As The Little gets older, we try to create something together at least twice a week. I admire all you bloggers who manage to create something every single day. I just can't seem to find a way to balance everyday toddler crafting into our routine.
We planned a project that ended up being too big for the reality of our day this afternoon. After a morning play date with some of my favorite mamas and their children, a missed nap, and no dinner ready I decided to switch gears and go with something much simpler.
We made Valentine's Day inspired Leis to wear.
For this project you'll need:
Several plastic straws (Gasp! Plastic! I know! Yet even in our house, we're we've tried to rid ourselves of plastic we still keep straws on hand).
Card stock paper in various colors
Scissors
Hole punch
Twine, hemp rope, thin ribbon, or the like
Cut your rope/twine/ribbon into a length long enough, that when tied off at the ends, it will slip easily over your head. Using scissors, cut your straws into small lengths. Ours were about 1 inch in length.
String one of the straw lengths onto your twine. Tie off at the end so that it doesn't slide off and you can continue stringing.
Cut out hearts in various sizes. My son opted for bright, non-Valentiney colors.
Using the hole punch, punch a hole at the top and the bottom of each heart. String your twine through the top and then the bottom of a heart.
Begin alternating a straw length and a paper heart until your twine is full. My son loved stringing the straws on.
When you're finished, tie the two ends together and slip it over your head. You now have your very own Hawaiian inspired Valentine's lei.
Happy creating!
Simple Mama
hee-hee, i can totally empathize. straws are one of the last bits of plastic holding on in our home. i fought them for a while until i went to a teacher's conference this fall and learned that sucking through a straw is actually a wonderful exercise for sensory development! it integrates the left and right hemispheres....or something like that, i would have to look it up again to get it right. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou know, I found a link at one time for glass staws. They seemed incredibly elegant and beautiful. But I couldn't wrap my brain around cleaning them.
ReplyDeleteI am sooo excited I found this!!! This is really great....thank you so much! I am going to prep this for my son's class to do on Valentine's Day. : )
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