Paper Flower Garden

In the summers in University I worked at a family centre and we would often do this style of project with the kids each week, hanging them up for the week-end celebration.  The sweetest part was the fact that following the celebration, many parents would ask to take it home to hang in their child’s room.

In the style of Eric Carle, we used paper and other embellishments to create a flowery banner for the school’s spring family dance.  This is a great project for collaboration.

Materials

• A large sheet of cardboard or a roll of kraft paper (Since the creation had lots of beads etc. and could potentially be quite heavy, we went with cardboard)
• White craft glue or a glue gun/glue
• Collage papers *
• Beads
• Tissue paper
• Ribbon
• Yarn
• Pom pom maker
• Scissors
• Fringing scissors (Optional)
• Circle punch or lids (or both!)
• Pencil, eraser
• Paper
• Mesh or other recyclables

* We will show you several ideas for making paper with the appearance of texture below.

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

Making Your Collage Paper

• Don your smock.  Below we show you several links to various methods for making papers with the appearance of texture (the link containing the steps is under the photograph).  You could also use artwork that you already have.  Just be sure to ask the child prior to cutting it up.  The kids usually separate their own pieces into those that they love and want to put away as keepsakes and those that are okay to use for another purpose.

http://make-it-your-own.com/roller-scrape-painting/

http://make-it-your-own.com/funnel-painting/

http://make-it-your-own.com/mesh-painting/

http://make-it-your-own.com/ribbon-roll-painting/

http://make-it-your-own.com/foaming-fun/

Assembling Your Collage

•  Cut out shapes for the centres of your flowers.  You could either do this free-hand or use a lid to trace and/or a circular punch.  The centres serve as a base for your petals.

• Cut out strips for the shapes of petals.  Our daughter liked to “shape” each strip into different petals whereas our son piled up the strips and used a more heavy duty pair of scissors to cut them all at once.  Folding the paper achieves the same result, without the need to hold the petals in place.

• As with any creative project, I always encourage the kids to cut out all the pieces, experiment with their placement and then glue to pieces together and/or down.  This tends to achieve a better approximation of their vision for something and allows them to re-work any elements that they may want to.

• If you want your flower petals to “pop out” from the page, consider folding them in half and making a fold near the bottom of the petal for gluing.

• Decorate your centres.  This may involve making yarn pom poms, gluing on store bought pom poms and/or beads and buttons- whatever you like and have.

• Glue your petals onto your centres.  You can do this by flipping your centre upside down and attaching the petals upside down.  Or if you like, cut another centre, glue the petals on right side up and then add your final, decorated centre to the top.

• Cut out your stems and leaves arranging them on the cardboard, gluing the flower on top.

• Combine patterned and plain paper to create contrast.

• Now to work on a welcome sign for the banner!

And how lovely is this: A classroom sent us the paper garden that they made and I particularly like the quote that they included:  Bloom Where You are Planted

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Purpose

• Learning how to create the appearance of texture with various tools and techniques.
• Creating pieces in the style of artists and/or illustrators.
• Recognizing seasonal changes (such as the emergence of flowers).
• Developing one’s fine motor skills (cutting, gluing etc.).
• Exploring patterns and symmetry (if you used these in attaching the beads in the centres for example).

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and direct adult supervision.  (Or use white craft glue as an alternative.)
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Beads, pom poms etc. can be a choking hazard therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.