In the manufacture of crafts made from natural material, shells from nuts are often used. In our country, most products are made from walnuts, but it is much more efficient to use pistachio shells. It consists of two halves of a smooth and rounded shape. Almost all nuts have a standard uniform shell size. This is used by masters in the manufacture of petals, leaves, etc.
In the article, we will consider several options for crafts from a pistachio shell that can be used by preschool children, start with the simplest one and gradually move on to more complex works for older preschoolers.
Turtles for babies
In order to make such cute turtles, you need to have a shell from a walnut and pistachios, as well as plasticine for fastening parts together. First, one half of the walnut is taken and a plasticine ball is inserted into the middle. Then paws and a head of pistachios are attached.
They are simply pressed into plasticine. On the head are attached eyes made of plasticine in white and black. On the shell of turtles, dots are drawn with gouache paints. This craftsmanship from a pistachio shell can be given as a task for children of the younger group in a lesson in fine art. Children, after listening to the teacher’s explanation, are able to do this craft on their own.
Flowers
Pistachio shells can be used for flower arrangements, where the petals and leaves are all the same size. This craftsmanship from a pistachio shell in the photo below belongs to an older child, but children of the middle group of kindergarten can do it too. To do this, you just need to draw twigs and mark the middle of the flowers. This can be done by the teacher, giving the children already prepared sheets of paper.
The middle can be made of plasticine balls, flattened in place on the branches. On the PVA glue, petals are applied around the middle, painted in different colors. One flower is yellow, the other is red, the third is purple. On the line of green twigs, which can simply be drawn with a marker, glued the shells of pistachios, painted in green.
In the photo, the branches of such a craft made of pistachio shells are made of quilling strips. Now this technique is very popular, but young children will not be able to lay out and properly paste such curls. But around the painted stalk, even the kids can glue the shells. Also, the petals can be attached using plasticine.
Voluminous flowers
Before doing such crafts from a pistachio shell with your own hands, you need to color each of them from two sides. If schoolchildren do the work, then you can also varnish. Then the paint will not get dirty, and the petals will shine beautifully.
A cardboard circle is cut out and gluing of the shells on the outside of the circle begins. The second layer is attached already in the middle. There, each shell is glued to the rib. The next layer sits on the previous one from above. A flower that has layers of petals of different colors looks beautiful. For the middle, it is better to take bright shades - red, orange or yellow.
Fish
Such a craft from a pistachio shell is performed on a prepared sheet of paper. First, a background picture is drawn: the blue water of the sea or an aquarium, the bottom, algae, the contour of the fish itself. Then they attach pistachio shells to the PVA glue, observing the boundaries of the fish contour. They should fill the entire surface, be at close range so that there are practically no voids.
Then, when the work has dried well, you can paint the marine life with gouache paints with a thin brush, while trying not to get out of the edges of the picture.
Peacock
This is the most difficult of all the pistachio shell crafts for children presented in the article. First you need to draw a background on a piece of paper. This is a peacock - the head, neck and torso of a bird. A bright peacock tail is made from pistachio shells, consisting of separate multi-colored sectors.
Each shell can be pre-painted and allowed to dry, but it can also be drawn on paper after gluing. Just need to paint carefully, trying not to get the background image dirty. Between sectors, you can mix two colors on one layer at once to make a smooth transition from one to another.
Pistachio shells are a fertile material for crafts. With their help, both children and adults and talented craftsmen can make products. Try it and you will succeed.