Spring Tree-Part One

Though spring is warming up slowly here we have been doing some Spring projects inside.  Namely, making flowers for our paper tree in the kitchen (the one that housed the bats and owls a month ago).  I decided to make some flowers from napkins and this project turned out fun because we (Sonora and I) kind-of figured out the best technique as we went.  This time Sonora had the best idea.  I had started by forming a flower out of a napkin for her to paint with water colors when she said, "Mom, it would be easier if we painted it first."  So we started there and came up with this even easier way of watercoloring a napkin.

To start with I cut the folded edges of the napkin off so one napkin turned into four squares.  Then we worked with them in pairs (two squares at a time). To give the flower some color in the center we drew a star in the center with pastels.  The napkins tear easily so we had to draw slowly.

 Then we filled our brushes with the color we wanted and painted right unto the table, adding more water and paint until we had a good wet spot of paint.

 Then we took our napkin and set it down on top of our painted spot on the table.

 With her brush Sonora dabbed the napkin until it soaked up all the paint on the table and was completely covered with paint.

 This is what it looked like after it came off the table.

Then we hung up all the napkins to dry so we could then make them into flowers and tree blossoms.

Here is what one of the flowers looked like when done.  When the napkins are dry all you do is pinch the center of the napkin (easier for an adult to do) and tape that base of the flower together.  Then you just fluff out the napkin and leave it like that or give it some shape with a scissor.  Add a stem and leaf and it's done.  We cut some of the napkins after they were dry into quarter squares and then used those little pieces to make tree blossoms.