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Arts and Crafts for Kids - Decorative Lampshade

(This arts and crafts for kids project is suitable for children 12 and up to do on their own.)

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It involves use of the oven and possibly a glue gun, so younger children will need their parent's help with these hot items.

Arts and crafts for kids are a fun way to let your child help redecorate his or her room. So many times Mom or Dad end up doing all of the decorating work, and even if a child has picked out the patterns or colors they don't get a real sense of being involved in the process.

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This arts and crafts for kids idea will create a decoration you and your child will enjoy making together. And your child will love to show his or her arts and crafts for kids creation to family and friends.

This project takes a plain lamp and adds color to it to spice up a child's room. The best part is you can recycle an old, plain lampshade into a fun piece of furniture.

What you'll need to do this arts and crafts for kids project:

Plain lampshade
Thumbtack or needle
3 sheets of craft plastic that shrinks when you bake it (found at most stores that sell supplies for arts and craft for kids.)
Magic markers
Glue gun or craft glue

Once you get these items together, you're all set to start.

Draw a total of about 15 various shapes on your plastic sheets. Use magic markers to color in the shapes. If you have trouble getting the color to adhere, use sandpaper to lightly rough up the surface of the plastic.
Remember, the plastic will shrink to about 1/3 its beginning size when you bake it so make sure your shapes are at least a few inches long and wide.
Let the magic marker ink dry on the plastic, then cut out the shapes. It doesn't matter if the edges are a little sharp at this point. They will smooth out during the baking process.
Once all of the shapes are cut out, follow the directions that came with your plastic to bake and shrink it. When finished, you'll have a handful of colored plastic pieces that will still be transparent enough to let some light shine through.
(Note : As mentioned in the supply list, this type of plastic comes in a couple of different brand names and can be found in stores that carry arts and crafts for kids. If you can't find this special type of plastic, you can try other plastics that don't need baking.)
Now its time to prepare the lampshade. Trace each of the shapes lightly on the lampshade, preferably on the inside of the shade. Try to spread the shapes around so they aren't bunched up in one area.
Even if your lamp sits in a corner of the room, putting the designs on the back of the shade will make a great colored light effect on the walls.
Once you have your patterns traced, use the thumbtack to poke holes within the lines of the patterns. The more holes you make in the shape, the more light will shine through.
Use the glue gun or craft glue to attach the shapes over the holes you have punched.
When you get all of the shapes glued on, you will have finished your arts and crafts for kids project. Now your child will have a fun, decorative lampshade to put on his or her lamp. To add an extra bit of variety, put a different color light bulb in the lamp.

I hope you find this arts and crafts for kids project to be helpful.

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