Tissue Paper Craft

Ok, so this is not all that original nor is it all that creative, but let's face it, sometimes we have to use what we have in the house and scramble around last minute to plan a craft or activity for our kids.   This was no exception.   Last week, everyone was posting all of these amazing projects for Valentine's Day and I wanted to be one of those people.   As I rummaged through our odds and ends of craft supplies, looked in my pantry for baking mixes, and racked my brain for a brilliant idea, I realized we were not going to do anything spectacular.   I was pleased, however, with our end result.   It wasn't something you may save forever or that the grandparents would show to all their friends, but it was something my almost three year old son could be proud of. What is this exciting project, you ask?

Paper hearts – made out of tissue paper!

To begin, we used a heart-shaped cookie cutter as a stencil.   My son and I traced it together, as he is still learning how to do this.   I let him try it several times and then we chose the best two. As I carefully cut out the shape, he practiced his cutting with the left over scraps of construction paper and ended up making confetti. We then took out our bin of used tissue paper (every time we receive a gift, I store the used tissue paper in a box should such an occasion as this arise).   It was super fun to rip the paper into tiny pieces and then crumple the strips into balls.   It was great to see his little fingers at work!   He chose all different colors: red, pink, orange, yellow, dark blue, and white.   Who says Valentines have to be only pink or red!   He spread glue around the entire surface of the heart.  Then, he took the little balls of tissue paper and placed each one individually onto the construction paper heart.   We talked about colors, size (big and little balls of tissue paper), texture (flat tissue paper vs. crumpled), and layers.   All in all, it was a successful project.   My son got to practice cutting, ripping, crumpling, gluing, and pasting “ good fine motor skills practice.   It was also very easy to do with items lying around the house.   It did not require a lot of set up or clean up (except for the tissue paper snowball fight that ensued afterwards, but that's optional!).   And you know what?   His grandmother loved it and plans on keeping it forever and showing it to all of her friends.   At least that's what she told us!