I'm taking a break with my kid's crafting classes for the month of August, and right now we are actually doing the one thing that I recommend to everyone: make succah decorations in the summer! Yes friends, there is never enough time to invest in succah decorations just before Succot, so July and August and when kids are on vacation is THE time! The creations can then be nicely packed away, and come Succot, what a relief to already have a bunch of great decorations to hang, without the last minute pressure, yippee!
It is true that most of the crafting I do with kids involves recycled materials, but once in a while buying some kind of special art supply can be a vehicle to encourage them to do something that might be a bit difficult, which in this case, is drawing! So hello shrinky drinks, it has been quite a while since we've gotten together (15 years maybe?) I have yet to figure out what I'm going to do with the 7 species charms, seen here, but likely we'll hang them from a gold chain, together with a largish medallion that says 7 species, to make jewelry of sorts that will last for generations, and is waterproof. Stay tuned for that, In the mean time, lets make the charms!
You'll Need:
- shrinky dink plastic, I used 2 A5 sheets per set of 7 species
- permanent markers and/or colored pencils
- a fine tipped black permanent marker
- a hole punch
- pencils and paper, glue stick
- clip art to use for reference for drawing (NO tracing please1)
How To:
If you want to keep an eye on waste, you need to calculate how much plastic you'll use, versus how large you want the result to be. The main thing is to make the drawings and then trace them onto the plastic such that there is minimal waste. With my students I gave them pieces of paper that were the rough size that each drawing needed to be, then using a glue stick, and cutting out the drawings, they glued the shapes to a piece of paper that was the same size as the shrinky dink plastic, and then they traced it onto the plastic. An extra step, yes, but a good exercise in not being wasteful!
- Draw simple line drawings of the 7 species, and trace those onto the shrinky dink plastic using either a fine black marker or a dark brown pencil, noting that pencil is used on the rough side and marker on the smooth side
- Color in the drawings, though the color gets much more intense, so go easy
- Cut out the shapes, leaving a spot for the hole, and then punch the hole
- Put in oven as directed and enjoy the fun shrinking process.
This is a fun and very satisfying craft, just keep in mind that the drawings shrink down to 20% of their original size, so go large, and enjoy!
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