“I glanced out the window at the signs of spring. The sky was almost blue, the trees were almost budding, the sun was almost bright.”
– Millard Kaufman
While Spring officially started back in March…in Colorado, Spring typically arrives sometime in late April to early May. And it appears that this year (with all of the wacky weather lately) that Spring was late to arrive pretty much everywhere. I’m sure, by now, we are all ready to welcome Spring with open arms. I know that I am more than ready to watch the trees and flowers bloom, and to feel the rejuvenation that this season always seems to bring. To celebrate Spring’s arrival, as well as Earth Day this past weekend, we decided to utilize a recyclable material and create these beautiful Paper Flowers for Spring!
The vibrant and cheerful colors have really livened up our house. And our little nugget was thrilled to learn the variety of ways that paper can be transformed into a stunning floral display. If you’re ready to create some magnificent paper flowers with your little ones, keep scrolling to find all of the tutorials below.
Rainbow Paper Flowers
If you’ve been following along with us for awhile now, you know we have a deep love for rainbows…our St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Arts + Crafts were definitely a highlight this year. So, when I came across this Rainbow Paper Flowers post, over on Twitchetts, I just knew we had to make a few of our own!
The supplies that you will need, for this simple paper flower craft, are as follows: construction paper (in every color of the rainbow), a sheet of white paper or card stock, a glue stick, a green marker, and some green scrapbook paper for the leaves (optional).
Start by cutting circles out of each color of construction paper. We made three circles of varying sizes, so we cut a large, medium, and small circle from each color of construction paper. Next, fold all of the circles in half. Our little nugget loved having this responsibility, and she did an excellent job! Once your circles are all folded, it’s time to glue them on to the white card stock. Make sure to keep the varying sizes grouped together. Start by gluing a red semi-circle down onto the paper, then glue down an orange semi-circle next to the red. Continue gluing the remaining colors onto the paper, in the shape of a circle. Repeat this process for the remaining flowers.
To add the finishing touches, draw on the stems of each flower with the green marker. Feel free to use the marker to draw leaves on the stems as well. We chose to use a few green scrapbook paper leaves, that we had made for another one of our paper flower crafts below. π
Paper Heart Flower Bouquet
This marvelous bouquet of paper heart flowers has become our Spring centerpiece for our dining room table. Now we enjoy our meals while admiring the bright and colorful arrangement. And the best part…this bouquet will last the entire season without wilting, and these flowers never need to be watered! I just adore this creative idea that we found over on Fireflies + Mud Pies.
To make a beautiful, and heart-filled, paper flower bouquet of your own, you will need the following supplies: a variety of colors of scrapbook paper (including green for the stem leaves), green paper straws, a hole punch, and (possibly) some glue.
Begin by cutting out one small(ish) green heart for each of your flowers. Punch a hole just above the bottom point of each green heart. Place a green paper straw through the hole of each small green heart (one heart per straw), and slide the green heart toward the middle of the straw. If it seems like the heart won’t stay in place on its own, place a small circle of glue on the underside of each heart (gluing around the straw), and set aside for the glue to dry. Repeat this process for each straw.
Next, cut three larger hearts from each of the pieces of colored scrapbook paper. Using the hole punch, punch one hole just above the bottom point of each heart. Now you are ready to assemble your flowers! It might be easier to line up the holes of the three hearts of each color and glue them together, prior to placing them on top of the paper straws. That being said, if your heart flower petals fit snug on the paper straws, this may be unnecessary. Place the paper heart flower petals on a green paper straw, allowing the straw to poke up out of the middle of each flower just a little bit. Again, if it seems like the flowers won’t stay in place on the straws, pipe a small circle of glue on the underside of each flower (gluing around the straw), and set aside for the glue to dry completely. To put these on display, I simply filled a shallow, wide-mouthed mason jar with green Easter grass, and placed each of the flowers down into the jar, to create the lovely bouquet.
Coffee Filter Flowers
These magnificent coffee filter flowers were our absolute favorite paper flowers to create! Our little nugget sat at the dining room table for over an hour, dripping a variety of watercolors onto the paper flowers. The process was never boring. She loved watching all of the colors simply melt on to the coffee filters…coming together to create brand new colors! And I loved watching her creativity and imagination at work. π We created upwards of 25 flowers…that’s how much we enjoyed this colorful activity!
You will need the following supplies to make these unique flowers: coffee filters, wax paper, liquid watercolors (we made our own using gel food coloring), and pipettes or eye-droppers.
