DIY Love Umbrellas Inspired by “Under the Love Umbrella”

“Under the Love Umbrella” by Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys

This is a sweet book that pays tribute to all the wonderful effects of love in a relationship.  It makes us feel safe, it brings us joy, it offers stability and so much more.  Each page spread in this book shows an example of ways that we can show love in a relationship and is accompanied by short and simple text that really emphasizes the theme.

Along with the beautiful text this book is full of stunning illustrations that are done in an array of bright neons.  It adds to the effect of making this book an utterly celebratory one that is practically bursting with joy.  It is a beautiful edition to any home library and would make a perfect gift.

Click here to purchase “Under the Love Umbrella” *affiliate link

DIY “Love Umbrellas”

The very last page in this book poses the question “Who is under your love umbrella?”.  I love this ending because it gets your little one thinking about examples of love that they have received and given in the different relationships that are important to them.  I thought that this question at the end would be the wonderful launch-point for a great discussion and I thought that using the answer to that question for a craft would be even more wonderful.

That is where I got the idea to create “love umbrellas”.  At the end of the book you can discuss with your child who loves them (who is under there love umbrella), make a list together, and then use that list to create their very own love umbrellas.  For our umbrella I picked-up an umbrella from our local dollar store (because this is a project that I knew my kids would play with afterwards and I didn’t want to invest too much) along with a few other supplies that we already had on hand.  It only took a couple of minutes to make and the end result was quite a favorite with my kids.

Supplies:

• umbrella (check your local dollar store!)
• string
• tape
• colorful paper (I used neon copy paper)
• scissors

Process:

1.  Cut out some paper hearts.  The quantity and size doesn’t really matter with this project.  Go with what you think will be visually appealing.  We did about a dozen hearts that were several inches tall.  Then write down the names of the people that your children love and who love them.  (Essentially who is “under their love umbrella”)
2. Cut a length of string and tape one end to your heart.  Again, for the length go with what is visually appealing.  I also like the look of staggered hearts so each of our strings were slightly different lengths.
3. Using tape, attach the other end to your umbrella.  I attached ours to the extended spokes because it was easy to tape them, it spread them out evenly under the umbrella, and it distanced them enough that the hearts didn’t get tangled in each other when the umbrella was spun after it was completed.
4. For extra fun I attached 3 more to the inside spokes in the center of the umbrella.

My kids were fascinated with the end result.  They loved standing in the center and gently twirling the umbrella to watch all of the colorful hearts “dance”.  They played with it for quite some time and I love how infatuated they were with it.  Definitely a raging success!

If you give this Beyond the Book activity a try I’d love to hear how it goes! Share it on Instagram using hashtag #beyondthebook (I’m on Instagram as @book.nerd.mommy) or even just comment here with your thoughts. It would make my day!