Bonfire Night Crafts

Fireworks Display Mobile!
This
large-scale display is easy to make using junk and craft materials that
you already have lying around the house.
You
will need: Black construction paper (optional)
Scraps of coloured paper and card
Cardboard tubes (loo rolls, kitchen rolls)
Glue and Scissors
Clear nylon thread or black thread Sparkly
things, such as:
- scraps of tinsel
- gel pens and metallic pens
- old foil Christmas decorations
- sparkly pipe-cleaners
- sparkly pom-poms
- glitter and glitter glue
- sequins, beads
- gold coin cases Don't worry if you don't have
all of the bits and pieces listed above - let your kids use their
imagination and anything sparkly they can lay their hands on to create
their own display! Instructions:
Decide
whether you want your mobile to have a "background". Using a
dresser top, desk area or corner of a classroom you can make a very
effective display by covering part of the wall behind it with black
construction paper, hanging your fireworks and rockets just in front of
the background, and perhaps adding a selection of toys to the dresser top
to watch the display! To make a background:
Let the children loose on several large pieces of black construction paper
with gel pens, glitter glue, sequins, beads etc. Show them how to draw
spirals and starbursts, and explain to older children that the larger
designs will look closer than the smaller designs. Mount the paper onto
the wall in a position where you will be able to hang your
"mobile" objects slightly in front of it.

To
make rockets:
Cover your cardboard tubes with brightly coloured paper or card, or scraps
of metallic paper. Make a cone out of more card and attach to the front of
the rocket, and add wings if you wish. Attach two lengths of thread to the
rocket, one about half way down the length of the rocket and one about an
inch below the nose. Adjust the threads and tie them together so that the
rocket will hang at an angle, pointing upwards. Decorate the rocket with
glitter, sequins, etc, if you wish.
To
make Catherine Wheels:
Take a number of metallic pipe-cleaners and bend into shape, joining
if necessary. Attach thread to hang. To make Starbursts:
Small pieces of Christmas tinsel (about 2 inches long) make excellent
fireworks, simple suspended by thread tied around the middle of the
length. You could also use shredded foil tied together, individual gold
coin cases attached back to back with thread sandwiched between them, or
metallic pom-poms of different sizes and colours.
Assembling the
mobile: Try to suspend the mobile objects a little in front of the
background to give a good 3D effect. If this is not possible, simply
attach to the background with glue or sticky-tape, or suspend anywhere
without a background (they can look very effective hanging from a curtain
rail against a view of a dark night) Back to
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