Clothespin Menorah

I think clothespins are one of the best “tools” for craft and learning activities.  With Hanukkah nearing, I thought a menorah made from clothespins would be a really neat idea. So, I  grabbed a handful of clothespins I had left from CraftProjectIdeas.com and set out to make one. Here is what I did.

Materials:

• paints
• paintbrushes
• 9 clothespins
• gold foil paper
• hot glue
• craft paper of your choice
• scissors

How to Make the Candles:

Select 9 clothespins and have your children paint them. I found that using more paint and more than one color looks best. For easy (and less messy) painting, clip the clothespins to the edge of a cardboard box lid.

Leave the clips where they are and allow them to dry completely.

While the clothespins are drying, cut out 9 flames from the gold foil.

Line the clothespins up and warm up the hot glue gun.

Attach one flame to each clothespin candle with the hot glue. The candles are now done.

How to Make the Menorah:

You can really use just about anything to be the Menorah. I wanted something a little more fancy, so I chose some sparkly blue paper I purchased at Joann’s.  I folded the paper in half one time. Then folded the bottom of each half again (much smaller fold this time) and hot glued the ends into place. This makes the paper stand up and creates the base for the Menorah.

(This is a view of the bottom of the Menorah)

I then needed to create a place for the Shamash or helper candle. This candle is used to light all the other candles and should always be higher than the others. I took a small piece of the blue paper and folded it in half.

I then attached the small fold of paper to the center of the Menorah with the hot glue gun creating a raised area for the Shamash candle.

Finally, we put the candles on the Menorah.  Now, when Hanukkah arrives my kids can “light” their own Menorah without any worries!

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