There's Always Room for the Imagination
Reusable Fabric Gift Bags
Did you know that during the holidays, we create an additional 25 million tons of garbage? If every family wrapped three presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. If every family re-used just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet!
Last Christmas I made these fabric gift bags. I had a plenty of left over fabric from costumes I made from the children's theater plays over the years. It was quite nice to see my pile go down and have people enjoy the bags. My niece loved the backpack fabric gift bag and wore it the whole night during our family holiday gathering. After we opened our presents, I was so happy that we only had a small grocery bag of trash and most of it was packaging, which was recyclable. Also, I used gift tags that could be re-purposed as christmas tree ornaments. So it was good to help the earth this holiday season. I'm looking forward to doing it again next Christmas.
Children's Art
These children's artworks are inspired by the famous artists of all time.
Pablo Picasso
Eric Carle
I had the children draw a picture of their favorite animal or insect, something they are capable of drawing by themselves. They sketched it lightly, then we cut some strips of bleeding tissue paper. I find the ones they sell at Lakeshore Learning Center are the best quality. The children spread glue all over their picture, then lay the strips of different colored tissue paper, depending on the color they want to use. Now this part I prep, I paint modge podge all over their picture to create a glossy look. I don't let the children use it since it gives off a very strong chemical smell. I let it dry for 24 hours, then press it with a large, thick book and let it press for a day or two. After its all glossed and pressed, I have the children go over with a sharpie the details they want defined. It's quite nice to see their originalitycome through and their ideas.
3D Origami Dragons for Kids
This has been a fun project for my elementary students before leaving for Spring Break. They also took more pieces of paper to work on during the week they are off from school. I've seen this picture from an Instagram user and she told me to check out You Tube for instructions. It was guite fun to see how they are made. I saw one that was simplified for younger children, ages 6-9. This dragon took 100 triangles to make. They managed making the triangles and have been hooked since. The process was interesting. They were folding and sharing stories to one another.
