Pinhole Cameras

 http://www.kidzworld.com/article/4756-make-your-own-coffee-can-camera

Sun Prints

You can make the above just by getting special photosensitive behavior and laying objects on it. It's called a cyanotype, and the directions are here.

For the budget friendly version, you can just lay objects onto dark colored construction paper in full sunlight for about an hour, like below.

Kaleidoscopes

These are actually super easy to make, but cutting glass becomes a safety issue for the little ones. Conveniently, they sell mirrored styrene, which you can cut with scissors and will give you similar results! Unfortunately, mirrored styrene can be a tad pricey.

Tutorials:
This one is pretty clear, the pictures are a little sparse
This one has silly specifics on supplies, but it has better pictures!

Generally, you just need to have a tube (cardboard paper towel rolls work) and inside of it have three mirrored surfaces in a triangle, all facing inward. You can build a chamber at one end to make a kaleidoscope, or you could leave that end open and it will be a teleidoscope, with the world as your experience!

Building the chamber for objects might be a little tricky for our audience, so I'm an advocate for the teleidoscope. Alternatively, this too is a good solution:

Handmade Kites

So conveniently, this guy already has compiled a list of kite tutorials, in case we want to include this into our show too. My favorite one that he cited was the one with PBS & Benjamin Franklin teaming up to make a great tutorial. Kites are a little tricky because there is definitely a pass/fail aspect to them. I mean, if your kite doesn't work, it doesn't work.

Also, I think before we decide on any particular craft to put into the show, we should definitely test run it--like how people test recipes before they put them into cook books. I'd hate to accidentally set up our little Imaginauts-in-Training for failure!

Batik with Glue

Batik is a traditional way to dye fabric, usually using hot wax to draw out a design and then dying it over. The wax is a resist for the dye, and when it is removed, it leaves a white or a light colored design. For the above example, the white part of the design is what was covered up initially. For kids, you can just use gel glue to get similar results without the burns!

Example:

Tutorials online:

http://thatartistwoman.blogspot.com/2008/07/kid-friendly-batik.html

http://fabricdyeing101.blogspot.com/2006/11/how-to-make-batik-like-fabrics-with.html

A drawback to this technique is that it takes overnight for the glue to dry before you can paint/dye on top of it, so there definitely isn't much instant gratification.

Craft Segment

We've decided that we should have a do-it-yourself-with-our-help craft segment for our show. It would occur at the end of the show after the plot has been resolved, and each show would possibly incorporate each craft we teach within the set/puppets/etc. Teaching with applications!

Post all your ideas about interesting and easy crafts that our viewers would appreciate, plus directions or links to more info!

Already on the list:
1. Kites
2. Batik with glue
3. Origami
4. Marbled paper (and paper treatments in general)
5. Sock monkeys (copyrighted?)