Folded Paper Wreath Tutorial - with a fun twist!

Earlier this week I attended a holiday craft night at our local library. One of the projects we completed was a cute origami paper wreath ornament. I loved making the ornament out of book pages, but when I got home I realized they would also be a great use for the rather large collection of scrapbook paper that I have accumulated! I also got to thinking... wouldn't this be a creative way to send a little Christmas cheer to Grandma from Aiden? The ornaments do not need to be glued together... so they could also be easily taken apart by the recipient to reveal a little message inside each folded section! Then they can be reassembled and displayed as a cheerful holiday decoration.

Aiden was very excited to create this special wreath for his Grandma! I will share the step-by-step below, but he also wanted to make a video of the process! You can find that at the bottom of this post. This is such a simple little project! Little hands will need some help, but Aiden was able to do most of the work on his. I also want to point out that the folds do not have to be perfect. When working with kids, my inner perfectionist can get the best of me at times! You can see, though, that his folds were not super precise but you cannot tell in the finished product! (Of course the folds can also be tightened up by an adult if needed along the way.) 

Materials Needed: 

Paper

Paper cutter or scissors

Ribbon or string for hanging

(optional) items for decorating: glue, glitter, sequins, stickers, ribbon, etc. 

Step 1 - Choose your papers. While I prefer uniformity, Aiden clearly likes to be more creative in his choices. You can use any combination of papers. Just make sure the rectangles are equal in size and the ratio is 2:1. So these rectangles are 6"x3" but the ones I used for my ornaments were 3"x1.5" or even 2"x1". We chose the larger size for his project so that it would be easier for his little hands to work with and would leave plenty of room for writing the messages inside! 

Step 2 - With a single rectangle, place the paper with the back side up. Then fold the paper in half the long way, so that you have a long rectangle with the front of the paper visible on each side. 

Step 3 - With the folded side at the top of the rectangle, fold the corners up from the bottom to create triangular ends. When both corners are folded up, your paper should now look like a little boat. 

Step 4 - Fold the ends of the boat together, with the corner flaps facing in. Aiden says that the paper should now look like a little shoe!

Repeat steps 1-4 with the remaining rectangles until you have 8 little "shoe" pieces.

Step 5 - Take 2 pieces, and make sure that they are facing the same way. Turn one piece toward the other, and insert its points into the little pockets of the other piece. You want one point in each pocket. Slide the pieces together. 

Step 6 - Continue this process of assembling the wreath. Make sure with each piece that your pieces are sloping in the same direction before your turn one to insert the points into the pockets. 

Now, if you are just making ornaments, then at this point all you need to do is add a hanger and you are good to go! However, if you are making your wreath into a greeting this is where you will add your "secret messages" to each piece. Now technically I think I would actually write the messages before even folding the pieces... but because I wanted the tutorial for the wreaths themselves first we added our messages afterwards! Either way works!

Step 7 - Add a message inside each piece of the wreath, and then reassemble the wreath. Don't forget to include a note when you send it to the desired recipient, letting them know to look inside each piece for their message! 

Step 8 - If you want to decorate your wreath, now is the time! You can add gems, glitter, stickers, a bow... there are lots of possibilities!

Let the glue dry on any decorations you may have added, and you are ready to display or deliver your paper wreath! This was definitely a fun project, and I am sure there will be more wreaths being made between now and Christmas! 

Here is Aiden's video tutorial of the assembly steps for this project:

If you decide to do this project for the holidays I would love to see how it turns out! Feel free to post a photo and tag me on instagram! (@bransonmerrill)

And feel free to pin this post to save it for later! 

Folded Paper Wreath Tutorial - with a fun twist!

Thursday, December 8

Thanksgiving Memories {and a fun turkey craft!}

November always marks the beginning of a crafty phase for me. I just love holiday crafts! Since becoming an aunt, and then a mother myself, creating memories around crafty fun has been important to me as well. I have been thinking a lot about Aiden's first Thanksgiving. He was still just an infant, so clearly he wasn't the one doing crafts, but it was such an awesome year with all of my younger siblings and their kiddos still living in the same town. We had an awesome pre-Thanksgiving party for the kids that year!

The favorite craft from that year were these cute turkeys made from apples and nuts with lifesaver candy necks!). The kids were so proud of the fact that they made the place cards for everyone, and they enjoyed eating them turned into applesauce afterwards, ha!

Then we made sugar cookies, using a variety of fall and thanksgiving cookie cutters. Of course we also couldn't leave out the chance to do one more turkey handprint activity... this time we carefully created handprint turkey cookies! Once they were baked the kids painted them with a this colored icing, and added candy corn beaks. 

And of course I can't leave out my own little turkey! He was so darling in his turkey hat! He was so good about keeping hats on when he was a baby! These photos were from Thanksgiving Day, and he was excited to be able to try some food that day as well. 

Linking up with Create Link Inspire

Thanksgiving Memories {and a fun turkey craft!}

Wednesday, November 11

Fall Flashback: Monster Preschool Fun! {Math and Science activities with a monster theme}

I was cleaning off memory cards recently, and I found these photos from a fun preschool playdate we had with Aiden's cousin last year! We used the Googly Eye Printables found here and the fun Monster Science found here. Both of these activities were a definite hit! I miss these preschool playdates now that his cousin is off to school! Aiden and I will be doing some of the other googly eye craft suggestions later this week... he pulled out the container of eyes and asked to make crafts yesterday, so clearly we are thinking alike.

When Aiden saw the photos of the balloon experiment he immediately wanted to do it again today! I will have to run out and get balloons later! I think it will be fun to see what faces HE draws this year, instead of drawing them for him!

