Ever since we had a street party for the Royal Wedding, Red Ted LOVES flags – we had bunting up on the street, as well as big Union Jack by the gazebos. Everywhere we go, he always points out the flags to me… “I love flags, Mummy”. “Let’s count the flags”. “Look Mummy, flags!”. So I thought maybe we could make one! So let me bring you “Making Flags with Kids”.
The Book
A Box of Tricks, Katie Cleminson
I first saw this lovely book reviewed over at Playing by the Book (you MUST visit to read the full review, much better than mine! And of course to see Zoe’s beautiful associated craft). It is a wonderfully magical book about a little girl, who is given a very special box for her birthday.. she jumps right in and turns into a magician. The adventures start. The story is simple and straightforward, but the illustrations are what make this book wonderful. Lots of liberally splashed and dripped colours on every page… perfect for our craft today….
…The Craft
We wanted to make a “proper” flag. Not just one of out paper, but out of fabric, with sewn seems and everything. So I got out some plain Hessian (though an old sheet or shirt would be fab too). The tricky bit is that small children are quite “limited” in their painting skills. Not that a wildly coloured piece of fabric isn’t great. But I wanted to help the children create something more unified and something that they could work on together. This is were The Box of Tricks is the perfect inspiration: I have been meaning to do some “splash” painting with the children for quite some time now. We had a hot day and this was going to be perfect… I confess that we used ordinary paints, so this would not be a waterproof flag.. we have it out on nice sunny days and then it comes in and decorated Red Ted’s bedroom. He loves it. I am sure you can do this craft with fabric dyes or by getting some sort of fixant to apply later.
Oh and I have seen a number of wonderful splat paintings linked up through the Kids Get Crafty linky… do link them up again if you have time. Would be great to see them again!
Materials: large piece of plain fabric, paints, brushes, masking tape. Sewing machine & stick for finish.
1. Use masking tape to create a pattern at the centre of the flag. We decided to make a simple sun (we cut a circle and then stuck it down with strips of masking tape as rays…). Red Ted loved sticking the masking tape down. We took turns and I helped him align then rays.
2. Go out and get splashing with paint! The children LOVED it! Even Pip Squeak sat happily splashing. It kept the busy for a least half an hour!
3. Once dried we removed the masking tape and painted an orange sun. I did the rays and Red Ted the body of the sun. Once THAT was dry he also added tiny eyes and a tiny mouth. Too cute.
4. Sew. Of course you don’t have to sew your flag. Or you can hand sew it or you can use wonderweb (bondaweb) to neat the edges. But I thought it would be nice to make a lovely finish for it. Also I think it is great for the children to see the sewing machine in action – so that one day, they maybe feel like having a go (when they are of course old enough). Red Ted was very excited and a little scared of it!
5. Enjoy!
For more Kid’s Craft ideas, click here for a full list.
If you have been crafty with your kid’s be it at home, in the kitchen or outdoors, I would love for you to link up:
mermaid says
Hehee.. we made a flag as well last weekend. A pirate one. But we did not use a sewing machine as the pirate flag doesn`t need to look “nice” and we were in hurry 🙂
Your flag is very PRETTY!
Zoe says
What a fab flag!
Red Ted Art says
Oooh, will have to stop by your way and check out your flag! I bet a pirate one is FAB!!!
And Zoe – thank you 😉
Love In The Nest says
Lovely idea, I’ll try that one day with my little boy 🙂
emma says
That flag looked like a LOT of fun to make!
Red Ted Art says
Emma, yes, the kids adored it! 🙂
Charlene @Adventures In Mommy Land says
Ohh,thanks for posting that…my little boys want to make a flag to hang off their play fort this summer and I haven’t had a clue as to how I would do it, until now that is.
Love your flag!
Red Ted Art says
Charlene – how lovely and so glad the timing was good 😉 have to say though, not sure our flag is waterproof… so maybe see if you can get some fabric paint if it is for an outdoor flag?
Isil says
What a beautiful flag,just love it 🙂
The Iowa Farmer's Wife says
Love the flag idea!!!
Red Ted Art says
Thank you 🙂
Holly says
Love it! I’ll have to put that in our summer boredom jar.
Red Ted Art says
Oooh what a great idea to have a boredom jar!
artsy_momma says
You always have such awesome ideas!
Jude says
Love the flag – a great way to create some artwork which you can also use. I suppose you could also do something similar with bunting too – hmm….
Red Ted Art says
Oh you are lovely.. *beam*
Rashi says
Very cute idea of making flag. Thanks for sharing.
JDaniel4's Mom says
JDaniel’s flag would have to have a robot on it.
Thanks you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn. This counts as an entry in the Summer Reading Challenge- June Edition.
se7en says
Sorry I am so late for the party… my week just dashed by, like it can’t possibly be Friday already… it still feels like Tuesday!!!
Isil says
lovely book. many thanks for linking up to book sharng monday 🙂
mummiafelice says
omg how fab!!!
Thanks for linking up to Handmade Thursday
Michelle Willow says
That flag is totally cute! Great job!
Messy Missy says
That is so pretty and fun!! I like that you help the children to make the painting more “unified”….that’s something they can be proud of, in a different way.