Free Kids’ Paper Crafts with Printable Templates

You need

• Printed strips
• Crayons or markers
• Scissors
• Glue stick or tape

Steps

1. Color each strip. Keep each pattern going to the end, or make up your own on the blank strip.
2. Cut the strips apart on the black lines.
3. Curl the first strip into a loop and glue its end onto the gray glue box.
4. Thread the next strip through the loop and glue it the same way.
5. Keep adding links. Hang the chain or join it to a friend's.

You need

• Card sheet on cardstock
• Pictures sheet
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Markers

Steps

1. Fold the card in half on the long dashed line, printed side inside.
2. Keep it folded and cut the four short black lines, starting at the fold.
3. Fold each little flap forward and back on its dashed line to crease it well.
4. Open the card halfway and push each flap inside so it pops out as a step. Close the card and press.
5. Color a picture, cut it out and glue it to the front of a step. Keep it inside the card's edges.
6. Decorate the outside and write your message.

You need

• Printed masks on cardstock
• Crayons or markers
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Elastic cord or yarn (or a craft stick and tape)

Steps

1. Color the mask.
2. Cut around the outside line.
3. An adult starts the eye holes: pinch the gray area, snip a small cut, then cut around the oval.
4. Punch the two side holes and tie on elastic or yarn. For little kids, tape a craft stick to one side instead.
5. Hold it up to your face and check that you can see well before you play.

You need

• Bead strips (or magazine pages)
• Wooden skewer, straw or thin marker
• Glue stick
• String or yarn

Steps

1. Color the strips, or trace a strip onto a colorful magazine page.
2. Cut the strips out.
3. Start at the wide end marked 'start' and roll the strip tightly around a skewer or straw.
4. Put glue on the last two inches and finish rolling. Hold for a few seconds.
5. Slide the bead off and let it dry. String your beads.

You need

• Printed sheet (4 helicopters)
• Scissors
• Paper clips

Source: NGSS 3-PS2-1

Steps

1. Cut out a helicopter on its outside line.
2. Cut down the center line between A and B. Stop at the dashed line.
3. Cut the two short lines on the sides.
4. Fold A toward you and B away from you.
5. Fold the sides in on the dashed lines, then fold the bottom up and hold it with a paper clip.
6. Drop it from up high and watch it spin.

You need

• Printed circles on cardstock
• A straw or pencil
• Tape
• Glue stick
• Crayons

Source: Kenyon College, Early Scientific Apparatus

Steps

1. Color a front and back pair (bird and cage, or fish and bowl), or draw your own on the blank pair.
2. Cut out both circles of the pair.
3. Tape a straw or pencil to the back of the FRONT circle, running from the top dot straight down through the middle.
4. Glue the BACK circle on, picture facing out, with both top dots at the top.
5. Roll the straw fast between your hands. The bird goes into the cage.

You need

• Printed square
• Scissors
• Hole punch or pushpin (adult)
• Brad (paper fastener)
• Straw or pencil with eraser

Steps

1. Color the striped parts. They become the sails.
2. Cut out the square, then cut each diagonal line from the corner. Stop at the circle.
3. Make a hole at each of the four circled dots and one in the middle.
4. Bend each circled point to the middle, one at a time. Don't crease.
5. Push a brad through all four points and the middle hole, then through a straw. Bend the brad's legs open loosely.
6. Blow on it or carry it into the wind.

You need

• Printed sheet
• Scissors
• Crayons or markers

Source: Common Core 4.G.A.3

Steps

1. Cut the four boxes apart.
2. Fold each box on its dashed line, printed side out.
3. Cut along the black line through both layers. Don't cut the fold.
4. Open it: one shape, two matching halves.
5. Color the blank half so it matches the printed half, like a mirror.

You need

• Printed sheet
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Pencil
• String

Steps

1. Color the two bell shapes and the strips.
2. Cut out the bells and all the strips.
3. Wrap each straight strip tightly around a pencil, then slide it off so it curls.
4. Glue the tops of the strips along the bottom edge of the FRONT bell, on the back side. Put the wavy arms in the middle.
5. Glue the BACK bell on top to hide the ends. Tie a string through the top hole and hang it.

You need

• Printed sheet
• Scissors
• Glue stick or tape
• Markers

Source: USC U.S.-China Institute

Steps

1. Color the patterned bands at the top and bottom.
2. Cut out the big rectangle and the handle strip.
3. Fold the rectangle in half the long way on the dashed line, printing outside.
4. Starting at the fold, cut along each black line. Stop when you reach the patterned band.
5. Unfold, roll it into a tube and glue the gray strip under the other end.
6. Press down gently so the middle puffs out. Glue the handle inside the top.

You need

• Printed template
• Small sharp scissors
• String
• Glue stick or tape

Source: Mexic-Arte Museum lesson, Arte Para Todos

Steps

1. Cut around the outside line, including the zigzag bottom.
2. Fold the top band back on its dashed line.
3. Fold the sheet in half on the center dashed line, printed side out.
4. Cut out the gray shapes through both layers. For shapes on the fold, cut half a shape from the folded edge. For the others, pinch the middle and snip to start.
5. Open it up. Make a few, then fold each top band over a string and glue it down.

You need

• Printed sheet
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Hole punch
• String

Source: MIT Japan Program (JPNET)

Steps

1. Color the scales, eyes and tail. The top half is one side of the fish and the bottom half is the other.
2. Cut out the body, the mouth ring and the fins.
3. Roll the body into a tube, printing outside, and glue the top edge onto the gray glue tab.
4. Curl the mouth ring into a circle and glue it inside the mouth to keep it round.
5. Glue on the fins if you like. Punch two holes near the mouth, tie on a string and let it catch the breeze.

You need

• Printed hexagon on copy paper
• Sharp scissors

Source: SnowCrystals.com (Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht)

Steps

1. Cut out the hexagon on its outside line.
2. Fold on line 1 with the printed side out. Keep the printing on the outside for every fold.
3. Fold on lines 2 and 3 into thirds, like a fan: one third forward, one third back.
4. Fold in half on line 4. You now have a thin wedge.
5. Cut away the gray parts you can see, through all the layers.
6. Unfold slowly and press it flat under a book.

You need

• Printed stars on cardstock
• Scissors
• String or ribbon
• Markers

Steps

1. Color both sides of each star if you like.
2. Cut out star A and star B.
3. Cut out the thin gray slot in each star.
4. Slide A's slot down over B's slot until the centers line up. The stars sit at right angles.
5. Thread string through the hole at the top of B and hang it.