Poinsettia: La Flor de la Nochebuena

If there is one flower that represents Christmas is definetely the poinsettia. Right after Thanksgiving I start my Christmas shopping by buying a few poinsettias. I place them in a basket with a Christmas bow and enjoy their beauty throughout the holidays and beyond.

When I was in the classroom, I would also have these flowers there, right next to Tommie DePaola's book The Legend of the Poinsettia. After reading this book a popular activity was to make paper poinsettias. Today, I will share with you my favorite way of making them.

Copy the pattern in green and red construction paper.
Cut the outside circle and the inside lines.
Fold over the ends of each petal and glue them together. Just a little bit of glue will do, but you need to hold them together for a few seconds. You will need to model this step. It may be tricky for some students at first, but once they figure it out it's not hard. I have made these with first and second graders.
Once all the leaves have been folded, glue the red ones to the center of the green one.
Use yellow glitter for the center of the poinsettia.