Remembrance Day: Poppy Craft

Posted by Nicole Carney on Nov 5, 2013 in Picture Book Activities, Remembrance Day | 1 comment

M is still too young to to grasp the full meaning behind Remembrance Day, however he is able to understand the importance of treating others with respect and kindness, which is what I chose to highlight.

I started by reading M the book The Golden Rule, by Ilene Cooper:

This book is intended for an audience of 5 yrs or older, but I used it as a jumping off point to stimulate some discussion around treating others the way we want to be treated, and to brainstorm simple ways we can practice the golden rule everyday, such as: sharing, smiling at others, being a good listener, and helping others.

After we read and discussed the book, I told M that a special day is coming up called Remembrance Day. I explained to him that sometimes when we get upset we feel like we want to kick and punch, rather than use words to solve our problems, but when we do those things we end up feeling much, much worse. Remembrance Day is a time when we are encouraged to stop and think about what we can do to make the world a better place, and to think about ways to solve our problems peacefully rather than by fighting.

I showed M some pictures of poppies on the Internet and told him that we wear a poppy in the month of November to remind us to follow the golden rule by treating others with kindness.

Remembrance Day: Poppy Craft

M and B made a lovely poppy craft for Remembrance Day, as a visual reminder to follow the golden rule and to treat others the way we want to be treated.

Materials:

strips of red construction paper
glue stick
poppy seeds
green and black construction paper
a flimsy paper plate or cardstock
scissors

Poppy Craft

I wanted M to practice his fine motor skills while making this craft, so I cut out strips of red construction paper and drew lines for him to cut through in order to create different shapes.

Next, the boys glued the construction paper shapes onto their paper plates:

Then I brought out some poppy seeds for the boys to feel and I gave each of them a black circle for them to glue the poppy seeds onto.

They glued their poppy seed encrusted circles onto the centre of each plate.

I cut five petals out of the plates to give them a poppy shape, and the boys glued on some leaves for an added pop of colour. We mounted them onto black paper, gluing only the centre of the flower down so we could curl up the petals to add some dimension to the poppies.