Make a Homemade Sunflower!

Sunflowers are magnificent to admire not only because of their height but because they contain so many seeds. With this craft, the kids can re-create a sunflower to keep in your home and look at over and over. Just grab a paper towel roll, paper plate, and some sunflower seeds (for an added touch of realism) and you're on your way to starting a spring garden!  The sunflowers won't be as tall as the real thing, but they'll be just as beautiful.

What You Need:

• Small paper plate
• Yellow paint
• Paintbrush
• Bowl for paint
• Glue
• Sunflower seeds (in the shell)
• Paper towel roll
• Green construction paper
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Stapler
• Newspaper

 What To Do:

1. You'll want to start by making the flower petals first. Have the kids completely cover the white paper plate (front and back) with yellow paint. You may want to lay some newspaper down under the plate to catch the drips!
2. While it's drying, go ahead and make the stem. Take a paper towel roll and measure its length on a piece of green construction paper using your pencil. Then cut the construction paper to size so that it will wrap around the roll. Let the kids glue it around the paper towel roll so it fits snugly.
3. When the plate is dry, see if the kids can cut petals into the plate from the edges towards the center. If they are even more creative, have them round the corners so that they resemble sunflower petals.
4. In the center of the plate, place some glue and begin to glue the sunflower seeds down. Work out from the center of the plate to the base of the petals so that most of the front of the sunflower is covered in a circle of sunflower seeds.
5. Staple the plate to the top of the paper towel stem and, voila! You have made a smaller scale, but no less beautiful, sunflower to enjoy.