Star Wars Reads Day Crafts

I volunteered to run the Star Wars craft booth for my work's Star Wars Reads Day festival. Meaning, I had to come up with projects that would be of interest to kids ages 5 to 10. I wanted to do something easy, recognizable, and fun that involved iconic Star Wars characters, Star Wars puns, and popsicle sticks.

First up: Star Wars Popsicle Stick Puzzles!

Materials

• 10 popsicle sticks
• masking tape
• Sharpies, markers, or colored pencils

Line up 10 popsicle sticks to form a square shape. Use a piece of masking tape to tape the sticks together.

Flip the sticks over so that the tape is facedown. Use Sharpies, markers, or colored pencils to decorate the sides of the sticks without tape.

Remove the tape from the sticks, mix them up, then challenge a friend to solve it!

Star Wars Popsicle Stick Puppets!

Materials

• Star Wars character templates/drawings
• colored pencils
• red and green pipecleaners
• scissors
• glue stick
• Tacky glue

Initially I was going to have the older kids cut out their own Yoda and Princess Lei shapes and robe, as seen below.

However, more kids were more interested in coloring the templates I had drawn than making their own shapes, so I gave them the choice. I also drew diagrams for the kids to show how I drew the Princess Leia, R2D2, and Yoda.

I drew each character 6 times on an 8 1/2 x 11 paper and made copies of each page. I then let each kid choose the character and type of coloring materials to use (markers or colored pencils). It's a lot easier to print images off the internet but I wanted to be able to show kids how I drew the characters.

Regardless of the way you decide to make these (using a template or cut out shapes), you'll be able to use pipecleaners to make lightsabers! Don't forget to write a punny Star Wars message on your popsicle stick!

Start by cutting a 2 inch piece of pipecleaner using scissors.

If letting kids do this step, have them mark off where they want to poke a hole with the pipecleaner. Otherwise, eyeball the placement. Make sure it's far enough from the edge of the paper so it won't rip through the paper.

Push the pipecleaner through the back of the paper enough so that you can bend the back edge upward. Flatten the edge of the pipecleaner against the back of the paper to secure it.

This anchors the pipcleaner so that it can move like a real lightsaber.

Next, apply Tacky glue or any white glue to the popsicle stick. Spread out the glue then place your Yoda/R2D2/Princess Leia on top of the glue. Let it dry for a few minutes.

And that's it! A simple Star Wars DIY.

You can make these in preparation for the newest Star Wars movie or for May 4th (May the Fourth be with you!) Now that I think of it, my Yoda looks like a green version of Dobby the house elf from Harry Potter. Happy making!

♥ Justine