DLTK's Crafts for Kids
All About Hungary Paper Quilt Craft

This is a great cut and paste paper craft project for learning about Hungary.  It includes some symbolic icons, the flag and a map of Hungary.

This turns out to be quite a large project (about 25 inches x 25 inches) and there are lots of templates to print.

Note:  If you'd like a smaller project (both in size and time) do a 4 square quilt instead of a 9 square quilt:  only print templates 1, 2, 4 and 5.

Alternatively, you might like to have a group of children each make a quilt piece or two and then assembling everyone's pieces into one quilt.

Materials:

• paper,
• printer,
• something to color with,
• scissors,
• glue
• Optional:  red or green construction paper

Notes about the images:

Image 1:  Traditional Hungarian embroidery decorated folk costumes, table linens, bookmarks, doilies and bed covers.  It typically depicts colorful flowers and dates back to the middle ages when girls learned to embroider at a very young age.

Image 2:  The spice, paprika, is made by grinding dried peppers.  It was first developed in Spain, but Hungary is the country most famous for it.  It is used to season and add color to soups, stews, rices and sausage.

Image 3:  Statues of the Turul can be found throughout Hungary.  In Hungarian mythology, the Turul is the divine messenger who sits atop the tree of life.

Image 4:  More embroidery - this time on a traditional Hungarian folk dress.

Image 5:  The flag of Hungary has three stripes:  red, white and green.

Image 6:  In Hungary, the belief in vampires has existed since the Middle Ages.  The Hungarian actor, Bela Lugosi, starred as the first movie vampire.  The opening chapter of Bram Stoker's Dracula took place in Hungary.

Image 7:  The Rubik's cube was invented by the Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik.

Image 8:  Hungary is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin in Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia.  Budapest is the capital city of Hungary.

Image 9:  Hungarian Mézeskalács (or honey cakes) are made like gingerbread, but with honey instead of molasses.  They are typically made in the shape of a heart with a small mirror set in the center and the Hungarian words, “from a heart, to a heart” written on them with icing.

Instructions:

• Optional:  This is optional, but I really like to include it as part of the craft if I'm making the 9 square quilt.
  • Print the "Top Border Template" in either color or B&W.  This is the bit that says HUNGARY along the top.
  • Color the template pieces if using B&W
  • Cut out the template pieces
  • Assemble the pieces to make a strip about 20 inches long and 3 inches tall.
• Print templates 1 to 9 to make a 9 square quilt  
   
  OR print templates 1, 2, 4 and 5 if you're making a 4 square quilt.
• Color each template piece if using B&W
  • this can be quite time consuming and can be done over two weeks of learning about the country (a square per day and 1 day for assembly = 10 days)
        OR
  • this can be done as a group project with each child completing a square and then assembling it as a group.
• Cut out the template pieces.
• Apply glue to the gray parts of the template and assemble (you can look at the image at the top of this page to see what piece goes where)  After assembling, there should be no gray left showing.
• Optional:  I was torn whether to add this as the project is already quite time consuming.  It's up to you whether you want to do it!
  • Glue 4 inch wide strips of red or green construction paper all around the outside of your project to form a border.  Use scissors to cut a slight wave in this border so it looks like a quilt.
     
    OR
  • Print 3 copies of the fringe template for a 9 square quilt or 2 copies for a 4 square quilt.  Cut out the pieces and glue them around the outside of the quilt as a border, overlapping the pieces slightly so there are no gaps.

Templates:

• Close template window when done printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Top Border Template       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 1       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 2       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 3       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 4       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 5       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 6       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 7       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 8       color  or   B&W

Quilt Square Template 9       color  or   B&W

Optional Fringe Template       color  or   B&W

Optional Info About the Images        B&W only

Print friendly version of these instructions