Paper Plate Poppy Wreath

Today's service in honor of Memorial Day asks us to honor those who have died. When people or animals that we love die, it's very sad, but it's part of our interdependent web of life. If things didn't die, things couldn't live.

Poppies are a flower that has been traditionally used for memorials for a long time. So let's make poppy wreaths out of some simple materials to honor those who have passed on this Memorial Day.

-paper plate

-markers

-egg carton

-paint (optional)

-glue

-scissors

Poke your scissors through the middle of the plate and cut out the center.

It can be whatever color you want, but I made mine green like leaves.

You only need the bottom part of the carton, not the lid. Cut the bottom in half so that you have six egg cups. It's easiest to do this if you poke one half of your scissors into one of the holes on top and cut down through that.

Cut the egg cups apart so that you have six of them, and then trim the excess off the top. They don't need to be perfectly even.

I painted mine red. Some poppies are orange, though.

While paint works the best on these, you can also color them with markers if you don't have paint.

Poppies have black centers, so I just put a dot of black paint in the middle of all of them. My egg carton had a little circle in the pasteboard right in the center of each egg cup, so it already kind of looked like the center of a flower!

Once your poppies have dried, cut a slit in each corner of each egg cup and bend the "petals" down. They look so much like flowers now!

Grab your wreath, put a glob of glue on the bottom of each flower, and stick them on. I just used white school glue. I buy it in big jugs because I do a lot of paper mache, so I had to pour some in a container and use a knife to spread it on. If you have a little bottle with a nozzle, it'll be much simpler! You could also use tacky glue or a glue gun if you have one.

Let it dry!

I put mine around my chalice. You could do that, too! Or you could hang it on your wall.