Help your students create Hawaiian leis.
Whether you're hosting a Hawaiian luau, or you're teaching children about the Hawaiian Islands, there are several Hawaiian-themed art activities that you can engage in to keep kids entertained and promote knowledge of the island chain. Through these art projects, children will gain an understanding of the geography of this island state, as well as the culture of the Hawaiian people.
Clay Volcano
Make a model of a volcano from clay. Paint a paper plate blue to represent the ocean. While the paint is drying, provide children with brown clay and instruct them to form it into a conical shape -- this will serve as the volcano. Once the paint on the plate is dry, place a dab of craft glue in the center of it and press the clay volcano on top of it. Paint lava flows down the side of the volcano with red paint.
Paper Leis
Create a paper lei necklace. Provide children with a template of a flower shape and instruct them to trace it onto different-colored construction paper and cut their tracings out. Cut drinking straws into five pieces. Cut a length of fishing wire -- tie a knot in one end of the fishing wire and thread the other end of the wire through a needle. Push the needle through the center of a paper flower and thread a piece of straw onto the fishing line. Continue threading the flowers and pieces of straw onto the fishing line in this manner. Tie the ends of the fishing line together to form a necklace.
Hibiscus Coffee Filter Flower
The hibiscus flower is the state flower of Hawaii. Create a colorful tie-dyed version of this flower on a coffee filter. Print out an image of a hibiscus flower and cut it out. Have children trace the flower onto coffee filters and cut each one out. Once cut out, have them color the coffee filter flowers with different colored markers. Provide them with droppers filled with water and instruct them to drip the water onto the coffee filters -- the water will make the markers bleed into one another, creating an eye-catching tie-dyed effect.
Hula Skirt
Use crepe-paper streamers to make a hula skirt. Wrap a length of yarn around each child's stomach and cut it about four inches longer than the distance around their bellies. Have kids attach crepe-paper streamers to the yarn by folding the top over the yarn and stapling it -- they should cover the yarn, leaving two inches of space empty on either end of the yarn. When they are finished covering the yarn with streamers, tie them on and teach them do a hula dance.
Tags: fishing line, instruct them, children with, coffee filter, coffee filters, crepe-paper streamers