Weekly Activity
Easter Bonnets
Traditionally, Easter was always a time for dressing up - what better time of year to show off a new hat than spring time?
| Making hats out of paper, card and fabric isn't as hard as it sounds. They won't last forever, but they are great fun to make and wear. You could also use some of these ideas to make hats for a birthday or other party. Here are three basic ideas - you can play with them to make them your own, and use all your creativity when it comes to decorating them. | |
|
To make any of these hats, you'll need these: -
|
|
| "Chinese" hat Using a dinner plate or other template, cut out a circle of card or stiff paper. Cut a slit from one edge of the circle to the centre. Pull the two edges together so they overlap - this will make the hat pointed. Stick or staple the edges in place. If you use staples, you might want to protect the inner surface of the hat with a piece of masking tape, to stop your hair getting caught in it. Make two holes opposite each other near the edges of the hat, and thread elastic through them to make a chin-strap. Decorate your hat by: Making little rosettes out of tissue paper and sticking them in place. Drawing on it with felt pens. Jazz it up with glitter. Adding a tassel - roll up a long strip of tissue paper, and make cuts in it lengthwise, making sure you don't cut all the way through. Stick it to the crown of your hat. Make it multicoloured by layering several pieces of tissue paper together before you start. |
 |
| Replacing the elastic chinstrap with a piece of cord, or some plaited string - use several colours braided together, if you like. Giving it a wavy edge - by cutting the brim into a pattern. Adding a scarf - either a real fabric one, or a large piece of tissue paper. Put the hat on, then put the scarf over it, and tie it under your chin. Giving it a brim - cut a strip of card about 6cm wide and as long as the circumference of the hat. Fold it in half lengthwise. Cut slits along one side, up to the fold. You should now be able to curve the brim to follow the shape of the hat. Stick the brim to the hat - cut edge of the brim to the inside of the hat. | |
| Crown Cut a strip of paper (stiff paper - or gift wrapping paper might work well for this) about 7cm deep and long enough to go round your head, with a little overlap. Cut a pattern into the paper - if you want it to be symmetrical, either use a template or fold the paper and cut as if you were making paper dolls. Decorate with felt pens, tissue paper, glitter, or what have you. |
 |
| 'Robin Hood' Hat You'll need a big oblong piece of paper for this - you'll probably need to experiment to find the right size, but a double sheet from a tabloid newspaper was in the right proportions and produced a hat a bit too small for an adult. |
 |
 |
The paper should be fairly stiff and crisp in texture, like some giftwrap. Tissue paper doesn't work well for this. Fold the paper in half lengthways. |
| Turn the paper round, so that the fold is away from you. Find the middle of the paper and fold the corners down towards you, so they meet at the centre-line. |
 |
 |
You should now have a shape a bit like a roof seen end-on. (See diagrams.) Fold the flaps at the bottom up, then tuck the end tabs in. Secure with glue. Cut a feather shape out of green paper. Run the back of a knife along it to make it curl, and tuck it into hat. |
 |
 |
| Here are some good weather related
sites: http://www.weather.org.uk/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ http://groundhog.sprl.umich.edu/ (The best weather site I found for children - unfortunately, it's very much a US based site). |
|