Provide left-handed scissors for left-handed students.
Cut, fold and paste crafts for middle school students can be used in a variety of ways, including as Christmas decorations, Mother's Day presents and birthday cards. Such activities not only help students' cutting skills, but can also inspire them to start crafting and creating presents and cards from scratch.
Butterfly Card
Create butterfly cards for birthdays, Mother's Day or any special occasion using construction paper in your choice of color. Fold two pieces of construction paper in half to make two card shapes and place one inside the other. Draw half a butterfly along the fold of the outermost card and cut where you made the tracing. You should now have two butterflies. Keep one of the butterflies folded and draw a smaller butterfly on it. Cut along the tracing and use a hole punch to make borders around both pieces. Glue the small piece to the larger, uncut butterfly. Flip the card over and glue on the larger piece. Cut out a black or brown butterfly body out of construction paper and glue it to the card.
Snowman Cup Craft
Preheat an oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a Styrofoam cup on a cookie sheet, open side down, and let it melt for about 30 seconds before taking it out. Press the cup into the cookie sheet to create a rim. (The cup will not be hot.) Paint the hat black with acrylic paint and let it dry. Draw eyes on another upside down Styrofoam cup near the hat's rim and cut an orange pom-pom into a carrot shape before gluing it on. Draw a mouth on the snowman and cut out feet from craft foam. Glue the feet to the bottom of the cup.
Paper Christmas Tree
Color or paint a toilet paper roll brown as a tree trunk and make five cone shapes out of green construction paper, each smaller than the last. Tape the cones together and cut slits around the bottoms of each cone. Fold the fringe, if necessary, so that it splays out. Place the largest cone on the toilet paper roll and stack the remaining cones, ensuring that the smallest cone is on top. Use a glue stick to make the cones stay in place. Glue a star or pom-pom to the top of the tree and place star stickers around the tree.
Bouquet in Hand Craft
Trace a child's handprint on a light-colored piece of paper and cut along the tracing. Add glue to the palm of the hand only. Trace and cut out flower stems out of green construction paper or paint white paper green. Place the stems on the palm of the hand, fold the fingers over the stem and add glue. Trace and cut out flower patterns on assorted colored paper and glue them to each individual stem.
Tags: construction paper, along tracing, butterfly along, cookie sheet, green construction