Kids & Crafts | 4th of July CD Spinners & Firework Art

Clearly I'm developing an obsession with defacing CDs. They're all CD-Rs that I go out and purchase...cool your jets lol. Today we made 4th of July CD Spinners!!!

I knew I had to do this activity when I came across it on Disney's FamilyFun website. They have a lot of awesome projects for kids by the way. I had a lot of fun The kids had a lot of fun doing this activity. We even had a little spin-off tournament lol. Here are the materials and instructions...

Materials:

• Red and/or blue recycled bottle caps
• Watercolor paper
• Red & blue paint
• Red and/or blue spray paint
• One inch wooden balls (can be found at Michaels) 
• Hot glue (glue gun)
• White glue
• CD template
• Scissors

Instructions:
1) Spray paint wooden balls red and/or blue. I did this before bringing the project to class. The FamilyFun project uses a shooter marble...I couldn't find those in a large quantity so I used wood balls. These come in about 12 a pack and are fairly cheap.

2) Spray paint bottle caps red and/or blue if you couldn't find or don't consume drinks with caps in those colors. Blue I had from my water, but I couldn't find a solid red cap without writing. So, I took some white caps and spray painted them red. I also did this before bringing the project to class.

3) Take the CD template, cut it out, and trace it onto the watercolor paper. Cut out what you traced onto the watercolor paper. The CD template provided by FamilyFun already has designs on it that can be used and colored, but I wanted the kids to paint their own designs.

4) Paint the watercolor paper however you desire. We did a firework design. The method for doing firework art is explained below.

5) After the paint is dry, use regular glue to adhere the designed watercolor paper to the top of the CD. Be sure to center it on top.

6) Use a glue gun to adhere the wooden ball to the bottom of the CD and then use hot glue to adhere the bottle cap to the top in the center. And you're done!!!

They also made firework art!! I also swiped this idea from FamilyFun. They came out pretty good...

Materials:

• Watercolor paper
• Red & blue paint
• Droppers (optional)
• Straws
• Water

Instructions:
1) Dilute paint with water until it's very liquid. You still want the color to be rich, so don't water it down too much.

2) Use a dropper or paintbrush to drip a dime-sized amount of paint on the paper.

3) Use a straw to blow the paint and make a starburst (firework) effect. You have to blow kind of hard and try to blow into the center of the drop. That's all there is to it.

These activities were fun for all. Definitely give them a try...even if it's not 4th of July!! (rhyme skills on 1,000) 

Stay Inspired.