Coatings by Sandberg, the best maker of dichroic glass in the art glass industry has put together their first contest for the best dichroic art and it’s through Facebook. Voting has concluded and they’re working on tallying the votes to see who won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Check out all the cool dichroic glass art that was selected. There were 30 finalists. It’s always interesting to see what others do with dichroic glass. There’s jewelry and mosaic art and even a back splash for a kitchen (one of my favorites). And check out the rooster in the picture by my good friend Leigh Adams. It’s a very inspiring group.
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Year of the Snake Crafts for Kids
This year’s Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the year of the snake. Most people see snake as a negative because they are thought to be secretive, devious and jealous, but they can also be intuitive, diligent and persuasive. Celebrate the year of the snake at home or in the classroom with these fun ideas.
Top Marks has a simple spiral snake you can paint or decorate with markers for Lunar New Year. Since it’s showing dots you could also easily do this with dot markers.
Miss Panda Chinese has another printable spiral snake with a face you can color in and decorate. You can also print it on red paper. That page also has some words in Chinese you can practice while you craft.
Red Ted Art has collected all of their snake themed crafts into one page so you can pick out a few to try. One of my favorites is this folded paper snake from Craftiments, which uses strips of construction paper for the body and a painted piece of cardboard tube for the head.
Or use little cups and tissue paper to make a super cute snake puppet with this tutorial from Alpha Mom. This one is so fun for kids to make and to play with. If doing this one in a classroom, each child can make one cup and you can put them together to make a class snake decoration.
Xiao Panda Preschool has some cute Chinese zodiac printables on Teachers Pay Teachers, and you can get lots of ideas from her blog about Chinese New Year activities for preschool. You could also add a zodiac animals puzzle or adorable mini animals to your classroom for the season.
And while this one has nothing specific to do with Lunar New Year, I wanted to share this tutorial for making salt dough snakes from Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls. It’s easy and fun to do and kids can paint them or decorate them in different ways.