Tag Archives: craft

It’s a Fixer Upper

Posted on by

Is your story time tractor running a little rough? Maybe it’s missing a few foam bead plugs or yarn wires? Not to worry! With your handy-dandy toolbox and “can do” spirit, you’ll have everything working in no time!

We read Tough Chicks written by Cece Meng, and illustrated by Melissa Suber (Clarion Books, 2009). Penny, Polly and Molly are NOT like the other chicks on the farm. Instead of preening feathers, peacefully pecking grain, or cheeping, they are swinging on cow tails, playing in mud, and getting under the hood of Farmer Fred’s tractor to see how it works. The other animals on the farm are annoyed by their antics, but when the tractor breaks down and gets stuck, it’s up to the tough chicks to use their unconventional skills to solve the problem!

You’ll need:

  • 1 small box (we used a 4″ x 4″ x 4″ craft box, but a small tissue box works too!)
  • Poster board or tagboard
  • 2 foam beads
  • 2 small rubber bands
  • 1 sock
  • Cotton balls or polyester fill
  • 1 pair of wiggle eyes
  • 1 chick beak (paper or self-adhesive foam)
  • 1 tractor & tractor engine (more on this below!)
  • Scissors and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

This story time was essentially two small projects: a chick hand puppet, and a tractor toolbox. Our puppet was a yellow soccer sock (we bought a 10 pair pack on Amazon for about $30) stuffed with poly fill and gathered around the neck with a rubber band. We added wiggle eyes, a self-adhesive foam beak, and a jaunty feather crest.

Notice when you place the sock on your hand, you can still use your thumb and fingers to grasp things? It’s an important detail that we’ll return to later! Next up is the tool box:

To make the box handle, tab both ends of 1.5″ x 11″ strip of poster board or tagboard, then attach the tabs to the underside of the box lid. Glue 1 foam bead on the top of the lid, and another on the front of the box. Wind a small rubber band around the beads to keep the lid closed while carrying. Decorate the tool box with markers (or use color masking tape like we did).

Now for the contents of the tool box! These can vary, but here’s what was in our boxes:

There are 3 foam bead bolts, 1 toilet paper tube oil can, and 3 different tubes and wires. The wires are made of yarn or sparkle stems and have rubber band or clothespin fasteners. All of these items are used to “fix” the engine of this AMAZING book cart tractor Katie constructed out of boxes, tubes, and poster board!

The back of the tractor flipped up to reveal the engine, which had parts missing. Kids then used the various items from their tool kits to repair it…all while wearing their chick hand puppet!

We constructed the tractor’s engine out of various upcycled boxes and materials (I especially love the mac & cheese box oil tank). You can also see how our tool box items fit on the engine below:

When it was each kid’s turn, they would bring their tool kits to the “broken” tractor, then use their items (with assistance from their hand puppet) to put everything in the proper place. When the engine was “fixed,” I played an audio clip of a tractor engine roaring to life!

Pepper’s Ghost, Part II

Posted on by

this hummingbird 1_edited 1This is not the first Pepper’s Ghost illusion to appear on Pop Goes the Page. Back in 2020, we posted a kid-friendly version featuring a spirited fox. The illusion is basically a reflection trick, but it’s very effective when done right!

seeing spirits   You’ll need:

  • A clear plastic drink container lid
  • Paper (heavier paper or thin cardboard works best)
  • A small section of clear plastic (like the lid of a food container)
  • Scissors and pencil for construction
  • Cell phone

The project was originally designed and posted by artist Joshua Ellingson on his Instagram. First, wash a clear plastic drink lid. Then cut a half circle template out of paper. When you have a half circle that correctly fits at a 45 degree angle inside your cup lid, trace the paper template onto a piece of clear plastic. We used an acrylic gift box, but plastic food containers work great too. Tape the plastic half circle inside the cup lid. The hardest part is getting that 45 degree angle just right. I made about 4 templates before I finally nailed it. Here’s my finished cup with the plastic half circle:

Head to YouTube for a Pepper’s Ghost illusion on a black background. We tried a couple different ones, but had the most success with this hummingbird. Cue up the video on your phone, maximize it to full screen, and lay the phone on a tabletop. Place the cup lid on top. Finally, roll the video and turn off the lights! Your object will appear to float inside the cup lid! It’s really quite remarkable.

