spring tissue paper wreath

It's SPRING and the cherry blossoms, dogwoods, and bradford pears are all in bloom! I planned on making a handprint-trunk, tissue paper-blossom tree artwork with A this morning, but she had other plans.
Running up with the plastic wrapper from the container of Trader Joe's cookies, she told me she wanted to make a crown. It fit her head perfectly, so I taped it up, grabbed the tissue paper, and we got to work.

I loosely wrapped the plastic ring in strips of green tissue paper and let A glue it down with school glue. Then I cut about 2" squares out of colored tissue paper and let A crumple them up into a flower shape. She glued them on while we talked about patterns and what color should come next.

With the addition of her dress-up veil, she looks like a fairy princess bride. I'm not sure what inspired the piety for this next picture, but she really couldn't look any sweeter!

The whole thing took us about 10 minutes, with A doing most of the work. Simple, fun, and HER idea!


And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano

The illustrator of one of my all-time favorite books - A Sick Day for Amos McGee - releases a new story of the promise of springtime. Erin Stead's illustrations are just as peaceful and whimsical in this new book, and are matched with simple but stirring narration.

The story follows a boy and his dog as they plant a garden in the brown of winter and wait for a sign that spring has come. Each page contains just a short phrase with the illustration, making this a beautiful book to read aloud to your preschooler.