The bluebonnet is the Texas state flower. Its beautiful blossoms last a relatively short time but can cover large expanses of the Texas Hill Country in the springtime. Bluebonnets are used as a traditional theme for springtime crafts in Texas. For a children's craft, print out a bluebonnet coloring page. Have your child color the blossoms with various shades of blues, dark purples and violets, and the stems and leaves green. While he colors, pop some plain popcorn. Place the popcorn in a large brown paper sack and dust it with dry, blue tempera-paint powder. Fold the top of the bag down twice and shake vigorously. The paint will coat the popcorn and create various hues of color. Have the children use white craft glue to adhere the blue popcorn kernels to the paper, and let dry. This will create the three-dimensional blossoms on their craft papers.
The prickly pear is the Texas state plant. It is a cactus found in the panhandle region and has been historically cooked and eaten. Show pictures of a prickly pear to children and teach them about the pads or "branches" and the thorns or "leaves." Give the children a printout of a prickly pear and have them color it green and cut it out. Next, show them how to glue it to an empty toilet paper roll to create a stand-up prickly pear. Demonstrate how to insert round toothpicks into the roll to create the thorns on the prickly pear. To create more color, try gluing balls of bright pink and yellow tissue paper to the prickly pear to represent the beautiful flowers that it produces.
Historically, bison could be found all over Texas with large concentrations of them in the panhandle region. Today, a large herd of bison calls Caprock Canyons State Park, near Turkey, Texas, home. For this art project, draw an outline of a bison onto a sheet of printer paper then copy it for each child doing the craft. The children will color a traditional panhandle landscape and also the eyes, hooves and horns of the bison. The rest of the bison's body should be covered with white glue. Next, have the children sprinkle ground coffee onto the glue to create the bison's thick brown coat of fur. Then, add small pieces of brown yarn to create a tail, short mane and a beard on the chin. Let it dry.
A sweet way to create a Texas state flag is to use candy to fill in the spaces on a paper representation of the flag. First, print an outline of the Texas state flag for each child on copy paper. Allow them to glue pieces of candy to the paper until the red stripe and main blue rectangle are covered (except for the large white star). Red licorice can be cut for the red stripe, and blue candy-coated chocolates can be used for the blue rectangle. Fill in the white spaces with mini marshmallows (adhered with glue), and let dry. Do not allow children to eat the candy after the glue has been applied.