One of our favorite things to do when we were kids was catching fireflies on a warm night! This adorable summer bulletin board from the toddler teachers at All About Children brings a bit of that magic into the classroom, providing a fun decoration for your learning space as well as a cutesy craft that your kiddos are sure to enjoy!

Firefly Kids Craft

1. Download the firefly pattern, using it as a template to trace and cut the firefly cutouts, or printing it directly onto colored paper - yellow for the body and light blue or white for the wings. 2. Place a thin layer of glue on the firefly body, sprinkling glitter over it before it dries. The sample projects feature multicolored glitter, but you could also use one color like gold, silver, or iridescent white to make it look more like a firefly. 3. Cut a chenille stem into four equal pieces; select two sections and set the others aside. Twist one end of each piece around a pencil, creating a fun curl, then glue them to the top of the firefly body as antennae. 4. Create the firefly "head" by cutting and pasting a student's picture to the firefly cutout. The projects featured on the original bulletin board design included a tan construction paper "head" along with a student picture. You can decide whether to add the extra step or not.

Summer Firefly Bulletin Board

• Background: Black bulletin board paper.
• Title: "Our Fireflies Light Up Summer Nights!"
• Border: Summer or bug themed trimmer. You might also consider a complimentary solid color trimmer.
• Decoration: 1) The Fireflies. Use your students' creations! 2) The Accents. The original board featured yellow construction paper star cutouts covered in colored glitter, adding to the "fireflies in the night sky" theme. The creators also added a long, thin strip of fringed green bulletin board paper to create the illusion of fireflies dancing above the grass.

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UPDATE {July 18, 2011}:

Vicki Fernandes sent us a picture of her own firefly creation. Didn't it turn out spectacular?! It's always great to see how the ideas shared here, grow into new and exciting designs! :)

Thanks so much, Vicki!

~ Kayla