The materials for tissue paper flowers are easy to find, and kids can use their growing dexterity to help trim and pull out the tissues to make a whole bouquet of these beautiful flowers.
1 green chenille stem/pipe cleaner1 sheet of green cardstock paper or construction paper3 sheets (12-by-6-inch sheets or larger) of colored tissue paperRulerScissorsGlue
If you don’t have some of these materials, there are plenty of alternatives that may be lying around your house. For example, straws or chopsticks work well for the stems, and any thin paper that can be crumpled without tearing will work in place of the tissue paper. You could even color a piece of white paper with markers or crayons and create a one-of-a-kind multicolored flower. Additional materials can be used to decorate your flowers, such as washi tape, ribbon, small pom poms, and sequins. If you cut the paper into squares instead of rectangles, for instance, the flower may end up looking different than you had planned!
Take the tissue paper out of its package, stack three sheets on top of one another, line them up, and cut into 12-by-6-inch sheets. (For larger flowers, use bigger sheets and cut to your desired size).Once cut to size, be sure your sheets of tissue paper are stacked and lined up once again before you begin folding your tissue paper.Start with the shorter side (in this case, the 6-inch side) and make a 1-inch fold to start off an accordion fold.
Once you have made a 1-inch fold in your stacked tissue paper edge, turn your tissue paper stack over for the next fold, then turn it back for the fold after that.Keep folding and turning over the paper until you have an accordion-style narrow strip of tissue paper.
Take your scissors and trim the ends of the stacked tissue paper strip so that you have a rounded edge. This will help your tissue paper petals have a rounded appearance, like the petals of a real peony, when you unfold the flower later.Be sure to trim both ends of your folded tissue paper stack.
Starting on one side, begin opening up the tissue paper folds you made.Be sure to pull apart the folds evenly from both ends.
If your paper does tear a bit when you pull the layers apart, don’t worry. Those rips will most likely not even show, and you may be able to tuck them into the other petals to hide them in the next step.
Make a 2-inch fold in a piece of green cardstock or construction paper.Draw leaves on the folded edge. If you used 12-by-6-inch tissue paper for the flower, the leaves should be at least 4 inches long and about an inch at their widest point.Cut out the leaves.Glue one or two leaves to the stem of each blossom, placing them wherever you and your child decide they look best.
Children may also enjoy attaching the flowers to a headband, decorating their bedroom curtains or doorframe with them, or making a wreath with a circle of flowers.
