Flower Fairies

What You Need:

• Imitation flowers
• Floral wire
• Embroidery floss in several colors
• Round 1/4" wooden bead
• Glue
• Scissors
• Fine-point marker  

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 your child 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 them squeeze a drop of glue on the neck, where the two wires meet. Let them 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 of glue on the loop and slide on the wooden bead. Let it dry and then have them draw the fairy's face with permanent marker.
6. Let them choose one or two colors of embroidery floss for the hair. They can wrap the string around their 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 them 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 your child pick out their 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 its own.
10. When they have the perfect skirt, slide on the plastic calyx to secure.
11. If your child wants to add wings, they 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!