Craft Stick Art for Kids

It all started with a thump. I turned around and saw breadsticks scattering all over the kitchen floor and my son looking a little guilty with an empty plastic bag.  We started collecting the breadsticks back. That is, I was doing that, and when I looked at Budster, he was putting them together in different shapes. He built a rectangle, then a house, and a couple of the breadsticks broke. We certainly needed some sturdier building materials! So I went in the store and got a pack of craft sticks. We decided to open a craft stick art exhibition on our fridge.

In the local Dollar store, I pondered for a while if I should buy plain craft sticks or stained craft sticks. I often prefer the natural look of wood, but this time I decided to go with the stained ones to lend our creations colour. If you can only find plain craft sticks, you can stain them yourself with liquid watercolour or food colouring. At the same time, I picked up two rolls of magnetic tacky tape. All of the materials cost me about $4.

A little miter shear proved very useful for cutting the sticks. It is also known as a dowel or trim cutter, and it’s possible that you have one from some past renovation project. I got mine last Christmas, and I found it to be a great tool for different hobbies that involve creating miniatures: wooden toys, doolhouses and other crafts. Alternatively, you can use any other saw availble.

I had twenty sticks of each colour. I took five of each colour and snipped them in half, so I got ten half-sized sticks. Again, I took a half of those and snipped them in half, as well. In the end, we used about five long sticks, five half-sticks and ten quarter sticks of each colour.

The magnetic tape already had adhesive on it, so attaching it to the sticks was easy.

When Budster saw what I had made, he wanted to build something right away. At first, I thought that he was making a rather shaky rectangle. But then he put a couple of half-sticks at an angle in the middle and declared, “Mommy’s nose!”

Is it really how my nose looks?! Is it really?

Truth to be told, I was as proud as can be about this portrait my boy made! He also marked “Mommy’s eyes” and “Mommy’s smile”.

Then Budster built a colourful house -a very happy little place. Budster has been interested in geometrical shapes lately, and spent some time making big and little rectangles. Some of them he filled and some of them were only outlines.

I was curious to test whether we could create more complicated shapes and built a dinosaur.

Well, I had no end of new commissions from that moment onward. I had to produce a whole set of vehicles!

The excavator was a real challenge! I bet that a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have been able to define the excavator, let alone build it out of anything. But as they say, children sure change you and your priorities. ;-)

If you have Magnatiles, you can create even more beautiful pieces. Upon my son’s request, I made a windmill. He left and a minute later returned with a stack of Magnatiles that he wanted to use to make blades.

All of the sticks pack in a little box, and if you have a small metal cookie sheet, it can become an art project on the go.

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