Happy National Watermelon Day! Beat the heat with this watermelon fan!
What You'll Need:
Red washable marker
Paintbrush
Scissors
Ruler
Masking tape (green and red)
Black Sharpie
Popsicle sticks (2)
School Glue (not pictured)
Hot Glue (not pictured)
The first step is to cut your watercolor paper into four 3 inch strips. My paper was already 9 inches wide so this was easy peasy.
Then you or your little(s) can scribble on each strip with the red marker.
Lay out the colored strips on the table (or for easy clean up a cookie sheet.) Keep in mind the next step will make the marker bleed so if you are doing this on a table make sure it is one that you can wipe up easily.
Using water and a paintbrush, wet the watercolor paper and let the marker bleed to cover the whole paper. Of course, you could just paint the whole thing with watercolors, but I think this way is more fun and more vibrant.
Allow the strips to dry. Then draw on some seeds with a black sharpie.
Next, use the green masking tape (or green sharpie in a pinch) to create a green edge along each strip. I didn't take a picture of this step (whoops!) but I just set out a long strip of tape, laid the edge of one paper about half way up the tape then folded it over. Then I snipped off the hanging over ends (you can see it better in future pictures).
My ruler was the perfect size to start doing a fan fold on each strip. If you don't have a handy one, I recommend the folds being about 1/2 inch. Do your best to keep everything squared up as you fold. Fold all four strips.
Use your school glue to glue the strips together into one long strip.
Advanced apologies for not having great pictures of this next step. It took quite a bit of trial and error on my part to figure it out.
Using your hot glue and holding the folded up paper tightly, put a generous amount of glue on JUST the bottom of the fan, then cover it in your red tape and extend the tape up both of the sides about an inch. You may need to cut your tape strip ahead of time so it isn't wider than your fan is. Allow to cool.
Once cool, use school glue to glue the popsicle sticks into the outside folds of your fan, pushing them as deep as you can into the fan. Allow to dry.
There ya go! A juicy watermelon fan. Make several to decorate for a party - they look great in mason jars or sitting on tables.
Happy Watermelon Day!
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