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Wizard of Oz -4yr- Foam Flower Craft

February 2002

Molly in Medford, MA  USA

Special Mention

I had so much fun planning my daughter's fourth birthday which we had yesterday.  She chose the Wizard of Oz which we had all dressed up for during Halloween.  I took many ideas from this site and made some into my own.  I bought the Wizard of Oz invitations and party decorations for half off at one of the party stores.  My house is small and since Emma's birthday is in February, we only invited eight children.

As the children entered our house they first met me and I had dressed up as Glinda, then they stepped into our enclosed front porch which had been transformed into Kansas.  I had made a small house out of a cardboard box and put it on a net that normally holds stuffed animals so it would look like it was flying.  I then took black construction paper and started on the end and cut around until I reached the middle.  The end product was a large curly piece of paper (the tornado).  I hung these all over the porch and I covered Emma's toys with a white sheet so the porch was in black and white. 

The kids then walked into the hallway and under a large rainbow Mylar balloon in the living room where they entered Munchkin Land.  Here I had two children's tables set up and covered with blue gingham material.  The children then did two crafts, one was to make a foam flower and the other was to make a crown and stick jewels on them.  This room was decorated with many tissue paper flowers and any other flower decoration I found around the house.  I took construction paper and covered Emma's play kitchen to look like a munchkin house. I also took a large dryer box and cut it to fit around the front of my entertainment center. I painted it to look like the front of Dorothy's house and cut out a window so we could see the television and have the Wizard of Oz playing during the party.  I also took tights and black marker to put under the house for the witch's legs and put Emma's red glitter shoes on the feet.  I had MnMs and skittles in a basket with gingham material.  I made a mix out of fruit loops, potato sticks, goldfish pretzels and rainbow marshmallows. 

After the crafts I read the Wizard of Oz and told the children that we had to go to Oz to help  Emma get back for her birthday party.  Emma put on her red shoes from the witch's feet and we were off.  I had a yellow brick road made from plastic yellow table cloths and black marker through the rest of the house.  The first place we all went was my bedroom to find the scarecrow sitting on my bed.  I had bought the Character Mylar balloon head of the scarecrow and stuffed a shirt and pants so he looked real and used some of my costume from Halloween. The scarecrow was holding a stick to hit a pinata and I told the children that we should bring that to Oz with us. 

We continued down the yellow brick road and met the Tinman, another character Mylar balloon head attached to a shirt and pants used with part of the Halloween costume my husband used.  He had a basket of hearts with the children's' names on them.  I told each child to take one.  We continued down the road to our back hallway where I had made trees out of construction paper on the wall to look like a forest.  We then found the lion Character Mylar balloon attached to a stuffed lion costume from Halloween.  There were animal beanie babies around the lion and I told each child to take one.

Then we were off to Oz.  I had taken the rest of the dryer box and another large box saved from Christmas and painted it sparkly green and made the shape of the Emerald City on the wall and door outside of Emma's room.  Her door was shut and there was a sign that said "bell out of order please knock".  I knocked on the door and the Wizard (my husband dressed in a green shirt and hat) answered the door.  The children had to go through the cardboard door to get into the room, the adults had to duck to get in.  The wizard gave each child green beads to signify that they had been to Oz.  The room was all green. 

I had taken leftover green saran wrap from Christmas and "wrapped" Emma's bed, dresser and bookshelf.  I had a green light and green crepe paper too.  The Wizard told the children if they wanted to go to Emma's birthday they would need to do four things: find a brain for the scarecrow, give the Tinman a heart, give the lion courage and find the witch's broom. They could use the things they had found along the way, the hearts, beanie babies and pinata stick. 

So off we went to pay 4 games so the children could "win" the birthday party.  We first played throw the animal beanie babies through the lion's mouth to give him courage.  I had cut out the shape of the lion and cut out a whole for the mouth.  We then played stick the heart on the Tinman with the hearts and a Tinman I had cut out and painted silver. We then did a scarecrow pinata which I made out of a paper bag. Lastly the children had to find the witch's broom which I hid in the hall closet.

We all went back to Oz to tell the Wizard what we had done.  We gave him the broom and he asked us questions.  Meanwhile my sister and mom were in the kitchen setting up the birthday table with the decorations I bought. 

They made the witch's punch with a floating hat on top, rainbow Jell-O cups that I had made in 10 oz clear cups with each of the six colors with whipped cream on top.  I had made a 2 layer rainbow cake mix with blue frosting, a yellow brick road down the middle with the four characters on it and a huge rainbow cookie I made sticking out of the cake over the road. 

My sister knocked on the door and the children came out of the kitchen to the birthday party they "won".  The children went home with treat bags made from brown bags with a handle, blue gingham fabric inside and a chocolate heart, rainbow stickers a green glitter pencil, a heart eraser, rainbow cookies and candy from the pinata.  They also took home their 2 crafts, green beads and a tissue paper flower. 

I got all of the characters together in front of Emerald city and took a picture of each child with Emma to send in the Thank You notes. The children did so well listening and paying attention and they really got into the games and going to the Oz.  They loved going in and out of Oz later when they were playing. Everyone thought it was great and we had a lot of fun.  I can't wait until next year!

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