Grass heads by Vikki

This is another mum's clever and fun idea that she adapted from internet wanderings to share at her kid's preschool, thanks heaps Vikki C.

The Montessori have been asking if any relatives have a craft they can share with the children. It took me a while to think of something three and four year olds would be able to make.  Finally came up with the idea of grass heads.  At the Montessori they have a letter of the week. This past week happened to be 'G', so they discussed what words start with that letter.  Perfect week to do Grass heads.

I did look on the net to get some tips.  Especially the easiest way and safest.  Most people make them with soil, which I did wonder if that was safe for little ones.  One site used sawdust, which I thought was a great idea, but when I went to buy it, not so easy (Bunnings and Placemakers have treated timber so not safe for the kids).  Somehow I stumbled upon using cotton wool, so finally I was set to go. I made one a week before I was due to help at the Montessori, which gave it enough time to sprout. I went with a pirate to keep the boys interested.  A dinosaur would have been fun too, or a fairy, or an animal, endless options really.

Here's what you need:

Grass seeds - I got a big bag of plain seeds, all the coloured ones have a fertiliser in them, which I didn't know if it would be safe?  You could just buy a lawn repair kit, which is smaller, but has fertiliser.

Stockings - any type and colour - I thought a leopard print would have been fun, but didn't have that :-). I've heard you can use socks, but sometimes hard for grass to pop through.

Cotton wool - preschool used cotton balls, but I used a roll of cotton wool that I got from the chemist, personally feel that worked better for shaping the head.

Yoghurt pottle - a great way to recycle.  I wanted to paint the pottles white then get the kids to decorate.  But didn't work for me, so I cut strips of paper/card then got the kids to colour them in and glued them around the pottle, probably turned out easier that way :-).

Coloured paper/card - to decorate the pottle.

Craft Glue - water proof, for sticking things onto the stockings.

Googly eyes - the kids could even put just one or lots and make them into monsters. 

Rubber bands - really small ones work well for making the nose or even ears, just pull some of the cotton wool into a ball through the stocking then band it.  As you saw that was a little full on for 15 kids at once, so we glued on balls for the nose.

Then any craft supplies for decorating - I used pipe cleaner to shape the eye patch, could also make glasses out of it, which I wanted to do for P's one.

To make them:

Put your hand through to the toe of the stocking then into the yoghurt pottle, so the toe is in it and hang the leg part of stocking over the sides of the pottle.  Put two teaspoons of grass seed into the toe of the stocking.  Now fill with cotton wool, you will need more than what fits in the pottle, so just pull out and continue filling as much as you want.  Some people use a mug for this process, but I thought easier for kids to just use the pottles they had.  Then tie the stocking in a knot and leave a dangle of stocking.  When you stand the head on the pottle the dangle will suck up the water you put in the pottle.  

I now made sure the seeds were spread nicely, its quite easier to manipulate them around the toe of the stocking.  Then decorate and leave over night so the glue sets.  Next morning wet all of the head then stand in the pottle of water.  Put on a windowsill.  Will take about five days to sprout.  Then just wait for it to thicken up and you can cut how you like - just a trim or make a mohawk.

 

 

Here's a cute video too- my kids love watching other kids crafting. I love how this kids says" diiiirt."