Tag Archives: simple

Hip Hat

Posted on by

hip hatsThe task…to make a hat that you NEVER want to take off. The resulting hats? Totally hip!

We read What a Hat! by Holly Keller (Greenwillow Books, 2003). Cousin Newton is visiting Henry and Wizzie. Newton doesn’t talk much, and when he does, he just says “No hat.” Newton simply refuses to take off his fuzzy knitted hat. He wears it at the dinner table, in the bathtub, and when he goes to bed! Henry tries to make Newton remove his hat, but it’s not happening. But when Wizzie falls prey to a local bully, Newton gives her his precious hat in order to make her feel better. And, like magic, it works!

You’ll need:

This is an incredibly simple story time project. Basically, give each kid a hat…

top hatThen decorate!

side of decorated top hatIf you want a big, floppy hat brim (and lots of kids did), begin by rounding the ends of a 14″ x 22″ piece of poster board.

hat steps 1 and 2Flip the hat upside down and place it in the center of the poster board. Use a pencil to trace the top of the hat onto the poster board.

hat step 3 Cut the traced circle out. Turn the hat right side up, and slide the poster board brim onto the hat. You might have to enlarge the circle a little to get it to slide all the way down to the base of the hat.

hat step 5Use a little hot glue to secure the poster board brim to the plastic hat, then decorate!

hat with wide brimQuick tip – if the hat is too big for your head, stuff the interior with extra tissue paper.

French Pastries

Posted on by

ornamentsI bet that title got your attention, right? We made these delicious-looking ornaments for a Journey to the Centre of the Earth event. Kids colored them, hung them on a ribbon, and then brushed the backs with vanilla extract. Mmmmm!

A quick word about our undying devotion to accuracy. Yes, we did the initial French pastry research using Google. But since the internet isn’t always the most reliable of sources, I took them to a local French pasty shop called The Little Chef for some fact-checking. Edwige Fils-Aime, the owner and chef, was kind enough to take a look and correct them for me.

the little chefWhile he was doing that, I got to take a look at things like this:

pastriesAnd this:

puffsAnd THIS!

cakeAll in the name of research and accuracy, of course. And if some of the pastries happened to come back to the office with me, what of it?

To create French pastry ornaments, you’ll need:

  • 1 French pastry template, printed on 8.5″ x 11″ white card stock
  • Hole punch
  • A selection of shimmer ribbon
  • 1 bottle of imitation vanilla extract
  • Q-tips
  • Scissors
  • Colored pencils

Print the template (which features the artwork of talented student artist, Aliisa Lee), and use the colored pencils to decorate the pastries. Punch a hole at the top of the ornament and run a piece of ribbon through it. Knot or tie in a bow.

Dip a Q-tip into the imitation vanilla extract (I found clear vanilla extract at the store, which worked great on the white paper). Gently rub the vanilla extract-infused Q-tip on the back of the ornament.

tarte au citronThe Little Chef was also a contender in our Hansel and Gretel Gingerbread Cottage Challenge. You can see his cottage (with a truly artisanal chocolate fence) here.