Solar System Necklace

Solar System Necklace

This was a fun one to figure out the logistics for. We needed enough supplies for about 50 necklaces total, so the first step was finding good planets. I wanted something close to representing the size of our planets without worrying about actual scale.

Altogether, the craft requires 8 wooden beads of varied sizes, black pony beads, paint (& a paintbrush), elastic cord (& scissors), and a small rubber band (like the kind for looms or braids). 

We settled on a bulk pack of wooden beads that had around 600 pieces (about like this one). It has a variety of sizes, which we sorted out to each planet.

We ended up designating them as follows:

8 mm Mercurcy

10 mm Mars

12 mm Venus, Earth

14 mm Uranus, Neptune

16 mm Saturn

20 mm Jupiter

To save time for the kids, we pre-painted many of our planets with a base layer. To simplify this process, I strung the ones I needed to paint into lines, marked the ends of each line with tape for the color I needed to paint, and suspended them so I could paint all the way around. I just used skewers and clothespins to hold them up. 

I spray painted all of the 14 mm beads blue, the 10 mm beads orange, and then half of the 12 mm beads orange, and the other half blue.

The kids should be receiving 1 plain 20 mm bead, 1 plain 16 mm bead, 2 blue 14 mm beads, 1 orange 12 mm bead, 1 blue 12 mm bead, 1 orange 10 mm bead, and 1 plain 8 mm bead. 

We looked at pictures of the planets for reference while painting the details on the beads. Earth is a good place to start, by adding green splotches to the 12 mm blue bead. 

These can be as detailed & accurate or as simplified/stylized as you like! 

Here are the colors that I added, as an example.

Mercury - blue, orange, and yellow smudged on a plain 8 mm bead

Venus - yellow and white on an orange 12 mm bead

Earth - green spots on a blue 12 mm bead

Mars - red and orange on an orange 10 mm bead

Jupiter - white and orange striped on a plain 20 mm bead (don't forget the spot!)

Saturn - white on a plain 16 mm bead, rubber band ring

Uranus - white smudged on a blue 14 mm bead

Neptune - blue on a blue 14 mm bead

It doesn't take very long for the paint to absorb into the wood to dry, but let it sit for a couple minutes so your artwork won't smear. 

All that's left is stringing your beads onto a piece of elastic cord! Cut the cord so that it's long enough to be looped around the hear- plus enough to tie the ends (always aim for too much rather than too little). 

Again, I didn't sully worry about scale, but I tried to at least give the impression of which planets are closer to others. 

Bead numbers are flexible, but here's how I ordered mine.

7 black beads, Mercury, 3 black beads, Venus, 3 black beads, Earth, 3 black beads, Mars, 5 black beads, Jupiter, 5 black beads, Saturn, 8 black beads, Uranus, 8 black beads, Neptune, 7 black beads.

Once all of your beads are added to the necklace, tie the end of the elastic in a knot, and trim off the excess. 

Tada!

Solar System Necklace!

Paper Plate UFO Frisbee

Here's how to make a simple Paper Plate UFO Frisbee!

You only need 2 paper plates, a styrofoam ball, tape (we used masking), staples/stapler, scissors, and something to decorate with (ie. markers, crayons, stickers, etc.).

Begin by cutting your styrofoam ball in half. this is MESSY, but it's also kind of fun. It will look like your workspace was in a blizzard with all of the styrofoam flakes, but there's also something satisfying about cutting into what's basically a ball of confetti. If you cut evenly enough, one ball should be able to provide for two UFOs. 

    

Designate one plate to be the top of the UFO, and one to be the bottom. Cut out a circle from the center of your 'top' plate. The circle should be about the same size as your styrofoam dome (our styrofoam balls are about 4" in size, so the holes we cut were just under 4").

Place the styrofoam half over the hole in your plate. You'll want to make sure the plate shape curves downward, and the dome sits on what would normally be the bottom of the plate.

Tape across the hole to secure the styrofoam in place. 

If this doesn't feel secure enough for you, feel free to tape along the bottom edge of the dome on the other side. This will help hold everything in place, but is a lot harder to hide. 

Set your second plate (right side up) underneath the pieces you just taped. Secure these together with staples around the outer edge (I used a total of 4 staples, but that number is super flexible). 

