I remember heading to Woolworth's as a kid (that shows my age, sigh) and looking through all the cheap plastic kites... There were Spider-Man, Holly Hobbie, Dinosaurs, flowers...so many to choose from. This was a sure sign of spring time!
Well, welcome to spring! And what a great way to get it started... making a kite from grocery bags or lunch sacks. Here's how we did ours...
Grab a kid (if you choose too) and these items...
- Large brown paper grocery bag or lunch sack
- Strong string
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- Masking tape
- School glue or paste
- Paint (any kind) (we used all natural dyes made from fruits and veggies)
- Crayons, markers, or colored pencils
- Paper streamers or crepe paper that you can cut into strips
- A few found objects (bits of paper, glitter, buttons — nothing too heavy)
- Begin by taking the hole punch and making four holes in the top of the paper bag— one in each of the corners. Use masking tape at each hole. If you put it on after you punch, use a pencil to punch through the hole. This will ensure that your holes don't tear through.
- Next, cut two lengths of string about 30" each.
- Tie each end of the strings through a hole in the bag. The goal is to create two loops.
- Next, cut another piece of string — again around 30". Loop this new piece of string through the two loops you created and tie in a knot. This piece of string will become the handle of your kite.
- You are now ready to decorate the paper bag kite using paint, markers, or whatever else you desire. You can paint designs on the kite or turn the kite into a fish by adding eyes, gills, and fins. You can glue different items to the kite but be sure not to load the kite down with heavy items -- or it will have a hard time staying up in the air.
- Use paper streamers as kite tails and glue them to the bottom of the paper bag. You can make your own streamers by cutting crepe paper, newspaper, tissue paper and even plastic bags into strips.
- Once the glue and paint is dry, the kite can fly. Hold on tightly to the string handle and run so that the wind catches the kite. When the bag fills with air it will float and flutter behind you.
School's out! Kids are bored! Let's keep their minds going this summer and follow along with me as the kids from some of the summer camps I am working with make all kinds of fun crafts from Good Garbage! So send the kids on a scavenger hunt for fun crafty items around the house and build your rainy day craft box up with fun things like toilet paper tubes, colorful magazines, cardboard, plastic shopping bags, newspaper, old t-shirts, rubber bands, and anything else you think could be repurposed and join the fun world of creative reuse with Good Garbage!
The kids at Shelby Park Community Center summer camp sure were creative with their magazine and cardboard picture frames. Seems they had a lot of fun as well...
