Making Paper Graduation Caps for Preschoolers

In some places, it is tradition for preschools, elementary schools, and middle schools to hold mock graduations for their students who are moving on to the next level. For preschoolers, paper graduation caps are an easy and inexpensive way to make your child really feel like a part of the celebration. Not much is needed to make a paper graduation cap and your child can even help you. The only materials you will need are a few sheets of paper, construction paper if you want a colored cap or one that is a bit more sturdy than regular printer paper, scissors, something to hold it together like glue, tape, or staples, and a little creativity. If you want to include a tassel to make it even more realistic, just get a little bit of colored yarn.

How to make the paper graduation cap.

First, you will want to fold your paper into a square, in a way that it hangs several inches around your child's head on all sides. Then, cut a strip of paper a couple inches thick and long enough to be curled into a circle to be attached to the square piece. If you use tape, you need only tape the circular part to the square top part in such a way that it is securely held together. If you use staples or glue, you will want to make sure the square piece is folded in such a way that the flaps on the bottom can meet the inside of the circle and be stapled or glued together. This is a simple cap with no tassel. Afterward, take your colored yarn, probably at least a few different colors, and cut them into strips about ten inches long. Feel free to be goofy on the colors since you are doing it for a preschooler. It doesn't need to be perfect or entirely realistic. That's what an actual high school graduation is for. You will want to tape the yarn to one side of the cap, just as it would go on a normal high school cap, and hang half the yarn from either side of the tape, so that it hangs about five inches or so. You can also use a string and hole punch to hold it together, or staple for that matter. You can even use glue, although if you have your child help, it might get a little more messy, but that's just part of the fun. Any number of things can be used but there is the general gist of putting it together.

I hope that this explanation is easy enough for anyone to figure out and may I just say to have fun! Try to get your child involved, even if it means using tape over staples. Enjoy!