|
|
 |
Styrofoam Cup Leprechaun Hats
Crafted by Amanda Formaro
Make these fun little Leprechaun hats to dress up your party table or hide them for a fun St. Patty's Day hunt. Fun to make, fun to watch shrink, kids will love this project and want to make more!
You will need
Styrofoam cups
acrylic paint in green and black
gold chenille stems
scissors
hot glue gun
shamrock buttons
magnets (optional)
 If you make this project we'd love to see it! Just send your photos and comments to the editor and it may get published on this page!
What you do
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
Editor's Note: The temperature and instructions in this craft are based off of a dark coated cookie sheet at 250 degrees F in an electric oven. You may want to experiment with different temps until you receive satisfactory results. We recommend baking one or two cups at the recommended temperature and time first. If they seem to melt too quickly or the ends curl up and under, try reducing the temperature and trying again.
Place Styrofoam cups upside down (open end of cup down) on a dark coated cookie sheet, placing them about 1-2" apart. Note: we experimented with both dark coated and silver cookie sheets, the cups did not melt properly on the silver sheets.
Bake in the oven for approximately 3 minutes, don't walk away! It will take about one minute before you see any changes to the cups, then the heat will begin to melt and shrink them rather rapidly after that. It's lots of fun for the kids to watch, so be sure to turn the oven light on.
Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and set aside to cool completely. DO NOT try to remove the cups from the cookie sheet until they are completely cooled. As they cool, the Styrofoam that is stuck to the sheet will relax and release its grip from the sheet, allowing you to remove them easily. Most cups will melt rather well, thought you may end up with one or two that look rather distorted or disfigured.
Paint the "hats" with green paint, one coat is usually enough, and allow them to dry completely. Once they are dry paint a black rim around the hat and allow to dry again.
Mean while, take a gold chenille stem and bend it into a square or rectangle for the hat's buckle, trim end off with scissors. When paint is dry, hot glue the bockle to the front of the hat on the black rim. Hot glue a shamrock shaped button to the top portion of the front of the hat.
Editor's Note: Instead of the buttons, you can either paint a shamrock on by dipping the eraser of a new pencil into dark green paint and dotting it onto the hat three times, or cut your own out of felt or craft foam.
If you like, you can hot glue a small round magnet to the bottom of the hat at the brim and hang on the refrigerator.
Special thanks to Dottie for this craft idea. Dottie is a long time and endeared member of the FC [FamilyCorner] Crafts discussion group.
What's Related
Leprechaun Hat Cake
Felt Leprechaun Hats
Foam Shamrocks
Styrofoam Cup Spring Hats
About the Author
Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four children. She is also the owner of FamilyCorner.com
Magazine at http://familycorner.com Subscribe to her free kid's craft
newsletter, Busy Little Hands, by filling out the form on the left side
of this article
Did you enjoy this article?
Rate
It! | Tell A Friend
Kids' Crafts: Paper Fantastic : 50 Creative Projects to Fold, Cut, Glue, Paint & Weave
 Safe, easy, fast, and fun: paper crafts are the perfect creative activity for children. And these 48 unique projects-engagingly displayed on colorful pages-prove there's more to paper art than just cutting out hearts. A special section starts kids off by introducing them to different papers and tools, while six technique-based chapters present imaginative possibilities for transforming everything from corrugated cardboard to vellum. Using collage, budding artists can create a Dream Travel Box. Young fashionistas will enjoy designing their own paper clothesline. Or they might fold a Book Necklace, make an origami Peace Crane, construct big beautiful Butterfly Wings for a costume party, even create a cool paper-mâché pig. Best of all, kids will learn how to turn their own crafty ideas into reality.
|
Win Fun Stuff!
Missed the last couple of newsletters? Haven't visited for a while? This section highlights articles and crafts that have recently been added to FC...
