That Daffodil Time of Year in Our National Forest

                  That Daffodil Time of Year in Our Forest 

Daffodils are one of the first signs of "SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET, Spring is just around the corner!!!",  here on the mountain in the Southern Cali Cleveland National Forest.  While we do not see as many as there was in years gone by, there are still some survivors here and there. We have our own little patch right outside the kitchen window and they sure are pretty to look at whilst washing those never ending dirty dishes. And what a respite that is! I oft think to myself through the decades , "Gee, it seems like I spend my life washing dishes. Seems like I have washed enough dishes to stack to the moon!" That there small patch of Daffodils sure does take the monotony of it all away, if just for a few moments & that my friends, is NOTHING to shake a stick at, as every dish washing mother would most prob agree. Can you dig it?

Bummer tho' as it seems that as soon as they pop up, they once again vanish before one can blink an eye.  So as you can imagine being a homeschooler of my grand wee ones, I wanted to capture the moment for them in art and I must say they came out real psychedelic. 

So much so, Gramma snagged 'em to deco her pad!  

Before we started on our daffodil crafts, I showed them this time lapse video of a daffodil opening:

 

Beginning with the flowers in the vase, here is how we made them. First, I cut the egg cups out from an egg carton flat:

and carefully smashed them down like so:

Next, I glued gunned them together to form the outside of the flower:

Next I had my babes paint them yellow and we let them dry. For the leaves, I cut one in half and had them paint these green:

The stems are a paper towel tube cut in half:

Then I rolled it and glued the ends together. For the cup of the flower, I kept the original egg cup in tact. After the paint dried, I glue gunned the egg cup on top of the smashed flower, bent and glued some golden pipe cleaner pieces for the filaments. Next we outlined each flower and leaves in school glue & covered the glue with gold & green glitter. So, cannot blame gramma for trippin' heavy!

I got the suncatcher daffodil idea from here:

 Baby Co UK Daffodil Suncatchers

I changed the design a bit to brighten them up as we DIG making things our own. First, I drew a pattern as I wanted to make ours bigger. You can get it FREE from our AKGVH Teacher's Notebook Store here:

AKGVH Daffodil Suncatcher Template FREEBIE! 

First, I had my babes crush some yellow crayons and we added bits of orange and brown here and there to add more color. I had previously pre-cut 2 flower outlines out of yellow construction paper for each babe. Then placing a cut piece of wax paper on my ironing board adjusted to child height, I placed one of the flower outlines underneath the wax paper to use as a guide. Next had my babes add some of the crushed crayon in the middle of the flower with a plastic spoon:

 

Then I placed another sheet of wax paper on top & they ironed the wax until it melted somewhat:

Using a yellow permanent marker, I traced the outside line of the flower and wrote their initial near it so I knew whose was whose. See how brilliant the colors turned out:

Next, my babes glued the bottom flower outline:

My babes then glued on top of the wax paper and placed the 2nd outline on top of that:

On separate wax paper sheets, we melted green crayon bits.

I cut out leaf shapes from their green wax paper and glue gunned a length of green pipe cleaner around the edges:

For the inside part of the flower I used the yellow painted nut cups left over from our Christmas Advent Tree Calendar. If you would like to view our Advent Tree click on the quick link here: 

AKGVH Christmas Tree Advent Calendars

And while everyone around here caps on me for saving & stashing, they had to admit those left over used cups came in real handy for these, and look pretty far-out! HA! Once again, I glue gunned gold pipe cleaner lengths for the filaments and glue gunned it onto the suncatcher:

We outlined the suncatcher in gold glitter and added some on the yellow paper and let them dry.  I glue gunned on a green pipe cleaner stem, yellow hook, and the leaves, and WELLA!!!

Here is a different daffodil suncatcher template you can print out from Chantals: 

Chantal's Stainglass Suncatcher Templete

If you would rather purchase some for your home, check these out on Etsy: 

Etsy Daffodil Suncatchers




Check out these daffodil suncatchers from Fun at Home with Kids: 

Fun at Home with Kids Daffodil Suncatchers



Dig these other daffodil crafts from around the web: 

Mend and Make New Daffodils

Make and Takes Paper Daffodils  

Mr. Printables Daffodils 

Learn to Create Love's Daffodil Craft with FREE Printable 

Teacher Vision's Daffodil Craft Printable Template 

Daffodil Craft PDF from Visit Wales 

FREE Daffodil Craft Printable from Here We Are Together 

Free Daffodil Craft Printable and Tutorial from Rockabye Butterfly 

Very Pretty Daffodil Craft from Tired, Need Sleep 

Make Your Own Daffodil from Wales 

Daffodil Bunting from Nurture Store U.K. 

