Making Paper Angels

Our advent activity today was making these paper angels, which I’d found a post about via Pinterest (I’ll put a link to that page, on the “Buggy and Buddy” blog, at the bottom of this post). They are nice and simple things to make, and all you need is paper, scissors, ruler and a glue stick.

First thing to do is to cut paper into 2cm wide strips. To make each angel (which comes to a height of c. 9,5cm) you’ll need:

1x 10cm strip to make the head
2x 15cm strips for wings
1x 18cm strip to form the main part of the body
1x 9cm strip for the bottom/base

I prepared the paper strips for us (one set for me and one for Penguin), and then we sat down together to assemble the angels. I showed Penguin a picture of what the final product was supposed to be, as well as the description of how to make it, and then we got started with the glue stick.

To be perfectly honest, these weren’t super easy for us to make, as glue quickly gets everywhere, and also because Penguin’s not yet fluently using both hands together (tries to do things one-handed and needs the occassional reminder to use both hands). But I still think it went pretty well, it was enjoyable and Penguin seemed happy with both the process and the end result!

If you’re looking for an activity for practicing the pincer grasp, this is a great one. And if you think these angels look a bit too minimalistic for your liking, you could always pimp them with things like glitter, sequins, feathers, lace etc. You could of course also use coloured (perhaps even patterned or textured) paper rather than white, and/or decorate them with pens or paint.

The angels stand nicely on their own (we used a fairly sturdy watercolour type of paper), but you could also hang them in your Christmas tree or in a window (just add a loop of string through the head).

Thanks to Buggy and Buddy for this project!