Posted

You Need:

Empty oatmeal containers (obv)
Elastic strap + hot glue + buttons (or something else to use to tie it on – ribbon? )
Black oil pastels or India Ink in refillable bingo daubers
Washable Tempera Paint
Glitter
Small papers or tissue for collage
Gems, buttons, pom pom, trim

Prepare:

Carefully cut open the bottom end of the oatmeal container with a box cutter (this will be the bottom of the crown as it is thicker). Remove the plastic from the top of cylinder.

How To:

Let your child play with the oatmeal container to imagine what sorts of items this cylinder could become. Where did it come from? This is a great opportunity to talk about recycling and up-cycling! Or read one of our fave books, Michael Recycle (you know, that fun guy from the town of Aberdoo-Rhymey!!)
Have your child draw the line at the top for the spikes of their crown (zig zag, turret, wavy, etc.). No matter how they draw their line or what it looks like, don’t do this for them! Cut along the outside edge of their lines with scissors.
Draw simple but bold lines and shapes with refillable India Ink daubers or black oil pastels. This step is especially important for preschoolers – it serves to give kids some foundational shapes to paint inside of when they get to the painting part so that they aren’t just slathering the paint all over without any purpose!
Talk about the variety of shapes they could use to design the crown, how to arrange these in stripes or rows that go all the way around the 3D shape. Discuss how to create a pattern with shapes.
Use small brushes and tempera paint to begin painting inside their shapes. Older kids can work on reinforcing their pattern with color choices (all circles become blue, all triangles become yellow, etc.) younger kids can work on staying in their shapes. Either way, it is a challenge to hold their crown upright while painting! After painting the shapes, add an embellishment color to the exterior around their shapes. If time allows, let them paint the interior of the crown and shake glitter.
Be sure to measure the elastic individually for their chin strap, then hot glue to the bottom edge of the crown and seal with a button or cap. Not too tight!!
As an extension, after they are dry, add some collage materials with glue (tissue paper pieces, paper, stickers, ribbon, trim, gems, etc. You can also come back on top w/ the India Ink lines. or add some white paint for contrast.