Fair Trade

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Dana Sheridan

Pack your wagon and get ready for a long journey! We made a little covered wagon and 2 sets of goods to go inside it. Then, we traveled to the story time store to do some good old-fashioned trading!

We read Ox-Cart Man, written by Donald Hall and illustrated by Barbara Cooney (Viking Juvenile, 1979). A farmer prepares for a journey, packing his ox cart with all the surplus things his family has produced throughout the year – wool, mittens, brooms, apples, etc. Then he sets off on a ten day journey to Portsmouth, where he sells everything (including the ox and the cart) and purchases items for his family especially (and this was very important when I was a little kid) 2 pounds of wintergreen peppermint candies. Pockets still full of coins, he returns to his farm and the beautiful cycle of seasons, work, and life begins again. It’s a lovely, lovely book.

For the wagon, you’ll need:

1 box (mine was 4 ½” X 4 ½” x 9”)
An 8.5″ x 14″ piece of tagboard (optional)
1 wagon wheel template, printed on an 8.5″ x 11″ piece of white card stock
1 piece of string (approximately 37″ long)
An 8.5″ x 11″ piece of white card stock
A selection of color masking tape
Scissors, glue stick, and tape for construction
Markers for decorating
Hot glue

For the goods, you’ll need:

1 quilt template, printed on an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of white paper
2 craft sticks (mine were 4.5″ long)
2 rectangles of brown construction paper
1 brown paper lunch bag
1 small bunch of polyester fill
A selection of color masking tape
2 pieces of twine (mine were 57″ long)
2 paper baking cups
Red & brown pom-poms (mine were medium-sized, about 0.5″ in diameter)
Scissors for construction
Markers for decorating
1 trading post (more on this later!)

Begin with the wagon! Cut the top of the box off, and cut the sides down to about 3″ high.

The next step is optional (but fun). Cut strips of tagboard to fit the sides of the box, draw wood grain patterns on each of them, and use tape, a glue stick, or hot glue to attach them to the sides of the box. Or you can go super simple and draw wood grain on the sides of the box. Or skip this step entirely and leave the box blank.

Next, color and cut the wagon wheels from the template and tape or hot glue them to the box.Make sure the wheels are flush with the bottom of the box. Otherwise, the wagon won’t slide very well.

Time for the pull string! It’s important to really attach this well, so you don’t have any pull string fails during your long journey. Cut a slit in the front of the wagon. Then, knot the end of the string (I used heavy kite string) and slide the knot into the slit. Tape the string to the inside of the box, and then put another piece of tape above the knot it’s really secure.

The final step for the covered wagon is…the cover! Use color masking tape to create two “bows” on the piece of card stock “canvas” (the bows are the wooden ribs that hold up the canvas on a real covered wagon).

Now hot glue (or tape) the ends of the card stock canvas to the insides of the wagon. Be sure to adhere it no lower than 1″ from the top of the wagon (if the canvas is too low, it makes it hard to get the stuff in and out of your wagon).

Your wagon is finished…now for the goods! Remember, you’ll be making two of each item (with the exception of the bag of wool). For the quilts, use markers to decorate and cut out the quilt template.

For the broom, fringe 2 rectangles of brown construction paper, then wrap them around the bottom of the craft sticks. Attach the construction paper to the craft sticks with color masking tape.

For the bag of wool, cut the bottom off the paper lunch bag. You want the sides of the bag to be no taller than 3″. Open the bag and pop the polyester fill inside it.

For the rope, simply coil and knot the two pieces of twine. Or don’t coil them and leave them loose. Plenty of kids did!

For the sacks of produce, fill two baking cups with red and brown pom-poms to represent apples and potatoes. Your wagon is ready to roll!

The ox-cart man traveled quite a long way to get to the market, so I decided to replicate that experience. I set up a little store at the end of the an exhibit gallery that is adjacent to the entrance to our library. It’s a looong gallery, and I tucked the store off to one side, so I marked the way with red arrows made of color masking tape.

The store consisted of a copy paper box lid stocked with some fun doodads – shells, spotted feathers, large gemstones, finger puppets (left over from this program) tiaras made out of pipe cleaners, gro-dinosaurs, and cake erasers left over from this story time.

Kids could trade 3 things in their wagons for 3 things in the store. With 20 kids at story time, we did a pretty brisk business that day.

Then, laden with goodies, the wagons headed off home (sorry the photo is a little blurry, but you get the idea)!

Ship in a Bottle

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Dana Sheridan

Ahoy! Don’t toss that little plastic water bottle! This simple ship can be put together with supplies laying around any pirate den.

You’ll need:

An empty 8 oz plastic water bottle
A 4″ x 4″ square of standard white paper
2 pennies
Scissors and tape for construction
Markers for decorating

Remove the label from the water bottle. I used Poland Springs brand because it has a paper label that comes off easily. There was still some adhesive stuck to the bottle…

But it came off right away with some scotch tape. Press the tape to the adhesive, and then rip it off! Repeat until all the adhesive is gone and you have a nice clean bottle.

