Our afternoons are crazy busy with baseball and homework for my oldest son and my middle two kids are usually left to their own devices while I help my oldest or play with/feed the baby. Often my middle two will find some independent play activities and I won't see them for a few hours. Sometimes they want to be creative but can't get inspired.
On days when the kids aren't feeling very inspired or creative but want to do something artsy, I love to put out an invitation to create. Lately I have been trying to offer activities that strengthen fine motor skills while allowing the kids to use their imaginations.
Today we created with different types of papers and materials and the kids got to try out a variety of my scissors. Some cut strips and made a collage and some decided to use a spring theme to create a paper plate flower!
MATERIALS NEEDED FOR PAPER PLATE FLOWER:
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- markers
- scissors (I love these fun craft scissors)
- double sided tape
- cardstock (variety of colors)
- regular computer paper (variety of colors)
- foil
- tissue paper
- streamers
- cardboard
- newspaper
- brown paper bags
- other types of paper
- paper plates
DIRECTIONS FOR PAPER PLATE FLOWERS:
For this invitation to create I just set out bowls and baskets of materials so that the kids could get started creating.
My kids loved cutting foil and had fun experimenting to see which scissors worked best of which materials.
They had no idea that their little finger muscles were getting strengthened while they were having a blast cutting.
This activity helped me to see why having a creative space always available to my kids would get their creative juices going.
Once we started cutting and taping and admiring each other's work we just had the best time!
One idea that kids came up with was to make a flower. You simply decorate a paper plate and then tape streamers, paper, and other materials to the plate to create petals. It is so easy!
Each child came up with different ways to use the materials in our creation station. Kids are inspiring!
After lots of cutting and taping we put up our creations to display and then we sat back and enjoyed them!!
Have you ever put out on invitation to create for your kids? What are their favorite materials to create with?
Do you like Spring themed activities? Check out our favorite Spring flower activities HERE.
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