I am utterly exhited abou this post you guys! After writing about the Montessori gardening party favors I made last year for my daughter's second birthday, I wanted to show you what I made for her birthday this year (before the whole year was through, lol). After considering making some macrame rainbows and rejecting the idea as too time consuming ( I needed to make 20 party favors) I decided on a very colorful and easy solution: Waldorf hand kites! So here it is: DIY Waldorf hand kite.
Note: If you don't know anything about Waldorf education I strongly advice you to read upon it. It's a wonderful educational system that promotes free play and creativity and like in the case of Montessori, there are a lot of points you could (and should) adopt from it.
DIY Waldorf hand kite
Supplies
Wooden rings. Mine were courtesy of IoannisSupplies on etsy. I got the 2 1/2 inch wooden rings which are a great size for little hands.
ribbons in the colors of the rainbow. You will need 2 meters from each color. I used dark blue, light blue, green, red, orange and yellow. If your kid(s)
a pair of scissors
a lighter
How to make your Waldorf hand kite
First you need to cut your ribbons. Take each color and bend it in half. Now pass the ribbon through the ring.
Now take the two free ends of the ribbon and pass them though the loop at the top of the ribbon.
Make sure the loop is tight. Now take one of the ends and pass it through the ring.
DIY Waldorf hand kite
You will now have each strand of the ribbon in opposite sides of the ring.
All is left to do is make an overhead knot and you are set!
Repeat this for all the different ribbon colors until you have your rainbow! At the end of this procedure, gently burn the ends of the ribbon with your lighter to avoid fraying.
The result is stunning!
What I did next for the 20 Waldorf hand kites I made was to put them into paper pags for gift giving to my daughter's friends.
I wrapped some of the length of the ribbons around the ring and placed it in the paper bag.
DIY Waldorf hand kite
I left the rest of the ribbons to hang freely out of the bag.
I used a stappler to close the sides of the bag and then glued a heart shaped paper to cover the stapples.
All in all this is a very fast way to DIY Waldorf hand kite and use it as party favors. I think they make a great gift for little kids. They were very well received by my daughter's friends!
It's also a very nice pride project since we just passed June which is pride month!
For kids under 3 years of age I suggest cutting the ribbons shorter in order to avoid accidents. Small kids may put them around their neck so please act accordingly.
The Waldorf had kite is a nice toy that enables free play. Kids hold them in their hands and run free while holding the kite high behind them. They love to see the colors of the rainbow unfold! Just watch my friend's Maria daughter! She's so free and happy!
They can dance and watch the ribbon float, they can spin and watch the colors blend! Just let them play!
