Construction Paper Flowers

While browsing through some blogs for some arts and crafts ideas, I came acrross this post which explains how to make felt flowers in a rainbow of colors.  I loved them instantly, and though we don't really ever have felt on hand, I thought, we can do that with construction paper.  It won't look quite as cool, but the kids'll have fun! 

And so I went about making a template (see image below) and printing it off on trimmed down construction paper.  Can you tell that I'm thrilled about being able to print on construction paper?  It makes template making so much easier!

I cut out all of the paper flowers so that they'd look nice and neat, but if you have older children they can do it themselves.  We started by twist-tying a small pom-pom at one end of the pipe-cleaner for the center of the flower.  Then, we began poking the other end of the pipe-cleaner through the centers of the flower petals, with the smallest one first and graduating in size.  Then we arranged the petals in a pleasing way and voila!

I made 11 different colors of flower petals and it took me about an hour to cut them all out.  So the prep work for small children should probably be done in advance.  I did it while the kids watched a movie and then we began creating immediately after that. 

It's fun.  It's cheap and it can be a nice gift!  The only thing I would change, I think, is that I would braid a few pipe-cleaners for a stiffer stem.  Or maybe wrap it around a popsicle stick or something.  They're a bit floppy.  But I love the way they look!  Oh, and as you can see in the pictures, we didn't just do rainbows. We made patterns too, which is good for littles who are exploring patterns.

Have fun if you decide to make these too!