Flower Power! Collection of flower crafts for kids

Making flowers out of ordinary stuff you can find at home is one of the most satisfying and joyful crafts to do with kids. And the added bonus is they make great Mother's Day or Valentines gifts!

I've gathered a few of my favourite flower crafts here. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Click on the links for the full tutorials.

Easy Paper Flowers

We got so carried away with these! Very addictive. The house was covered in colourful paper flowers.  Very handy for collages and making cards.

Toilet paper roll posy

Just one toilet paper roll needed. We made the flowers with tissue paper... sticking pieces on the stems and then scrunching them up so they looked more flower like.

Then we tried paper hearts, which look like tulips!

This meadow scene is simple too - just some zigzag cuts in a toilet paper roll to make the grass, then add any flowers or wildlife you like. You could add things you spotted on a walk, so your little scene tells a story.

Then there's the classic egg carton flowers. You can't go wrong with them. The cups and the cones from an egg carton are perfect for flower shapes.

Here's our Spring Flower Posy

And a sweet bouquet of roses

Egg carton cups are also great for making poppies.

This little bouquet of roses made from cereal box card, paper and an egg carton cone makes a sweet little fridge magnet.

These Tissue Paper Peonies are fun to do and look so pretty.

Printing flowers with stuff you already have at home is a great activity, and perfect for making cards for Mums or loved ones. You can do potato printing, use a toilet paper roll pressed flat to make a petal shape, or you could try some bubble-wrap flowers.

We used bubble wrap to print wisteria

and Cow Parsley

and last but not least, a tiny bouquet of flowers made from an egg carton cone, just the thing for a doll's house!

Rose Bouquet fridge magnet - Mother's Day Craft

A simple and quick, and hopefully useful Mother's Day gift!

We made this two ways - rolling paper for the flowers and scrunching tissue paper - the second option is easier for littlies to do.

You will need:
Egg carton
Cereal box card (or similar)
Coloured paper (or painted plain paper)
Tissue paper (optional)
Craft glue
Paint
Scissors

1. First paint some cereal box card green and one of the egg cones blue or whatever colour you'd like your vase to be - paint some of the egg box lid too.

Putting the egg cone on a spare cone makes painting a lot easier (and a little less messy!)

2. Find something in the kitchen with a small round base to draw around. We used a spice pot. Cut out your circle.

We cut out two to show the different ways to make the flowers.

3. For the rolled roses, cut a strip of coloured paper (we chose red), about 16cm/6in. long and roughly 8cm/3in. wide. Put a little line of glue at the far end and start rolling, keeping it tight.

4. With good scissors, cut across your roll - this is best done by a grown-up - keep the pieces as thin/small as you can.

5. Paint some red splodges on your green circle, where you'd like the flowers to go.

6. Get on with making the vase while the paint dries, then dot some glue in the middle of each painted flower shape and add your little paper scrolls.

7. For an easier option, fold some tissue paper over a few times and cut out small squares (about 3cm/1in.) ). Then scrunch them up to make your blooms. Glue on the red paint marks, as before.

8. For the vase, cut the egg carton cone in half lengthways.

9. Then, trim away some of the side, so it's more even. Give it a press to push the sides out a little.

10. For the base of the vase, cut a triangle out of the spare egg carton card you've painted. Make the triangle quite flat and wide. Glue under the bottom of the vase. (The one on the right has tissue paper roses)

Glue the top of the vase to the back of your flowers.

11.  To make it into a fridge magnet, you'll probably need to glue some card to the top part of the vase first, so the magnet is at the right level. We used some strong clear glue (like UHU glue) to stick the magnet on. Or you could use a glue gun.

Cork Yoda fridge magnet - Star Wars craft

May the Fourth with you be! 

This little Yoda combines two of my favourite things to craft with - corks and egg cartons!

You will need:

Champagne/Sparkling wine cork

Egg carton

Paint

Black gel or marker pen

Craft glue

Strong glue, like UHU, or a glue gun

Brown paper or plain paper painted

Magnet (optional)

1. For his distinctive sticky out ears, cut out two long pointy triangle shapes from the egg carton lid. Glue them either side of the wider, top part of the cork, pointing forward. 

They will stick with PVA craft glue eventually, but easier and quicker to use a stronger clear glue or a glue gun if you have one. I don't have a glue gun and used UHU glue for bits like this.

2. When the glue has dried, bend the ears back into place.

3. Paint your Yoda's body green, plus some spare egg carton card for the hands and feet.

When dry, draw two hand shapes (see below) To cut out, cut around them roughly first, then snip out the zigzag bits, before cutting around the rest of the hand.

4. For the feet cut two short strips from the green card (place them under the cork body to make sure they're the right size and not too wide). Then, snip out a few zigzag triangles.

Glue the feet under the cork body.

5. His cloak is made from the middle part of an egg carton cone.  Once you've cut the cone out, cut the top off, just squeeze the cone flat and cut across the card. Press back into shape - the top will look uneven, so trim until you have a nice straight edge.

6. For the billowy sleeves,  use the edge of the carton as it often has a rather nice little turn up! It's also easy for cutting. Cut two of the shape below. 

7. See the little turn up? No worries though if your carton doesn't have this lip around the edge. For the cloak opening, cut a strip out of one side of the cone.

Check the cloak is the right size for your Yoda - shorten the top part if it's too big.

8. Glue the hands behind the ends of the sleeves, so you can see them. If you have a little turn up, make sure you glue on the other side. Craft glue will work for this, or you could use the stronger glue.

Glue the sleeves either side of the cloak.

Then, glue the bottom of the sleeves to the front part of the cloak, by the opening. You might need paper clips (or laundry pegs) to hold the arms in place while the glue dries.

9. While the glue is drying, cut out a short strip of brown paper (or paint some plain paper) that covers the thinner part of the cork, below the head and above the feet. It doesn't need to go around the back of the cork as this will be covered by the cloak.

Glue in place with a thin layer of craft glue or a glue stick.

10. Use a black pen to add some Yoda-ish features.

11. Glue the cloak onto the back and sides of the body.

12. If you want to make your Yoda into a fridge magnet, use the strong glue to stick a magnet on the back.