Fairy Craft: Flower Power

What You Do:

1. Begin by helping your child cut two pieces of floral wire. Cut one 7" long, and the other 3".
2. Bend the longer wire in half and twist it to form a small loop. This will be the fairy's neck.
3. Have her put the smaller piece of wire through the twisted wires, below the loop and perpendicular to the body. This will be the fairy's arms. Twist them around to hold them in place.
4. Now have her squeeze a drop of glue on the neck, where the two wires meet. Let her choose a color of embroidery floss for the fairy's top, and wrap it around the wire until it's completely covered. Fasten the end of the string down with a drop of glue.
5. Put a drop glue on the loop and slide on the wooden bead. Let it dry and then have her draw the fairy's face with permanent marker.
6. Let her choose one or two colors of embroidery floss for the hair. She can wrap the string around her fingers, and then cut them in half for a bundle of string that's the same length.
7. Glue the hair to the fairy's head.
8. Now have her take apart the imitation flowers, removing each of the petals. Save the plastic calyx that held them together. You will need this later.
9. Now comes the fun part! To make the skirt, slide the flowers onto the wire legs of the fairy. Have her pick out her favorite colors and sizes of petals and experiment to find the prettiest combination. It works best to start with larger flowers, and get smaller as you keep adding. A layered and fuller skirt will let the fairy to stand up on her own.
10. When she has the perfect skirt, slide on the plastic calyx to secure.
11. If your child wants to add wings, she can cut two petals off a flower and glue them on the fairy's back. Let dry.

Flower fairies are the perfect toys for imaginary play!