02 February 2010

feathered valentines

H receives the magazine Your Big Backyard, which is put out by the National Wildlife Federation. Each issue includes a craft and this month, of course, was a valentine.
When she saw it, she came running in to show me. "Oh, Mom! We have to make these!" Well, no way was I making 25 of them for her class, so we decided to do a few for her teachers/adult helpers at school. 

We had all the materials already, though we had to substitute red feathers because we didn't have pink. "It's OK," H said, "because red and pink are Valentine colors." I made a heart pattern, and H traced and cut out 12 of them. She bent the pipe cleaners while I cut out the beaks. H wrote the messages all by herself (before we glued them, so it would be easier for her to write). I didn't want to struggle with white glue, so I manned the hot glue station and had H pass me the pieces.

H enjoyed making the flamingos kiss after the glue cooled. They are valentines, after all. They're  all about romance.
The whole flock took less than an hour to complete, which was a pleasant surprise. It was a great way for us to spend some quality one-on-one time together during J's nap. Now to work on the 25 class valentines...