Showing posts with label cutting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cutting. Show all posts

Tuesday, 4 August 2015

Flower crafts

This post should have appeared in May the latest when we finished our flower projects. Well, there are tons of flowers around us during the summer time so it's never too late to have a closer look at them.



Now I'd like to share  2 of our flower activities with you (later, in another post I'll write about some science experiment involving flowers)

1. Bottle cap flowers 

I've been collecting bottle tops for a long time and I've only had one or two good ways to use them, like the bottle cap calculator or the colour matching and size sorting activities.

What you need:

  • bottle caps of different colours
  • green straws
  • glue
  • cardboard
  • scissors (optional - not in the picture)

How to make it:

Show and explain your child the different (basic) parts of a flower. E. had already known these parts so E. named them as I put together a flower.

we didn't go under the ground so no roots



Then we both started to work on our flowers. We were talking about what colour petals we chose or if our stem was long or short, if the flower had leaves or not.



E. used the scissors herself to cut the stems.





E.'s pic
Although not in our pictures, we also mentioned that a seed (Can you see in E.' picture the tiny seed on the ground on the left side? It was totally her idea) should go to the ground and with the help of water and sunshine it grows into a flower (hence the watering can on E.'s picture and the sun in mine)






Mommy's pic


This is just the first step on parts of a flower. We'll expand the topic later on. I'm planning to prepare some flashcards and worksheets on more detailed explanation on flower parts.

2. Paper plate flower - a goodbye present

E. has said goodbye to her créche teachers and started kindergarten in July. We prepared these paper plate flowers as part of her goodbye presents. (You can find the original idea through the link)


What you need:


  • paper plates (we used 3 for 3 flowers)
  • crepe paper of different colours
  • Popsicle sticks 
  • green paint
  • glue 
  • cello-tape (optional)
  • markers

How to make it:

Cut out flower petal shapes of the plates. First, I drew the lines on the paper plate then I started cutting.

As I know E. has no patience to do long tasks I decided to direct her attention on coloured letters written on the paper plate. The letters showed her where to stick which colour. Her focus was much better in this way.

I also wrote Thank you! in the middle and letters of her name she could trace.

I cut up the colourful crepe paper into small pieces beforehand. We ran out of them on the way so she wanted to cut more crepe paper herself. 


Cutting practice

This was a great way to relax a little bit as there's lengthy gluing involved.

Pinching the crepe pieces


just a dab of glue


A goodbye flower for Bea néni

Finally, we painted the popsicle sticks and glued them on the back of the flowers. (I fixed them with cello-tape just to be on the safe side.)

We did this projects in two goes as it was tiring and long-winding.
E. was still enthusiastic, even at the second round.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of all the three flowers so here is what we made for Ms K.


Needless to say, they were all over the moon when they received their presents.
Have you done some flower crafts or projects lately? Do not hesitate to share it in the comments below.


To be continued.... with a flower science experiment. Stay tuned!



Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Our First St. Patrick's Day - the Irish flag and symbols

Last year we didn't celebrate St. Patrick's day as a Hungarian national holiday (March 15) is very close  to it. This year I decided to celebrate both with some fun activities as E. can take more.



Irish Flag

First, we talked a little about Ireland. We took a look at the Picture Atlas E. likes so much. She pointed at the flag and the capital. We also talked about what animals she could see there on the island. (I also mentioned to her that I lived there for a while but she was totally unimpressed)








Then we went on to the flag. She got excited as soon as she saw the colourful stickers. I made the flag and I found some price tag stickers in a One Euro shop.




She immediately started to do the sticking saying: - G is for green and the Os are for orange.
At first she didn't understand what she would stick on the white part of the flag. She was a little disappointed when I told her to leave it white and there would be no sticking in the middle.






Some white parts are left among the stickers so it gave us a great chance to colour that E. doesn't like that much. I made sure that she needed to practise a little sharpening too.




She was really happy when she finished colouring. I must admit I had to help her a bit.



However, she proudly stuck it on our living-room door.




St. Patrick's Day Cutting Practice via Welcome to Mummyhood

Using scissors is a new skill we've been trying to practise lately.



I had a very easy task with this: print and cut. I just needed to sit back and watch my daughter focus really hard on cutting along the lines.




Of course, we discussed what the things are in the pictures (pot of gold, rainbow, shamrock). I really hope that the book about the leprechaun (that I'd ordered via bookdepository.com with free delivery) will arrive before or on St. Patrick's Day.



Mosaic paper shamrock (via Happiness Is Homemade)

I myself drew and cut out a shamrock of cardboard that I found at home. I would have been better off with green construction paper or cardstock and a template, but the result was okay.


I also prepared cut-up pieces of all kinds of green paper (old wrapping paper, leftover construction and scrapbook paper etc). If you have an older child you can do the cutting together. Mine turns 3 in May so I decided on cutting the squares myself.

When she saw the layout she was delighted. She could stick all day.



You can also use glue stick that dries clear but I like the idea of E. using her hand muscles when squeezing the liquid glue bottle.



Final results: the left one is mine the right one is E.'s


 As in the morning we were drying Rabbit's hair (-pretend play I'll write about later) the hairdryer came handy to dry excess glue.


Before sticking them on our living-room door I turned the shamrocks upside down and trimmed off the overhanging edges.


Was it fun? ;)


More to come in the next post:

  • Rainbow name puzzle
  • More shamrock sticking out of heart and triangle shapes
  • Book review on St. Patrick and the Leprechaun
  • St. Patrick's Day Patterning

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