Tag Archives: instructions

Red Letter Day

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red letter day

Hosting a community event table and need something creative, literary, and simple? We highly recommend this wooden letter key chain project, which clips oh-so-conveniently to your bag or backpack!

The project just requires wooden letters, markers, rubber bands, and carabiners. We bought our carabiners from Oriental Trading Company – a bag of 50 costs $12. Our 2″ wooden letters are from Amazon. A set of 120 pieces (which also included symbols # & @ $) cost $22. And they come in this handy-dandy tray too!

letter keychain table layoutAt the event, we simply laid everything out and invited kids to decorate! I think we made around 350 keychains that day. Also, since we were representing Princeton University, Katie and I wore tiger onesies (like we needed an excuse, right?).

dr dana and katie tigersThe project was quick, easy to explain, inspired a lot of creativity, involved alphabet letters, and kids of various ages (plus a few college students!) really enjoyed it. You can’t get much better then that!

Sweet Snoozer

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sweet snoozer

This hibernating bear will have the sweetest of slumbers, thanks to the amazingly cozy shelter you’ve crafted!

We read Brave Bitsy and the Bear, written by Angela McAllister, and illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke (Clarion Books, 2006). When Bitsy the purple bunny gets lost in the woods, she tries to stay brave, even when confronted by a big bear. Fortunately, the bear is very friendly, and offers to take her home. The problem is, it’s close to winter and the bear is very sleepy. Bitsy finally gets home, but worries her new friend won’t make it back to his cave. She ventures out to discover that yes, bear has fallen asleep in the middle of the woods! Fortunately, Bitsy and her forest friends chip in to build bear a cozy winter shelter, and he wakes up in the spring happy, well rested, and very grateful!

You’ll need:

  • 1 large tissue box
  • 1 toilet paper tube
  • A selection of construction paper, including brown
  • 1 corrugated cardboard base (ours was 7″ x 10″)
  • Scissors, tape and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

finished snoozing bear

First, the bear! We used a 4.5” X 4.5” x 9” brown craft box, but you can also wrap a large tissue box with brown construction paper. Add a tail, front legs, back legs, and ears. The nose is a toilet paper tube cut down to 1.75″ with an oval of self-adhesive foam on the end (but black construction paper works too!). Next up, the shelter…

finished bear shelterHere’s the shot from the front. The shelter is basically 1.5″ x 22″ strips of brown poster board arched over a corrugated cardboard base and secured to the underside with tape (but brown construction paper works too). Place the bear on the base while crafting to insure your arches are tall enough! We added green construction paper leaves and s (but you can craft the flowers out of construction paper or skip them entirely).

finished bear in shelterWhen the shelter is done, tuck some (optional) green paper crinkle to make things extra snug. Then, feel free to cozy up with your bear for a nap!

bear nap

The End

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the endSpoiler-heavy free write anyone? All you need are old photos, pen, paper, and a moment to ponder how to tell a story – by only writing its ending! This exercise premiered at Cotsen Critix, our literary society for kids ages 9-12.

At the program, we scattered a bunch of old newspaper and magazine photos on the tables (thanks library recycling program!) and instructed the kids to select an image, Then, they wrote the final paragraph of a story, with the selected image serving as the very last scene.

I also ask them to think about a few things before they got started: Who are your characters? What happened in the story? What’s the resolution of the story? How can you conclude the story without summarizing it? How does everything come down to this image?

It was a challenging prompt, but check out some of these seriously cool endings…

whale photo

Kate and Tristan turned around when they heard the huge SPLASH! Winston dove out of the water, splashing happily. Kate smiled “He looks happy here.” Tristan nodded and called out to Winston.

“Goodbye Winston! We’ll miss you!”

Winston dove down and disappeared into a patch of soft sea foam, creating another splash. Katie turned to Tristan “Well, he’s finally safe from Envetson and his henchmen now, all thanks to us.”

 

man and elephant photo

As I turned, Hannibal tooted as if to say I’ve been with you these last 50 years. I’ve been with you when you were at death’s door. I’m not going anywhere. “I’m going to miss you old friend.” I choked out. The great beast threw this head back and trumpeted so loudly, so deafeningly, I almost thought he was laughing. He then lifted me up on his back. I laughed. “Well then, one last ride.”

 

panda bear photoThe very last thing I could remember seeing was… a panda eating bamboo. And then my eyes refused to cooperate any longer. Blackness. I can only remember the crunch and the green. That’s it. Memories are weird like that, you can always remember the most bizarre parts. Even with my eyes closed, I can taste the dew on the nearby grass. I still feel the presence of a fluffy being right beside me, chomping away. Crackle. Snap. That’s all…

 

 

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