Mary, Mary Quite Contrary Mural

Today we decided to make Mary’s garden using leftover cardboard from Christmas.

I wanted a craft that was bigger in scale than what we usually do and we had a large cardboard box that was just waiting for the perfect craft project.

The girls were thrilled to see the big piece of cardboard laying on the ground and couldn’t wait to see what else I set out.

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The materials you use for this project can be as open-ended as you want.

I happened to have some celery, so I cut off the bottom to use as a stamp.

I also cut off two pieces from an empty egg carton. I left the pieces in groups of two to help us make some flower-like shapes.

I also set out a few colors of paint and a brush for each color.

I put a couple of old t-shirts on the girls and they went to work.

They stamped for quite awhile, trying out all the different options and colors.

Then while AJ kept stamping (and so did I), Lizzie got to work with the paint brushes.

She decided there needed to be a sky and in true little-kid form, she created a blue strip across the top of cardboard.

Then she added a sun. I love the look of the orange circle painted directly on the wet blue paint.

Finally, after a lot of painting, stamping, and reciting of Mary, Mary Quite Contrary, it was time to let our paint dry.

After the paint was dry, we came back with some green markers and drew the stems and leaves.

I wrote out the nursery rhyme off to the side to complete the project.

The girls are very proud of their painting and so am I! Mary, Mary Quite Contrary has a very beautiful garden!

Tomorrow, we’re going to attempt to put our own spin on the Itsy-Bitsy Spider. Stay tuned!