Make a Beautiful Sunflower

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 You Do:

1. You'll want to start by making the flower petals first. Have your child 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 the pencil. Then, cut the construction paper to size so that it will wrap around the roll. Let your child glue it around the paper towel roll so it fits snugly.
3. When the plate is dry, see if your kid can cut petals into the plate from the edges towards the center. For some additional fine motor practice, have him 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, voilà! You have made a smaller scale, but no less beautiful, sunflower to enjoy.