Daffodil Bouquet from Saved by Love Creations 
 
Martha Stewart's Lovely Crepe Paper Daffodils 

Crepe Paper Daffodils from Activity Bucket 

 Coffee Filter Daffodils from DLTK

Lovely Daffodil Wreath from Stay at Home Artist 

Daffodil Pen Toppers from Make it Easy Crafts 

DLTK's Daffodil Pinwheel 

Daffodil Easter Nut Cups 

Daffodil Embroidery Pattern from Crafty Ferret U.K. 

Host of Daffodil Crafts from The Crafty Crow 

Daffodil Card from 1st School 

Paper Plate Cup Cake Daffodil's from Molly Moo Crafts 

Scholastic's Printable Daffodil Craft Pattern Template  

Daffodil Card Stamps from Martha Stewart

Scrapbook Daffodil Background  

Daffodil Banners, Etc from U.K.'s Sparkle Box 

Daffodil Background PDF from Printable Heaven

Mini Cupcake Daffodils from Craft Projects for Kids 

Pinterest Daffodil Crafts 




WHEW, what a list! That ought to hold you for awhile!
 

If you are up to making some daffodil shaped goodies, these are SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET:

 Daffodil Lemon Cookies from Freebie Finding Mom

 Lemon Mousse Candy Cup Daffodils from Hungry Happenings

Easy Daffodil Cake

Next we borrowed the flowers back from gramma and used them as puppets when singing the following songs & poems:

A Daffodil

 

A little yellow cup,
A little yellow frill.
A little yellow star,
And that's a daffodil.

Yellow Daffodil by Johanne Levy

Sing to: Jolly Old St Nick

Yellow, yellow daffodil, dancing in the sun,
Oh yellow , yellow daffodil, you tell me spring has come.
I can hear a blue bird sing, and hear a robin call,
But yellow yellow daffodil I love you most of all.

Daffodils Fingerplay 

One little daffodil had nothing much to do,
Out popped another one, then there were two.
Two little daffodils were smiling at a bee,
Out popped another one, then there were three.
Three little daffodils were growing by the door,
Out popped another one, then there were four.
Four little daffodils were glad to be alive,
Out popped another one, then there were five.
Five little daffodils were wearing golden crowns,
They danced in the breeze in green satin gowns. 

Daffodil Illustrated Song Sheet from Early Learning

Daffodil Poem Prinatble from DLTK

They loved playing the daffodil song game I found here:

Daffodil Song Game from Let's Play Kids Music 

  And here is another out-a-sight Daffodil FREEBIE you can use with the above. This pack includes both small and large, color and black & white cards. You can use them for the flannelboard, pocket chart, anchor chart and the like:

 AKGVH Daffodil Flannelboard Pocket Chart Pack 




We also have a daffodil activity Pack FREEBIE:
 
 AKGVH Vintage Daffodil Activity Pack

Here are MORE Daffodil activities and printables for your babes from around the web:

Daffodil Activities from Making Learning Fun 

Daffodil Printables from Activity Village 

Daffodil Printable Coloring Page from She Knows 

Daffodil Printable Coloring Page from Raising Our Kids 

Daffodil USA Coloring Page 

The Graphics Fairy Printable Daffodil Coloring Page 

Daffodil Coloring Page from About 

Wild Daffodil Coloring Page from Hello Kids 

Daffodil Day Printables from New Zealand Schools 

Cottage at the Crossroads Daffodil Graphic 

Daffodil Printable Coloring Page 

Printable Daffodil Coloring Page

Easy Daffodil Printable Coloring Page

Wild Daffodil Printable Coloring Pages for Older Children & Adults 

Miss Bold Design's Daffodil Cut & Paste Activity (Scroll Down) 

Printing & Cursive Daffodil Sheets from Twisty Noodle  




FREE printables and activities for older children:

Daffi Library Handouts 

Daffodil Dissection 

Daffodil Handouts from Australia 

Parts of a Flower Dissection from the USA 

We hope you enjoyed our Daffodil crafts scrolling through our tutorial fun & FREEBIES! Visit our blog again soon for MORE activity fun & FREEBIES!!! 

See you then!

C.S. Calkins

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