With a lot of the traditional summer activities being adjusted to drive through events, kids can often feel like they don’t get to be actively involved. Graduations, birthday parties, movie nights, and even family weddings have transitioned to a car-based system for everyone’s safety. So, I came up with idea for these DIY Car Parade Wands. They are small, can fit in a glove box or backseat pocket, and are the perfect way to help kids feel more involved with the event!
Hello and good morning! Or good afternoon, or good evening! Wherever you are, I hope that you and your family are all doing well today. When I’m coming up with craft ideas to share with you, I always sit in my office and think “what is something that can make someone’s life better, bring new life to something old, or is just plain cute?” I think that’s today’s craft fits all three! Plus I can just about guarantee that you have all the supplies, or can find a functional substitute, already in your house! Let’s get started!
DIY Car Parade Wands
Supplies:
- Unsharpened pencil (short dowel rod works too)
- Felt (or construction paper, or cardboard + paint)
- Washi tape (or duct/duck tape, or masking tape + markers)
- Thin ribbon
- Cookie cutter (or other shape to trace)
- Scissors
- Pencil (to draw with)
- Hot glue gun or craft glue
Start by taking your cookie cutter, placing it on your felt, and tracing around it. Then to make sure the pieces match up, cut out your shape and then trace it on the felt again, and cut that one out too. Basically, you need two felt stars! Or hearts, or diamonds, or crowns, or footballs, or whatever shape your kids would love! Now go ahead and glue the two shapes together, making sure to leave a space open at the bottom of the shape that’s big enough to slide your pencil up into.
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See the space I left open? Make sure it’s a bit bigger than this, since we’re adding a few things to the pencil first. Now take your washi tape and wrap it around your pencil at a diagonal so it overlaps each layer. If your washi tape wants to come loose, because some tapes don’t always stick as well as others, go ahead and add a dot of glue at the top and bottom of the wraps. Now we’re going to cut some lengths of ribbon. Mine are quite a bit longer than my pencil, because you really just can’t have enough ribbon.
Glue to ribbons to the top of the pencil, around the metal part near the eraser. Then you’re going to put some more glue around the tops of the ribbons and the eraser, and then slide your felt shape onto the pencil.
Just like this! At this point you can also decorate the star with glitter, rhinestones, beads, or anything you’d like! I kept mine plain since I didn’t love the idea of glitter all over my car, but it’s always an option!
And you’re all done! I love that these are small and lightweight so they’re safer to have in the car, and can be stored away easily. Keep in mind that anything pointy in the car is a safety hazard, so only use these when the car is parked or moving at a parade speed! I hope you enjoy making these DIY Car Parade Wands with your kids!
