Magic Wands
Happy New Year! With the arrival of 2022, we can all use an extra dose of magic to get the year off to a sparkling start. Here’s a fun and easy tutorial for magic wands that are much fun to make as they are to play with. Added bonus: for supplies, you need not look further than all those random cardboard boxes, papers, and ribbon that may still be lying around from the holiday season!
Here’s what you’ll need:
A sheet of flat (uncreased) cardboard. Deconstructed delivery boxes work great!
Something to use for the wand stick: chopsticks from last night’s takeout, popsicle sticks, or pencils.
Scissors
Glue
Ribbon (can be any length, but we’d recommend at least 12 inches)
Paint (check out our low-waste option from Natural Earth Paints)
Crayons (check out our crayon selection)
Embellishments: rhinestones, washi tape, pom poms, or anything you find around the house. Can’t find anything in the house? You can hack together pom poms by crinkling bits of tissue or wrapping paper (or even toilet paper; we don’t judge) into little balls. Another easy solution? Empty out your hole puncher and you instantly have confetti dots. Remember: this project is supposed to be low-maintenance. Do not let it send you on a panic run to the craft store! Unless, of course, you just really want to go to the craft store. Then you should absolutely go to the craft store.
Draw a star onto the cardboard. If you happen to find a star-shaped cookie cutter in your craft supply stash like I did, congrats! If not, just draw a five-point star. Your kid is going to paint or color over the whole thing, so don’t worry about creating lines in your star-drawing process.
Cut out the star. We recommend that you help your kid out with this part, as cutting cardboard requires some extra strength and this will reduce the possibility of them bending or smashing the star in the process. If you want to be a real overachiever, use an X-Acto knife for super clean lines. And if you want to save your future self some work, draw and cut out several stars so that you you have them handy when your artist-in-residence decides to make more than one wand.
Hand the star over to your little artist and let the fun begin! Paint is a great option, and so are crayons or washi tape if you want to keep clean-up to a minimum. You can go solid, create a pattern, take a pointillist approach using fingertips and finger paints…
Once the paint is completely dry, add some flair by glueing embellishments onto the star. To make very clean edges with the washi tape (star on left above) just tear the tape a little longer than the edge and fold it over to the back (see image below for back view). This will also help it stay on more securely than if you cut the tape exactly to the edge of the star.
Turn the completed star over and secure the chopstick/popsicle stick/pencil onto the back with two pieces of tape. Then, take a ribbon (or several, if you want more tassels) and tie a slip knot as shown below:
Pull the ends of the ribbon to tighten the knot and push it up into place against the star. Shine on!