For this activity, we are going to be making our own do it yourself succulent! Succulents are a type of plant that come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Anyone can make one, but for our younger preschool age friends, it might be helpful to have an adult’s help with some of the steps. Get creative with how you want your succulent to look and then add it to your garden or use it as a fun decoration!
Supplies:
2 different colors of felt (I used light green and dark green)
Pom-Poms (multiple sizes)
Glue
Scissors
Markers
A stapler
*Optional small planter/pot & small rocks to place finished succulents in
Step 1: Gather all supplies needed onto a clean work space. Make sure you have plenty of room to get crafty!
Step 2: First, grab your piece of felt (whatever color you want to start with). You should have the longest sides of the felt on the top and bottom, and the shorter sides on the left and right. Find the bottom left corner where the long side and the short side meet, and place your pinky finger along the shorter side measuring upwards on the felt. It should look like your pinky finger is pointed towards the top of the felt. Then use your marker and draw a small dash on the felt where your pinky finger ends. This is going to be the height of your succulent!
Step 3: Now that we have our felt out and the height measured, we are going to start drawing out the pattern. To make the pattern of our succulent’s leaves, we are going to start at the dash we made and use our marker to draw big letter V’s. Keep making the letter V (making sure they connect to each other) until you reach the other side of your felt. By making large letter V’s, your succulent will have spiky leaves! For the other color of felt, do steps 4 and 5 except instead of drawing the letter V, try drawing the letter U over and over again. This creates a different pattern for the leaves of the succulents.
Step 4: Next, take your scissors and cut along the line you just drew on the felts with your marker. Sometimes felt is hard to cut, so for our younger friends take your time and ask an adult if you need help. Once you have finished cutting you should be left with a strip of felt that looks like it has tall mountains on the top of it!
Step 5: Now, take the strip of felt you cut out and lay it in front of you so that the straight part is on the bottom and the tall mountain (or hills) looking part is at the top. Take a small pom-pom and glue it on one of the bottom corners of your felt strip. You want this to dry for about 2 minutes. Using a pom-pom will help our succulents to look bigger and more spread out later on.
Step 6: After your pom-pom has been glued to the felt strip and dried, you are going to begin to roll your strip up. Start at the short end with the pom-pom and roll it on it’s side until you get to the other short end of the felt strip. You should have the long straight side of the felt on one side and the mountains on the other side. Make sure that the pom-pom that we glued down is on the inside of the roll.
Step 7: When your felt strip is all rolled up, pinch the bottom with your thumb and pointer finger where the pom pom is (the flat side) and carefully take your stapler and staple the bottom of the felt (the end that has the pom-pom). For our younger friends, ask an adult to help out with this part. Then gently fluff out some of the petals by folding them down.
Step 8: Since all succulents look different, feel free to add some extra pom poms to the top of your succulent if you want, or leave it as it is!
Step 9: Lastly, take your newly created succulent and place it in your garden or planter. Now you have your very own unique DIY succulent!
~Made by Mollie L.