{"id":164748,"date":"2026-04-13T19:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/164748\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T19:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:50:15","slug":"maker-monday-kids-can-celebrate-spring-with-this-paper-flower-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/164748\/","title":{"rendered":"Maker Monday: Kids can celebrate spring with this paper flower project"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring is finally here and flowers are slowly emerging around the Pittsburgh region. This week\u2019s Maker Monday project brings springtime color to life in anticipation of the warm, sunny days ahead. These \u201cblooming water lilies\u201d are fun and easy to make. Once kids create them, they can place their paper flowers in a shallow bowl of water and watch them open right before their eyes.<\/p>\n

You can use plain white paper that you color with markers or go for fun colored paper. One exciting aspect of using white paper and markers is that the color slowly seeps into the water, giving the effect of natural pond water. So have fun and see what happens. We know from experience that creative kids will take the basic idea below and add their own spin to their creations.<\/p>\n

As with all Maker Monday projects, kids can do this with materials you have around the house or can pick up at a nearby dollar store. Just follow the step-by-step instructions below.\u00a0A note to kid\u00a0makers: Please work with a parent or caregiver on this Maker Monday project and always be very careful when using tools of any kind, including scissors.<\/p>\n

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Maker Monday Materials:<\/p>\n

paper (white or colored)
\nmarkers
\nscissors
\na shallow bowl
\nwater<\/p>\n

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Maker Monday Instructions:<\/p>\n

Step 1:\u00a0Find some circular objects to trace to make your water lilies. We used small pot lids, cups and a very small glass. For each water lily, trace two circles that are about four inches in diameter, then cut them out.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Trace a smaller circle in the center of each paper circle that you cut out. Then draw the leaves around the small circle on one paper and draw petals around the small circle on the other paper.<\/p>\n

Step 3:\u00a0Color your leaves green. Color your flower petals any shades you like and also color in the small circle inside the petals. If you wish, you can use a Sharpie to add definition to the leaves and the center of the flower.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Step 4:\u00a0Next, cut away the paper around the edges of the petals and the leaves, so you have spiky leaves sticking out and rounded flower petals visible.<\/p>\n

Step 5:\u00a0Place the two circles with the flower petals face up on top of the circle with the leaves. Then begin folding the petals in along the edges of the small circle. Next, fold in the leaves right on top. (See above.)<\/p>\n

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Step 6:\u00a0Place the folded water lilies into a shallow bowl of water. As the paper slowly absorbs water, the folded leaves will open, and then slowly the folded petals will open, too. The water may also soak up some of the marker ink, making the water an interesting color.<\/p>\n

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Want to do it again? Once the flowers are fully bloomed, you can remove them from the water and set on a paper towel to dry and bloom again!<\/p>\n

Want more at-home fun creating cool stuff and making beautiful things? Check out more\u00a0Maker Monday projects right here<\/a>.
\nDo you have an idea for a Maker Monday craft project? If so, please share it with Kidsburgh! Send your maker activity ideas to\u00a0info@kidsburgh.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spring is finally here and flowers are slowly emerging around the Pittsburgh region. This week\u2019s Maker Monday project…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":164749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[40219,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-164748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-maker-monday","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}