Tag Archives: easy

Surely You Jest

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court jesterIt’s comedy old school style with this jester motley (a.k.a. “cap ‘n bells”) and scepter (a.k.a. “bauble”). A scroll of hilarious jokes is included, such as: Why did Cinderella lose the football game? Because her coach was a pumpkin! Oh ho ho!

We read Serious Trouble by Arthur Howard (Voyager Books, 2007). Prince Ernest has very serious parents who expect him to proceed seriously through life and eventually rule the kingdom. Seriously. The problem is, Ernest wants to be a jester. But his occupational dream couldn’t come at a worse time, because the kingdom is being threatened by a terrible three-headed dragon. When Ernest sneaks out of the castle to practice some jokes, he unfortunately runs into the dragon. The grumpy dragon agrees to let him go if Ernest can make him laugh. Can the princely comic deliver? Of course he can (it helps that dragons are way ticklish)!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large poster board strip for hat band (approximately 2.5″ x 22″)
  • A selection of color masking tape
  • 3 poster board triangles in different colors (mine were approximately 8″ at the base and 17.5″ tall).
  • 5 medium pom-poms (mine were 1″)
  • 6 jingle bells
  • 1 paper towel tube
  • 1 piece of construction paper, any color
  • Multiple pieces of curling ribbon
  • Multiple pieces of fabric ribbon
  • 1 small rectangle of construction paper (approximately 2.75″ x 6.5″)
  • 1 jester head template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ white card stock
  • 3 small pom-poms (mine were 0.5″)
  • 1 set of Ye Olde Funny Jokes, printed on standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper
  • Stapler, hole punch, scissors, and tape for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • Hot glue

jester hatStart with the hat! Decorate the large strip of poster board with color tape. Then circle it around your head, remove, and staple to create a hat band. For the pointy part of your hat, use long poster board triangles that look like this:

trianglesTuck each triangle inside the hat band and staple into place. It’s absolutely OK if the bases of the triangles overlap. In fact, it looks rather snazzy.

overlap okNext, punch a hole at the end of each triangle. You want the hole to be close to the tip of the triangle, but not so close that the jingle bell might tear loose.

triangle holeThread a small piece of curling ribbon through each jingle bell, and then knot a bell through each hole. Don’t knot the ribbon too tight, or it will cut through the poster board!

bellFinish by hot gluing 5 medium pom-poms around the exterior of the hat band. Done!

hot glue hatNow for your scepter. Wrap a paper towel tube with construction paper, and use color masking tape to add some stripes. Then, take a 5.5″ piece of color masking tape and place it sticky side up on the table. Gently press the ends of the curling and fabric ribbon onto the tape. Include at least 3 pieces of curling ribbon.

ribbonWrap the ribbon tape around the top of the paper towel tube BUT…drop it about 1″ from the top of the tube.

wrapped ribbonTrim the ribbon if it seems too long, and then knot a jingle bell onto each curling ribbon (the fabric ribbon is too soft for threading). Next, cut a zig-zag pattern into the small rectangle of construction paper…

collarThen wrap it around the top of the paper towel tube. Like the ribbon tape, you’ll want to drop the zig-zag paper about 1″ from the top of the tube.

wrapped collarUse markers to color the jester head template, then curl the long tabs of the template around the top of the paper towel tube and fasten with tape. Finish by hot gluing 3 small pom-poms on the ends of the hat.

finished scepter All you need now are jokes! I printed the joke sheets in advance and used a piece of curling ribbon to turn them into scrolls. Then I hid the jokes around the gallery and turned it into a jester quest. The gallery was full of giggling, jingling kids. It was fabulous!

If you are in need of a dragon to accompany this project, try this fella!

Over the Rainbow

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storm and rainbowThis dangling storm cloud has a surprise inside. Just tug the secret loop…and release a rainbow!

We read Thunder Bunny by Barbara Helen Berger (Philomel, 2007). Thunder Bunny is a surprise to her rabbit family. She’s the littlest and last, but she’s also…blue! Curious about the sky, Thunder Bunny sails up into the clouds. A scary storm brews, but Thunder Bunny soon realizes that even thunder and lightning are part of who she is. When she returns home, her family recognize what a truly special bunny she is.

You’ll need:

The funny thing about this project is that the box’s lid, which technically is always on top is going to be the trap door at the bottom. So begin by flipping the box over so the lid is on the bottom. Then, up at the “top,” cut two small slits on each side.

prepping boxUse your scissor blades to enlarge the slits into holes (large enough to thread the elastic beading cord through). Slide the ends of the cord through the right and left holes. The ends should now be poking into the interior of the box.

ends of cordNext, use this wrapping technique to wrap and secure the cords around the craft sticks. Tape the craft sticks to the interior walls of the box.

craft sticksNext is the secret loop that will release the rainbow from the trapdoor.

secret loopFold 1/2 of a pipe cleaner into a loop and twist the ends together to secure.

twisted loopTape the loop to the inside edge of the lid.

loop on trapdoorTime to decorate the cloud! I showed the kids how to pull apart a cotton ball so it will cover more space on the box’s surface. Then I made a diagram to show kids approximately how many cotton balls they would need for each side. Otherwise, one zillion cotton balls will be glued on there. Trust me.

sneaky mathTo attach the cotton balls, squirt some white glue on the box, and then press the cotton ball on top. Repeat on all sides of the cloud EXCEPT the trap door on the bottom! That needs to remain cotton ball free so you can attach the “rain” and thunderbolts to it.

