Lunch bag puppets simply use a brown paper bag, school glue and embellishments, such as plastic googly eyes, yarn, craft pom-poms and buttons. Bag puppets can be representations of characters read about during book time or of the child herself. Seasonal characters make excellent sources for puppets. The child inserts a hand into the bag, gripping the folded bottom of the bag with his fingers. By waving the fingers up and down, the bottom of the bag is a mouth. Eyes, hair, a nose, animal whiskers (pipe cleaners) and all sorts of facial and animal features can be added to create a puppet.
Craft stick photo frames involve four craft sticks; school glue; a photo of each child, which can be taken digitally and printed from a computer printer; paint or markers; and strip magnets cut to fit the top-back corners of the frame. Glue the four craft sticks together into a square frame. When the glue has dried, allow the children to decorate the frames according to preference. Glue the child's photo behind the frame. Attach self-adhesive magnets to the back. Craft sticks are available in wood and plastic varieties at craft stores and teacher supply stores.
Tissue box guitars are great tie-ins for music units. Each guitar requires a top-loading tissue box, a paper towel tube, three to four rubber bands and masking tape. Construction paper or stickers can be used to decorate the guitar. Tape the towel tube to one box end to form the guitar's neck. Decorate the guitar if desired. Stretch at least three rubber bands length-wise over the opening of the tissue box. The preschool student plucks or strums the taut rubber bands to make "music."
Egg carton flowers in a vase make good spring or Mother's Day craft projects. Collect different color foam egg cartons. Cut the individual egg sections from each carton. The edges of each egg section can be cut wavy or snipped and folded over to form different styles of flowers. Poke a green pipe cleaner through the bottom center of each egg section flower. Bend the pipe cleaner to keep the flower from sliding down the pipe cleaner. Twist the pipe cleaner beneath the flower to keep it from sliding as well. Green leaves can be cut from paper and taped to the pipe cleaner. Form vases from disposable drink cups or cardboard snack cylinder containers.