Giant Paper Poppy

We really enjoyed making these Giant Paper Poppy Flower Decorations. This is where we found the template and watched a video of how it's done. The video is really quick though. So I took some photos to show you some of the steps.

I decided to print the template out at half
the original size so that we only needed
two sheets of paper for each flower.

We used chopsticks to help us form the folds. This is quite
tricky for little fingers. But Ruth did a great job of
cutting her petals out. Excellent fine motor and scissor practice.

Use a glue gun to make a cup with three of the petals and then add the remaining 4 around the outside.

Add the middle and a stem and there you have it.

Tissue Paper Flowers

Cut rectangles in the tissue paper about the size of an A4 page (cut this in half top to bottom for the smaller flowers).
Take 8 to 10 sheets (6 to 8 for the small ones).
Accordion fold.











Tie the middle with a twist tie.
Trim the edges so that they are more rounded (for the edge of the petals).



Open each side out.
Put the colour that you planned for the inside of the flower on top.














Start unfolding the paper one layer at a time. Work carefully as the paper is thin and can tear easily.
Pull the paper nicely to the middle to for a rounded shape and then continue through all layers.










You will get different effects depending on how small your folds are, how you trim the edges and how many sheets you have used.

They look lovely on the table. Stems could be added and then could be put in a vase. I threaded them onto cotton and hung them up. The girls are thrilled.

House item flowers

We started off with basic flowers made from coloured lolly pop sticks and cup cakes. But then the creative juices started going. How can we spice it up with things around the house.
Green coloured pasta could work nicely for the grass.

We glued small yellow cupcake shells to the top of milk bottle lids and added those to the centre of the flower.

I then cut up some tins and we created some pretty butterflies. I used a glitter glue in my glue gun to make their bodies and poked small pieces of wire in while wet for the feelers. Some blobs of glue and glitter on the wings where the final touches.

A good lesson on looking around you and noticing all the different colours and shapes that you will find.

Spring leaves

The texture that was created by using the sponge to paint the sky was really great.

Then the girls picked some long grass to use as their "brush" to pain the grass.

We started with a really thick brush for the trunk of the tree.

And worked our way through the different size brushes to create all the branches.

The next day I made a small leaf potato stamp and we added just a few small leaves.

It helps having more than one stamp if you have more than one child wanting to paint.

We also headed outside to look up close at the small leaves starting to grow on the trees.

The next day we made a bigger leaf stamp and added just a few more leaves.

The next day we made our green paint thicker by adding some finger paint. We used a brush to put the paint onto the potato each time....

and got some lovely dark stamps.

We had a great time watching our tree go through it's spring change.

Our inspiration was watching the wonderful transformation on some of the trees in our garden.

Just beautiful to see how these leaves start out, all folded up and then open out and grow so big.

Blossom hand trees

Day 1 - Use old toothbrushes and spray blue paint for the sky.

(Optional extra: When you tell Dad that you pained with toothbrushes today, tease him and tell him you used his. :D)

Day 2 - Paint brown paint onto the child's hand and a little way up their arm. Ask them to open their fingers wide and make a print for your tree.
Use a paintbrush to touch them up.

Day 3 - Place some green paint on a small plate and use their toes to make prints for grass.

Day 4 - Make pink popcorn and glue onto your trees.
I added some pink food colouring to the melted butter which I flicked onto the popcorn using my pastry brush. This way you get to eat the left overs. :D

Lovely trees full of blossoms.

A field of daffodils

Day 1 - finger paint the sky.
Day 2 - Add grass. We have some shaped tools that scraped nice lines.
Looking really good.
Day 3 - cut up an egg carton and colour yellow. I mixed my paint really watery and the girls took turns dipping each "flower" into the pain.

Day 4 - fingerpaint some ice scream sticks for the stems.

And older child may like to add some extra colour. We were given such beautiful daffodils which had lovely bits of orange on. So that was our inspiration.

Day 5 - glue the stems and flowers on.

Spring Song

Springtime Song
(Tune: Did you ever see a Lassie?)

My eyes can see it springtime, it's springtime, its springtime.
My eyes can see it springtime, the grass is so green!
The green grass, the flowers, the sunshine and showers.
My eyes can see it's springtime, and I am so glad.

My ears can hear its springtime, its spring time, its springtime.
My ears can hears its springtime, the birds sweetly sing.
The birds sing, the lambs bleat the frogs croak, the bees buzz.
My ears can hear it's springtime, and I am so glad!

My body can feel its springtime, it's springtime, it's springtime.
My body can feel it's springtime, the air is so warm.
The warm air, the breezes, no frost and no freezes.
My body can feel it's springtime, and I am so glad

Beautiful spring garden

On your first two days you can create this scene.

Use small bubble wrap, paint with blue paint and after a little while rub the paint with a tissue (this helps it dry and attach onto the plastic).

Cut out grass, a house and if you have a flower punch you can add some coloured flowers to the garden.

Add some fluffy clouds.

Day 3 - use a brown felt tip pen to colour in a ice scream stick.

Day 4 - Cut small squares of tissue, crinkle each square into a little ball and glue onto the tree. I found double sided tape worked well.

Day 5 - add a sun (glue with glitter) and a rainbow (I had small coloured sticks).