Thursday, April 14, 2011

Paper Plate Millinery - Easter Bonnets for Children


I've seen a number of versions of paper plate, newspaper, and paper doily Easter bonnet crafts for children, this year. So, when I saw Lisa McCue's adorably illustrated Easter Parade at the library, I knew we'd have to have a go at a little paper plate millinery ourselves.

McCue's illustrations tell the story of a father bunny heading out to the Easter parade with his daughter, in her homemade hat, sweetly decked out with bits of ribbon, and a few plastic eggs. Along the way, they pass a menagerie of dressed up, animal town folk, each of whom offers, and adds, a little something extra to the small bunny's hat, until she finally she is "the grandest lady in the Easter parade", in keeping with the words of the Irving Berlin song, that serve as the text to the story.

There is sheet music for the song, at the back of the book, in case you're not familiar with the tune. But, I suggest going straight to YouTube, skipping over the so-so Fred Astaire clips, to this Bing Crosby, Holiday Inn clip (it's always Bing over Fred, when it comes to singing). And then, if you're anything like me, you'll probably want to click here, to find the definition of rotogravure.

Finally, after looking at all the fun, and fanciful hats illustrated in the story, you'll probably want to decorate one of your own. We don't have an Easter parade in town, I think maybe those are more something of the past across the country, but we do have both sets of grandparents due to arrive in this weekend, which will most definitely mean a need a for hats for an Easter tea.

I started the girls off with plain hats, made from a paper plate, and bowl combination (similar to instructions I found, last week at Naturally Educational).


I cut away the center of the plates...


...so the bowl could fit through (with wrong sides showing), and glued them together.


I also added two hole punches on either side, in case anyone wanted a chin strap-type ribbon.

When the glue was dry, I sat them out with glue, scissors, construction paper, tissue paper, crepe paper, crayons, markers, and a few odds and ends scavenged from the craft cupboard. I showed the girls again, how to make spiral roses, and they went to work, each girl...


...creating her millinery masterpiece.



Of course, I'll need something to wear to tea, as well (or possibly for camouflage while bird watching).


For more story themed arts and crafts, check out this week's stART (story + ART) link-up, at a Mommy's Adventures.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

18 comments:

  1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of the pictures. Your hats are beautiful! That book looks cute too. I agree with you about Bing over Fred too.

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  2. That looks so fun! We have to give this a try sometime.

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  3. These are such cute bonnets. I especially love yours. Have a fun tea party or bird watching!

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  4. I love it!! I like to see the man wear one!!!

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  5. Those hats are just beautiful! I don't think I can talk my boys into making them, tho. I absolutely love your photo!

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  6. LOVE those....they came out great! I would love to do this, but I don't think my boys would be as thrilled as me.

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  7. Those came out so pretty! I want to make one for me. =) Thanks so much for the great idea, I'll be linking.

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  8. Oh I want girls! Wonder if we could work on some camo fishing hats for Easter?

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  9. Love what your girls did with the hats! I plan to make this an annual tradition with my daughter and it will be interesting to see how the designs change as she gets older! Thanks for the shout-out...I actually headed over from stART, coincidentally.

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  10. Awesome! I'm going to go make some with the kids now!!!

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  11. Perhaps you shouldn't wear your hat for camouflage...it's so realistic, you would probably find some predators (like a snake) making their way onto your head for a nice little bird-egg treat... ;0)

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  12. Awhh, they turned out so cute. If you haven't already, I'd recommend checking out the Mary Engelbreit book "Queen of Easter", for another really sweet story about Easter parades, hats, and a bird :)

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  13. Love it! What a great idea! Also love all the links to music, definitions, paper roses, etc! Thanks!! We just checked this out at the library and thinking of a project to go along with it was on my to do list! Thanks for doing all the hard work for me!

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  14. Simply wonderful!!
    Thanks for sharing!

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  15. Wow- these look so good. What a super idea.

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  16. not just for kids, I'm looking for a great funeaster project for my nursing home! very cute!

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  17. The bonnets are so cute but we are using your idea to make safari hats for our vacation bible school. We are using a jungle theme this year and the hats will be perfect!

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