Kids Craft - Royal Wedding Bunting

I wasn't going to bother doing anything special for the forthcoming nuptials.  We're not big on royalty in this house. Don't get me wrong - they seem like great kids and I wish them all the best, but it is not something I'm getting worked up about.

However, I've given it some thought and realised, it's history innit? (As they say round these parts).  I have very vivid memories of Charles and Diana's wedding.  I had my hair cut in the ubiquitous page boy style like almost every other girl at the time.  I remember clearly the street party and dancing wildly to Bad Manner's Can Can (actually, now I come to think about it, it wasn't our street...where was it? Did we gate-crash someone else's street party?...)

There are also some rather dodgy photos of me as a very young child in fancy dress at the Queen's Silver Jubilee party. Yes, I know I'm showing my age! 

So it seems a little unfair of me not to let Ruby join in this little bit of history - I mean it's not every day the future heir to the throne gets married right?

The ever lovely Maggy at Red Ted Art asked for craft ideas for the Royal Wedding, and we've come up with this simple paper bunting - perfect for young children to make.

We used:

• White paper
• Tissue paper - in red, white and blue (we managed to re-use some packing material for the white)
• Glue
• Ribbon or string
• Stapler or sellotape

First cut the white paper into triangle shapes.

Then tear up your tissue paper into small pieces - keep the colours separate! It's better to start with white and do all those first before moving on to the coloured tissue as the dye tends to come off on your hands when you get gluey.  Ruby is a little bit obsessed with tearing things into tiny pieces so this was a perfect activity for her.

Screw the tissue into balls and glue on to the paper triangles until you have the whole area covered.

Once you have made as many as you want, move on to the next colour and make the same amount, until you have adequate pennants of red, white and blue.  If you're making a long string of bunting, this can take quite a while. It's a good idea to do this as a group activity with siblings or friends.  Or do some, then come back to it another day - Ruby got bored after so many and I ended up having to complete half the red ones and all the blue ones on my own!

Place your flags on the string or ribbon and adjust until you're happy with the arrangement and spacing.  Then tape or staple onto the ribbon/string.

Hang up and celebrate!

I did toy briefly with cutting out some little Kates and Wills from magazines and putting a few flags in with their pictures on.  However, Ruby's not too great with the scissors yet and I wondered if there was a law against hacking at portraits - like defacing the queen's head.  I guess if you can cut nicely it would look quite regal and patriotic!

Linking up with Red Ted Art's Royal Get Crafty.