Cork Painted Wreath Craft

I love it when I can do one craft with both my kids. With a 5-year-old son and an 18-month-old daughter, it’s not as often as I wish. This super easy but completely festive Christmas wreath craft fit the bill, they both happily painted and now my kitchen is merry and bright with one in the pantry and the other on the closet door.  Holiday crafts are my kids’ favorite, and unlike many of our other creations these are kept, stored and brought out year after year.

1. Gather your materials. You will need a paper plate per child, corks ( do you know how long it took us to save up these corks? Since 2006 I have been almost always pregnant or nursing. It took a long time… ), paint, a plate or two for the paint, some ribbon , scissors and hot glue.
2. Start by cutting the middle out of the plate. If we were painting with brushes or something that offered more coverage I’d do the cutting after the paint dried but with corks you want to make sure they hit the wreath and not all in the middle of the plate.
3. Add paint to a plate.  I put a different cork in each color to encourage my kids to try each color. Also the corks I used for my daughter who is presently trying to put all things not bolted down into her mouth, are the solid plastic? ones.  I did a bite test, and they were solid. Still PLEASE watch vigilantly and make sure your children are ready and able to do the craft safely, you can always opt for finger painting.
4. Paint!
5. She was more interested in the feeling of the paint than banging the corks on her wreath. This is normal for toddlers; they are exploring, and it doesn’t mean the craft failed.
6. My son quite liked the marks the corks left and had a ball. 
7. After they have dried, I made bows and hot glued them on, then put them on my doors with painter’s tape.

Easy Peasy Wreath Cookies

Check out these cheater cookies we made when we needed something fast for a holiday potluck; they were tasty and super easy for my son to help me make.