Flowers
Welcome back to Wilds, it has been a while!
What started as a magazine to inspire families to head outside is now a website for play ideas. Games you can play together, crafts you can make, ideas for rainy days and for days out. Think of it as your inspiration page for your days off with the small people in your live. All makes and play ideas are aimed for children aged 3-13. Where older children can craft independently the little ones will need more guidance and help from their adult. Every week is a different theme and we start with my all time favourite craft inspiration, Flowers.
With each theme come several tutorials, I’ll post one for free here on the Wilds Magazine website and the other 3 will be on paid subscription but while I get my head around this new idea I’ll post everything for free! Once the school are back in session and life is a bit more organised Wilds will become a weekly upload, arriving in your inbox on the same day every week.
If you have followed me for a while on Hesters Handmade Home you will know I’m a firm believer in using materials you already have so most makes will not require anything to be bought. I have lots of ideas in the pipeline like creating craft kits to go along side the makes, let me know if this is something you will be interested in.
Enough talk, lets start making! Four ideas, four crafts you can make with flowers. If you have a garden there must be lots of beautiful blooms to be found, but better still go on a walk and bring a basket or a bowl to collect the petals that have fallen on the floor. Heading outside is always a good idea and children love to forage. A craft project becomes so much more fun when you have found the materials on an outdoor adventure.
Do tell your child the rules of wild flower picking
never take flowers from peoples garden unless you have permission
leave plenty behind, only pick when there is enough
don’t uproot a flower, snap the stem but leave the root in the ground
no picking from protective areas
Cardboard Vase Walk
This has been such a favourite in my family it gets requested over and over again. Take a piece of cardboard and draw a vase shape on it in black marker pen. In the above pictures I used a lid which worked really well but any kind of cardboard from your recycling box will work. Draw flower stems coming from the vase and pierce a hole above every line, you can use the tip of a scissor for this or if your child does it themselves give them a sharp pencil. (knitting needles or bbq skewers are great for piercing holes in cardboard too)
Go on a walk and find flowers to put in your vase. Try and find a lot of different sizes and colours. Once back home lean the vase against a wall or hang it up, the flowers will wilt after a few hours but the n you just take them out, put them in the compost and find new blooms the next walk
A Flower Crown That Lasts
model image by Storme Sabine
A craft that lasts! Be the flower prince and princess with this cute crown.
I used dried flowers in mine but you can use fresh flowers too. If you don’t have either draw some flowers on paper, colour them in and cut them out. You will also need contact paper for this, a sticky back clear plastic you use to protect books and lining shelves.
Measure your child's head and add 5cm to this number.
Draw a crown shape on the backing paper of clear film, you want a rectangular base of 5cm tall with triangles on top that are 4cm tall. The extra 5 cm is going to be a little lip on one of the crown pieces that you can use to stick the crown together.
Cut out your crown and put it on top of another piece of contact paper. You need to make a mirror image so put the crown with the backing side down on top of the other backing, trace and cut out the second crown shape.
Peel the backing of one of your crown shapes and have your child arrange the flowers on the sticky surface any way they like.
Line up the other crown piece and slowly attach the two pieces together lining up the triangles and smoothing out any air bubble with your hands.
Stick the little lip (the extra 5cm bit) behind the other piece making the crown round.
Trim the triangles if aligning them up didn’t go great.
Smashed Flower Art
Another fun make for all ages, smashed flowers! Fresh petals are great to create art with and which child doesn’t like hitting things.
You will need:
several different flowers, you will notice some transfer a lot more then others
paper, you need a slightly thicker paper to soak up the moisture of the flowers, I like using aquarelle paper but use what you have.
a piece of non stick baking paper, slightly bigger then the paper you are using
masking tape
something to smash with, we used a hammer from a toy kit. A wooden spoon will work too
Gather different flowers and a few leaves.
Arrange the blooms over your paper, have them facing down so the right side of the flowers are facing the paper. When you are happy with your design put the piece of baking paper on top of the flowers and tape the edges to the table with the masking tape.
Hit the flowers with your wooden spoon or toy hammer, this will release all the colour.
Peel baking paper of the flowers, do this carefully and pick the flowers of your paper.
Let the paper dry and your smashed flower art is ready. The paper is great framed as art on your wall or cut into cards or gift tags.
Forever Dandelion
I love dandelions and their delicate fluff, and this little project has them preserved into your home for years to come. The dandelion on the picture above has been in his jar for two years!!
You need to go on a dandelion hunt for this make, you need to find flowers that are bloomed out but haven't gone into full fluff yet. Find a closed dandelion with the fluff just visible on the top (like in the above picture)
You also need an empty jar, the one i’m using is a pasta sauce jar as they are tall and skinny so I can leave the dandelion stem a bit longer. Other things you need is some bendable wire and a glue gun.
Cut a piece of wire and push it inside your dandelion, dandelion stems are hollow so this is very easy to do. Bend the end of your wire round so it forms a little disc that is easier to glue down then just the end bit of your wire.
Put a drop of hot glue int he middle of your jar lid, this is an adult task as glue guns are very hot.
Push your coiled up wire end in the glue and add a bit more hot glue on top. Hold the stem in place for a minute while the glue cools down.
Carefully put the jar back on the lid and close.
Put your dandelion jar on a shelf and wait for it to open, this can take a few day. Once the dandelion has opened the fluff stays in place as there is no wind to blow the seeds away.
I would advice not to move the jar too much, or have your kids shake it so you can enjoy your dandelion for years to come.
Four ideas to keep your little ones busy this holiday, spend time outdoors and create cute items for your home.
I really hope you enjoyed this first instalment of the new Wilds. I would love to see your makes! Please tag me in your posts and stories on IG , @wilds_magazine
The next post will be all about travel games, how to keep little people happy during long journeys. Play ideas for children ages 3-10 on train, plane and car journeys. See you then!