Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Where'd all my bows go?

E doesn't have many hair bows and clips. She did but they've nearly all disappeared... somewhere. Rapunzel to the rescue! Inspired by this one from Mommy Meatloaf, I made a Rapunzel Hairbow Holder for E's surviving hair accessories.

What you'll need:
- cardboard
- polyfill
- fabric
- lots of yarn
- hot glue gun

Directions:

1. Trace a circle on the cardboard and cut out. (I used a salad plate as a stencil.)

2. Cut your fabric (I used an old t-shirt) in a larger circle.

3. Place the polyfill on the cardboard and stretch the fabric across, hot-gluing it to the back of the cardboard.

4. If you want to make it prettier, glue a circle of cardstock to the back to hide the extra fabric.

5. Cut strands of yarn for the hair. Mine were about 4 feet long, which is definitely LONG, but this is a Rapunzel hairbow holder, after all. Divide the strands into three even groups and tie to secure. (The picture shows my first attempt of 10 strands each, but I ended up doubling that amount.)

6. Braid! If you're really adventurous, you can secure the yarn to your fridge and try to teach your 5 year old how to braid. After a few frustrating minutes of me teaching and her not getting it, E turned to me and said, "Mom, why don't we work on it together." Excellent idea. She did one side and I did the other.

7. Glue the braid to the face and add the remaining hair. I didn't get any pictures of this part because my fingertips were too burned to pick up the camera.

If you can figure out how to press yarn into hot glue without sacrificing all of your digits, please let me know.

8. Glue a ribbon loop to the back for hanging.

9. Set Rapunzel in her tower and get ready to accessorize!

If you're wondering why poor Rapunzel is faceless, I plan on adding fake eyelashes once I can get to the store to buy some. I think they'll look darling, but I didn't want to add other features until I see for sure. To be honest, I think she's good as-is, but my everything-must-have-a-face daughter insists I'm not done.


Rapunzel by Brothers Grimm

You know when you see that shiny gold medal that the pages of a book will be filled with wonderful illustrations. The pages of this Caldecott Award winner reveal this classic fairy tale in the style of Italian Renaissance paintings. The story is long for little ones, but grade school children will enjoy hearing the story and examining the rich and detailed illustrations.

This was my favorite fairytale as a child (I think I've always been a little vain about my blond hair), and I'm happy to have found a book that allows me to share it with my own little blond!


I'm linking up to:
- SOYS @ Fireflies & Jellybeans

Paper (and other) Princesses

Not all fairy tales are centuries old, and not all princesses are flesh and blood...


The Paper Princess by Elisa Kleven

When a little girl loses her paper princess to the wind, it begins an adventure for the paper doll as she flies over a river, past a carnival, and into town. Through her adventures she despairs of ever finding her little girl again. Eventually though, through a series of fortunate events, she is happily reunited.

Kleven's artwork is always delightful, and while I found the story only moderately entertaining, E loved it. She's read it twice on her own and asked me to read it to her once. The idea of a beloved paper princess has captured her imagination, so of course we needed to create our very own Paper Princess.

Using a simple doll shape, I cut out a paper doll for E from card stock. She used crayons, tissue paper, and stickers to decorate her doll. This was such an easy craft, but kept her entertained for nearly an hour.

While we waited for the doll to dry, she wanted to play her favorite iPod game app: Make Me a Princess. This free app is a digital paper doll your little girl will love dressing up. She can choose the hair, dress, shoes, and all accessories - including background - to build a princess of her own.

If real paper dolls are more your thing, I found these adorable vintage paper dolls available to print for free. Or you can create this charming chalkboard from Ruffles & Stuff to dress up a doll and erase her outfit when you're done!

I'm linking up to:
- ABC & 123's Show and Tell

Easy Princess Hat

The tiara is so 2009. With just a few easy supplies you can make this princess cone hat for the little girl (or doll) in your life.

What you'll need:
- Cardstock or poster board
- paint, stickers, etc.
- tulle

Steps:

1. Draw a half-circle on your paper. The highest point of the circle will be the approximate height of the hat. I used cardstock to make this doll's hat, but you would need a much larger piece of paper, like poster board, for a child's hat. To draw a half-circle I traced a plate, but a pencil tied to a length of string should work as well.

2. Cut out the hat. The center of the straight edge will be the point of the hat. Curl the two corners toward and into each other, forming a cone. Continue to twist and shape until it is the width you desire.

3. Unfurl the hat and place a tip of the tulle in the inside of the point and tape to secure.

4. Reshape the hat and staple.

5. Decorate!

Have you guess our theme yet? This week we're diving into Fairy Tales (with a heavy emphasis on princesses, of course)!

My Bedtime Book of Favorite Princess Stories by Roger Priddy


This is one of those books I wouldn't normally pick up, but my mom bought it for E and it became one of her favorites. What I appreciated about it was the use of clipart in place of words throughout the story. I would read the story and pause at each picture, letting E fill in the blank by "reading" the picture. This was a wonderful exercise to teach E to anticipate what the next word will be - an important skill when learning to read. (At 5 E is now reading at a 3rd grade level.)

The book includes The Little Mermaid, The Frog Prince, and Sleeping Beauty. If you're looking for a book to introduce the classic (non-Disney) versions of these fairy tales to your preschooler, this is a good choice!