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Styrofoam Cup Spring Hats
Crafted by Amanda Formaro

These dainty little springtime hats are perfect for Mother's Day, Easter, or any day you want the feeling of Spring around your home. These are super easy for kids to make and surprisingly fun to watch shrink in the oven!

YOU WILL NEED:
Styrofoam cups
acrylic paint in pastel colors
small silk flowers
small beads
pastel or sheer ribbons
hot glue gun
magnets (optional)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Editor's Note: The temperature and instructions in this craft are based off of a dark coated cookie sheet at 250 degrees F in an electric oven. You may want to experiment with different temps until you receive satisfactory results. We recommend baking one or two cups at the recommended temperature and time first. If they seem to melt too quickly or the ends curl up and under, try reducing the temperature and trying again.

Place Styrofoam cups upside down (open end of cup down) on a dark coated cookie sheet, placing them about 1-2" apart. Note: we experimented with both dark coated and silver cookie sheets, the cups did not melt properly on the silver sheets.

Bake in the oven for approximately 3 minutes, don't walk away! It will take about one minute before you see any changes to the cups, then the heat will begin to melt and shrink them rather rapidly after that. It's lots of fun for the kids to watch, so be sure to turn the oven light on.

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and set aside to cool completely. DO NOT try to remove the cups from the cookie sheet until they are completely cooled. As they cool, the Styrofoam that is stuck to the sheet will relax and release its grip from the sheet, allowing you to remove them easily. Most cups will melt rather well, though you may end up with one or two that look rather distorted or disfigured.

Paint the "hats" with pastel colors, one coat is usually enough, and allow them to dry completely. Once they are dry you can embellish them with small silk flowers, pretty beads, and ribbons using a hot glue gun.

If you like, you can hot glue a small round magnet to the bottom of the hat at the brim and hang on the refrigerator.

Younger children can make these with adult help.

If you would like to see the original go to:
http://www.familycorner.com/cgi-bin/print/friendly.cgi?doc=http://www.familycorner.com/family/kids/crafts/styrofoam_cup_spring_hats.shtml

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