There’s something to the “supersize” concept.  Sometimes, things just seem more exciting when they’re super big.  So, for a new twist on arts & crafts projects, let’s try making them extra large!  You might be able to breathe new life into some old favorites or get your kids to think about things in a little bit of a different way.

My friend and I made these extra large tissue paper flowers.  We’d made paper flowers before, so the idea wasn’t such a new one.  We just needed some decorations for Daddy’s birthday, so we decided to make some flowers.  But when she saw that I was folding a full sheet of tissue paper in quarters, she became a little more interested.  The extra large flowers were so cheerful and fun!

Try these other ideas for working on a large scale…

-Pull a great big piece of paper from a paper roll and tape it up on a wall.  Let the kids draw whatever they want.  Tell them to think big.  What could be big enough to fill that paper?  What if something grew to be as big as that paper?  What would it look like?  Let them come back to it over a few sessions, and see how their drawing grows.

-If you have a blank wall, maybe in the basement or even in the garage, tape up some paper, and make one central subject like a tree.  Let the kids decorate around it by cutting and taping leaves, animals, whatever might surround it.  Again, this is a great project to keep coming back to again and again.  Maybe something that you could work on for weeks and see what happens.

-Remember when you were in school and your teacher roled out some big paper on the floor, told you to lay down on it, then traced around you?  This is a great project.  Let your kids decorate their paper bodies however they like.  You might suggest that they try out different techniques to show different textures on their bodies–like torn paper collage for a fuzzy sweater, strands of yarn for hair, fabric collage for pants, etc.  Or you might suggest that they make a collage of their body parts, showing heart, lungs, muscles, etc.  Let them interpret what these parts might look like, then take a look at a book and talk about the details.  You can also have fun with just blocks of colored paint on these life-size paper people.

And if you are looking for a solution to storing all your crafting tools and goodies check out this great video to get some really good ideas!

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