Sensational Learning with Penguin

We’re now over half-way through our Advent Calendar of Christmas Activities! Today’s activity was another christmassy craft: a paper heart garland. As I’ve said before, I try to make sure that the craft projects we do are pretty simple, in order to maximize our chances of a good result, and minimize frustration along the way. This heart garland is so simple that written instructions seem almost unnecessary. So I’ll keep it very short!

We used three different coloured papers: Red, beige and a soft green colour. Each sheet of A4 was cut into three strips, lengthways (I folded the papers to make lines, which Penguin then cut along).

The strips were then folded back and forth (this was a joint effort for us, as it was a bit too tricky for Penguin to do all by himself). I then drew half a heart on the top fold, and helped Penguin to cut along those lines.

It was quite tough to cut through the layers of paper, and the next step requiered even more force: Making a hole for the string, using a hole puncher. If it becomes too tough, do half of the layers first, and then the other half.

Finally, Penguin pushed the string through the holes. We used a big plastic needle to make it easy. And then you just repeat these steps for as many times as you can be bothered or until you think your garland is long enough for where you wish to put it. Done!

We hung ours in a big window.As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, today was Saint Lucy’s Day, so while we were making our heart garland we had a few candles lit and a Lucia (Saint Lucy) procession playing on my lap top. Pretty much every school in Sweden put on one of these performances, on this day, as do many work places, shopping centres, churches, etc. It’s an old tradition which remains popular, and if you’d like to have a look yourself, here’s one example from YouTube: Lucia in Stockholm (2011)

PIN THIS ACTIVITY!