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Cute & Easy Crafts for Kids

Kids Crafts: Stick Man

We have another great Preschool Craft for you, however even my 10yrs old still loves making these!

Today, we have FINALLY gotten round to a lovely autumn craft: making Stick Men. I have been wanting to make these with Red Ted for a while now and have sticks lying around all over the place! But I wasn’t quite sure how to tackle it. How would Red Ted aged 2.5yrs do it?

crafts with sticks
First shared in Sept 2010!

First to the book our story: STICK MAN

(Contains amazon affiliate links for your convenience!)

Stick Man

Stick Man, by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

(UK Readers)

We love Stick Man as it is a little bit different – Red Ted is just really starting to get into it (2.5yrs) and likes commiserating at the appropriate spots and shout “Oh no” when necessary. The story is about Stick Man, who of course, is not a stick (I’m Stick Man, I’m Stick Man, I’m Stick Man, that’s me..). But Stick Man gets in to trouble as person after animal after person mistakes him for a stick: using him to build a nest, for pooh sticks, as a bat etc. It looks as if Stick Man is about to meet a bitter end, when at the very last minute… well, you will have to read the story for yourself, but I will give you a hint: a big man in a big red suit and white beard appears and sees Stick Man for who he is!

We like it, as – the story is a bit longer, so a better “bedtime read”, it displays all the “innovative uses” for a stick (and not stick man!!!) and it is all done in a nice rhyme (which is very Julia Donaldson). Great!

Stickman Family
This is a stick family my daughter made YEARS later – aged 10 and 100% independent. Nurture that crafting early on! More from here below!

Kid’ Get Crafty

Oh what a cute STICK MAN! If you love the Story "Stick Man" by Julia Donaldson.. you simply have to have a go at this oh so cute craft! Easy, fun, cute. Bring that book alive! #stickman #preschool #crafts #ece #juliadonaldson

I thought I was beginning to get a better feel for what Red Ted is and isn’t capable off. I was sure, he wouldn’t quite know what to do with “our stick”. But he proved me wrong (of course)! What I did do, to help him along, is make a small stick man the night before – which showed him what could be done (and which, when he saw it, made his face light up in the most adorable fashion).

Materials: Stick, PVC glue, Googly Eyes, Fabric scraps, scissors (though you could also paint yours. which would also be fabulous, I just don’t think Red Ted’s motor skills are there yet)

Red Ted loved gluing the eyes on. He did it all by himself. I was rather impressed. I then suggested “dressing” our Stick Men, so that they didn’t suffer the same fate as the original Stick Man and get mistaken for an ordinary stick. This was met with great enthusiame. And they got shirts, trousers and wraps (basically, glue on a square/ rectangular piece of fabric). Again, Red Ted did all the gluing. REAL team work! I have to say, I rather like the “undressed” men, but they both do it for me!

Done!

I confess to sneaking back and superglueing the eyes on overnight. The PVC glue does work, but superglue really makes it that much strong for “playing with”. Especially with a 10 month old around!

We also decided to draw a Stick Man picture, which was a great way for Red Ted to “follow” instructions and not “just” draw in circles and scribbles. He concentrated really hard to only do straight lines. Then we added googly eyes, a shirt and trousers. After that he remembered that I had promised him bankets for his dolls house. So, I cut him some rectangles out of The Englishman’s old shirt and our craft session was over. Still, the blankets kept him amused for ages.

Our Rogues Gallery:

Years and years later, when my daughter was 10yrs old, she made a complete set of Stickman Families.. it all started with sticks in the playground and she made a whole bunch of stickmen, stick people and stick babies for all of her friends. So cute! And love how an activity from years and years ago, still get her making!

Stick Babies
A set of jolly stick people
Best Friends Stickman Girls
Best friends Stick Friends
Stick Girl
Rainbow Stick Girl

Here are some Stickman Photos my readers sent me:

Oooh a reader and friend sent me this picture of her stick men! Hooray! I am sure that anthropologists would delight at these colourful men. I love the addition of pipecleaners, hats and hair!

fun with sticks

And check out these giants sent to me via twitter @TinyTinRobot using wrapping paper & ribbons. Brilliant!

