Fun Foam Crafts for Kids

Winnie the Pooh Party Favor Jars

What you will need:  Empty baby food jars, red and  yellow/orange fun foam or construction paper, glue, tan, brown and a golden yellow acrylic paint, and a marker, candy

What to do:
1. Paint the bottom 2/3 of the jar with a tan or light brown paint and the top 1/3 with a darker brown paint and let it dry.  Use a golden yellow paint to paint on the honey.  Let the paint sit out a little bit if it is runny until it gets thicker.  Put a lot of paint on your brush and then run it across the rim of the jar like you are trying to clean the paint off the brush. Do this all the way around so that the paint starts to drip a little.  Make sure your paint is thick enough so that it doesn’t run all the way down the jar. When the paint is dry print “Hunny“ on the front of the jar.
2. Print out the pattern for Winnie the Pooh

. Trace the pattern onto fun foam and cut out. Use a black Sharpie to draw in the face and outline the body.  Cut out a shirt from red fun foam or felt and glue onto Winnie. Glue Winnie’s belly and legs onto the jar.
3. Fill the jar with candy.

Sewing with Fun Foam -  Fun Foam is a great medium to use to learn to sew.  Young children can use plastic children's needles to sew shapes onto fun foam with a little help from parents and teachers.

 What you will need:  Fun Foam or Flexi-Foam (not Foamies, they are too thick), Children's plastic needles, scissors, yarn or embroidery floss
What to do: 
1.  Cut a shirt shape from Fun Foam.  Cut out circles for buttons, pocket shapes, or other decorative shapes.
2.  Mark dots on the fun foam around the edge of the coat about a half an inch apart with a black sharpie.  Punch tiny holes through the fun foam at the dots using a sharp needle.  Turn the coat over and mark dots on the other side of the coat where you can see the holes. Mark the dots farther apart for younger children.
3. Have the children sew from dot to dot using plastic needles and embroidery floss or yarn. 

*  My 3 1/2 year old child can do this project with some help.  I would not recommend doing this project with children under 5 if you have a large group because they will need a lot of help with it.  If you want to do this with younger children, cut out a  simple shape like a small heart.  Put about 10 dots around the edge of the shape and let them practice on that. 

Bathtub Fun - If you have a smooth surfaced bathtub enclosure, cut out all kinds of different shapes from Foamie material (fish, flowers, ABC's, cars, etc). These shapes will stick to the side of the bathtub enclosure when wet and make a great bathtub toy. Your child will want to spend hours in the tub

Mouse Foam Mask © Carolyn Warvel - Easy to make and inexpensive. Fun foam is really  easy to work with. You can glue it, staple it, and it keeps it  shape very well.
What you will need: 1 1/2 tan sheets of 12" x  18" (11 1/2" x 17 1/2" will do) fun foam or flexi-foam,  pink fun foam for tongue and ears, black  permanent marker, glue  gun with low temp. glue, stapler, scissors, 1" black pom  pom, 3 black pipe cleaners, and two other pipe cleaners any color.
What to do:
1. Print out the patterns and enlargethe face pattern 200%. (It should be twice as big.)
2. Trace the face and ear pattern onto tan fun foam. Draw in the eyes, mouth and whisker dots with  a black permanent marker.
3. Cut along the long lines of the mouth but not the short ones.  Cut slits where indicated for the ears. Cut out the eyes.
4. Cut out the inside ears and a tongue from pink fun foam.
5. Cut a piece of foam 1 1/2" by 1/2" and glue each  one end, one at a time, to the X's in between the eyes. This  should draw the eyes together a little bit.
6. Using a glue gun glue line A to line A with right sides together and then turn the mask right side out.
7. Overlap line B over line C and glue.
8. Glue on a black pom pom at the end of the nose.
9. Punch holes through the fun foam where the whisker dots are  marked. Push pipe cleaners through the holes across the face  to the matching hole on the other side and back out the matching  hole. Use glue to keep the pipe cleaners in place.
10. Staple the darts where indicated on the ears. Glue the pink  inside ear to the outside ear. Or use a pink marker to color  in the ear. Attach the ears where indicated with glue.
10. Staple darts where indicated on the pattern. Fold at solid  lines and fold under to meet the dotted lines.
11. If your child has a small head, you can make a dart at the  bottom where the mouse's chin is. Make it the same as the one  at the top.
12. Glue or staple two pipe cleaners on the side of the mask  for straps to attach to your child's head.
13. Optional: Cut a triangle shape from a yellow sponge for a  piece of cheese. Add a fun hat to complete the costume.

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What you will need: Sheets of craft foam (any color),  Magnets, scissors, hot melt glue, marker
What to do: Print out the arms and legs patterns

, cut out and use to trace on to foamie sheets. Trace a 3"  circle onto the foamie sheet, cut out, and draw on a face. Glue  the legs, arms, and magnet to the back.

Foamie  Watch - Easy to make and fun to play with. Teaches children  their numbers. Can be a fun easy and cheap craft for VBS or Sunday  School, if  you print a bible verse on the back. Less than 25  cents each. © Carolyn Warvel
What you will need:
 1. Foamie sheets (found at craft  stores for about 44 cents each)
2. Paper fastener
3. Ruler, scissors, hole puncher, markers, tot stapler
What to do:
 1. Cut one circle about 2" in diameter or less for the watch  face and draw numbers around the edge.
2. Cut one strip for the watch band about 1" x 7" or  size to fit child, round off one end of the band and decorate  it with markers.
3. Cut two more strips about 1/4" x 2 1/2" for the  straps to the hold the band together.
4. Punch a hole (just big enough to fit the fasteners in) through  the middle of the watch face and through the watch band where  you want to attach the face. Push the paper fastener through  the back of the band and the watch face to attach. Open up the  prongs. You can clip the prongs  (the watch hands) shorter for  younger children so they don't scratch themselves.
5. Wrap the 1/4" strips around the end of the watch band  over lapping the ends around the back  of the band. With the watch  upside down and the overlapped part of the strips showing, insert  the bottom half of the tot stapler underneath the band and through  the loop so that the over lapped part of the strips can be stapled  together and to the band. (Hope you got that). OR just  staple  the loops so you can insert the other end of the band. Put the  other strips about a half an inch to one inch above the first  depending on the size of the child.
This watch can be used as a Christian craft by printing an appropriate  bible verse on the back of the watch. Here are some verses you  can use.
Psalm 121:5 "The Lord watches over you . . ." Psalms 118:24 "This is the day that the Lord has  made." 1 Chronicles 16:23 "Declare each day  that he is the one who saves." Psalms 145:20 "The  Lord watches over all who love him . . .

Funny Foam Hat - © Carolyn Warvel

What you will need:  Foamies - 9" x 12"  sheets of thin foam sheets found  in craft stores. They cost about  50 cents. We found them at Wal-Mart for 44 cents. Scissors Pen to trace pattern, Markers to color in eyes  and ears

Directions: Print out the pattern.  Trace it on to the foam sheet. Use  markers to color in the nose  eyes and ears. Cut it out. (You may have to cut it a little bigger  or smaller depending on the size of your child's head.)