by jenni on March 10, 2010
I loved playing with pinwheels when I was younger. This was a great craft where I got to combine my love of both flowers and pinwheels by making these great daffodils. They are easy to make and make great decorations for the upcoming Spring.
Materials Needed:
- Paper
- Something to color with
- Pencil with eraser at the end (unsharpened is best, I think)
- Push pin or straight pin
- A small bead (like a pony bead)
- Green paint
Instructions:
- Paint your pencil green so it looks like the stem of a flower.
- Print off this handy template that we used
- Take the circle and crimp it along the lines to make an orange cup shape.
- Fold the rectangular template piece on the dotted line to make a square decorated on both sides
- Glue the square together so you have a square decorated on both sides
- Cut on the diagonal dotted lines (don’t cut all the way into the middle).
- Bend each corner to the center dot, but don’t crease your folds.
- Place the cup in the middle of the pinwheel.
- Push a pin through the center into the eraser of a pencil (don’t push it super tight)put a bead in between the eraser and the paper … some people find it spins a bit better this way… I’ve never noticed the difference (maybe it’s the type of pencil eraser? I use fresh, unsharpened school pencils)
- Place it in a vase or pot and decorate your springtime table.
by vernons on March 9, 2010
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by jenni on March 8, 2010
Flowers are going to start blooming anytime now. With the great weather that everyone has been getting it will be no time before the beauties of Spring are here. I love flowers and I love to make flower crafts. This is just another great one that only takes simple things that most people have in their homes already.
Materials Needed:
- Coffee filter
- Washable markers (we used crayola brand)
- Squirt bottle or small glass of water
- Green pipe cleaner (brown or black would be ok too, but green is best)
Instructions:
- Flatten out a coffee filter on a plate. Scribble the filter with washable markers. We drew circles around with the markers, but you can just scribble blocks of color instead if you prefer.
- Use a squirt bottle to spray the coffee filter 2 or 3 times.
- I like to squirt right in the center of the filter and then sit and watch the water wick the colors over the filter (this takes 4 or 5 minutes)
- Young children will tend to over wet the filter… the project still works, but it won’t turn out quite as pretty (the colors tend to blend too much if you soak the filter) To help prevent this, encourage them to squirt it just once in the middle and watch for a bit for so they can see the process unfold. You can always add more water later if it doesn’t get wet all the way to the edge after 5 minutes or so.
- Let dry (this takes about 1/2 an hour, but will take longer if the filter has been soaked by an over-zealous crafter!) Cut 2 or 3 inches off your pipe cleaner and set this short piece aside.
- Poke the end of the pipe cleaner through the center of the coffee filter (it does not have to be exactly the center). Roll about an inch of the pipe cleaner end into a tight ball so the coffee filter won’t fall off the pipe cleaner Scrunch the coffee filter around the end of the pipe cleaner.
- Wrap the short piece of pipe cleaner you cut off earlier around the coffee filter/pipe cleaner to hold them together, ‘plant’ your flower in a small vase, terra cotta pot or paper cup (a little plasticine in the bottom of a small pot or cup will hold the flower upright… add a bit of green tissue paper or Easter basket grass to fill the pot or cup) Or… attach your flower to the front of a card or gift to decorate it. You can even make a big bouquet of them and use it during dress up playtime!