the top of the toothpick body. Trim the floss, and glue the end in back. To make the hair, cut several strands of floss.

Hold the strands together, and glue them to the top of the doll's head. Trim excess floss.

Are your kids ready for a more challenging wood craft project? Make your own marionette puppet in the next section.

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With a little practice, your kids can perform their very own puppet show with these marionette puppets.

What You'll Need:

How to Make a Marionette Puppet:

Since this wood craft project involves drilling and sawing, an adult must assist kids.

Step 1: Prepare the wood pieces by cutting and sanding each one.

Step 2: Drill all the holes in the wood pieces. To make the marionette body, drill a 1/8-inch hole all the way through the wood in each corner of the 1x2-inch board.

Step 3: Drill 1/8-inch holes in each end of the arm and leg dowels. Then drill 1/8-inch holes in each end of the control bars. Drill another hole in the middle of one bar.

Step 4: Switch drill bits and drill a 1/2-inch hole in the short end of the body board.

Step 5: To attach the parts, cut four short pieces of fishing line or string. Tie the arms and legs to the body, following the illustration.

Step 6: Cut four long pieces of string. Thread one end of each string through the end holes of each arm and leg and tie it in a knot. Thread the other ends through corresponding holes on the control bars and tie in a knot.

Step 7: Glue the 2-inch dowel in the 1/2-inch hole on the body board for the neck. Let the glue set.

Step 8: Cut another piece of string. Tie one end around the end of the neck. Thread the bead through the string, and glue the bead to the neck. Thread the other end of the string through the middle hole on the control bar and tie it in a knot.

Step 9: Draw a face on the wood bead.

Keep reading to see how your kids can construct a whole miniature city of wood block buildings.

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Help your kids create their own miniature city with block buildings that look just like the ones in your town.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Block Buildings:

Step 1: Help kids saw all the wood pieces. Make sure you sand the wood smooth. To make a house or store, saw a 2-inch piece from a 2x2-inch board.

Step 2: Draw windows, doors, and shingles on the wood.

Step 3: Cut a roof piece from cardboard and glue it to the wood.

To make a tall building, saw a 6-inch piece from a 2x2-inch board and an 8-inch piece from a 2x3-inch board. Stand them up and draw on the windows of a bank or the balconies of an apartment.

To make a barn, cut a 5-inch piece from a 2x3-inch board. Decorate it with markers. Place the wood piece on its side and add a cardboard roof and a paper towel tube silo.

Time to move on to an interior carpentry project. Show your kids how to make wood craft play furniture in the next section.

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Your kids can create their very own home with play furniture made from blocks of wood. Work with them to craft a couch, chair, table, television, and clock.

Then put their interior design skills to work. Kids might put a television in the bathroom, a fridge in their bedroom -- encourage them to use their imagination!

What You'll Need:

How to Make Play Furniture:

Step 1: To make a couch, glue 3 blocks of wood together, side by side. Then glue 3 blocks of wood upright behind the first 3 blocks. Add a block of wood to each end for the arms of the couch.

Step 2: To make a chair, glue 2 blocks together in an L-shape. Draw a fabric pattern on the couch and chair.

Step 3: Make a table with 2 blocks of wood glued together in a T-shape.

Step 4: For the clock and television, draw the clock face and the television screen and dials on the wood blocks. Use fabric scraps for a rug and a tablecloth.

Are your kids growing up before your very eyes? Keep track of their height with a Measure Me Strip in the next section.

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A Measure Me Strip takes only a short time to make, but it gives your kids years and years of measuring fun.

What You'll Need:

How to Make a Measure Me Strip:

Step 1: Draw a scale of inch and foot marks on one side of the pine board, using the yardstick as a guide.

Step 2: Stand the board up in a corner of your child's room. Each time you measure your child, write the date at the measurement mark.

Add baby measurements on the board, too. You can get the measurements from your pediatrician.

Step 3: Have a family member take a picture of your child each time you measure. Once the film is developed, cut the picture out and glue the photo to the board next to your measurement mark.

Keep reading to see a wood craft that will help teach your kids the rules of the road.

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These traffic signs are fun art crafts to make for toy cars. They're also a great way to teach kids all their road signs.

What You'll Need:

How to Make Traffic Signs:

An adult should help kids saw and drill all the wood pieces. Make sure you sand the wood smooth.

Step 1: Saw the 1x2-inch boards into 2-inch pieces for the base of the signs. Drill a 1/4-inch hole in the center of each wood base.

Step 2: Saw the dowels into 4-inch pieces for the sign posts. Glue each dowel into a base.

Step 3: To make a sign, cut a 4x1-1/2-inch piece from the cardboard. Fold it in half and draw a traffic sign on both sides. Tape the sides closed to make a pocket. Slip it over a dowel sign post.

Step 4: Repeat to make 4 more signs. For instance, you could make a stop sign, yield sign, traffic signal, railroad crossing, or a walk/don't walk sign.

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