Make homemade leis with drinking straws and yarn.
In Hawaii, leis welcome visitors, send them off festively and are a symbol of welcoming and inclusion. You can make homemade Hawaiian leis for a luau, summertime house-party or any Hawaiian- themed event. While many commercially manufactured leis are created with plastic sheeting or artificial tropical flowers, you can create yarn leis at home with plastic straws and colored construction paper. The project is simple enough for children to complete with minimal help and results in beautiful tropical flowered necklaces.
Instructions
1. Cut three or four drinking straws into 1 1/2-inch sections with a pair of scissors.
2. Trace flower-shaped stencils onto sheets of construction paper several times. If you do not have stencils, you can draw your own shapes free-handed.
3. Cut out the flower shapes and poke a small hole in the center of each flower with the the pointed blade of the scissors.
4. Cut a length of yarn about 36 inches long and knot one end.
5. Slide one of the straw segments onto the yarn and follow it with a paper flower. Alternate between straw segments and paper flowers until there is about 1 inch left on the end of the yarn.
6. Knot the two ends of the yarn together.
Tags: construction paper, drinking straws, straw segments, with plastic