Earth Day Project

Apparently Earth Day had its origin back in 1970. As a child, I can't remember even hearing of it. Now, it is another learning day for kids in school. I asked both kids what it meant because I never celebrated it. Peter couldn't or wouldn't come up with a response. Gaëlle said it's a day to clean up the earth. Whatever, the purpose, bring on the Earth Day Project. 

Gaëlle's class is supposed to come up with some kind of recycling project. The suggestions were music instruments, bird feeders out of pop bottles, or planters. I just want to say the best and greatest recycler in this family was Kaylin. She could not let a box/ styrofoam/ or anything be thrown away without saying, "Can I have that?" If we allowed her to keep it, she went to work creating houses and towns for all of her toys. Amazing imagination. One day Robin threw out 8 large garbage bags of creations Kaylin and Emily had made and had been keeping under their bed. It was a sad day.  

Anyway, I suggested Gaëlle take some of our cereal boxes and make beads out of them. There are several groups in Haiti that do this and the jewelry they create is beautiful.

We found a great step by step tutorial on the internet and away we went. 

I had to do the cutting with a paper cutter, but Gaëlle made sure she did everything else.

You roll the large end of the triangle onto a stick and then use Mod Podge as a glue and sealer.

Once it's all rolled up, you put another layer of Mod Podge to add shine.

This has been an excellent project for her. She has taken her time. Sometimes unwillingly, but she commented, "When I take my time rolling the bead, it goes much better." Ah, what a great lesson. Especially for her. That is something every single teacher comments on. She rushes through her work, art, whatever. But this time she is going slow and the end result it really impressive. 

She still needs to roll more beads, but she does a few at a time and here they are. We still don't know what to use for the string. We just don't have old string we can recycle. I'm looking and hoping something will pop up this week so she can make a necklace and bracelet. Maybe even put some beads in her hair. This is turning out to be a great project for her. Go Earth Day.