ANZAC Day Craft Ideas

Looking for a meaningful way to engage kids in learning about ANZAC Day? Crafts are a fun and creative way to explore this important day of remembrance. Below are some easy and engaging ANZAC Day craft activities that are perfect for children of all ages. These crafts will allow them to express their creativity while learning about the significance of the ANZAC Day and the story of the red poppy.

HANDY ANZAC WREATHS!

You will need:

• Up to 20 paper plates
• Some green card or paper (or collect real leaves or greenery that can be glued)
• Glue stick or glue and brush + scissors
• Red and black paint + paint brushes

Method:

Cut the centre out of one paper plate – this will make a donut shaped template to stick your poppy hands and leaves onto. Generously paint your hand red and print it into the middle of a paper plate. Repeat for as many ‘poppies’ as you’d like (we made about 14). Pop black dots in the middle of the palm print, representing poppies. Allow them to dry and then cut out the hand prints. Draw and cut some green card for leaves, or collect some leaves or greenery from out doors. Glue the hand prints and leaves around the donut template to create yoru wreath. Hang it on the wall, your door ot fence, or take it to place at your local war memorial.

POOL NOODLE POPPIES!

You will need:

• A little piece of pool noodle
• Red, Black and Green paint
• White paper, card stock, cardboard or canvas
• Leaves

Method:

So simple! Dip the noodle into the red paint and print your poppies wherever you like. Next, paint the back of a leaf in green and print the leaf sporadically in between the poppies. Last, have your child dip their fingers in the black paint and fill in the middle of each poppy! Voila! A beautiful artwork to pop out the front of your house for ANZAC Day.

PAPER PLATE POPPIES

You will need:

• Paper plates
• Red and Black paint
• Scissors
• Pool Noodle/fingers

Method:

Get a big person to cut four triangle shapes around the plate. Fill in the entire plate with red paint, and then either use a spare pool noodle piece or fingers to print the idle with black!

These can be stuck to a stick, or wooden spoon and stuck out in the lawn to create our own memorial gardens.

MINI MEDALS

You will need:

• Paper plates/cardboard
• Oil pastels/crayons/paint/pencils/textas (or a mixture of all)
• Scissors
• Sticky Tape
• Coloured Card

Method:

Draw a variety of medal shapes in the centre of the paper plate. Get your child to colour or decorate each medal. Cut each coloured medal out. Get your child to decorate the piece of card you will attach the medal to. Stick the medal to the card. We then used some streamers we had lying around to be able to wear them or you could use a safety pin.

Extension Ideas: If you have school aged children you could take each of these activities further by having them research ANZAC Day. You could literally cover each curriculum area just with this one subject.

Maths – research the number of soldiers etc…
Science – look at the terrain and environment they were in, how did it affect their health?
Art – What wartime posters were created and why? Can you design one too?
HASS – What dates did the war commence and end. Where was it? What countries were involved?

There are many resources you can find online, from poppy templates to hundreds of other art ideas. There are some great ones for creating wreathes from garden cuttings and door decorations, making poppies from egg cartons.

We hope you and your loved ones enjoy commemorating ANZAC Day, to pass down the importance of it to our kids is something we can all be proud of this year, even if we can’t get to our local RSL. We will all be there in the spirit.