    

Once the frisbee is assembled, decorate it however you like! We just used markers to add windows and random details to jazz it up. Customize it any way you want!

The materials for this UFO are pretty soft and light, making it extra fun to fly!

Moon Phase Wall Decoration

Moon Phase Wall Decoration

Today, we're going to make this decorative wall-hanging with phases of the moon!

This is a nice, simple craft that's perfect for teens and tweens. It can be easily adapted to suit other crafters as well, by adding decoration or by simplifying steps!

To begin, you will need light and dark paper (black and white work fine, but you could also opt for gray, navy, tan, purple, or some similar combination). You will also need tape, scissors, a pencil, string, a plain hanger (or some sort of stick, if unavailable), glue, paint (white and gray), a small paint brush, and an optional circular object to trace. 

Start by tracing and cutting your circles. Mine are about 2", but almost any size would work (as long as all of the circles are the same size). If you don't have an object to trace, freehand the first circle and then use it as a template for the rest.

 You'll need a total of 4 dark circles, and 7 light circles. 

One dark circle will be left whole, but the others will need to be cut into 2 pieces each. Cut one dark circle in half, and cut the other two with a curve about 2/3 of the way across the circle. It doesn't have to be exact.

IMPORTANT: Do not throw away the small pieces from your dark circles. All of these pieces will be put to use. 

With the exception of the full dark circle, glue each of the dark pieces over a light circle. You should end up with one light circle, one dark circle, two circles that are split halfway, two with one dark third, and two with one light third. 

Now you get to decorate the moons! I used a very fine tipped paintbrush to add white dots to the dark paper for stars. If you're feeling particularly inspired, you could add some purple or blue to the "background" too.

I also added some gray paint splotches to the white paper to form craters. 

Give your paper a moment to dry. It shouldn't take too long, as it's only a few light speckles of paint. 

While the paint is drying, cut 5 pieces of string. These should be just slightly longer than the hanger you are using. The string will be trimmed later, but it's best to start out with all five at similar lengths. 

Tie one of your strings so that it hangs down from the center of your hanger (or stick). Tie the other 4 so that there are 2 on each side of the center string, equally spaced.

Flip your moon pieces over, and tape them to the strings. The hardest part about this is making sure everything is in the right order. A nice trick to keep track of these is to check that the darker "space" side of each moon is pointing toward the center, and the lighter "moon" side is around the outer edge.

The moons will form a diamond shape with the all space circle on the top center and the all moon circle on the bottom center. 

The moon phase cycle is now complete! All you have to do is trim the strings that stick out underneath the moons, and add any extra decorations you want! Washi tape, ribbons, wrapped yarn, or other designs can be added at this time, or the hanger can be left with a minimalist look.

Enjoy!

Mini Sextant

Tools like the Sextant, Astrolabe, Quadrant, and Inclinometer, (as well as many others) have been used for navigation for centuries! These devices have helped sailors with their voyages by simplifying celestial navigation- knowing where you are based on the location of the stars. 

Today's craft is technically more like an inclinometer than a sextant, but we're using the more common name to keep things easy.

Begin with a paper straw! This will be used as your sight. 

(Ours have stars on them, which makes it extra cute! It also fits our celestial theme.)

Cut a piece of string to approximately 7 or 8 inches long. Tie one end around the straw, and the other through a metal washer.

Line your protractor up with the string, so that the knot meets the 90 degree mark, pointing straight down.  You will want at least half an inch of straw overhanging the "back" with the rest extending past the "front" of the protractor. 

With the string on the same side of the protractor as the printed numbers, tape the straw firmly in place. We recommend using book tape or packing tape, so that it's clear. 

(Another option is to glue the sight in place with a hot glue gun.) 

That's all it takes to make your navigation tool! To use it, all you need to do is look through the sight. Locate an object you want to spot through the hole of the straw. Hold the sextant vertically, tilting it so the object you are viewing (such as a star) is in line with your sight. Pinch the string against the protractor to hold it in place. You should be able to read the angle of the object you have spotted!

Constellation Coasters

It's time to create some crazy-cute constellation coasters!

