I was browsing the net looking for ideas to teach my little kids about patterns. A lot of really cool ideas came up but I didn’t have much time to prepare for them. Moreover, the art ideas I saw were not that easy for young children to do. I wanted one that did not take too long to make but would get the point across. I didn’t want them to take too long figuring out how to do it that they forget why they were doing it in the first place.
Finally, just as I was about to lose all hope, an idea popped into mind. Why not make a lion’s mane? After all, kids just love lions and they often mention it in class.. so what better way to teach them a new concept than by using their own ideas? It’s really easy to make and the results are really fun!
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What you will need
- Construction Paper
- Paper plate
- Scissors
- Glue
- Face Paint (optional)
- Rubber bands (optional)
- Puncher (optional)
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What to do:
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Step 1: Cut strips of the construction paper. Each child would need at least two colors to make the basic pattern. In our case, we cut out a variety of colors and let them choose the two colors they wanted
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Step 2: Cut out the center of the paper plate. This is where they would insert their faces later on
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Step 3: You could also include one hole on each side of the paperplate where you could insert the rubber band/elastics later on. We opted not to use them though ‘coz the circular shape of the paperplate gets deformed for the smaller faces.
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Step 4: Let the kids put glue all around the paperplate
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Step 5: Let them select two colors to use for your pattern and start making the pattern. “red, blue, red, blue…”
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Step 6: Once done, wait for it to dry
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Step 7: Use a pencil or edge of the scissors to curl the paper for the added effect
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Step 8: If you have some face paint, you could paint the kid’s noses to make them look more like lions!Just make sure you tell them how to remove it so they don’t get grossed out.
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My kids had so much fun pretending to be lions and growling at everyone!
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