Guest Author - Karen Blakeney

Making Easter bonnets with your children is an easy and creative way to entertain kids during Easter or Spring Break.

Supplies are easy, try to use what is around your house this will help foster creativity.

Poster Board
Scissors
Glue
Pipe cleaners (or other soft wire)
Ribbon (long enough to tie under the chin)
Old magazines and or seed catalogs

I would start with a large circle or oval cut out of poster board. If your child is old enough let them draw this. An oval placemat is a good template for this or a large salad bowl for a circle.

Next add ribbon ties and this is an area you can be creative too. An old piece of clothing cut into a one inch strip works well. Ok you ask where I should place the ribbons. Place the circle or oval on your child’s head and mark an X on each side just above the ears. Stitch, glue staple or tape the ribbons on the underside of the hat at the Xs or you can cut a slit at the Xs and attach to the top of you hat and then pass the ribbon through the slits.

Now on to the fun.

Cover your hat with pictures of flowers and leaves cut out of magazines or fabric. And don’t forget to add a bird or two.

Taking it a step or two father use silk flowers or make flowers out of tissue paper or if you are luck enough to have flowers blooming you can glue these on to your hat.

To make a paper flower fold several layers of paper together in a fan (you know the kind we all made as a kid) Ok if you are not as old as I am and don’t remember. Lay several sheets of paper down (mix up you colors if you have them) and fold at about 1 inch then turn the paper over and fold the paper again. Do this back and forth till you get to the other ended of the paper you have a fan. Now at the half way point of your fan use a pipe cleaner and twist securely.
Then pull the page on each side apart by lifting each page up one at a time

Another way to make flowers is to draw a circle around a glass on paper, cut this circle out. Draw lines dividing this into 6th as those it were a pie. Slice inward leaving about ½ and inch in the center of each line uncut. Glue a cotton ball in the center let it dry. Shape this flower by making a circle with your thumb and first finger and gently pushing these flowers through you fingers. You might have to do this a couple of times.

Glue these flowers on to your hat

Your kids can spend hours searching for just the right flowers for their hats. Let them be the designer. Remember this should be fun.

Happy Easter!

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