Project ideas needed for 6yo girls

[eggs4sale]

There is this Girl Scout troop that has the great misfortune (idiocy?) to have me as their leader. The girls are 6, can mostly not read (ok, one girl can read), have very limited motor skills (sewing, making a God's-eye out of yarn, and putting those foam magnet kits together without the turkey's scarf and gobbler being upside-down are not possible), poor ability to come up with original ideas (if I give an example, they ALL do it, if I ask "What does a policeman do?" they will ALL say "They get bad guys", but in 12 different ways that all mean "They get bad guys", and when they paint, it takes it 4 hours minimum to dry because they seem to want to insulate the item.
Coming up with project ideas is tough, because it has to be easy but not TOO easy.

So, for project ideas:

1. I need something for Christmas that is easy for them AND me. All items should ideally be able to be found from here to my car.

2. I have been collecting seed catalogs and some pages from magazines for a cut and paste, decoupage-type project, but I'm not coming up with the PERFECT idea. I don't think they'd get the idea of decoupage, honestly, or making a picture out of pictures.

3. Any tried-and-true games that are easy to catch on to? The ones I have found on the girl scout website have all failed miserably.

Anyone want to be an assistant leader???

 

[Denim Deb]

I can remember when little making dusters out of a metal hanger and yarn, making a card holder out of an old can and yarn, and making something w/old Reader's Digest. You folded the pages, and spray painted them. They were supposed to look like Christmas trees, but I don't recall now what they were supposed to be for.

 

[patandchickens]

they will ALL say "They get bad guys", but in 12 different ways that all mean "They get bad guys", and when they paint, it takes it 4 hours minimum to dry because they seem to want to insulate the item.

LOL at your descriptions I think those are both fairly common among 6 yr olds though (at least when in groups, for the first one)

What about weaving type projects, e.g. weaving a placemat out of paper strips, or setting up string or yarn weft on a piece of cardboard and weaving lengths of willow twigs or bamboo or pampas grass into it? Could be done with Christmasy colors if you want.

My kids just gave their aunt and uncle in PA a pair of pencil-holder jars made by glueing glow-in-the-dark stars onto empty jars... could you do the same sort of thing with your cut-out flower pics? They can paint the inside of the jar first if they want so it is not clear (my 6 yr old put on a lot of paint too, but I just stood the jar upside down overnight to dry - a lot of the paint ran out - and then a few hours upside-down on a heating register to finish drying, and it was fine)

What about a paper vest? That they could decorate with cut out flowers, or whatever? Although that does kind of depend on having large enough sheets of sturdy paper.

Could they sew cut-out flowers into a garland the same way you do with popcorn (obviously you'd have to take one whole stitch thru each flower, i.e. two punctures, so they would lay properly along the thread)

Dunno, probalby someone will come up with better ideas

Good luck, have fun, it's great that you're doing this for them,

Pat

 

[TanksHill]

My 5yo is doing cinnamon apple sauce ornaments at school right now. Does it have to be finished in one meeting?

I say pile all the crafty stuff you have that looks like Christmas in the middle of the table and let them have at it. My 5 yo just likes to cut and glue anything. She wanders the house looking for things to "craft" with.

The last time it was an old oat meal carton. It turned into a princess hat. 7yo made a purse.

 

[Dace]

How about cookies? You could even bake them in advance and have them all decorate cookies for friends/family....some sprinkles and frosting are pretty easy and clean up only requires a broom and a spounge.

Or get out paper and markers/crayons and have them make holiday cards for (fill in group here) , finish them up with a couple of glue sticks (don't even think about liquid glue!) and some glitter and that should be a huge hit.

 

[lorihadams]

Okay, get them to go out in the woods and collect pinecones....big ones.

Have them roll them in glue and throw glitter on them and make "christmas trees"

Have them slather them with cheap peanut butter and roll in bird seed and hang them in trees for the birds. Then get them to describe the types of birds they see....think picture books of birds common to your area....that's pretty girl scouty.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Clear contact paper, scissors & plenty of bright colored fallen leaves to make a collage. Lay down one sheet, sticky side up & have them lay their leaves on top. Add a yarn loop for hanging, top with another sheet, sticky side down & have them trim the edges.

Make wreaths using paper plates (cut the centers out) & glueing on leaves, pinecones, acorns, etc. Attach yarn to the back to hang.

 

[Henrietta23]

Oooo, I feel your pain!! Those are my Cub Scouts only mine are 8-9 years old and all seem to have ADHD! But they aren't any better at answering those questions.
I'll post any ideas I come up with when I'm going through my Cub Scout stuff later. I've found lots of great forums and idea sites for them. But can I remember a single project I did with them 2 years ago right now? Nope!

 

[Kassaundra]

You could make a simple paste out of flour and water (or elmers glue thinned down) take those same magazines and strip them. Blow up a balloon as an mold and have them glue the strips on 1/2 the balloon in the shape of a bowl, when it dries it will be a colorful bown paper mache' bowl.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I like Pat's idea of weaving. You can have them make Christmas colored placemats.

What about doing salt dough ornaments?