Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Christmas Crafts for Nannies and Au Pairs

Paper Wreath Plates

Chris from Kids Craft Magazine shares some paper plate wreaths for nannies and au pairs to do with kids. There are two different types of paper plate wreaths described so choose the one that would be most suitable for your charges.

Evergreen Paper Plate Wreath
What You’ll Need:
Cheap Paper Plate
Cheap Evergreen Garland (Dollar Store Type)
Red Pom Poms
Glue (Hot glue or white glue)
Stapler
Ribbon

What To Do:
1. Cut a hole in the center of the paper plate so that you have a ring that is about three-inches wide.
2. Cut a piece of the garland that’s long enough to go all the way around the surface of the paper plate, about 18-24 inches depending on the size of the plate.
3. Staple the garland to the plate, making sure the place the staples on the center cord of the garland. You’ll need to staple it every four-inches or so all the way around the wreath, then fluff it up so that you can’t see the staples.
4. Glue red pom poms onto the wreath using either white glue or hot glue (adults only).
5. Tie a ribbon into a bow and glue it onto the wreath.
6. If you want to hang your wreath, punch a hole in the top and use a string or simply tie a string around the wreath.

This is the wreath pictured and would work well for older kids. If you don’t want to use staples, you could always hot glue the garland onto the paper plate, but most kids shouldn’t use a hot glue gun on their own.

Tissue Paper Plate Wreath
What You’ll Need:

Cheap Paper Plate
Green Tissue Paper
Red Tissue Paper
A Piece of Ribbon or String For Hanging
Scissors
Hole Punch
White Glue

What To Do:
1. Cut a hole in the center of the paper plate so that you have a ring that is about three inches wide.
2. Cut your tissue paper (or tear it for a different effect) into two-inch squares.
3. Crumple each square up slightly and glue the center onto the plate. Fill the plate in with the green pieces, then go back and add red pieces randomly to make berries.
4. Punch a hole in the top and thread the ribbon through to hang the wreath. You can embellish this project with a bow or glitter. You choose to make this craft as fancy or as easy as you want and it’s suitable for kids of all ages!

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