Sort the 10 craft sticks. Because the sticks are being painted with kid-friendly watercolor or tempera paint, you want to make sure all 10 sticks are close to each other in color. Also check to make sure the sticks are not warped, so they lie nice and flat next to each other.
Arrange the 10 craft sticks vertically next to each other.
Take your cardboard piece and apply glue to one side of it. Flip this onto the craft sticks. Use a ruler or the jumbo stick as a level to make sure all 10 sticks are nice and tight to each other and straight. It will take just a couple minutes for the glue to set.
Flip the glued-together craft sticks over. brush glue onto the jumbo craft stick, leaving about 1/2” of each end with no glue. Flip this stick over and position across the bottom part of the glued-together craft sticks. It will take a couple minutes for the glue to set.
Paint the entire hat green. If you prefer, you can have kids use green markers but the effect will be a little streaky. I recommend paint if possible. The paint will sink into the sticks pretty quickly and you can add a second coat. Let dry (or speed dry with a hair dryer).
While the paint is drying, cut your 4x1 1/4” black foam strips for the hat band. Make the yellow buckle by creating a square out of the strips of yellow foam in the center of the black foam strip. Peel/stick the yellow pieces down, then peel/stick the black foam strip down onto the craft sticks, right above the jumbo stick.
Add glitter glue accents if you want! If adding these, be sure to add on a hour more for drying. Do not try to dry with a hair dryer as it will cause the glitter glue to run.
Expert Tips & FAQs
If you are prepping steps ahead of time, give yourself 20+ minutes depending on the number of projects you are prepping (see notes below).
To speed drying of paint, use a hairdryer.
If you don’t have craft foam, you can use black and yellow construction paper
If you prefer, you can use water base green markers to color the craft sticks. Once the kids have colored the craft sticks with the markers, have then “paint” over the marker with water which will help blend the marker and soften the marker lines.
I used light green paint. If you don’t have light green, you can mix a little yellow into your green paint or mix your own green by adding yellow and blue paints together until you get the color you want.
Magnet:
Add 1-2 strong 1”self adhesive magnets to the back of each hat.
Standing Hat Decoration: Make a cardboard easel:
Cut a 5x 3/12” shape out of thin cardboard.
Make 2 folds so the cardboard is divided into 3 sections: 1 3/4”, 1 1/4”, 1 3/4.” Burnish the folds down with the edge of a pencil so they are as flat as possible.
Apply a thin layer of glue to the center (1 1/4”) section and press this into the center of the back of the hat, lining up with the bottom edge.