Sniffles and Scissors

Don't sneeze with scissors!

My kids have pretty much gotten the idea that you shouldn't run with scissors, but we learned a new rule - Don't sneeze with scissors either.  Luckily, there was no blood shed with this art project :)  I had both kids home yesterday with the latest cold to be passed around at school, so we whipped out the art supplies and made some Scherenschnitte!  Gesundheit!!  You might not be familiar with what scherenschnitte is (I sure wasn't).  The name translates to "scissor cuts" in German and it has been a traditional craft in Switzerland (and Germany) since the 16th century.  I can imagine the craft was developed as a way to fill the long, cold winter days in a relatively inexpensive (but fun) way. 

The concept is to cut out a design on a piece of paper and then mount it on a contrasting colored paper.  Like a silhouette.  The designs can range from the very simple to elaborate, very detailed works of pure talent. We found a nice blog, called Papercutting, that had some beautiful examples and some free templates if you'd like to give it a whirl.  And, of course, if you just google "scherenschnitte" you'll find hundreds more!  All you really need are some colored papers and scissors. Oh, and some imagination (or a good template) helps too :) 

Cut, Cut, Cut

I can honestly say that my daughter sat at the table and did this project for a whole hour!  My son was more interested in superheroes than scherenschnitte :)  Isn't it amazing how kids from the same family can have such different personalities!  Here are pictures of our fun-

A nice way to spend a snuffly day!

I had fun too!!

 

Have fun and watch out for those scissors if you feel a sneeze coming on!!