Tag Archives: simple

Simply Luminous

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It’s beautiful, botanical, and inspiring…find your little light in the darkness with this lovely garden box illuminated with shimmering votive candles!

We read Just One Little Light, written by Kat Yeh, and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault (Balzer + Bray, 2023). With its gorgeous colors and uplifting text, the reader is powerfully reminded that even in darkness, just one little light is enough to light the way. Have faith. Your little light will always lead you to the path of beauty and hope.

You’ll need:

  • 1 small box
  • Colored cellophane
  • Decorative flowers and leaves
  • LED votive candles
  • Scissors, tape, and glue for construction

We used 4.5″ x 4.5″ x 3″ cupcake boxes with window lids (if you’re using a regular box, simply cut a window in the lid). Next, cover the window with a piece of colored cellophane. Place votive candles inside the box, then finish by decorating the outside of the box with tons of paper flowers and leaves!

Once the kids garden boxes were finished, we hid them around the gallery, and kids went forth to find their own unique little lights! Note: we recommend writing the kids’ names on the bottom of the box, just to avoid confusion.

While this was a quiet and simple project, it was incredibly cozy and the kids absolutely loved it. Our story time can sometimes get a little raucous, so this sweet and mellow project was a delightful change of pace.

Did you know that Kat Yeh doesn’t just write picture books? Check out our interview with her about her middle grade novels The Truth About Twinkie Pie, and The Way to Bea. Also! Katie tested the recipe for Twinkie pie in the Pop Goes the Page blog kitchen. See how it turned out here! Mmmmmmm.

finished twinkie pie 3

Sneak Peek: Hobbit Door

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Bilbo Baggins’ birthday is September 22nd, and we’re throwing a huge bash that’s sure to be the talk of Hobbiton! We’ll share an extensive post about it soon, but today is a sneak peek at a craft project I designed for the big day….a petri dish hobbit door that doubles as a trinket box AND mini exhibit!

You’ll need:

  • 1 plastic 3.5″ petri dish
  • Construction paper or poster board
  • 1 wooden bead
  • 1 hobbit door template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock
  • Scissors and glue for construction

First, the door! Cut a 3.5″ circle out of construction paper or poster board, and glue it to the lid of the petri dish. You can add additional paper strips to create a “wood grain” effect if you so desire. Glue a wood bead to the center of the door. Note: we ordered our petri dishes bulk on Amazon. Make sure to get the version without agar.

Now for your mini exhibit! Cut both circles from the template: the illustration and the label. Glue the illustration to the inside bottom of the petri dish. Next, flip the petri dish’s lid over and glue the label to the opposite side of the door.

Your competed hobbit hole is now ready to house little treasures. Like…I don’t know…a RING??? Yesssss my preciousssssss.

Beautiful Lights, Beautiful Night

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It’s a simple project, but oh-so-beautiful! Design your own aurora borealis in Arctic skies, then light it up for a creative and colorful glow box!

We read The Lights the Dance in the Night by Yuval Zommer (Doubleday Books, 2021). Beginning as specks of dust from the sun, the story follows them as they whirl to Earth and change into gleaming, shining, lights for Arctic animals and people! Poetic and gentle, this book is just lovely to read and share.

You’ll need:

  • 1 box with a clear lid or window (more on this below!)
  • An assortment of tissue paper
  • 1 string of LED mini lights
  • White, blue, and yellow poster board
  • Scissors, tape, and glue stick for construction

The box for this project will need to be a good size, sturdy, and have a clear lid or window. I found some 12″ x 8″ x 2.5″ cake boxes on Amazon that totally did the trick (20 boxes cost $19).

Now for the aurora borealis! Open the box and glue tissue paper snippets on the interior side of the window. We found glue sticks to be the best way to adhere things, because you can clearly see the glue going on and it dries clear! When the sky is finished, tape a string of LED mini lights to the back of the box like so:

Close the box and use poster board to create a landscape on the front of the box. We used cool Arctic colors: light blue, dark blue, yellow and white. The boxes turned out great…especially this one with a FLYING UNICORN!!!