DIY Lace Crowns

In history this year, we’ll be doing lots of memory work and reading around king and kingdoms.  I will often hear my littles reenacting our history for the week.  So for fun and for review, I thought it would be fun to make crowns for them to wear.  I used this tutorial as a guide with a few changes.

I bought 4 different laces to use (cut by the yard from the roll), so they could each easily recognize their crown.  I needed between 19-23 inches each, depending on the size of my little’s head. 

Next, I cut posterboard to the same size of little’s head, wrapped the posterboard in plastic wrap, and placed the four circles on covered surface. I covered our schoolroom table with plastic wrap to catch the drips.  Newspaper or cardboard would probably be even better.

After the lace was cut to size, I dipped it into Stiffy fabric stiffener and wrapped it around the circle of plastic-wrapped posterboard.  My hands were goopy at this point, so my husband helped by pinning the lace into place on the posterboard.  The stiffy-soaked lace required 10-12 pins to keep it in place.  I wanted to be sure it dried in the right shape.  

We let it set for about twenty-four hours before removing the pins.  The lace was stiffened.  Then, I simply used my hot glue gun to attach the ends to form the circle.  That dried quickly and within moments, each of my littles were wearing their crowns! Two days later and they are still wearing them for much of the day.  In fact we’ve already had warring kingdoms.  🙂

Besides playing, we’re going to review our CC memory work with games of Pass the Crown.  Three of my littles will wear their crowns in a circle, while we pass the fourth crown round and round.  With each pass of the crown, someone will say a word from our history sentence.  As the weeks add up, we’ll continue this game.  If you miss the next word, your crown will be swapped for the crown being passed now.  Simple and cooperative recitation.