Next, use tape to attach the blue cellophane, blue shimmer ribbon, and blue curling ribbon rain to the bottom of the trapdoor. We prepped the thunderbolts in advance by using the template to trace the bolts onto mirror board (or you could skip the mirror board and just have white card stock bolts). Tape the 3″ – 5″ pieces of elastic beading cord to the back of the bolts, then tape the cords to the box.

storm cloudThe storm cloud is done, now for the rainbow! Red goes first. Attach a piece of tape to the end of the red streamer. Press the tape to the ceiling of the box, all the way to the left. Repeat with each color until you have a row of rainbow streamers from left to right.

rainbow streamersGently tuck the streamers into the box and shut the trapdoor. Suspend the cloud from its cord, then tug the pipe cleaner loop. Your rainbow will appear! Try to refrain from bursting into song.

Refraining…

Refraining…

SOOOOMEWHEEEERE…OVER THE RAAAAINBOW…

Doh!

Everyone’s an Engineer

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everyones an engineerGet ready to create, build, and innovate. Today, everyone’s an engineer and the sky’s the limit!

We read Rosie Revere, Engineer written by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts (Harry N. Abrams, 2013). At night, young Rosie Revere designs gadgets, gizmos, and fabulous machines…and then hides them. She’s an engineer, but due to an unfortunate incident with her Uncle Fred (a zookeeper who mistakenly laughs at a cheddar cheese spray hat designed to keep pythons away), she’s keeping her light under a bushel.

However, when Great-Great-Aunt Rose comes to visit and expresses her life-long wish to fly, Rosie puts aside her fears and builds her a flying machine. The machine flies…and then promptly crashes. Rosie gives up. But wait! Great-Great-Aunt Rose has something to say. Failures are part of engineering, but the true failure is if you give up and stop trying. Don’t forget to check the last page for a sweet illustration of Rosie’s ultimate success!

This story time cost zero dollars because I used materials that were already in my art cabinet and storage closet. You could do something similar by sending out a call for recyclables at your library, school, workplace, or neighborhood (more about that here). Another option is to announce the story time theme in advance and invite families to bring recyclables and surplus art supplies from home to contribute.

Here’s a list of the materials I offered:

  • White matte boxes in various shapes and sizes
  • Pastry boxes (you can see the exact ones I used on this project)
  • Tissue boxes, assorted sizes and colors
  • Oatmeal containers
  • Toilet paper tubes
  • Paper towel tubes
  • Wrapping paper tubes
  • Corrugated cardboard bases (leftover from this project)
  • Bulk CD cases (the kind that look like big plastic tubs)
  • Paper plates
  • Plastic cups
  • Paper cups
  • Different lengths of PVC pipe
  • Some cone water cups
  • Pieces of tagboard
  • Assorted beverage caps
  • Film canisters
  • A variety of tea tins
  • Black plastic top hats
  • A selection of sparkle stems
  • A selection of pipe cleaners
  • A selection of craft ties
  • A selection of color masking tape
  • Aluminum foil
  • Construction paper
  • Poster board strips (regular and metallic)
  • Metallic paper
  • Clothespins
  • A variety of craft sticks
  • A selection of twisteez wire
  • A selection of large plastic buttons
  • A few spools of metallic tie cord
  • Plastic drinking straws
  • A few spools of britelace
  • Some marabou boas
  • A selection of dot stickers and star stickers
  • The Bling Bin
  • Scissors, tape, hole punch, and glue stick for construction
  • Markers for decorating
  • A box cutter
  • Hot glue

One building supply I didn’t list above are these…the round plastic guides at the ends of large rolls of paper. Pop them out and you have some excellent tires:

tube tiresTo prep for story time, I piled everything onto side tables, plugged in the hot glue gun, and invited everyone to make a machine. No additional prompting was needed!

Here are a few fabulous creations, beginning with…”The Dollycopter”

dollycopterWhen you pull the craft sticks on top of this computer, they jiggle the strings of buttons inside the monitor.

cone computerAn “alien” computer with with furry frame and space scene!

furry computerThere were plenty of robots, widgets, rockets, and flying mechanisms…

table robot robot 1robot 2 Remember the enthusiastic young fellow who started this post off? He designed a “Police Train” and believe it or not, the thing actually rolled when you pulled it!

train walksGuess we’ll be seeing him at MIT in a few years…