Monthly contributor post from Kristen at Celebrate Every Day with Me:

It isn’t quite warm enough in Northeast Ohio to be planting a garden, but we can grow these blooming paper flowers any time at all!  And the best part?  Your kids will be amazed how you can make these simple flowers out of paper and they will actually bloom.

What You’ll Need for a Garden of Blooming Paper Flowers – 

• Colored Paper
• Pencil
• Compass (the tool to draw circles)
• Scissors
• Water
• Dish

With your compass, draw sets of circles at varying sizes.  The inner circle is your flower head.  The space between the inner and outer circle is for the flower petals.  For your flowers to bloom properly, the petal length should be 30-50% of your flower head diameter (width).  Any longer would cause the petals to collapse down instead of open up.

Cut the circle along the outer line.

Then start creating petals.  Cut only to the inner line.  There are a many different ways to cut the petals as you will see below.  My daughter found this snip to be the easiest.

This is what a flower should look like when it is all cut.

Next, flip over the flower so that the pencil line is facing down.

Fold over the petals.  Remember, your flower petals should not go beyond the center of the flower.

Here are a couple other petal cuts you can make:

For fun, cut out a couple green leaves.

Repeat these steps to create as many flowers as you like.

Now, add water to a dish.

Then add your flowers and watch them bloom.  You and your kids will notice that some take longer than others.

 

How did your garden grow?  To wrap up the activity, ask the kids which flower was their favorite.  Did some of their flowers bloom faster than others?  Do they know why?

We took extra flowers to Grandma’s house and showed her the blooming paper flower trick.  Is there someone whom your children can amaze with this activity?

Have fun!

Kristen of Celebrate Every Day With Me is a fun-loving mom to two kids who keep her busy and laughing. Add her great husband and the Lord to the mix and her life is one fantastic (and sometimes crazy) adventure. She is a former youth leader, professional wedding and event planner and has a degree in Christian Thought/Christian Ministry. She loves long lists, diet soda and playing jokes on her husband.

Kristen is the author of Teach Me To Serve:  99 Ways Preschoolers Can Learn To Serve & Bless Others.  On her blog, you’ll find fun ideas for children’s activities, creating memorable moments and party planning.