Poofy Flowers

Recognise these?

We are 'springing up' our school room over the next couple of weeks. Well really it'll be over however long it takes, that being until we run out of ideas, which going by the ideas the kids are rolling out that could be a while, especially when my ideas are added into the equation. Anyway first cab off the rank which was wholeheartedly embraced by the kids was the idea of poofy flowers hanging from the ceiling. I honestly think it was the 'hanging off the ceiling' part the sold it. So here is what we did ...

1. We used 8 pieces of tissue paper stacked on top of each other (I got 4 pieces out of the packet and folded them in half, cut them down the fold line, stack each half on top of each other and there you have it 8 pieces). Note: there was no measuring involved but hey we did do fractions there didn't we.

 2. We concertina folded the paper in whatever size fold we did, it was not too big and not too small. Yes, I am serious they were my instructions and the kids followed them to a tee.

This part believe it or not was a little interesting and messy in some cases but it really doesn't matter that much so even 3yr olds can give it a go.

3. Next thing is to tie something around the middle of the concertina to keep it all together. We started off with twist ties but gave up on that when they kept busting at the seams. All that tissue paper was just too strong sometimes. We ended up using the string that we used to hang the poofy flower. So the instruction now is tie around the middle of the concertina with a piece of string long enough to hang the finished poofy flower with.

4. Trim the each end of the concertina (with scissors, not teeth, not a knife) into a curve. This gives the poofy flowers a petal shape. I have seen pictures of others done with a point which is also effective.

 5. Spread out the concertina, I mean fan, yes of cause it is a fan, or a bird it is also a bird. Okay so now you can imagine what was happening at this point in our schoolroom. Yep that's right, plenty of giggles and imagination at work.

 6. Now for the tricky part that needs a little patience for small excited hands, pulling apart the layers of the concertina, the soon to be petals of a flower. Just separate each layer of tissue paper. Note: little tears (or big) just add to the effect so don't worry about it. Really the kids did well with this.

7. Ta Daa! There you have it, a poofy flower to hang from your ceiling (that is if you had your tissue paper ready and followed along). Other uses also include a ball and a dog. Did I mention I had a 3 1/2yr old in the schoolroom?

Now here are some pictures of the kids getting creative with their poofy flowers and our combined finished products.

Fold it ...

Tie it and trim it ...

 Pull it apart ...

Then play with it ...

Ta Daa! What pretty poofy flowers.

 

Here is where I got the original instructions from before I attacked them in my layed back, no measuring needed way.