Quick and Easy Holiday Project when Subbing

I found myself subbing in an amazing first grade classroom last week when an opportunity for an impromptu art project arose. One of the books we were reading mentioned wreaths and described how to make a wreath from paper plates and tissue paper. The kids asked if we could make the project and I said, "Sure!"

While they were at recess I found some small paper plates in the art supply room along with a bunch of crepe paper:

I cut the paper into squares about 1 square inch each. I went with red, white and green this time because the holiday season is coming up and it just so happens that two kids were of Italian heritage and two were of Mexican heritage. We discussed how these colors are the colors of those countries flags. I also made a cut line on the paper plates with a yellow highlighter and cut an X in the middle of each plate as a place for the students to start their scissors:






When the students returned I showed them the project and how to wrap the paper around a pencil before sticking it into the glue (poured onto a lid). I reminded them that they do not need much glue and too much glue would make the colors from the crepe paper run.






Then they began while I did a read aloud that was in the lesson plan for that time. They loved working on their projects while listening to me read! Here is my work in progress:


And their finished products:


We discussed how you can make the wreath look like a green wreath with berries, make a pattern, or or just mix all the colors up!  They had so much fun and the classroom teacher was impressed. I love this one that a student made:


Her father is from Italy and she made the Italian flag :)

Quick and easy project and all the supplies are light-weight enough for me to carry to school!!