Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Grass Hair and Tissue Paper flowers

You will need:
Containers (pots, cups)
Soil, grass seed Craft materials (such as wiggly eyes, paint, markers) to decorate a face on the front of containers


Talk about how the children can grow grass "hair."

Decorate your pots and give them names.

Next, prepare to plant by scooping soil into containers (count the scoops!) and adding grass seed (cover with a light layer of soil). Water (mist) and place near a window.
Children will learn:
How to care for something,
To observe, measure, and chart the growth of seed to grass
Count how many days it takes to grow the grass hair.
Your child can develop their fine motor skills by cutting the grass hair
(this would be a good opportunity to discuss not cutting their own hair or their friends)


Seed art:
Glue a bean on the bottom of a sheet of paper and have the child draw what they think will come out of it. Then plant a bean and watch to see how true the drawing is. Again you can keep a journal and count how many days it takes until the bean starts to sprout. You can also let the child draw a picture of what it actually looks like each day.



Tissue Paper Flowers. Kids of all ages enjoy this fun craft!
Make a paper garden with tissue flowers & pipe cleaner stems .

Directions for Tissue paper flowers

Supplies:1 package of multicolored tissue or crepe paper

1 package of green pipe cleaners.

Scissors

Take four to five sheets of the tissue paper and layer them (if you want multicolored flowers, use different colors).

Cut into 8-inch squares.

Keeping the sheets layered, take one set of squares and fold it like an accordion so it looks like a thin rectangle.

At the center of the rectangle, cut a small v-shaped notch on both sides.

Take the end of a pipe cleaner and twist it around the notch.

With the stem pointing straight down, gently pull up one layer of tissue into the center.

Pull up the remaining layers, one by one.

Repeat for the other side of the flower.

Once all the layers are pulled up, fluff them in place to look natural.

Continue making more flowers with the remaining stacks of squares.

Tips and variations:

For sturdier stems, wrap two pipe cleaners together.

Cut smaller or larger squares to change the size of your flowers.

Add more layers for thicker flowers or less layers for thinner ones.

For a shiny effect, dip the top edges in white glue and then dip in loose glitter.

Make smaller flowers and string them together as garland.

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