The Olympics begin on Friday! So, here at Camp Mommy, we must gear up for the opening ceremonies. While my 3-year-old knows nothing about the Olympics right now, once those games begin, he will want to know more! So, this is a preemptive strike. (Did I just say preemptive? Big word! Makes me so happy right now. Proof the babies haven’t taken every last brain cell.)
So our journey begins with the eternal-ish Olympic flame, cue the Bangles “Eternal Flame” (I absolutely won’t subject Crowley to that or the sign language version I memorized as a tween. Though nothing will stop me from threatening to humiliate him with this in his teen years if he becomes troublesome in the least.)
But today, he is 3 and we are making an Olympic torch. And before we get started, I search YouTube for some Olympic torch video to play in the background so that he can begin to understand this important symbol of the games!
Let’s get started!
SUPPLIES:
black construction paper
paper towel cardboard tube
red, yellow, orange construction paper
gold lamé ribbon (or tissue paper or whatever you have lying around. Because I am a Southern women I have gold lamé ribbon stashed in drawers. It’s just a strange southern thing. We can’t get through a holiday season without it… or gold spray paint.)
Glue stick
Elmer’s glue
Hot glue gun
Stickers for decoration
DIRECTIONS:
STEP ONE: A toddler’s favorite: take glue stick and spread glue all over back of black construction paper.
STEP TWO: place tube on long edge of construction paper and roll it so that the paper completely covers the tube. Fold the edge that hangs off into the tube.
STEP THREE: Cut flame shapes out of your red, yellow and orange construction paper. If your toddler is working on scissors skills, draw the shapes and they can cut them out.
STEP FOUR: apply Elmer’s glue to the end of the flame and press it onto the inside of your tube. Repeat for each paper flame as you work your way around the tube.
STEP FIVE: Gold lamé ribbon. Take a 1-foot section of ribbon and fold it in half. At the gold, apply hot glue and press it to the inside of the tube just as you did for paper flames. I did this with three sections of ribbon which easily filled out our flame and gave it the pizzaz we were looking for!
STEP SIX: Decorate the wand (black construction paper tube) with stickers.
You are done!
Go Team USA!
Anna