Tag Archives: easy

Jack-O’-Lantern

Posted on by

jack o lanternThis plump little pumpkin is made out of a roll of toilet paper! I spotted this project in FamilyFun magazine years ago. Their version was undecorated, and they used fabric and felt for the body and leaves. I needed to use cheaper materials, so my version is made with a piece of plastic tablecloth and construction paper. I also went a step further and decorated the front with a grinning jack-o’-lantern face!

You’ll need:

  • 1 roll of toilet paper
  • A piece of orange plastic table cloth (approximately 20″ x 22″)
  • Brown and green construction paper
  • 1 green pipe cleaner
  • 4 pieces of black self-adhesive foam
  • Scissors and tape for construction
  • Green marker (optional)

Place the toilet paper roll in the center of the plastic tablecloth, and tuck the tablecloth into the hole in the top of the roll. Next, curl a 5″ x 9″ piece of brown construction paper into a tube and tape it. This is your pumpkin’s stem. Stick the stem in the hole in the top of the roll.

Cut a leaf shape out of a piece of green construction paper. Make sure to leave a 2″ stem at the bottom of the leaf (because the stem needs to firmly anchor the leaf in the toilet paper roll). You can use a green marker to draw a little line on the leaf if you’d like.

pumpkin leafTuck the stem of the leaf into the hole. Curl a green pipe cleaner around a pencil, pen, or marker to make a corkscrew, then tuck it into the hole as well.

Finally, cut your jack-o’-lantern’s eyes, nose, and mouth out of black self-adhesive foam and stick them on your pumpkin (or use black construction paper pieces and tape). You can cut the foam pieces in advance, or the kids can “carve” the pieces on their own. I found a little friend in the gallery who was more than happy to demonstrate her carving skills! Awesome.

decorated jackThe nice thing about this project is that when you are done with it, you can remove the plastic and re-purpose the roll of toilet paper. Now that’s a very useful pumpkin!

Imagine That

Posted on by

long-haired rainbow yakI’d like to introduce you to my imaginary friend Roy, the long-haired rainbow yak. Perhaps you have an imaginary friend too? No? Well, we can certainly help you find one!

We read The Adventures of Beekle, The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santat (Little, Brown, 2014). On a far away island where imaginary friends are created, a creature with no name is born. He waits, along with the other imaginary friends, for a child to pick him and give him a special name. But it never happens. So our unnamed hero sets off to find a child on his own. He arrives at a big city and is disappointed at what he finds (no kids eating cake, people in a hurry, and everyone appears in need of a nap). Climbing to the top of a tree, he searches for his friend. No one arrives. He is sad. Suddenly there is a shout! A little girl needs help retrieving her drawing from the branches of the tree. A friendship is born. Alice names her new friend…Beekle. I love this sweet, touching, and beautifully drawn book.

Depending on the type of friend you make, you’ll need:

  • 1 small oatmeal container – OR – 1 box (mine was 4 ½” X 4 ½” x 6”)
  • 1 – 4 toilet paper tubes
  • Construction paper
  • A variety of art supplies (more on this below)
  • Markers for decorating
  • Scissors, tape, glue sticks for construction
  • Hot glue

Katie and I made 4 example friends to demonstrate the various oatmeal container, box, and toilet paper tube leg combinations. We did have one request for paper towel tube legs, which we happily granted. Here are the example friends:

yak sidepurplecrocpinkie birdOnce the kids decided on their friend’s body shape and legs, we steered them towards 2 tables (and 2 windowsills) piled with art supplies, warmed up our two hot glue stations (staffed by Katie and myself) and invited them to let their imaginations soar!

You can use any art supplies you’d like of course. Or even go with the simplicity of white construction paper and markers. But just in case you’re interested, here is the list of all the art supplies we provided, pulled from the depths of our storage closet and drawers…

The resulting friends were imaginative and utterly delightful. We managed to capture the majority of them in our temporary photo studio. You can click on any of the thumbnails below to open a larger image. The toilet paper tube legs were very popular, but check out “Cowmoo” and “Rose” rocking some alternative leg styles!

Quill Pens

Posted on by

quill pensNeed a simple project for a big event? Perhaps these quill pens will do the trick!

Last Saturday, Cotsen hosted a table at Princeton University’s Community & Staff Day event. Because of the big crowds, we needed something simple, fun, fast, and literary. Last year, we made flying books. This year, we decided to make Harry Potter-esque quill pens.

We were, of course, dressed in hats and robes. Even though it was 85 degrees out. Because comfort never comes before costuming, am I right?

wizard robesYou’ll need:

First, twist a sparkle stem into the desired shape. We offered 3 different shapes to choose from (even though some kids made their own shapes of course):

stemsPlace the sparkle stem on top of the feather. Then use masking tape to attach the feather and the sparkle stem to the the top of the pen. You can continue covering the pen with tape if you’d like (just make sure you don’t accidentally tape the cap on). Done!

pen from sideBelow you can see the layout of our event table, including a display pen floating in the upper right-hand corner of the photo. It’s always a good idea to have an example of the project displayed somewhere. That way, kids can see what to expect and grown ups can get a jump on gathering the appropriate supplies.

table side 1On the opposite side of our event tent was a mirror activity. Here, kids could use their newly-created quill pens to do some inverted writing and try their skills at mirror mazes.

table side 2The mirror activity is very simple to put together. We duct-taped 6 bookends to the back of an inexpensive door mirror and stood it up on the table.

mirrorSince we weren’t able to staff the mirror activities during the event, we printed up some display instructions (here are my mirror writing instructions). I put the instructions in a double-sided plastic display stand.

instructionsWe stacked practice paper and 4 types of mazes (which we found using Google images) on either side of the mirror. The mazes were really popular, even with older kids!

boys writingAt neighboring table, the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab brought all sorts of science toys for the crowds to play with. Including this Van de Graaff generator…

wizard hairAnd yes, it is twice the fun when you’re wearing wizard robes.