ISO sukkah decorations that are idiot proof

mha3484

Mon, Oct 06 2014, 12:44 pm

DS who is almost 4 keeps telling me he wants to make sukkah decorations. My arts and crafts skills are majorly lacking. Where can I find easy projects to make together?

mummiedearest

Mon, Oct 06 2014, 12:52 pm

go on a nature walk. collect colorful leaves. when you get home, you have some fun options:

laminate/clear contact paper. he can add sequins or shiny paper in the spaces between the leaves and make a poster or place mats. alternatively, you can cover them with the preferred clear material, cut them out, and string them. hang from schach.

give him a white piece of fabric and a textured mallet. you can use a garlic press if you have that instead. make sure he uses moist leaves that still have color in them. put down a couple of pieces of newspaper. place colorful leaves on top. you may want to tape these in place, but only put the tape on the backs of the leaves. place fabric on top of leaves. tape down the corners. have your son hit the material right over the leaves. the juices from the leaves will make beautiful leaf prints on the fabric. you can hot glue the fabric to two sticks, one at the top, one at the bottom. add a string to hang it from the schach or walls. if you hang it from the schach, put it in a corner so it doesn't interfere with seating space.

other leaf prints: tape down leaves on surface. tape a paper over it. peel paper off crayons and rub sideways over the paper. you'll get the texture of the leaves on the paper. cover with clear contact paper to make it waterproof.

you can always do the paper chain. he probably knows how to do it already.

write his name and the year on anything he makes. he'll like comparing his decorations from year to year.

amother

Mon, Oct 06 2014, 12:53 pm

Get some craft foam and cut it into thin strips, staple together to make a colorful chain.

Print Sukkos coloring sheets from online (Google is your friend), let him color and take them to an Office Max or Staples to laminate.

Get a big brown oak tag and a bunch of green construction paper and shiny stickers. Let him rip up the green payer and glue it to the top of the oak tag. Cut out a rectangle for a door and let him go crazy with stickers. Laminate as above.

Chag Sameach!!

Scrabble123

Mon, Oct 06 2014, 12:57 pm

1. Legos

2. I don't know if you care about a mess, but maybe paint with shapes like leaves from outside. You can make a tree and then "sponge" paint with the leaves to make it look like a tree with "REAL" leaves (in a child's mind).

3. maybe something with popsicle sticks?

hila

Tue, Oct 07 2014, 12:50 am

But anything really nice - laminate. It is so worth it. We still have decorations from when my kids were in gan (and they now have their own kids in gan Wink

)

Unless your sukka is very exposed - they survive rain and wind. Paper will not. And it makes paint stains down the walls

DrMom

Tue, Oct 07 2014, 12:56 am

What about old-fashioned paper chains?

Sanguine

Tue, Oct 07 2014, 7:28 am

DrMom wrote:

What about old-fashioned paper chains?

And the strips come precut (when I was little we had to cut them). You can staple or your son can paste

sky

Tue, Oct 07 2014, 9:27 am

Foam ball

Then you can stick in beads with pins or silk flowers and hang from the roof. Or wrap tightly with twine.

Flowers (google for tons of ideas - mainly called pomander ball):
http://www.thebridelink.com/bl.....ding/

Twine project (probably use more appropriate colors)
http://www.michaels.com/twine-.....art=1

mfb

Tue, Oct 07 2014, 9:29 am

Thread beads onto pipe cleaners and then make a chain out of them.

mandr

Tue, Oct 07 2014, 10:12 am

Get a bucket of chalkboard paint and paint a sukkah panel with it. Then have your kids draw with chalk all over it. I plan to do that when we build our first sukkah. One panel with a dry erase surface, one chalkboard, one magnetic, one for velcro, etc.

mummiedearest

Tue, Oct 07 2014, 10:17 am

cut up colorful straws. use as beads. string.

you can also try perler beads if you want to deal with an iron.