To make tissue paper ornaments, you need plastic foam balls, tissue paper in assorted colors, liquid starch, glitter, hairpins, toothpicks, wax paper, decoupage solution and a foam brush. Start by tearing the tissue paper into 1-inch pieces in any shape you like. Brush a section of the plastic foam ball with liquid starch and overlap pieces of the tissue over the starch. Cover the entire ball with starch and tissue working in small sections. Push toothpicks into the ball to keep it from rolling and let dry overnight. Brush the entire ball with a coat of clear decoupage solution and let dry. Push hairpins into the balls and attach an ornament hanger.
Tissue paper collages work well for younger students since liquid starch is nice and thick but not too sticky or messy. Have students tear small pieces of tissue paper into a nice pile at their work station. One- to 2-inch pieces work best. Encourage students to use a variety of colors so the collage will look more interesting. Give each student an 8-inch by 11-inch (approximately) piece of parchment paper, a cup of liquid starch and a paint brush. Show students how to pant a small section of the parchment paper and add pieces of tissue paper, overlapped slightly until you cover that section of starch and paper. Work in small sections so the starch doesn't dry too quickly. Have students fill the entire paper with the colored tissue and let dry on art racks. Finally, have students brush a coat of starch over the entire collage. This will take care of any spots that didn't get enough starch and give the entire piece a shiny look. For a fun extension to this project, after the papers dry completely, let students trace a fun shape or leaf pattern on the collage and cut it out.
This project is appropriate for upper elementary grades and makes a nice holiday project or Mother's Day project. Students will need to bring one large candle from home. Students can also bring in 1/2 yard of fabric or choose fabric from scraps in your room. This is a nice opportunity to ask for donations from people who have spare fabric at home they would like to donate. Cut a 24-inch circle out of a piece of fabric and submerge into a bowl of liquid starch, making sure to saturate the entire piece. Squeeze out any excess liquid and lay the fabric flat on a piece of waxed paper. Place the candle in the center of the fabric and smooth the fabric up along the edges of the candle about three inches from the bottom. Turn the candle over and place a rubber band around the fabric about 3 inches from the bottom of the candle. Put the candle back down on the wax paper and arrange and drape the fabric around the candle. Let dry overnight. Students can attach bows, ribbons or silk flowers to the dried fabric with a glue gun for added decoration. Tell them when they use up the candle, they can simply remove it and replace with another.
Make a fall maple tree with groups of students in lower elementary. Start by coloring the center of coffee filters with magic markers in fall colors. Let the markers dry and have students trace both large and small maple leaf patterns onto the colored filters and cut out. Lay all the leaves right side up on wax paper and brush with liquid starch. Let the leaves dry overnight. Attach leaves to sticks collected on the playground with a low temperature glue gun. This will require parental assistance. Let the leaf-covered sticks dry. Cover a coffee can with brown paper and have students draw on it with black magic markers to make it look like a trunk. Fill the coffee can with rocks, sand, plastic foam or floral oasis foam and insert the sticks to make it look like a maple tree.