Happy May Day! I disappeared for a bit because I had my biggest gal turn 7 and then I was just busy being mom, teacher, and housekeeper that I was needing to spend time away from this space. Other things were needing my attention, so that’s where my attention went. Of course, even if I’m not here, I’m instagramming because that’s much easier to do than blogging these days.

In honor of May Day, we made these simple mini maypoles yesterday with things we had already…

Materials:
2-3 strips of 24″-36″ crepe paper streamers in various colors
Scissors
12″ dowel
Hole puncher
3″ of washi tape

Directions:
Cut your streamers in half lengthwise, so that they are thinner strips. Layer them together, find the middle point, and punch a hole. Insert your dowel through the hole, fold the streamers down and wrap your strip of washi tape around the top. Tada! Give to your little one and talk about May Day and the history behind it.

A couple weeks ago, we were studying the Greek gods in Ancient History, so today we will revisit our Greek gods and talk about the Festival of Flora and how it was a time to celebrate the Greek goddess Flora who was the goddess of flowers (Hence, the name Flora). Then, we’ll probably spend some time in the garden cutting roses to bring inside the house to make it more festive inside too.

These mini maypoles aren’t exactly as grand as your traditional maypole, but all my girls like to do is dance with them anyways. Plus, this way they each get their own and hopefully it will eliminate some of that fighting. Hopefully. If I had really been efficient at planning May Day for teaching and learning, I probably would have looked up more stories on May Day, but I didn’t, so we will just have to take a trip to the library to check some out and read them sometime in May at least. If you make it to the library today, be sure to check out some stories on May Day.

Book suggestions:
The Rainbow Tulip by Pat Mora
On the Morn of Mayfest by Erica Silverman
Lily Bouquet and a Special May Day by Sue Wolfe

Enjoy the first of May friends! If you want another fun May Day project, these crepe paper floral crowns would definitely be perfect for today too!