The original designer, Joshua Ellingson, also made a GIANT version of this craft with a thrift store bubble chair and his flat screen television. It’s a must see! And Disney’s Haunted Mansion famously employs this illusion, including an entire ballroom of ghosts!

Sanitation SUPERSTARS!

Posted on by

It’s a big job, but our stellar sanitation team is up to the task! Drive your garbage truck to multiple locations around town, then head to the city dump and send everything flying down the chute. Yes we made a mess, but we had SO much fun!

We read Trashy Town, written by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino (HaperCollins, 1999), and read here by Michigan City Public Library. Mr. Gilly is a trash man and wow is he is busy! There are lots of stops all around town (like the school, town park, a pizza parlor) and finally to the city dump to unload. But there’s still one more stop for Mr. Gilly after that…the bathtub!

This was a special final Tiger Tales story time request from a family who was moving out of the area. The story time kiddo asked for “garbage trucks” and “chutes” and we think we delivered!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large craft box (ours was 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” but a large tissue box works too!)
  • A box cutter
  • 1 sparkle stem
  • 1 toilet paper tube
  • Tin foil
  • 1 truck template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • Black construction paper
  • Yarn
  • Hole punch, scissors and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating

First, the garbage truck! Use a box cutter to make diagonal incisions in the back and bottom of your box, then fold the entire section upwards. This is your garbage truck’s loading hopper. In order to make it easier for kids to raise and lower the hopper, we looped half of a sparkle stem, then taped it to the tailgate.

Notice the garbage cans hanging on the side of the truck in the above photo? To make those, cut a toilet paper tube in half, then wrap each in tin foil. Punch a hole in the side of each can and hang them on sparkle stem hooks taped to the side of the truck. We filled our can with scrap tissue paper “garbage” as well.

The front of the truck is a template from this post (just disregard the roof section on the template – or better yet, cut it into little bits and use it to fill your mini garbage cans!). Tape that in place, then add some black construction paper wheels and decorate the truck with markers. Tape a yarn pull string to the front of your truck for hauling.

It’s time to get to work! We constructed models of each of the sites mentioned in the book…school, park, doctor’s office, pizza parlor, fire station, and the city dump. Many thanks to my daughter for helping me construct them (love the smiling pizza slice)!

We constructed the buildings and park with shoe boxes and box lids, but the city dump was much larger. It was big box with a removable chute that allowed kids to tip their garbage and send it sliding into the dump. You can see the whole thing here, modeled by our awesome grad student volunteer Shruti Sharma (who was also a cloud scientist at a library event this spring).

Once every kid had made a truck, they received a “route card” that showed the order in which they needed to visit each place. Since there were 5 sites, I made 5 routes, all different so they story time kids wouldn’t clump together. Each route, of course, ended at the city dump.

We placed the buildings around the library, and each had it’s own unique “garbage” to be collected. Mostly, these were little do-dads and art supplies from the cabinet. The school’s garbage, for example, are leftover wooden letters from this project. Caregivers and older siblings volunteered to staff each site, refilling “garbage can” cups as each truck rolled up, and the story time garbage kids got to work.

At the city dump, Shruti helped kids slide the garbage down the chute. The back of the big box was cut open, in case kids wanted to take their garbage home. It got a little messy and chaotic. But hey! It IS a dump after all!

If you would like to do this story time and don’t have time to make the buildings, no worries! Here’s a printable set of the buildings that you can tape to walls and tables. Drive safe, and happy collecting!