I'm doing something wrong with my homemade paper snowflakes. They look more like squares with slits, than pretty circular snowflakes. I know it's a silly question and something I should know from third grade...but can you give me some ideas on how to make them pretty? I want to do a little art project with my 3 year old. Thanks!
Thank you so much for responding! I'm glad I asked the question. I was a little hesitant at first because I thought it might be silly. I love your ideas...we're going to have a lot of fun!
Start out with a round piece of paper instead of a square one. Another fun project is to make snowflakes out of tortillas. Then put butter, cinnamon and sugar on them and put them in the over for a couple of minutes. It's a wonderful art project and snack!
We just did snowflakes yesterday, but not paper. We did pipe cleaners, and we soaked them in a solution of borax and boiling water. It set overnight, and now it is beautiful!! It has huge crystals formed all over it,and it is beautiful! If you want, cut a pipe cleaner into thirds and make a snowflake. Tie a string to the flake,and one to a pencil. Get a jar big enough for the flake to hang suspending with the flake being tied to the pencil. First add the boiling water, then 1 tablespoon of borax for every 1 cup of water. STir it,and there may be some undissolved crystals at the bottom. Then suspend your flake and let it sit undisturbed overnight. You can add food coloring too if you want to the water. Borax can be bought at any store- it's in the detergent aisle. Good luck!
Check out www.papersnowflakes.com - J.
I work with kids at the library and wanted to have pretty snowflake decorations. I found great web site, Dave's Paper Snowflakes. You don't have to be a member of anything, just go to the site,print out the patterns, and cut on the lines. Easy! After doing a few with the patterns I was able to make my own that looked pretty good. Good Luck!
here is a url to help you make them
http://highhopes.com/snowflakes.html
I made paper snowflakes with my son this year as well. We sat down, had all the supplies and I found out I didn't remeber how. So I had to look it up on the internet. First of all, the paper should be square. We used computer paper so you must cut off a small portion to make it square. Next, you fold into triangles. It's a bit hard to explain so I'm including the website I found most useful. It has step by step diagrams and several different snowflake designs to choose from. Hope this helps. Happy cutting! BTW, we also made paper chains. Remeber those? Very easy and the kiddos can be quite helpful with this project.
http://highhopes.com/snowflakes.html
Use white round coffee filters. They have a different texture than regular paper. Fold in half as many times as you can, and make as many cuts along the folds as you can. I try cutting triangle shapes, one cut in, one cut out, the third side is the fold. Once you have a few cuts, you can unfold once, and cut along your new fold.
We like to pick a window and tape them to that window so the light shines through a TExas snow covered window.
Have fun.
The most common mistake is forgetting to fold the paper over the last time. I always tell my kids to make a paper ice cream cone shape. Then round off the end, snip and cut, unfold and enjoy! I prefer no pattern free-form when working with smaller kids, so they are entirely surprised by the outcome. The thicker the paper, the harder it will be to cut for small hands. Good luck!
What I did was trace large circles on plain white paper and then cut out the circles to fold them several times creating a triangle in which I began to snip out small, large and medium shapes all around. Once it is unfolded and opened, it will appear to be in the shape of a snowflake, or should at least. I bet you have many other great ideas that will help you out, but just thought I would share the method I used recently. Hope it helps :)
Try using coffee filters, or cutting your paper in a circle first
Do you know what would be great if you have access? The public schools have di-cuts which they usually have like 2 or 3 different snowflakes you just put the paper in and it cuts it out for you. Since it doesnt sound like this is a class from the regular public school you should bring your own paper. This would be great if you are able to use the ones from your school districts elementary school. If not when I cut out my snow flakes i fold the paper 4 ways then I make my first cut kinda curved like a slice of pie then I cut the rest of the snow flake.
