Colored Glue – Who Knew?

Fall is a fantastic time of year to get creative with classroom crafts. There are so many fun and easy projects that anyone can make, and they’re perfect for keeping kids engaged and entertained.

Whether you’re looking for activities to do with your students or just want to try some art projects on your own, there are plenty of options to choose from.

One of the best things about autumn is the beautiful colors that come with it.

Why not incorporate those colors into your crafts?

Easy Nature Crafts

One awesome project is making leaf rubbings. All you need is paper, crayons, and leaves from outside. Simply place the leaf under the paper and use the side of a crayon to rub over it. The result is a beautiful, textured image of the leaf that’s perfect for decorating your classroom.

Another fun project is making pumpkin decorations.

You can use construction paper or foam sheets to cut out pumpkin shapes, then let the kids decorate them with markers, stickers, or other materials. These make great decorations for Halloween or Thanksgiving.

If you’re looking for something a little more challenging, try making a fall wreath.

You can use real leaves and twigs from outside or buy artificial ones from a craft store. Simply glue them onto a wreath form (which you can also buy at a craft store) and add any other decorations you like.

This project takes a bit more time and effort, but the result is a beautiful decoration that will last all season long.

Of course, not all fall crafts have to be complicated. Sometimes the cutest projects are also the easiest.

For example, you can make paper plate scarecrows by cutting out shapes for the head, hat, and clothes and gluing them onto a paper plate.

Or you can make handprint turkeys by tracing your hand onto construction paper and adding feathers and a beak.

Making Colored Glue for Classroom Crafts

So, I ran across this super cute idea for creating colored glue for painting glue pictures and I HAD to try it for myself! 

It turns out it was as easy as it looked – for real!  I can see it being used in so many ways in the classroom from an art center to vocabulary work with painting to crafts for holidays!

The video below shows you how it’s done and how easy it was using materials you probably already have at home!

Prefer to read the transcript?

“Hi, everyone. Charity Preston here.

How are you today? Hopefully everything is going well. All right.

So today’s video is actually brought to you from an idea that I saw on a blog called Almost Unschoolers. It was really cool. I will include the link in my blog post.

And if you want to find my blog post, if you’re watching this on YouTube, straight down below in the description, the very first link will be my blog post link so that you can find it.

And the templates that I’m going to show you today as well.

This is a fun little craft activity that was so simple. I’m sure other people have thought of it. Elmer’s also has made something similar to it, but last time I checked, they don’t sell it any longer.

Basically all you’re going to do is take basic Elmer’s white glue and you are going to add food coloring.

And this is what you get.

You get colored glue! It’s colored glue that goes on like white glue, but that dries in colors.

It’s so, so simple guys. You seriously have no idea.

You just open up your white glue, pop the top open, and mix in whatever colors that you want.

That would be a great lesson in itself, just color mixing. And then you put the cap back on.

I shake it up just a little to blend a little better.

One other quick note: You probably want to make sure your bottle is at least half full or mine was about three quarters full.

You don’t want a brand new bottle because it’s not going to have a lot of movement in there and you want it to be able to move around.

Ok, once your color is added, shake it up just a tad, and put it into a cup just like this upside down for an hour or so.

Turn it around back to right side up for another hour or so again.

I would say give it a day. That way you know that it’s very well mixed up.

In fact, my red came out more pink at first than red, so I had to keep adding red. I actually ended up adding whole lot.

The yellow did not take very much at all in the orange blend. I definitely had to have more yellow than red in there. So you might have to play around with the colors to create what you want.

But anyway, now the glue is basically paint. It’s fantastic.

Instead of using it just like regular glue, you’re going to use it in the classroom as paint.

Here’s my example of how to use it. I have a paper with a fall poem. And then at the bottom I put a tree and made little glue dots of the different fall colors to represent the leaves.

Now I will tell you that when I first did it, they were very bright, vibrant, bright colors.

They definitely dulled overnight after it dried. Now, they’re almost pearlized, I guess that’s probably the word I’m looking for.

Some of the colors actually ran together, but I think it was because it was on this dark construction paper.

So if you want them to stay bright like this, I would suggest using white construction paper or a brighter color.

It’s really a lot of fun. And you have a bonus! If it gets on clothes, it should just wash out.

I don’t THINK the food coloring would stain, but don’t quote me on that. Maybe it will.

So be careful with it, but keep in mind, it’s just glue.

What if you have glue eaters? Not that you want them to eat it, but of course, if they do, it’s non-toxic so that’s a good thing.

Students can customize their poems too. There are three blanks on this template. “So the leaves are perfect for blank, blank, and blank.”

They can do the writing and then design a picture with the glue after that.

This could also be fun for a Christmas project. Or just for an activity day/center.

Set it out there and let see what they come up with. Maybe birthday cards? Really anything that you have coming up.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s fun tip.”

In the video, I also mention two free poem templates, which you can grab below.  Have fun!

Click here to email your freebie

No matter what kind of fall crafts you choose to do in your classroom, they’re sure to be fun and engaging for kids of all ages.

So why not get creative this autumn and try some new projects? You might just discover a new favorite activity!

What will you use colored glue for in your classroom?  I would love to hear a comment below.

~Charity