We love any project that involves a bit of randomness and surprise, and making paper flowers is one of those projects! This lovely painted collage project gives you and the kids the opportunity to relax and enjoy the process of making, rather than focussing on being neat and tidy. Here, we show you how to make paper flowers for kids easy.

You will need:

  • A selection of paints. Watercolour, poster or acrylic work well
  • Paint palette (an piece of thick cardboard will do!)
  • Jar of water
  • Variety of paintbrushes
  • Coloured pencils
  • White paper
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Wooden stirrers (the kind you get from a coffee shop)
  • Cardboard from a packing box
  • Paper and aprons to protect surfaces

How to make paper flowers step-by-step

1

watercolour painting onto plain sheet of paper

Paint A4 sheets of paper in various colours. Don’t worry about covering the paper in a solid colour, just use a medium to large brush and go for it! Make the paint slightly runny by adding a little water so it covers the paper nicely. Experiment with adding water to the paper before you add the paint and vice versa. Leave to dry.

2

doodling on top of dry painted watercolour

When the paint is dry, create patterns over the papers in different coloured paints and coloured pencils. Draw lines, spots and squiggles, grids, scribbles and zigzags. Splatter paint, use different paintbrushes and your fingers – get messy! Allow to dry.

3

draw a flower in pencil to cut out

Decide what you want to make from the papers. Flowers are a good place to start. You could draw some sketches of the types of blooms you want or just get cutting. If you are not confident to begin with you can always draw the flower shapes on the back of the paper first. 

4

step 4

Cut out the shapes. When cutting more intricate shapes it is often easier to hold your scissors in one place and move the paper around between the blades. 

5

cut out vase shapes from cardboard

When you have cut out your blooms, stalks and leaves, cut out some vases from the cardboard.

6

glue flower stems on to the flowers

Construct your flowers by gluing the stems to the wooden stirrers to give them strength. Add the leaves. Insert the stalk of the flowers in between the corrugated segments of the cardboard vase (or just glue to the back). If you don’t want free-standing ornaments, then glue directly to thin card or papers. 

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