My sister had given us a TON of googly eyes, so we had plenty for this activity. And I will tell you a little secret... after they had been hanging on display for a while I took them down and popped the eyes back off to reuse for other things! We can't possibly keep every worksheet or activity he does, so I document the ones he loves with photos like this and then recycle the actual papers. (Original artwork I am much more likely to keep!) 

One of the things I love most about this time of year is all of the holidays to plan activities around! I am looking forward to finding some great new activities this year, but I also love looking back at things like this and remembering the fun we have had! I am truly blessed to get to be my little guy's teacher and get to experience this exciting time of learning and discovery with him. 

Linking up with: Laugh and Learn, Littles Learning Linkup

Fall Flashback: Monster Preschool Fun! {Math and Science activities with a monster theme}

Thursday, October 22

Fall Leaf Fishbowl Craft {plus: tips to encourage young writers}

Autumn has arrived here, and the season of sweet little hands bringing gifts of wildflowers has given way to one of exploring the treasures of fall. I have always loved how Aiden is so enchanted with the simple beauty of creation, and I want to foster that love for nature as he grows.

I also want to encourage my child to use his imagination and love for creating things to bless others throughout his life. One of the ways that this has come naturally to him is that he absolutely loves sending mail to his friends and family! I love snail mail. It makes me happy to know that I can genuinely brighten someone's day with a simple card or letter letting them know I am thinking of them. Aiden became fascinated with mail early on, as he developed a penpal relationship with his second cousin, and has received gifts from long distance relatives.

So, today we combined these two great loves of his... the treasures found in nature and sending mail... to create a cute fall leaf fishbowl greeting card for his grandparents in Missouri. He was quite attached to his "pet" leaf fish, and I actually had a bit of a hard time convincing him to mail it! He is all about pets right now, and since we have none of our own (no pets allowed in our building, although we do have a couple neighbor kitties who visit him outside) every day there is a new stuffed animal or random object that he decides he needs to care for. It is darling, really. I assured him that Grandma and Grandpa would take good care of his fishy though!

The project was simple. The leaves on our bushes that are changing to shades of red and gold made a perfect little fishy. He also found little berries that he used for rocks in the bottom of the fishbowl, and some weeds that made great aquatic plants. When he was done with the fishbowl, we asked Daddy for a cheesy greeting to add. Matt came up with "It's o-fish-al" for the front, and inside it says "I love you!" 

Aiden was excited to take his mail up to the mailboxes, especially because it meant getting to put the red flag up. Checking the mail is one of his favorite activities, and he did laugh and wave by the neighbors that drove by while his silly mama was standing in the street taking photos. 

I do think that Aiden's love of writing and creating is largely just part of his nature, but we have also done several things since he was young to encourage this interest. Here are a few tips for encouraging young writers:

1. Give them the tools they need at a young age. It is important to make sure children have easy access to books, but there is more hesitation when it comes to giving them free access to writing utensils at a young age. Of course every child is different, but we have had great luck keeping washable and non-toxic crayons and markers within reach from the time he could hold a crayon. (Yes, there was that one time he chewed on a green washable crayon and it made a big mess, but it was also easily cleaned up. Oh, and there was that phase where he gave himself kitty whiskers every day with a marker, but again it just washed off. If you give them the right tools and keep them reasonably supervised there isn't toooo much damage that can be done!)
2. Try different kinds of writing utensils and paper. Don't assume that coloring books will hold great interest for every child. Aiden was always happiest with blank paper.  Because that early coloring is important for developing pre-writing skills, make sure to offer a variety of choices until you know what your child prefers. 
3. Don't discourage repetition by trying to show them the "right" way early on. If your child wants to spend endless amounts of time drawing little circles all over a piece of paper (Aiden did this all.the.time as a toddler), don't interrupt them. Whatever their current fascination is, let them run with it. What seems monotonous to us is important developmentally for them.  
4. Provide your child with a writing space that is the appropriate size for them. While laying on the floor to color is not a bad thing, when it comes time to begin writing they really need to sit at a table where they can have a steady surface and good posture. We got to an in-between stage with Aiden at one point where he was too big for his toddler table but too small for a real desk. During that time he would sit on the piano bench (because it was higher than a chair) with his feet on a footstool since they didn't reach the ground. Get creative with what you have!
5. Ask friends and family to send simply written letters in the mail. Mail is exciting, and the desire to respond can be a motivator to write. Don't get into the habit of letting them reply to written correspondence with digital replies (as I have been tempted to do too often!) If they aren't writing yet, let them color a picture to send back.

AND... If you are perfectionist mama (like ME!) take lots of deep breaths and don't stress about flaws early on. As Aiden grows, and I am in charge of his education, I am certainly helping him learn to improve his writing. However, if I had let myself get stressed about it early on when he was learning because HE wanted to, I think it would have put a damper on his interest. Yes... I had to remind myself of this when he wrote his "S" backwards on this card. He almost never does that anymore, and that part of me that wants everything just right was tempted to be disappointed. Instead, I reminded myself that his 5-year-old handwriting will be something I miss someday. I did let him know it was backwards (because he is old enough that he needs to know that) but I didn't make a big deal of it or insist that he start over. I know that sounds extreme, but when I was in school I would literally rewrite full pages because of one mistake. I do NOT want Aiden to end up like me in that respect, ha!

Linking up with Social Butterfly Sunday, Sunday Blog Hop, Celebrate It Sunday, Let Kids Be Kids, Dream Create Inspire, The Wednesday Showcase, Fall Into Fall

What are some ways you encourage your young learners? When was the last time you sent someone snail mail "just because"? 

Fall Leaf Fishbowl Craft {plus: tips to encourage young writers}

Friday, October 9