In the last couple of years various blogs have celebrated May Day by making May Day posies to give out on the day (I think I was first inspired by Seeds and Stitches and the Little Greenshed). We've done it for the last couple of years and it's such a beautiful way to celebrate the time of year, and a lovely way to get childten making and thinking about the seasons.
I gathered together all the glass jars we had in our recycling and set to work with Delilah. We did this together on the Bank holiday morning and it was the perfect quick and easy craft to do while we were still in our dressing gowns. To decorate the jars we used CeCe's paintings from the week at preschool, she creates so many a day during the week that I'm always looking for ways to use them!
We tore the papers into strips, the wobblier the better. And then Delilah stamped May Day with our trusty alphanet stamps - I did this for the joy of making, but I would say the tearing and cutting was great for fine motor development and I got Delilah to sound and spell out May Day using the stamps so that was also good for her reading and literacy skills. I think making is so beneficial in so many ways and I love this type of thing when learning is happening when you perhaps wouldn't have even thought about it. I had thought about suggessting writing more on them, but having just the simple May Day on them meant that she could do it comepletely independantly and have a real ownership of the object.
While she was stamping I used washi tape to stick the strips of paper to the jars - any use of washi tape is always good isn't it?! And I love the pop of pattern it adds to the jar. Our garden is in the last glorious few weeks of having an abundance of wild flowers and so I got her to pick whichever she wanted for the jars.
I'm loving the aquilegia at the moment. We then cut them down and loosely arranged in the jars.
We then tiptoed out onto our street and placed them outside peoples doors, this was Delilah's favourite bit, the little giggles and squeaks of joy when found a special spot for each jar was the cutest thing. I love that it's also a very small but kind gesture for those around us. I think next year we'll have to do more as I felt bad for the houses that we missed, I'll have to save more jars!
I hope that you had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend, please let me know of any of your May day traditions, I'd love to mix it up a bit next year! xx
Posted under – Kids, Making, Flowers
Tags – Kids, Making, Flowers, Botanical Style, Random Acts of Kindness, School age activities, Kids Crafts, May Day, Traditions, Posies, Jam Jar crafts, Recycling, Seasonal Makes, Seasonal Making