See more of our wonderful Autumn Crafts for Preschoolers here:

Filed Under: Autumn, Kids Craft, Nature 64 Comments

Comments

  3. Metajugglamum says

    Absolutely FAB!! What a brilliant idea with the googly eyes! Will rush off to buy some of those later as we so need to do this!
    Hope you don’t mind if I steal the idea as we have a basket full of sticks and cones that L collected just before it rained. Perfect!
    MJM x

    Reply

    • Red Ted Art says

      @metlajugglamum of course of course, that is what Red Ted Art is for.. do send us a photo of the Stick Men’s distant relatives in Germany!!!!
      @ Maria (Forskoleburken) – Thank you 🙂 especially since you also have some lovely stickmen on your blog!!! Scandinavian version! LOL and thank you for linking up
      @ Maria (Fabmums)- it really is a fun book, no?!

      Reply

  5. Red Ted Art says

    Cathy – yes indeed! This is why I was after more googly eyes. I have learnt: you can never have too many googly eyes when toddlers are involved!! Thanks for linking up too!!

    And Yes, Mr Gingham may be the smallest, but he is in charge!!!

    Maggy x

    Reply

  7. Jude says

    I’m sure my boys would love to try this – the only problem we always have with things that we make with googly eyes, is that as soon as they’ve finished making them and start playing with what they’ve made (and they always want to play with them) the eyes drop off – repeatedly! Maybe superglue is the answer!

    Reply

  8. Red Ted Art says

    KidsTravel2 – Have fun! Craft overdrive is excellent (Red Ted just wanted to keep making more and more!)

    Jude – totally agree – I superglue them secretly – so that they “did all the real creative stuff” and I just secured it place. Have only actually superglued one of them so far, but will prob have to do the others too.

    Reply

  12. Megan Berry says

    I’ve never come across that book. It looks like something my daughter (and I) would enjoy, though, so I’ll be sure to check for it at the library. Thanks for sharing the cute craft idea…I love googly eyes on anything!

    Reply

  17. B says

    Cute craft! Thanks for the comment on my blog and for hosting a gret Linky! I’m so excited about it, I wanted to post a million links, but don’t want to be counted as spam! See you next week!

    Reply

  22. amandab says

    What gorgrous stick men, and I am so glad he got the satisfaction of doing it himself, I know how proud it makes Princess when she does things on her own 🙂

    Reply

  25. Doing the Mom Thing says

    So crafty and adorable! My toddler is very interested in sticks right now, lol. I bet she would love this project. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  27. Red Ted Art says

    oooh hope all your toddlers enjoy this craft! Sounds like there is lots of potential for army of Stick Men to be made!

    @ingrid: I would LOVE for a 6’4″ College Student to have a go… mmmh, not sure how likely thoug!!!!

    Reply

  32. Red Ted Art says

    Kelly – Hooray! And theya re so easy to make too!

    Audra, Melissa & All things related – glad you like them! They were fun and we still play with them!

    Reply

  39. Isil says

    We love J.Donaldson but haven’t read this book yet. Must reserve a copy. Thank you so much for linking up to Book Sharing Monday!xxx

    Reply

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  6. […] Ha pedig a meséhez kapcsolódóan szeretnétek kreatívkodni is, nagyon aranyos bot emberkéket készíthettek (eredeti ötlet by Red Ted Art): […]

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  7. […] on taking the story a step further by trying out this awesome “stick family” craft from Red Ted’s Art Blog. What a fun way to breathe life into sticks – which are a dime a dozen in this house thanks […]

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  9. […] craftiness: pasta, lentils, cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds. Scavenge 1)Sticks (e.g. our Stick Men, Hobby Horse and Birds) 2)Stones (e.g. our painted stones and Birds) 3)Leaves (e.g. our Birds and […]

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