Flower and Snowflake Hats

Here are some instructions for making simple flower and snowflake hats. If you have paper plates, that speeds things up quite a bit, but there's alternate instructions for making an all-construction paper version, too.

-construction paper

-paper plates (if you have them)

-scissors

-glue

-markers or crayons

Your flower or snowflake can look like whatever you want! I made my flower look like a sunflower, and I made my snowflake look like a blue swirl. What will yours look like?

Since sunflowers have lots of petals, I cut small slits all the way around my plate. You could do that, too! Or maybe your flower has differently shaped petals? When you're happy with it, set it aside and skip to step 10.

Fold your snowflake plate in half and then in half again. Cut shapes along the sides (but make sure not to cut ALL the way through any of the folds). Unfold your snowflake and admire it. It will look so different from mine! Set it aside, and skip to Step 10.

Choose what colors you'd like. I decided to glue two pieces of different shades of blue together for a snowflake and two pieces of red and pink together for a flower. Let the glue dry.

Take another piece of paper. Fold it in half and then in half again. Hold the folded paper so that the side with no folds faces you. Cut from there to make a petal shape. Now you have lots of petals!

Draw a circle on one side of your glued-together paper. Glue the petals on the circle in whatever configuration you'd like. I decided my flower would have five petals. How many petals will your flower have?

Let the petals dry. Once they are, cut out your flower. You'll want to cut behind the petals, keeping a big circle of extra paper behind them to give the flower structure.

I drew a center on mine. What will you draw on yours?

Take your glued-together paper, and fold one of the bottom corners up to make a triangle. There will be a strip of paper left over at the top. Trim it off. Now you have a square!

Fold the paper in half in its triangle shape again, and then fold it in half once more.

Cut shapes along the sides (but make sure not to cut ALL the way through any of the folds). Unfold your snowflake and admire it. It will look so different from mine!

Take another piece of paper. I decided to use green for my flower hat. Fold the paper into thirds lengthwise. Then, unfold it and cut along the folds so that you have three roughly equal strips of paper.

Put glue on one end of one strip, and glue two of the strips together. If you have a small head, this will be enough paper. If you have a large head, you'll want to glue on the third strip.

Let this dry completely.

(Note: You won't want to use a glue stick for this step. It won't be strong enough to hold it together while you're wearing it. Use a liquid glue.)

Put a bunch of glue on one of the joins between two paper strips on your hat band. Stick your flower or snowflake to the glue. Let it dry.

Measure the band around your head. It's easiest to have someone else do it. (To make it easier to take pictures, I had my giant stuffed rabbit Bunhilde model the hats.) Use a pencil to mark where the bands overlap.

Lay the hat back down on your work surface, flower or snowflake side down. If there's more than three or four inches of excess paper past the pencil mark, you can cut it off. Put glue on the end of the marked part of the hat band, then press the other end into the glue to make a circle. Let dry.

Now you are a snowflake or a flower! All hail the Oak and Holly Kings!