Monday, January 17, 2011

Snowday Snowflakes Tutorial.



This past week we've been pretty much snowed in.
So we've had to come up with some projects to keep us from getting cabin fever. While watching all the pretty snow come down, i decided we should be making some snow flakes of our own. So we got out the scissors and some paper and set to work decorating the house in homemade snow flakes.





By taking a piece of paper (8.5" x 11" ), we first folded it diagonally lining up the edges to make a square. Then We cut the excess off, and cut the square into (4) smaller squares. We took the excess piece that had cut off and cut 3 smaller squares. So we able to made 7 snow flakes per piece of paper, with just a tiny bit of waste. i drew lines on the paper above to show how we got 7 snowflakes out of one piece of paper. The mini snow flakes are about 2" across.


More advanced snow flake patterns.



Sage had the fun job of adding glitter to them. She used a glue stick and sprinkled the glitter all over them. This gave them a wonderful sparkily look. It also helps cover up any writing or print if your using recycled paper.



We decorated all of our windows with these lovely glitter snowflakes and the rainbow stars from last week. . We just used a bit of glue from the glue sticks to stick them in place.




We also had a lot of fun making these 3-D accordion style snowflakes.
We made several and turned them into a lovely mobile.

These are very easy to make, but because you are cutting through many folds of paper they may be hard for little ones to make the cuts. All you need is some paper (recycled junk mail and school papers work great!) some string to hang them, a bit of tape or glue and some grape vine if you want to turn them into a mobile.


Start with a piece of paper, and fold it in half the long way, and then cut along the fold. So that you have two pieces of paper that measure approx. 4.25" x 11". This will make 2 snow flakes.

Take one of the strips of paper and start folding it accordion style. Start on the narrow end of the strip and fold about a 3/4 inch wide strip. Turn it over and fold it in the opposite direction, the same width. Keep going until you come to the end of the paper.




Now fold it in half, and cut the corners off the folded edge (dotted line), so that when you open it up you have two a notch on either side of the fold.




Now fold it back in half, and begin making your snow flake cuts on each side of the paper. Pay attention to where your fold is, and don't cut there. You can cut any kind of design you like.

Open it up, and tie a string in the center, where the fold is and the notches are cut.



Now you'll want to gently open up your snowflake. Bring the sides A and B together and glue or tape them in place. Be sure and tape/glue down your string too.


Then do the same to other side, so that it makes a complete circle. You'll have to fluff it a little by gently separating all the papers. Now you have your snowflake!


We hung ours from a piece of grape vine to create a mobile. These snowflakes are moving constantly, and they dance and spin around all day.

1 comment: