Share Our Love of Paper

The evenings are getting darker, the leaves are falling from the trees and we are getting close to the best day of the year (Christmas). That means bonfire night is soon upon us! To get everyone even more excited for bonfire night, we came up with 6 paper related bonfire night ideas that are a great way to keep busy, be creative and enjoy the 5^th November to the fullest!

Paper is a resourceful material for many craft ideas and it’s highly sustainable! Did you know, European forests, which provide wood for making paper products, have been growing by 1500 football pitches every day? [1]

Just make sure that when you are finished with your crafts, you store them for next year or put them in the recycling bin!

Kitchen Roll Fireworks Scene

This is a super simple and fun way to paint vibrant firework explosions!

Using kitchen or toilet roll tubes, cut into the tube at one edge and pull the strips outwards from the tube, looking as if one edge of the roll has exploded out. Dip this end into paint and stamp the tube onto some paper to create an explosive firework scene!

If you use vibrant paint colours and black paper or card, it will create a really explosive night-time illustration.

Paper Straw-Blown Fireworks

It’s an old but gold way of painting and the results can be impressive, especially for some pretty firework-esque patterns!

Pour a little bit of paint into a cup or container and dilute with a small amount of water, so it’s about 3 parts paint to 1 part water. Stir the paint and water together to create a runnier paint mixture. Drop a small blob of paint onto the paper, preferably black, and blow through the paper straw onto the paint to spread it out across the page in all directions.

Do this with multiple colour paint mixtures and you will soon have a fabulously colourful fireworks display!

Paint Splattered Fireworks

As far as craft ideas go, this one is a little messy. It is however super easy and fun to do with the outcome being very artsy.

Prepare a variety of coloured paints, sheets of black card and protective covers to stop paint getting on any furniture and clothes. Newspaper pages are always a good substitute if you don’t have any covers.

Dunk a paintbrush into the coloured paint and start splashing and flicking it across the black card, without the brush touching the card. Use different colours when your brush runs out of paint and keep splashing as much as you like until you are satisfied with your explosive (almost literal) firework display.

Hand Print Bonfire

This incredibly easy idea is great fun and very “hands on”!

Set out flame coloured paints, like red, yellow and orange around the black paper you’re going to be working on.

Simply cover your hand in paint and press on to the black paper. Do his repeatedly with different colour paints and overlay on top of each other to create a flaming bonfire.

Don’t forget to add some brown paint at the bottom of the flames for the logs, you can use the side of your hand or even just your fingers for this bit.

Wax Crayon Etching

This creative paper craft idea will reveal some magical results. All you need are some wax crayons, plain white paper and an ice cream lolly stick. (Any kind of firm but soft edge tool will suffice if it’s too cold to have lollies in the freezer).

Cover the plain paper in an array of different bonfire colours using wax crayons. Make sure the entire page is covered in crayon colour. Next, go over the colours in another layer of crayon, this time using only black.

Making sure all the coloured crayon is now covered in black crayon, use a lolly stick to etch through the black crayon and create a bonfire scene using swirly lines. You can be as detailed or as simple as you like to achieve the desired effect.

Paper Rocket Pencil Tops

A decorative paper rocket to go on the end of your pencils to make your writing and drawings explode with creativity!

For this paper creation you will need paper straws, coloured card, coloured tissue paper, PVA glue and paint.

First cut the paper straws into mini tubes, making sure each one is at least 3cm long. Using the coloured card, cut out circles a bit bigger than the diameter of the straws. Cut into the centre of these circles without going all the way through. Fold the circle into a cone shape and stick it to one end of the tube using PVA glue. Now cut or tear the coloured tissue paper into small strips and place in the opposite end of the tube, gluing around the inner edges of the tube so the tissue paper can flare out from the opening.

The base rocket shape is now complete. It’s ready to decorate to be as hot as a real firework. When finished just place onto the top of your pencil for a fun little decoration.

Don’t forget to recycle all your paper crafts!
Did you know, the pulp and paper industry sources 56% of its fibre from paper for recycling? [2]

Sources:
FAO, 2020
CEPI, 2020
elfontheshelf.co.uk, 2020
playlikemum.com, 2019