All Things Bright and Beautiful

all things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small gather in this colorful jungle city, which doubles as a beautiful sun catcher! This was such a simple project – clear sheet, tissue paper, glue, and scissors – but it’s been one our patron’s favorite story time projects this year!

We read Animal City by Joan Negrescolor (Chronicle, 2018). Nina loves to visit Jungle City and read stories to her animal friends. While each animal has a favorite (the flamingos, for example, like Mythology), the story they like best? The very book you’re reading! This book is absolutely gorgeous, and we tried to capture the artist’s color and shape play with our project.

You’ll need:

  • A clear plastic sheet (more on this below)
  • Tissue paper
  • Scissors and glue for construction

The key to this sun catcher project is the clear plastic sheet. We used 16″ x 20″ archival mylar sheets (one of the perks of being a rare books library!). But you can use thinner clear cellophane wrap, which is sold in the gift wrap section of Michael’s Craft store. Another possibility? Parchment paper, found in the supermarket baking aisle alongside the aluminum foil. It’s opaque, but still lets plenty of light through.

To create your sun catcher, cut, arrange, and glue the tissue shapes to your clear sheet. We purchased pre-cut tissue circles and squares, but also had larger tissue sheets available to customize. We recommend using glue sticks, which allowed for better control and dried perfectly clear (even the purple ones!).

sun catcher artist at work We also recommend markers, just in case kids wanted to add details, or draw  expressions on their animals…

animal expressionWhen your creation is complete, tape it to a window or door and admire the shapes and colors. It’s especially cool when the colors overlap!

sun catcher and artist


James Herriot fans…today’s blog post title was for you! Animal city, indeed!

Night Rider

night rider

Navigate the nocturnal highways with this fantastic vehicular nightlight, complete with convenient carrying handle!

We recommend Night Light by Nicholas Blechman (Orchard Books, 2013). A charming blend of numbers, vehicles, and a guessing game, the book flips between night and day. The solid black pages only reveal the dotted lights of a vehicle, along with a textual clue (ex: “5 lights, cleaning day and night?”). Following each night page is a day page in which the identity of the vehicle is revealed. Fantastically fun.

You’ll need:

  • 1 small box with a lid (we used a tea box)
  • Construction paper
  • A box cutter
  • White printer paper, tracing paper, wax paper, or parchment paper
  • 1 submersible LED light (or glow stick)
  • Scissors, tape and glue for construction
  • Markers for decorating

First, use construction paper to turn a small box into your favorite vehicle. Marissa did a twine carrying handle on her awesome VW van, but you can also make a handle out of construction paper or a pipe cleaner. Next, use a box cutter to create a pair of headlights at one end of the box. Inside the box, tape a piece of white printer paper, tracing paper, wax paper, or parchment paper over the headlight holes. This gives the headlights a nice diffuse glow.

led headlights We used a submersible LED to light Marissa’s van. You can find them in the floral section of Michaels craft store – 9 cost $21, but I always use a 40% off coupon.

led in vehicle boxIf the LEDs are too pricey, a glow stick will do the trick. Drop the illumination of your choice in the vehicle box, close the lid, and you’re done. Vroom vroom vroom!

You Light Up My Life

you light up my life

Get illuminated! This cordless DIY desk lamp actually lights up, allowing for writing, drawing, and cozy late night reading binges.

We read Mary Had a Little Lamp, written by Jack Lechner, and illustrated by Bob Staake (Bloomsbury, 2008). Mary has a little lamp that goes everywhere she goes, much to the incredulity of her parents, friends, and classmates. From school to swings to weddings, the lamp never leaves Mary’s side. But after a summer at camp, Mary finally outgrows her lamp and moves on. Now, she has a toaster.

You’ll need:

  • 1 small box with lid
  • 1 box cutter
  • A 1.25oz plastic cup
  • A strip of tissue paper (approximately 4.5″ x 29″)
  • 1 cup of uncooked rice
  • 2 plastic sandwich bags
  • A 13.5″ piece of PVC pipe (1/2″ in diameter)
  • 2 button magnets (ours were 0.75″ in diameter)
  • 1 submersible LED light
  • 1 paper cup
  • A selection of patterned tape and color masking tape
  • 2 rectangles of self-adhesive foam (approximately 1.25″ x 1.5″)
  • A 3″ mini craft stick
  • 1 pipe cleaner
  • Scissors
  • Hot glue

finished lamp

This lamp consists of 5 parts: base, neck, shade, plug, and light bulb. We’ll begin with the base! For starters, you’ll need a box with a lid. To counterbalance the long neck of the lamp, the box will also need to be fairly wide (we used a  2.5″ x 4″ x 4″ craft box with much success).

Use a box cutter to cut an X in the center of the box lid. Then open the box and hot glue a 1.25oz plastic cup to the inside the box, right below the X. Squish a long strip of tissue paper inside the cup – you’ll need this a little later. Finally, split the cup of uncooked rice between 2 plastic baggies, then tuck the sealed baggies into the box around the cup. Your base should now look like this:

inside lamp base

Close the box and decorate it with patterned tape and/or color masking tape, but DON’T seal the lid down yet! Next, curve a 13.5″ piece of PVC pipe. The pipe is tough and doesn’t curve so easily, but Marissa the genius figured out that you can press it over a book cart handle.

book cart handle techniqueAlso! The PVC won’t curve gracefully (you need a heat gun for that). But it will bend into 3 sections that approximate a curve. Once the PVC is bent, wrap it with color masking tape. Hot glue a button magnet on one end of the pipe, then push the non-magnet end through the X in the lid of the box.

inside lamp base with neck

Wrap the tissue in the cup around the bottom of the PVC pipe, then lower it into the plastic cup. Once the neck is in place, you can close and seal the box lid. Next, use the box cutter to cut an X in a paper cup (about 1.5″ from the bottom of the cup).

cut cupLeaving plenty of room around the X, decorate the cup with patterned tape and/or color masking tape (or just markers). Then push the neck of the lamp through the X. Your lamp will now look like this:

finished base neck and shadeTo make the cord, snap a mini craft stick in two, then place the pieces on the back of a 1.25″ x 1.5″ rectangle of self-adhesive foam. Place a pipe cleaner at the bottom the the rectangle as well, then press a matching rectangle of self-adhesive foam on top. Trim the sides down into a plug shape, then tape the plug to the bottom of the lamp’s base.

lamp plug stepsFinally, the light bulb! We wanted these lamps to shed light, but we didn’t want to mess with…oh…electricity. We also wanted kids to be able to switch the lamps on and off. LED votive candles flickered too much, and glow sticks eventually fade. But then I found these submersible LED lights in the floral section of Michaels Craft!

submersible led lightsTo turn the light on, you simply twist the clear dome clockwise. The LEDS also come in different colors! Woo! However, a pack of 12 costs $20, so make sure you go armed with a 40% coupon. We hot glued a button magnet to the back of each LED light, then connected it with the magnet at the end of the PVC pipe neck. Here’s a shot of the two connected pieces inside the lamp’s shade:

led bulb in shadeTo operate the lamp, simply reach inside the shade, disconnect the magnets, and twist the LED light on. Then reconnected the illuminated LED to the magnet inside the lamp. Kids didn’t even need to peer inside the lampshade to do this – the magnets found each other quite easily.

We added a couple of desk accessories too. A pad of recycled scrap paper held together with an old binder clip, and a paper cup pencil holder (cut the cup down to 2.75″ and decorate with patterned tape or markers). Add a few golf pencils and you’re ready to write your next bestseller!

working at desk