Its nice when kids can express their creativity, but at the same time, it doesnt cost you much! Theres a really fun project theyll enjoy as a springtime craft that will cost little but produce beautiful, colorful flowers for vases and for decorating. If you have drinking straws around the house you probably have everything you need to start the kids making a huge assortment of the flowers.
There are several different ways to make the stems for the flowers. If you happen to have green floral tape thats ideal. If not cover the straws in green felt or fabric. You can glue the fabric on or just use tape. Or, use green spray paint (suitable for plastics) to create the stems. After the straw has been covered cut it into several pieces. Various lengths of the straw work best rather than cutting them all the same length. Each straw piece will become the stem for one flower.
Now youll decide on what types of things youll use to make the flowers. Your house is probably full of things you can use. If you want no-cost flowers cut up plastic grocery bags. If you want flowers that cost little use pieces of wrapping paper, foil, paper towels, or even coffee filters. Each one will create flowers that look much different than the others. Mix and match them or create a vase of flowers that all look alike. Just as you cut the straws to different lengths, so that the flowers arent all the exact same height, youll cut the plastic bags in different manners so that the flowers look different from each other. Cut circles, squares or even diamond shapes. Cut small ones and even larger ones. Combine different papers, shapes and sizes to create a multitude of flowers. Push the straw pieces into a Styrofoam shape then begin attaching the heads of the flowers. Search for an implement around the house that you can use to stuff the plastic or paper into the top opening of the straw. A dull pencil is perfect but you can also use a craft stick, small twig or something similar. Position the center of the circle over the opening of the straw and push it into the hole. The more of the circle you push into the straw the smaller the flower will become. Cut small circles and push them in deep to create tiny flowers. Cut small circles but dont push them in deep and youll have somewhat larger flowers. Cut large circles, push them in deep, and create even larger flowers. Cut felt leaves to glue to the stems. Or, use silk leaves from an old fake plant you used to display. Use scissors that add decorative edges and youll create an even larger variety of the flowers. Childrens varieties of these scissors can often be purchased at dollar-theme stores. Try the different edges with circular and square plastic or paper pieces. When using diamond shapes stack two together, one vertically and one horizontally, then push them into the straw. Make really unique flowers by using unique papers. For example, you can make fabulous flowers by cutting circles from candy bar wrappers. Other unique materials include plastic wrap, cellophane, pieces from gift bags, or even scraps of fabric. Glue buttons or other embellishments to the centers of the flowers. Shank buttons are perfect. The shank is generally small enough so that it can easily be pushed into the center. Put some hot glue on the back of the button and push the shank into the hole, on top of the paper. Or, glue on a fake jewel, bead, marble, or sequin. Create a totally glitzy look by spraying glue in the center of the flower then sprinkling on some glitter. Use what you have around the house to decorate the flowers or go all-out and let kids choose from dozens of embellishments. Arrange the flowers in vases, place them in with other potted plants or just glue the handmade flowers onto hair bows, picture frames and more. Surprise the kids today by laying out everything they need to start making the flowers. Theyll have hours of creative fun and youll love displaying the flowers theyve made. In fact, youll love displaying the flowers youve made; you wont be able to resist th
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