A few weeks ago we went freestyle crafting and ended making some crepe paper / toilet roll kite wands. My little boy loved how the crepe paper danced in the air and it had him running and dancing around like a wild child for ages. It was great fun, so I thought I would recreate a more robust version and see if it sparked the same joy and movement. As you can see the Rainbow Star Wand was a success and we got lots of imaginative play and movement from this colourful DIY wand.

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• Skill Level – Intermediate: Adults will need to cut the dowel and screw in the eye.
• Time to Make – 15 minutes making + endless fun playing

Making a Rainbow Star Wand

What You Will Need:

• Piece of Dowel (we used 60cm length and 1cm diametre)
• Screw eye (we used 23mm)
• Feathers (or other decorations)
• 4 or 5 Strips of Crepe Paper (assorted colours, 2.5cm in width)
• A Star (we used a wooden star)
• String
• Glue (for quicker results use a glue gun)

How to Assemble Your Rainbow Star Wand

1 – Prepare a piece of dowel, then at the top screw in a metal eye.

2 – Choose which glue you want to use, I used a glue gun, so it was pretty instant. Then I glued the star and feathers in place.

3 – Then cut some strips of crepe paper in various colours, I had 4 different colours for this wand. Then insert them through the eye and secure them with a piece of string.

4 – Then you are ready to get moving and dancing with your Star Rainbow Wand.

5 – You could go one step further and get your children to decorate their wands with paint, glitter, stickers or felt tips.

Mindful Movement

Doing mindful movement activities with children can help build up their mindfulness muscles developing focus, attention and self awareness. Plus, mindful movement with these star rainbow wands is actually really fun. 

Activity Ideas

You can easily prompt mindful movement in this activity, here are some ideas:

• Ask your kids to notice their breath and swish the wand about to the rhythm of their breath
• Encourage kids to use their senses as they move with the wand. What swirly patterns is the paper making? Is it making a sound in the air? What does the wand feel like in their hands?
• Get them to explore using their bodies. Running fast then slow, reaching their arms high and then low. Then maybe some freestyle dancing around.
• Check in after. How do their bodies feel? Do they have a smile on their faces? What was their favourite part?

Extending the Star Rainbow Wand Activity

• Storytime and Emotions: Read or watch a read aloud on youtube of My Many Coloured Days by Dr Suess and link the colours of the paper to emotions in the story. Use movement to act out the emotions.
• Music and Dancing: What about picking a fun song and creating a dance routine?
• Rainbow Breaths: Practice rocket ship breaths with our printable rocket breaths activity and pop the poster up in your calm corner to remind you of this fun, calming coping strategy.