In my household, imaginary play has emerged as the hero of social distancing. This unsung hero has repeatedly rescued my daughter from boredom and allowed her to occupy countless hours without relying on her iPad. I’ve watched, fascinated, as my daughter has traveled to faraway lands and transformed herself into a multitude of characters. She is adept at using whatever she has on hand to create props for her adventures. My personal favorite is the working set of bow and arrows that were created from a package of popsicle sticks. After I watched her launch a few arrows, I wondered. whether we should discontinue the dance classes and focus on archery instead. The jury is still out on that one. What’s crystal clear is that whatever I can do to encourage her to use her imagination is time well-spent.

Since she has already taken care of the archery props and has woodland animal masks, I decided to move on to the world of fairies. With Spring in full swing, a spring fairy crown seemed perfect. I used a floral and leaf motif, which is versatile enough to allow it to double as a royal crown in the event that she’s in the mood for a princess tea party. You never know what she’ll be up to next, so I try to cover multiple bases whenever possible. This project is quick and easy with a Cricut, and the bonus is that your little one can decorate it to fit their style. Let’s get started!

Materials

• 11 X 17 cardstock (gold or glitter are great options)
• Cricut
• acrylic paint and/or embellishments
• 1/4″ ribbon

A Quick Spring Fairy Crown

Download the crown and upload the file to your Design Space. Save the image as a cut file, and insert it into a blank canvas. Use the rotate button on the right side of the top menu to adjust the image so that it can be cut out of the 11 x 17 paper. An angle of 60 degrees does the trick. Load your mat and begin cutting. I used the cardstock setting, but you might have to change your setting depending on your paper thickness.

Once the Cricut completes the file, you’re ready to hand the crown over to your little one for decoration. We painted our crown gold, but paint isn’t the only option. In fact, the sky’s the limit. If you happen to have them on hand, your child can add stickers, gems or other embellishments until their heart is content.

Once the paint and/or glue has dried, slip ribbons through the slits on either side of the crown and glue in place with a dab of glue on the opposite side. Hot glue also works well here. Tie the spring fairy crown around your child’s head, sit back and enjoy the show!