Tinkering with plaster with children: five creative ideas

Handicrafts with children with plaster: Five creative > Reading time: 2 minutes

Working with plaster bandages is the easiest way to work with plaster. Plaster bandages are available in different sizes in the pharmacy and can be cut to size with scissors depending on the crafting project. All you need is a large bowl of water in which the plaster bandages are moistened.

Forms with plaster bandages

The workplace should be laid out with newspaper beforehand. Then you can wrap creatively according to your mood. Examples would be:

Plaster cast of body parts
Making a vase by wrapping an empty glass (You can decorate the vase before it dries by pressing in decorative materials such as glitter pearls, shells, small stones or simply pressing it in with your fingertip.)
wrap a soft toy and make a sculpture with it

It is recommended to use at least three layers of plaster bandage, so that the figure really stable becomes. After drying completely, which takes about two to three days, you can paint, glue or spray paint on the form.

Make your own plaster bandages

If you don’t have plaster bandages, you can easily make them yourself. Gauze bandages or the fabric of an old T-shirt can be used. Mix gypsum powder from the hardware store in a ratio of 1 part water to 3 parts gypsum, dip the material in the mass until it is completely covered and then use it like gypsum bandages. The only difference is that self-made plaster bandages cannot be processed as finely as finished bandages.

Make plaster pendants

Fill a shoebox lid with sand and smooth it out. Lightly press the cookie cutters into the sand. Mix gypsum mass from the hardware store in the ratio of one part water to two parts gypsum. Pour gypsum into the molds. Insert a wooden stick at the top for the hanging hole. Now wait until the plaster has dried and then paint the pendant. Or you wait until the plaster has hardened somewhat and then carve out contours or patterns in the figure. After drying completely, everything can be painted or varnished.

Make plaster reliefs and make plaster casts

Put the sand in a shoebox, smooth it out and moisten the sand so that it is easy to form. Now carefully with the Push your foot or hand into the sand. Mix gypsum in the ratio of one part water to two parts gypsum and pour it into the sand. Let it dry out and excess sand with a Remove the brush. If the plaster casts are to be hung up, a string must be pressed into the plaster before curing.

Make plaster figures

If you want to model with plaster, mix one part of the plaster with three parts of water. Then the gypsum mass can be processed similar to that of plasticine or like clay. Funny plaster figures can also be made by pouring plastic bottles.

To do this, stir only two parts of gypsum into one part of water, pour out the bottles (small beverage bottles, yoghurt cups or milk bottles) and remove with scissors after hardening. Afterwards, the figures can be painted in a funny way or covered with funny eyes, cotton wool or wool.

Design plaster pictures

Pour the gypsum mixture into an empty cardboard box (shoe box or cheese packaging) about three centimeters high and let it harden for two to three days. Then carefully tear down the cardboard. Now you can paint on the plasterboard with water colors. Or you can scratch outlines or patterns with a nail.

You can also create a picture with natural materials. To do this, press grasses, bark, dried berries or similar immediately after pouring. carefully into the gypsum mass and then let it harden.

Photo credit: warongdech / stock.adobe.com