Just when I thought I would not be crafting this year for Chanukah, I realized that just wouldn't do, and that I could combine my art endeavors with my crafting and do something festive, decorative and educational (for those doing the creating.) Introducing color theory dreidels, this years contribution to my ever expanding collection of artful recycling crafts for chanukah! Why color theory you might ask? Well friends, color theory in this case is about how colors look when placed side by side, but even more exciting, how to mix your own colors! All the colors you see here were mixed from just 3 colors, so that makes this budget friendly as well, not to mention that the base is cereal box cardboard! Okay, lets do this Chanukah is coming!
You'll Need:
- cardboard or cardstock, mine is cereal box cardboard
- paint, white, any red, any blue, any yellow, I used paints with fancy names: hansa yellow light, quinacridone magenta, ultramarine blue
- paint pens/sharpies optional, i used Posca paint pens in pink, peach and yellow
- a pencil and scissors
How To:
- Draw 2 dreidel shapes on a piece of cardboard and cut out to make a template. (Draw half a dreidel shape, cut that out and flip it over to draw the second side, voila, a symmetrical dreidel!)
- Trace around your dreidel templates onto a piece of cereal box cardboard. Yes, silly the inside of the cereal box.
- Now it is time to have fun mixing colors. As you know, yellow and blue make green, but vary the amount of each and you'll get many varieties. Add white for lighter shades. Mix yellow and red for orange, peach, etc. Make pink by adding white to your red. My pinks looks so great because I didn't use red, but rather magenta as my "red" color. Have fun experimenting, and even keep track of all the colors you've mixed on a piece of paper or in a sketchbook.
- Now paint stripes on your dreidels, either straight stripes or curved ones depending on your dreidel shape.
- After dry, cut out and decorate with paint pens and or sharpie markers if you wish. I actually love them plain.
They look great at this stage!
And there you have it! How to use your dreidels? Make a garland, use them for napkin rings (with a ribbon taped to the back), gift tags, make a wall hanging by making vertical garlands, hang on a little "clothesline" with mini clothes pins, because they'll look cute with the other shapes coming up soon!