All you need for this projects is a blank coaster board, pencil, foam brush, printout, mod podge (we're using matte), and a pair of scissors.

To start, place your coaster board over your print (we just found an image we liked on google), covering the area you want to have visible. If you're using one print for two or more coasters, make sure there's enough space to fit each of them on. 

Trace your coaster board with a pencil, and cut out that section of the print, leaving a thin border around the edges.

Use the foam brush to apply mod podge to the top of your coaster board. 

Smooth your print onto the top of your coaster, working from one side to the other to avoid bubbles. Use the side of your pencil to press the paper down even more, making sure no air is trapped between layers.

Let your coaster rest for a moment to be sure the adhesive is secure. Once it has (at least partially) dried, cover the entire top with a layer of mod podge. You can see from the photo that the foam brush may leave textured streaks. We dealt with this by altering directions between layers (the first layer was brushed top to bottom, the second left to right).

Once the first layer is dry, cover the entire top again. Try to get at least 3 layers covering your coaster to be certain the water-resistant sealing is strong! While these coasters won't be totally waterproof, they can definitely hold up to normal use.

While coating your project, be sure to cover the sides of your coaster as well! This will help to seal the sides, and to hold your paper on securely. 

There it is... a one-of-a-kind, kid-friendly-crafting Constellation Coaster!

Protip: Let the coaster dry for a day or two before subjecting it to regular usage! 

Easy Adhesive Label

This is a nice addition to go with the Galactic Moon Goop Slime we created earlier! It uses a simple technique for label making that can be applied to all sorts of crafts (adding photos to candle jars, labels to kitchen containers, etc.). 

Step one is to simply print the design you want to use as a label on plain printer paper. Anything left WHITE on your label will be removed in this process, so make sure the page surrounding your design is blank. Our Moon Goop design is located HERE, if you would like to print it out! 

Cut out the label design. You can leave a bit of a white border, but you don't want too much excess paper around the design you plan to use. Once it is cut out, place a piece of clear tape (such as book tape or packing tape) over the design- sticky side against printed side. Rub a credit card, fingernail, paperclip, or other solid object over the tape to press the paper against the tape with no bubbles.

Once the paper is secured behind the tape, place it into a bowl of warm water, making sure the paper is fully submerged. 

Let the label soak for 5-10 minutes.

Gently rub the paper side of your label while it is still underwater to remove the paper residue. If it does not roll off easily, let the label soak a while longer.

Once all of the paper is removed, set the label aside (sticky side up) to dry. You can blot it gently with a paper towel, or allow it to air dry. Air drying is safest, as it avoids the risk of removing your adhesive. 

Once the Label is dry, simply stick it to whatever you want! Ours was used for test tubes to hold slime, but the possibilities for this technique are endless! 

Galactic Moon Goop

For our Galactic Moon Coop Slime, we will be starting with a simple slime base- clear glue and liquid starch. The REAL star of this slime is the ultra sparkle glitter we found for it! We are using Hemway Black Holographic, which can be found HERE on Amazon!

To start, add some clear glue to a bowl or other container. We measured about half a scoop from one of these detergent cups... but you can use more or less, depending on how large of a group you're working with (and how large your storage container is!). I'd recommend starting with this amount or smaller, if you aren't sure. It's far easier to add more glue than to correct for too much.

Next, add some glitter! The glitter amount can also be adjusted. This is a matter of personal preference. If you have enough on hand, and only a small batch to make... add more! If you want it less sparkly, or have a large group... a little less works just as well.

We added some colored glitter to our black sparkles, and mixed the glue and glitter with a popsicle stick. 

This is the part where some people get frustrated. Begin adding pipettes full of liquid starch to the glue/glitter mixture. It may take quite a bit of starch, if you have too much glue. Kids often have a tendency to add more glue than they need at the beginning... so be sure to keep this in mind as you measure your materials! 

Repeat this process as needed- adding a pipette of starch, and then stirring. Eventually, your slime will reach a consistency that you can play with! Sometimes it needs a bit of kneading to get to the desired texture- the warmth from your hands, plus the extra mixing is a winning combination.

If the slime is too watery, add more glue. If it's too stringy, add more starch. There's a delicate balance to hit with this craft, but with just a little bit of finessing, you can end up with something super cool!