Paper Pilgrim Hat

 

This week our homeschool group is having a Thanksgiving celebration.  I am helping with the pilgrim hat station, so I needed to find a pattern and prepare 34 paper pilgrim hats for boys, and 20 paper bonnets for girls.  Skip to My Lou has a great tutorial for making a girls bonnet.  I found a cute boys hat online, but the pictures and directions were for 2 different hats.  And the paper size used was not one that is easily available.

Here is the original idea, and here is how I made it: (Please excuse my photography.  It is dreary outside, and my home doesn't have great lighting.)



You will need 1 12x12 piece of black cardstock, one 3" square of yellow paper, a 1.5"x 11" strip of white paper, and a 2"x18" strip of paper for each hat.



To make the hat shape, score your black card stock 2.75" from the bottom edge.  I have a paper trimmer with a scoring blade, so I used that.  If you don't have a scoring tool, use a paper clip and a ruler to get a straight line.  (You just want a slight indent in the paper to make it easier for little hands to fold in a straight line.)



For the center piece, I used a paper punch that I happened to have.  You could also fold the yellow square in half, and trim a square out of the center.  You will also need to trim a 1.5" strip off of a standard sheet of paper, and a 2" strip of of a 12"x18" piece of construction paper.



Grab your scissors, and trim off the side.  I cut my shape free hand, a ruler would give you perfectly straight edges.  After you trim one side, turn the piece over and use it as a template to make the other side match.  Give each child the black hat piece, a yellow buckle, and the two white strips of paper, and a glue stick.  The 1.5"x11" strip of paper is for the decorative hat band, and the 2"x18" piece is for the functional hat band.



Fold up the flap on the scored line, and glue down in the middle only.  Glue the white strip over the hat brim.  Glue the yellow buckle over the white band.  Staple the long strip to the hat beneath the band, and wrap around your child's head.  Staple the other side in place, and you are done.  About 3 minutes to cut out, and 3 minutes to put together.   Hobby Lobby and Micheal's carry black 12x12 card stock.  Hobby Lobby also carries the 12"x18" construction paper used to make the band - or you could use poster board (available for .50 at the Dollar tree.)