This past week I read the book Pumpkin Jack. The story is about Tim and his Jack O’Lantern and the process of growing pumpkins. There’s a page where Tim searches for pumpkins around his garden. So we searched for little pumpkins hidden around the yard. I had a strip of paper with numbered circles 1-8 […]
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Author Archives: Matt
Beans
Our school has a “community room” where people will leave random items in case any class wants to use them. One of the items I picked up was a bag of dried beans and corn. It looked like it was once in a discovery bin around Thanksgiving. I took them home and sorted out all […]
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Popcorn Garland
Popcorn Garland A tradition for many families, I thought it was also a great way to string up some food for the birds for Christmas. What you need: air popped popcorn (let it sit overnight) cranberries floss tapestry needle The reason you want to use stale popcorn is because it keeps together better than freshly […]
Continue ReadingMetal Stamping
This week I thought I’d use those hammering skills we worked on a couple weeks ago. What you’ll need: letter stamp kit hammer steel block pennies eye protection needle nose pliers I brought out all the equipment and laid it on the table. To protect the table, I had a large piece of cardboard with […]
Continue ReadingDried Fruit Ornaments
Last year I brought my food dehydrator and sliced various fruit and dried them for ornaments. I used lemons, oranges and grapefruit- then I looped a piece of twine around it and had the kids hang it on the tree. It looked great! Of course, last year Los Angeles had a very wet winter.. […]
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I gathered the pine needles from a branch and either pulled or cut them into a little cup. Then once the dough was made, I had the kids stir it in. What you’ll need: 2 teaspoons cream of tarter 2 tablespoons oil Green coloring (I used 5 drops of water color) 1.5 cups flour (plus […]
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Dale the Outdoor Elf
At the conference, they had a section where people posted the work they were doing in their classrooms. Usually it was a poster or something like that. This one lady from Arizona had a little house tacked to the presenters wall. She told me the house belonged to an elf named Knotty and the house […]
Continue ReadingSculptures
I obtained a box of recycled containers which I thought would make great sculptures. The idea: Have the kids to stack the containers and then glue them. What happened: Elmer’s glue didn’t work obviously. Hot glue would have melted in the sun, so I didn’t even try it. I also thought I could use Goop, but […]
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In a wooden carpenters box I keep the following: * 8 wooden boards with phillips screws in them * 8 sets of eye protection goggles (I maintain the rule that when using any tool, we must have eye protection) * 8 No.2 Stubby Phillips Screwdrivers Individually you might end up paying $6 each, but I bought […]
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