Children learn through imaginative play, and the make-believe period allows a child to gain mastery over his emotions, behavior and thinking. One way you can promote this imaginary play is by helping them make paper football helmets. Increase their excitement for the sport by outfitting them in their favorite football team member costume and football helmet. Allow them to develop their creativity and artistic abilities by helping the make their favorite team helmet using poster board and colored construction paper.
Things You'll Need:
- Colored Construction Tape
- Measuring Tape
- Scissors
- Crayons
- Pencil
- Ruler
- White Pipe Cleaners
- Eraser
- White Poster Board
- Markers
Measure the length of your child's head by measuring from the eyebrows over the head to the nape of the neck. Add another 2 inches to the measurement.
Cut out a long 2- to 3-inch wide strip from the construction paper. Make this strip as long as the measurement you wrote down of your child's head including the 2 inches you added. Use the ruler to help you draw and cut the straight sides of the strip.
Draw or trace a side view of the helmet on a piece of poster board. Make sure the length of the side view is the length of your child's head. Place another sheet of poster board under your drawing. Cut through both sheet of poster board as you cut out the trace image.
Place each helmet side face up, but lying in opposite directions from each other. This is so you'll have a right and left side. Paint the sides the color of your favorite team.
Attach each side to the 2- to 3-inch wide strip of construction paper using an adhesive glue stick. Glue one side view of the helmet to one side of the strip and the other helmet side view to the other side of the strip, bending the strip as you glue the curves of the helmet sides to form the top helmet shape. Be sure to glue the inside of the helmet side view to the edge of the construction paper strip. This way the glued seams will not be visible.
Cut out small pieces of construction paper and fashion it in decorative accents or make 3-D designs by gluing and scrunching different color construction paper to different areas are the sides of the helmet. Layer colors by adding colored geometrical shapes to other larger shapes of another color. Glue these shapes on the helmet with the adhesive glue stick. Draw out decorations on the helmet with markers or crayons.
Twist two white pipe cleaner ends together to make a longer pipe cleaner and add it to the helmet front to make the helmet mouth and chin guard. Glue one end of a pipe cleaner to the interior of one side view of the helmet and glue the other end to the interior of the other side. Glue another type cleaner an inch lower on each interior side of the helmet to finish the mouth and chin guard.
Place the helmet over your child's head once you're finished decorating it.
References
Writer Bio
Jennifer Moore began writing in 2006, specializing in Web content, blogs and forum postings. She is a graduate from the most prestigious university in Mexico, Universidad de Las Americas, with a B.A. in international relations, later obtaining a U.S. teacher's degree and an additional CompTIA A+ certification in computer technology. Moore has written for My Mexico Living, BoomersAbroad and various other websites.
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