Start by cutting the flowers out of the coffee filters. If you have a die-cut machine this is a lot easier. We do not, so I simply cut a flower template from a piece of card stock and used that as my cutting pattern on the coffee filters. The nice thing about coffee filters is that they are so thin, you can cut several of them at the same time!
Next, lay sheets of wax paper on a flat work surface. The wax paper helps to contain any excess watercolors (and also creates a magical surprise of its own, when all is said and done). Place a handful of coffee filter flowers (in a single layer) on the wax paper. Grab your liquid watercolors and pipettes, and let the creativity begin!
Once all of your coffee filters have been dyed, let them sit on the wax paper to dry slightly. Once they are no longer soaking wet, feel free to transfer them to a paper towel, to dry completely. When you remove the flowers from the wax paper, you will immediately notice the surprise I mentioned before. Not only will you have a beautifully-colored coffee filter flower, but you will find that you’ve created the same vibrant flower on the wax paper as well! We were absolutely thrilled with this discovery!
Once all of the coffee filters have dried completely, hang them up on display. We chose to add a piece of tape to the back of each flower, and tape them to our living room windows. The sunlight shining through the colorful arrangement is simply breathtaking!
I stumbled upon this brilliant coffee filter art idea, over on Fun-A-Day!
3D Paper Daisies
Before we started our paper flower crafts, our daughter had declared that daisies were her favorite flower! So, I would’ve been remiss if we didn’t make a few paper daisies. π I came across a photo (with no attached link) of this paper daisies idea, over on Pinterest. We gathered the necessary information from the photo, and got to work.
This 3D Paper Daisies craft requires the following supplies: a sheet of paper or card stock for the background (we went with green), a piece of white printer (or construction) paper, yellow construction paper for the center of the daisies (we decided to give each of our daisies a different colored center, so feel free to do the same), scissors, and glue/glue stick.
Start by cutting thin strips from the white piece of paper (we cut our paper horizontally). Place a circular dab of glue on the background paper (where you would like the center of your first/largest flower to be). Place the end of one strip of paper into the glue. Place another next to the first, and continue to glue down one end of the strips, in a circular pattern, until the circle is complete. Again, place a dab of glue in the center of the flower (this time on top of the white strips of paper). Gently glue the other end of each white strip to the center of the flower. This will create a loop for each flower petal. Glue down the rest of the white strips in the same manner, until all of the petals are complete. Lastly, cut a small circle from the colored construction paper, and glue it in the center of the flower (hiding all of the ends of the paper strips underneath). Ta Da!
Repeat this process for any additional daisies that you wish to make. If you would like to make them varying sizes, simply cut down the white strips of paper, before gluing down each smaller flower. π
Rolled Paper Roses
When I came across Andreja’s DIY Rolled Paper Roses Valentine’s Day CardΒ idea, over on Easy Peasy and Fun, I decided that a handful of paper roses would make a wonderful contribution to our Spring decor! But instead of a greeting card, with a basket full of handmade paper roses, we chose to create a colorful little rose garden on a piece of white card stock.
If you would like to create your very own paper rose garden, you will need the following supplies: a piece of white card stock, various colors of construction paper, green scrapbook paper for the leaves (you can use green construction paper as well, we just wanted to add a bit more interest by using a patterned paper), scissors, and glue.
To make the rolled roses, start by cutting out circles from the colored construction paper, in a variety of different sizes. Then, you will cut each of the circles into a spiral. Working with one paper spiral at a time, start rolling the spiral from the outer end. Continue rolling until you are almost all the way to the center. Place a small dab of glue on the center circle, and press it firmly to the underside of the rolled rose. Hold together for several minutes, allowing the glue to dry. Repeat this process for the remaining spirals.
Once all of your rolled roses are complete, adhere them (with a drop of glue) to the white card stock, in whatever pattern or fashion you choose. Glue on a variety of small green leaves, for the final flourish!
In full disclosure, I made this paper rose craft by myself. I think our little nugget would have struggled a bit with the small size of the roses. That being said, she was more than complimentary, when I showed her the finished product. “They’re beautiful, Mommy!” π While this craft may be tricky for the littlest hands, older children should have no problem completing this beautiful craft.
And there you have it…our Paper Flowers for Spring! Just looking at all of these vibrant flowers around our house, makes my heart happy.
If you are looking for more fun Spring craft ideas for your little ones, make sure to check out our Springtime Toddler Crafts post, from last year!
HAPPY SPRING!
