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This activity makes a lovely, colourful LARGE flower (25cm/10" across) that can be hung up with a pretty ribbon, or even stuck onto some card as a collage (perhaps make a colourful 2D plant for it?). This activity is suitable for 4-5 years and older (a bit fiddly for younger ones, though they could possibly manage with lots of adult help and supervision).
For this activity you will need the following:
Tissue paper of various colours large enough that you can cut into petal shapes at least 12x8 cm; coloured pipe cleaners (fuzzy bendy wire), the longer ones if possible; sticky tape and glue sticks; scissors.
OPTIONAL EXTRAS: ribbons (one for each flower) and feathers (one for each petal).
Instructions:
1. Take a pipe cleaner and slowly curl it in on itself like a snail shell. This will form a disc that will become the flower centre. Twist the end round the outer edge once or twice to secure it and to stop it coming apart once you start adding the petals.
2. Then make a petal 'frame'. Take another pipe cleaner, bend round in the middle and cross the ends over [see the blue pipe cleaner in the picture below]. Then twist the ends round to secure the petal shape [see the pink petal in the picture]
3. Now attach the petal frame to the flower centre. Wrap the twisted end of each petal shape round the outer edge of the flower spiral centre. If you twist up and through the petal [see the left hand picture below] and round and back down again (rather than twisting to the side of the petal) this will give you a more secure hold.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have petals all the way round your flower. Be careful to leave space between each one so that they will lie flat next to each other. If your petals seem a little floppy, check that you have secured them all tightly, but also be aware that once the flower is finished that it stiffens up quite a bit.
5. OPTIONAL: If you have feathers, now is the time to attach them. You need one for each petal. Secure them on the BACK of the flower with a little sticky tape holding the end of the feather down onto the spiral centre. YOU DO NOT NEED TO STICK THE FEATHER TO THE PETAL FRAME EDGES! Once the paper is behind the feather that will help to keep it secure.
6: Now use tissue paper petal shapes to cover the back of each petal frame. A good glue stick well rubbed round the back edge of each of the pipe cleaner petal frame shapes should be enough to attach each tissue paper petal as well as a piece of sticky tape to hold the bottom of edge petal to the central spiral.
To cut out the petals, fold a large sheet of tissue paper into strips that are the average length of the petal pipe cleaner 'frames' and then cut petal shapes:
7: BEFORE YOU GLUE THE BACK ON THE LAST PETAL (!) first thread a ribbon through the petal 'frame' and tie a knot at one end. Making sure to keep the ribbon central at the top of the petal, glue the last piece of tissue paper in place. Adding the ribbon means you can hang your flower up once the glue is dry. If you wanted to use the flower in a collage and glue it flat onto card, then of course you do not need to add the ribbon.
And here are some we made earlier...
by Assiyah, age 4
by Maryem, age 7
by Hafsa, age 7
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