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3-D Nutcrackers

3-D Nutcrackers

This is a colorful winter holiday season project that explores ballet and puppetry.
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Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Colors of the World Washable Markers
  • Recycled Cardboard Box
  • Washable Markers
  • Washable No Run School Glue

Steps

  • Step 1

    Introduce The Nutcracker ballet by watching a snippet of a performance or through a book such as The Nutcracker Ballet Book by K.A. Devlin. Discuss the characters, plot and setting of the ballet.

  • Step 2

    Have students sketch a design of their own nutcracker on paper. Then have them create the design in 3-D on a recycled box and decorate it using craft odds and ends.

  • Step 3

    Create and present a puppet show ballet using the students' nutcrackers.

Standards

Arts: Describe what an image or performance represents.

Arts: Apply knowledge of available resources, tools, and technologies to investigate personal ideas through the artmaking and performance process.

SS: Culture: through experience, observation, and reflection, identify elements of culture as well as similarities and differences among cultural groups across time and place.

SS: Individual Development and Identity: Explore, identify and analyze how individuals and groups are alike and how they are unique and how they relate to each other in supportive and collaborative ways.

Adaptations

Watch performances of other winter holiday's classic stories and the characters, plots, and settings of used in those dances, plays, or videos.

Compare and contrast how various winter holidays represent their cultural connections.

Conduct research on various winter holiday's traditional gifts, toys, foods and dances and music.