Harrison came home a few weeks ago waving a letter at me. ‘Mom, I need to make a Easter basket for the competition at school’. I could go and buy a basket from the shop and he could spend half an hour sticking things to it. Nothing wrong with that – it’s what we did for the Easter hat competition last year. This year, I wanted to do something with him that was a bit more original and a bit more creative.
Sometimes, it is too tempting to guide children into sticking certain things into certain places, in order to make something look ‘perfect’, especially when it comes to making something for a competition. But it shouldn’t be about that. It should be about their creativity, their imagination, and that’s exactly what I wanted to show with the basket. Apart from the fiddly cutting and gluing it together, it’s all his own work.
You will need:
- Two paper plates
- Scissors or a craft knife
- Glue or stapler
- Things to decorate the plate with
- Little chicks or bunny decorations
- Shredded tissue paper
Instructions:
- Cut out half of the inside of the plates. I used scissors but if you wanted to be really accurate and neat, you could use a craft knife.
- Flip the plates over and paint the back. Leave them to dry
- Now is the fun bit! Let them loose with the decorating. We used buttons, scraps of ribbon and ric-rac, foam shapes and feathers. I poured out some white glue into a tray and gave them old paintbrushes to glue the things down – once dry it is a lot stronger than a glue stick.
- When happy with it and all the glue has dried, flip it over and apply some strong white glue to the outer rims of the plates and hold them together until they are firmly stuck. This bit can be fiddly and might need an adult to do.
- When it is dry, fill the inside of the basket with shredded tissue paper and cute little spring animals. We had bunnies in ours!
Oh what a sweet idea. I love that you’ve done something that your little one could really get involved in. And it looks brilliant!
Nat.x