Easy Parade Floats to Make for Kids

Working with children to create a finished project builds self-esteem and teamwork skills.

Constructing parade floats is a fun activity that helps celebrate a memorable experience or holiday. Making a float with children is an activity that teaches art appreciation and fuels activity. Parade floats can be constructed using inexpensive and safe materials. Ensure that children are supervised closely when making the float and refrain from using sharp or heavy tools.

School Spirit Theme

It's never to early to teach children the value of school or team spirit.

A great way to garner positive attention and enhance children's creativity is to build a float for their school spirit days. You can decorate the bed of a pickup truck with signs and banners written in the school's colors. Include pictures of the school mascot or, if available, have an adult dress up as the mascot and dance in the bed of the truck. Use an MP3 player or the truck radio to play crowd-pleasing songs that will hype up students.

Aqua Theme

A high quality printer can be used to print out large pictures of fish for the float.

Decorating a trailer bed, pulled by a larger vehicle, to resemble an ocean or body of water is an easy float theme to assemble. Cut out enough cardboard or poster board in a wave pattern to encompass the entire trailer bed. Paint the waves blue and use spray glue or duct tape to adhere the wave cut outs to the trailer. Pale blue plastic wrap can also be adhered to the trailer to enhance the waves. Kids can draw and paint large fish on sturdy paper to use on the float.

Pet Theme

Use materials, such as a dog mat, that you or a neighbor already owns to save money.

Kids love animals and a pet-themed float can be the hit of the parade. Construct a makeshift dog house out of two card board boxes, using one box as the base and the second as a roof. Use paint or markers to draw a door on the dog house. Use large stuffed animals around the float to complement the theme. A small plastic fence and grass add appeal to the pet theme, and playing fun songs about pets and animals will get the crowd roaring.

Character Theme

Decorate a trailer bed in metallic bedding material and fringe. Consult area businesses that specialize in parade materials, or check with party supply stores for supplies. Glue the sparkly bedding material to poster boards and use duct tape to adhere the boards to the trailer bed. Cover the entire bed with sparkly poster boards. This method makes for easy clean up and won't damage the trailer bed. Decorate the float with pinatas of popular TV show characters. Encourage float participants to dress up as their favorite cartoon characters.

References

• Valley Decorating; Float Ideas