Truth be told, this firefly craft was inspired by an episode of Sesame Street involving fireflies.
My little guy then ran around obsessed with finding fireflies.
I can see this paper plate project nicely complementing Eric Carle’s The Very Lonely Firefly.
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Paint the rim of a paper plate. You will need to paint both sides. You could use 2 different colours.
We used acrylic paint.
If the idea of painting makes you feel ill, then you can decorate the rim with crayons or markers instead.
Whatever works for you and lessens the mess (and stress) for you.
The rim will form the firefly’s wings and the centre will be used to create the body. So paint the centre of the plate in the colours of your choice.
Make a small incision and cut the centre of the plate out, leaving the rim intact.
Fold the rim in half and then half again then pinch together on the bottom fold.
Push the outer half towards the middle to create an upper and lower wing. Repeat on the other side. Staple these parts together.
Cut down the middle of the firefly’s body, leaving about one-third attached.
Slide the wings down the cut and tape the body back together. I used washi tape to then cover up the incision.
The above shot is here mainly to keep things real.
This is the back view of the firefly. It shows that I have just used tape to keep things in place.
I taped some jewellery wire to the firefly’s body. I taped the pipe cleaner antennae to the head of the firefly.
I taped the body back together after making a slit for the wing’s to slide in.
Your firefly is ready to flit around. I think a mobile of these would be pretty magical.
What does your face do when you experience different feelings?
This simple feelings craft encourages children to think about and discuss how their face can show emotion.
Mr almost-3 has been having some BIG feelings lately.
Which often result in epic meltdowns.
Which results in Mum having BIG feelings.
To try and deal with the emotional roller coaster, we’ve been naming our feelings.
This book has been helping A LOT.
Each letter of the alphabet is assigned an emotion and accompanied by a gorgeous illustration.
Aussie friends, you can purchase your copy here.
International friends, you can purchase your copy here.
(These are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!)
To accompany the book, we used some paper plates to create a simple feelings craft.
What you will need:
Paper plates
Split pins
Markers
White card
Wool
Hole punch
What to do:
My children have an insane love for painting paper plates.
So we had a session of painting paper plates. As you do.
This step is obviously optional. You do not need to paint the plates if this is going to give YOU BIG feelings.
Using a craft knife and mat, create a “window” through which the mouth will be seen.
This is a step to be completed by an adult.
I included this photo mainly to highlight that craft is all about trial and error. #keepingitreal
On a second plate, draw a variety of mouths illustrating the feelings you wish to explore.
I then trimmed this second plate down, so that it would sit neatly behind the top plate.
On a piece of card, draw eyes and cut out eyebrows.
Use split pins to secure these to your top plate.
You could draw a diverse range of eyes to illustrate different feelings.
The eyes could then be replaced with blu-tack as you discussed different emotions.
Secure your plates together with another split pin.
And because I like including as much fine motor practice into a craft activity as possible, I used a hole punch so that wool could be threaded through for hair.
Rotate the bottom plate to change emotions. Discuss what our eyes and eyebrows can do when we experience this feeling.
The above face is what I look like when we are out of milk and there is no morning coffee.
I often wonder just how much more productive I’d be if I procrastinated less.
Case in point: In attempting to write the introduction for this post, I googled the lyrics to Elton John’s Tiny Dancer.
These paper plate dancer puppets have me humming that tune every time I glimpse them hanging up in my home.
Here is a good article on the origins of the song.
But wait. You’re really here to find out how to create these paper plate dancer puppets, right?
Well let me show you how. Whilst humming a few bars of Tiny Dancer is not a mandatory part of this making process, it is highly recommended.
The above shot is here mainly to keep things real.
