5th Grade Blog: Favorite Activity

My favorite activity is when I go to TEC. It is very fun and now we are working on our question boards which if you touch one wire on a question and one on the correct answer, a lightbulb lights up!

Our new book is coming out!

We've moved this blog to www.DIYKids.org in celebration of the publication of our new book, which will be available in October 2007.

Pamphlet Stitch

For Colonial Day at school, we learned the pamphlet stitch, an easy book-binding technique.

1. Make three holes in a short stack of folded paper using a nail and hammer.
2. Thread a needle through the middle hole, working from the inside of the folded paper to the outside of the cover. Leave an inch hanging for tying at the end.
3. Loop back to the inside from the front through the bottom hole.
4. Make a big stitch from the bottom hole to the top hole along the inside fold. 5. Bring the thread back up through the middle; tie; cut.
5. Decorate!

DIY Word Searches

A mandatory word search brought sighs of boredom. But when I suggested that the kids make their own grid on line, they got excited. Followed up by an episode of TOP DESIGN featuring children's rooms, the puzzle-generator added to another great Tuesday night at home.

Fuzzy Penguin

These adorable penguins are based on a basic design created by Ruby, age 8. In essence, each penguin is fat little pillow with features like wings, feet, and beak sewn or glued on. They're easy to make; build a nest-full!

Ruby's brother Jay, age 12, likes the design, too, and he created these instructions so everyone can follow along. (The only difference between Ruby's design and Jay's is that Ruby attaches the wings with hot glue, and Jay sews them into the seam that makes the penguin's body.) We photographed the penguins in a real snow storm. The little birds loved it!

Building the Brand, Trader Joe's style

Last summer, Hannah entered a drawing contest at our local Trader Joe's supermarket. This weekend, the store called to notify Hannah that she was a winner. TJs in-house artist Ashley Fenderson had transformed Hannah's drawing into a cool shelf label. Hannah got to slip the new graphic into its slot on the salsa shelf. She left the store with a ten-dollar gift card and a million-dollar smile.

We posted Hannah's original drawing this summer; look for it in our July archive.

Photo card becomes composition book

A holiday photo card can be "returned" in the form of a decorated notebook that features the tiny squares of pictured joy. Happy New Year to you too!

Botanical Zine Box

A simple pencil drawing of a geranium becomes a botanical illustration when you add the Latin names in Photoshop. Personalize with colored type, and use it for a zine box. And a t-shirt. And a notebook. And a card.

Poof! A veritable window box of special birthday gifts.

Geranium by Hannah, age 10.