Now for the ship! For the step-by-step folding instructions below, I used marbled origami paper to better illustrate the folds. But you can definitely use plain old white paper for your ship. Start with a 4″ x 4″ square of paper.

Now cut the paper in half, forming 2 triangles.

Moving forward, you’ll just be using one of the triangles (give the other to yer shipmate). Orient your triangle like so…

Then fold the lower right point up to the top of the triangle.

Repeat with the left point. Your paper will now look like this:

Open your triangle like so…

Then fold the top point down to the base of the triangle like this:

Fold the right point up again…

Then repeat with the left point.

Fold the bottom point up…

Then gentle push it back down again. This creates the base that props up your ship.

Your ship is done!

Since you’ll be folding a ship using standard white paper, your ship will of course be all white. Therefore, your next step is to color the base of the ship with markers (and the sails too if you like).

Then turn the ship around and tape two stacked pennies to the base. The pennies are important. Not only do they keep the ship upright, they also anchor the bottle on its side AND act as a counterbalance for the bottle’s cap.

Ready to get that ship in the bottle? Gently fold the base upwards, and curl the sails loosely around it. Try not to pinch the ship too tightly.

Insert the rolled ship through the mouth and neck of the bottle. Use your finger or a pencil to gently unroll the ship and straighten the sails. Twist the cap on your bottle, and you’re done!

This project was a bit hit at a large-scale Treasure Island event we hosted. Even though the origami fold is relatively easy, we folded a fleet of ships in advance for very young children, who were able to jump right into decorating them. We also developed this extremely popular (and inexpensive) pom-pom cannon for another event table.

We had a real cannon too, courtesy of the Pennsylvania State Navy historical reenactors.

These folks were amazing. The history, artifacts, and knowledge they brought to the event were absolutely top rate.

Another amazing educator was this gentleman from the Trenton Old Barracks Museum, who portrayed Dr. Livesey. He brought all of his period medical implements and described them in great detail. And yes, before you ask – he did bring leeches.

Love Is In The Air

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Dana Sheridan

A cupid on a ladder, some strewn hearts, a sweet little keepsake box, some “love” letters…you don’t have to wait until Valentine’s Day to make someone feel special. I love you is all year round!

We read Love, Ruby Valentine written by Laurie B. Friedman and illustrated by Lynne Avril Cravath (Carolrhoda Books, 2006). Ruby Valentine and her pet bird, Lovebird, absolutely LOVE Valentine’s Day. As the holiday draws near, Ruby goes into a frenzy – baking, wrapping gifts, making cards, curling ribbon, and choosing the perfect outfit. Unfortunately, she’s so exhausted by her preparations that when she stops to rest she accidentally sleeps through Valentine’s! When she awakes, she’s horrified and saddened to realize she missed it. Fortunately, Lovebird convinces her to carry on. Ruby makes her deliveries a day late and…no one seems to mind! Ruby learns that you don’t have to wait until Valentine’s to tell someone you love them. Go ahead and tell them all year round!

Kids were a little surprised when I told them that it was Valentine’s in July, but once they heard the story and understood its message, they eagerly joined in the fun.

You’ll need:

1 box (mine was 4 ½” X 4 ½” x 9”)
A love letters template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of white card stock
Red, pink, purple, and yellow construction paper
A selection of patterned paper
Paper doilies
A selection of patterned tape
Paper baking cups
Heart stickers
A selection of curling ribbon
A selection of fabric ribbon
A selection of craft tie
A selection of pipe cleaners
A selection of sparkle stems
A selection of small feathers
The Bling Bin
A ladder (ours was 8′ high)
Scissors, tape, glue stick for construction
Markers for decorating
Hot glue

We started by decorating the boxes. This was a free-form art supply “buffet” that kids could pick and choose from. In designing my box, I went for a classic red and white number.

In addition to the art supplies in the list above, I told kids that if there was something else they wanted, to please come and ask. Only one kid took me up on this offer. A little girl who, for some reason, wanted wiggle eyes on her box. To say “Eye love you” perhaps?

As the final touches were put on the boxes, I handed out the love letter templates, instructing everyone to decorate them, cut them out, and put them in their boxes to take home. Later, they could use them to infuse their homes with some L-O-V-E.

And now for the main event – the strewing of the hearts. I prepared for it by cutting a slew of construction paper hearts (about 2″ high) from red, pink, purple, and yellow construction paper.

IMPORTANT! After you finish cutting a heart, make sure you soft fold it down the middle. Unlike a hard fold, where you push the paper down so the sides meet (and run your finger along the fold to create a sharp crease), a soft fold consists of gently folding the paper, but not letting the sides touch.

This step might seem superfluous, but after some testing I determined that a soft folded heart will flutter and fall better than a non-folded (or hard folded) heart, making it easier for kids to see and catch.

We gave Mr. Ian a pair of cupid wings and sent him up a ladder, where he cheerfully strewed hearts to kids, who caught them in their boxes and hands.

Then, in a serenade of violins, cupid departed, taking his 8′ aluminum ladder with him…

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Creative Literacy & Library Love

Monthly Archives: July 2014

Fair Trade

Ship in a Bottle

Love Is In The Air