[For Upper Elementary Students] Simple but Awesome! A Collection of Summer Vacation Craft Ideas
Summer vacation crafts—especially for older elementary students—can feel like a dilemma: “Simple projects aren’t satisfying,” but “overly difficult ones are a problem,” too, right? The truth is, by getting creative with materials and tools, you can make projects that look and function like the real deal.
Here, we’re sharing craft ideas—like coin banks, motor-based projects, and food replicas—that will make your friends say, “Wow!” They’re simple to build, yet fun to use even after they’re finished.
Use these as inspiration and add your own twists to create an original masterpiece!
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[For Upper Elementary Students] Simple but Amazing! Summer Vacation Craft Ideas (61–70)
house
If you’re looking to make something that will wow everyone for your summer vacation craft project, a model house is a great choice.
You build it by repeatedly combining cut wooden chopsticks.
It may take time and effort, but if you want to tackle a big project over the long summer break, give it a try! Another nice point is that you can add your own personal touches.
It would be wonderful to create a house with a unique, original design, or one that you’d love to live in yourself.
Making instruments with a plastic wrap core
Let’s make a Chilean instrument that sounds like rain using a plastic wrap core! First, mark a bunch of toothpicks at the length of the wrap core so they match its length.
Next, cut the wrap core in a spiral.
Glue the cut toothpicks along the spiral using wood glue or similar adhesive.
Once you return the spiraled core to its original shape, seal the openings with duct tape.
Put in grains like mixed grains, different sizes of rice, beads, or beans.
After you cap it, your Chilean instrument, the rainstick, is complete!
Making instruments with a plastic wrap core
Let’s make a Chilean instrument that sounds like rain using a plastic wrap core! First, mark a bunch of toothpicks at the length of the wrap core so they match its length.
Next, cut the wrap core in a spiral.
Glue the cut toothpicks along the spiral using wood glue or similar adhesive.
Once you return the spiraled core to its original shape, seal the openings with duct tape.
Put in grains like mixed grains, different sizes of rice, beads, or beans.
After you cap it, your Chilean instrument, the rainstick, is complete!
Ferris wheel made of disposable chopsticks
How about making a miniature Ferris wheel using disposable chopsticks and cardboard? All you need are a hot glue gun and scissors.
The process is simply gluing chopsticks together into the shape of a Ferris wheel, so there aren’t any difficult steps—if you stick with it, you’ll end up with an easy, great-looking miniature Ferris wheel! Plus, with a little ingenuity for the central axle, you can actually make it spin.
It’s recommended for those who want to quietly focus on crafting without dealing with complicated steps.
Easy! A chopstick rubber band gun that can even use hair ties
This rubber band gun made from disposable chopsticks is very simple—you just bundle the chopsticks together and fasten them with rubber bands.
First, stack four chopsticks and secure them in two places with rubber bands.
To catch the rubber band that will serve as the projectile, leave the top and bottom sticks of the four sticking out a bit longer.
Attach a clothespin together with the topmost rubber band at the rear.
The rubber band projectile is gripped by both the clothespin and the chopsticks; when you pull the clothespin, the band shoots out.
Try using a hair tie as the projectile—it won’t hurt much even if it hits you.
A three-step chopstick rubber-band gun
This is a chopstick rubber-band gun that you can make with a simple procedure: use chopsticks as the base and attach a clothespin with a rubber band.
Insert the metal part of the clothespin into the gap between the chopsticks, then secure the clothespin in that position with a rubber band.
After that, to keep the chopsticks from spreading apart, wrap a rubber band around the tips of the chopsticks, and it’s done.
The mechanism is that you launch a rubber band stretched from the tip by opening and closing the clothespin.
The appeal is that you can make a chopstick rubber-band gun easily with only a few materials.
A chopstick rubber-band gun modeled after a handgun
This rubber band gun, reminiscent of a handgun, looks impressively realistic and cool.
And it’s not just the appearance—its structure is quite complex, too.
It’s made by combining many parts, and the mechanism that moves the trigger in particular is remarkable.
At the same time, the process involves only cutting and shaving chopsticks and gluing them together, so with patience you should be able to complete it.
If you’re willing to put in a bit of effort to create a rubber band gun that looks great and is fun to play with, definitely give it a try.