Inspired by the 2025 Harley Gallery exhibition Helen Oxenbury: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and Other Adventures, craft your own slice of cake and hat suitable for a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
These activities are suitable for all ages and can be simplified or extended to suit your child/children.
Origami Cake Slice Activity (10-20 minutes)
You will need:
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- Colouring pencils
- Scissors
- Glue or tape
- Download and print our template
- Download and print the template linked above, and ask your child to colour it in – don’t forget to encourage them to be creative. Perhaps their cake will be chocolate, red velvet, or rainbow coloured with sprinkles!
- Cut out the cake slice, you may need to help younger children with this step.
- Fold along the internal/triangular straight lines on the template.
- Finally, use glue or sticky tape to attach the grey tabs to the inside of the side pieces to make your cake 3D.
Make a Hat (20-30 minutes)
Illustration from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Helen Oxenbury, written by Lewis Carroll.
You will need:
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- Circular template for the brim of the hat (download one here or make your own)
- A small espresso cup
- Hole puncher
- Scissors
- Glue
- Elastic
- Tape
- Things to decorate your hat with (we used tissue paper, pom poms, feathers and stickers)
- Help your child to cut out the brim of the hat using our template, and punch two holes in it where marked.
- Cut a length of elastic long enough to go under your child’s chin, and ask them to thread it through the two holes, tying a knot at the bottom of the loop.
- Ask your child to decorate the brim of their hat, and the espresso cup which will make up the top of the hat.
- Attach the espresso cup to the brim of the hat using tape, and add any final decorations to cover the join.
- Now your child is ready for a Mad Hatter’s tea party, and you can enjoy a cup of tea!