Mother Goose crafts are fun for kids and parents. Parents can have a good time reciting the rhymes that they learned in their childhood, while children use their imagination and artistic skills to re-create what they hear about in the rhymes. Sometimes it is difficult to find ways to entertain the children on long weekends or after they have returned home from school. Mother Goose crafts provide an opportunity for both the younger and the older kids to work together to create a craft that everyone can have fun participating in.
Below you will find just a few Mother Goose craft ideas for the kids. Feel free to use your imagination and adapt these ideas to fit your specific situations. You may also want to make sure that you have or can find a substitute for the various materials that you will need to accomplish these crafts. Remember that even if younger children do not have the dexterity or patience to see a project form start to finish, they can contribute by coloring or lending their advice. There is no reason why anyone should be excluded.
Jack Be Nimble’s Candle Stick
A fun Jack be Nimble craft idea is to have the kids make giant candles of their own and then have an activity to see how well they can jump over their candle sticks without knocking them down. All that you need is an empty toilet paper or paper towel roll and some tissue paper or cellophane. Decorate the base of the tube and then position and adhere the paper “flame” on the inside of the tube so that it just sticks far enough out of the top to look like it’s a flame.
Little Boy Blue’s Sheep
This three-dimensional sheep is sure to please as it is not only a craft but a fun toy when it is complete. For each sheep that you plan on making, paint one tongue depressor and 2 clothespins black. Start by having your children clip two clothespins to a tongue depressor. You want to clip on the clothes pins in such a way that they form the legs and the tongue depressor is the body. When everything is dry and secure, glue cotton balls or batting onto the body (tongue depressor) to form the wool of the sheep. To turn your “wool” grey, try rubbing it over a hard pencil or chalk mark on a piece of paper. Make sure to form a head for your sheep and add wiggly eyes on the face as a finishing touch.
Old Mother Hubbard’s Groceries and Game
If you are looking for a more educational activity to go along with your nursery rhyme crafts, try this one. Begin by having the children use clay, cardstock cutouts, or any other medium that you have to create groceries. If they need help thinking of groceries have them reproduce what they think could be bought to fill Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard or what you have in your own cupboard at home. Make sure that each grocery item is independent of the other. You can use this as a game in several different ways. One way is to have the children race to see who can properly put away their “groceries” the fastest. Or you can have a lesson about nutrition and talk about each item that the children have created in context with the food pyramid or what sorts of foods are vegetables, fruits, meats, etc. You can also think of a meal that incorporates as many of the food items that you have created as possible and then make that meal together. Use your imagination; this craft can be used again and again for something totally new.