In another article on Art for non – artists….I am going to show you how to make my “Famous Pop-up card”
It is easy to make – and really from yr2 the children should be able to make their own – it is best done as a whole class and with you showing the children each step and then making sure they have completed that step before moving on to the next.
So here we go
Things you will need…
- A sheet of A4 card for each child + some spares in case things go wrong for some children!
- Scissors
- Rulers and pencils
Here’s what to do…
Fold the A4 card in half
- Measure 6 cm down from the top and draw a line across the card
- Measure 6 cm along the line from the folded side of the card and make a mark
- Now cut along the lines so that your card looks like this
- From the horizontal line now measure 6cm below and draw a line as shown .
- Get the children to put their rulers on this line and fold upwards
- Next is the trickiest part which is making the inward fold…the top part of the card has to be pushed inwards while the creases already made have to be reverse folded…..you may have to dash around and do a few for the children here!
- Once you are at this point you should have an “operational” pop up card.
Decorating tips! – adjusting your design focus.
It really is up to you from this point but here’s a few suggestions
- Its easier to write Merry Xmas than Merry Christmas. Most children find it is too many letters to try to judge the size for the space on the card. Xmas is also easier to spell than Christmas. (never let anything go home with Christmas spelt incorrectly!)
- A good sized inside tree is 6 cm each side of the centre fold and about 1 cm from the top of the card….draw the triangle to make it tree shaped.
- Write some phrases on the board so that the children can copy whichever they wish to put in to their card
- Do some drawings of such things like …presents, candles, pudding, balloons, crackers etc so that the children can again copy them if they wish.
- Let the children know that if they really struggle with drawing something then they can bring the card to you and you will help. if you sketch things out they can always go over them in pencil or crayon
- Oh and mentioning colour….felt pens are not great for this and the cards will look a mess. Keep it simple to pencil crayon or wax crayons.
So there you have it….my famous “Pop up ” card. Why so famous? Well I use the same type of card for different occasions. Mothers day with pop up flowers or maybe fathers day with a car theme or bike theme. Just follow the same instructions but change the theme.
The cards might take 2 or 3 sessions to complete – but make sure they have the children’s initials or name on the back in pencil so that they can be handed out easily next time
hope all’s going well – keep smiling !
Charles