Potpourri Crafts for Kids to Make

Potpourri is a colorful, aromatic mixture of dried herbs and flowers. Readily available in craft and variety stores potpourri an inexpensive, easy to use material for children to make gifts for moms, grandmothers and any other special person. When using potpourri for child's craft projects look for potpourri that is comprised of petals and small pieces of herbs and leaves rather than whole flowers and leaves. It will be easier for children to glue smaller pieces to card stock or Styrofoam balls.

Things You'll Need

• Per child:
• Pencil
• Card Stock
• Non toxic glue like the Tacky Glue brand
• Markers or crayons
• 3 inch Styrofoam ball
• 2 paper plates
• 1 straight pin
• 6 inch piece of ribbon
• Scissors
• Heavy cardboard or card stock
• Potpourri
• Hole punch

Instructions

Potpourri Card

1. Fold the piece of card stock in half

2. Draw a simple image on the front of the card. For this project I used a heart.

3. Using your finger fill in the heart shape with a thin layer of glue.

4. Using your hand, press the potpourri firmly into the glue. Wait one minute and then gently shake the card to remove any excess potpourri.

5. Wait 5 minutes for the glue to dry.

6. Using the markers or crayons, add a message inside the card.

Potpourri Ball

1. Pour some glue onto the one of the paper plates.

2. Pour some potpourri onto the other plate.

3. Roll the Styrofoam in the glue. Carefully shake off any excess glue. Wait about 30 seconds for the glue to set.

4. Roll the glue covered ball in the potpourri until the ball is completely covered with potpourri. Add more potpourri to the plate if needed.

5. Set the potpourri ball aside for 30 minutes or until the glue has completely dried.

6. Fold the ribbon in half. Using the straight pin attach the ribbon to the ball.

Car Air Freshener

1. Using the pencil, draw a simple image on a piece of cardboard or card stock. For this project I used a 3 inch Christmas tree shape.

2. Using the scissor cut out the Christmas tree shape. Using the hole punch, punch a hole 1/2 inch from the top of the tree.

3. Using the markers or crayons color one side Christmas tree as desired.

4. Cover the other side of the Christmas tree with a thin layer of glue. Firmly press the potpourri into the glue. Wait a minute, than shake off any excess potpourri.

5. Allow the glue to dry completely. Thread the ribbon through the hole and knot it.

Tips & Warnings

• With supervision children as young as 3 can successfully complete any of these projects.

• Keep a damp cloth on hand to wipe up glue spills and sticky fingers.

• Instead of coloring one side of the Car Air Freshener older children can put potpourri on both sides if so desired.

• Potpourri may look like candy to young children. Be careful they don't try to eat it.

References

• Potpourri Gifts
• Christmas Crafts
• Mother's Day Gifts