We are delighted to send Meenal Patel’s Priya Dreams of Marigolds and Masala to our 5-6 year subscribers this month. We originally met Meenal as a JambArt Box artist. We saw this print and asked if it could be our May 2019 (Mother’s Day) JambArt box. Luckily, she agreed.

We asked Meenal if she could share instructions for making paper marigold garlands like the characters in the book. And she created instructions for Jambo Book Club members! Enjoy making the marigold garlands with your kids and please check out Priya Dreams of Marigolds and Masala even if you’re not a Jambo Book Club Member.

Paper Marigold Garland Instructions

Note: Kids will need adult assistance. An adult should trim the wire. Please be careful as the wire can be sharp and small pieces of it can fly off when trimmed. Protect your eyes.

1. Gather your materials: 

— 2-3 16×4 inch strips of crepe paper or tissue paper (the number depends on how heavy the paper is, you might have to experiment with one!). Usually the garlands are made from orange or yellow flowers but feel free to choose any color you want your marigolds!

— 4-5 inch thin, flexible wire

— string (cut to whatever length you want your garland)

— scissors

— wire cutters

2. Stack the strips of paper and fold it into an accordion in about 1 inch folds.

3. Compress your accordion into a stack.

4. Wrap and twist your wire around the accordion stack. Trim the wire so you don’t have the long ends. Alternatively, you can leave the ends on there and it can become the stem for a bouquet of marigolds instead of for a garland.

5. Using scissors, trim the short ends of the accordion into a wavy shape. It doesn’t have to be perfect but will help it to look more like the edges of a marigold petal.

6. Gently unfurl the accordion into a circle.

7. Gently fluff apart the layers of the paper. 

8. Use the wire look in the center of the marigold to thread your string through to make a garland.

We’d love to see your garlands!! Please post them on social media and tag them with @jambobooks and @meenal_land so we can see them or drop your pictures in the comments.