Anyone crafty? I need some ideas!

OK...this might seem simple to some, but I'm not very crafty, so I'm looking for some ideas. My 8 yo son is supposed to dress as Johnny Appleseed tomorrow for school. I've run into some snags, one being the pot (a cooking pot for thos of you with a sick sense of humor!) he's supposed to wear on his head. Any pot I have that fits his big head is too heavy for him to wear. So is there a way I could make one that would look believable? Or can anyone think of a good substitute?

Also, he's supposed to carry around a bag of seeds. We're going to use bird seed, but I can't think of a bag he can use that looks old fashioned, and it'd be nice if it was see-through, otherwise no one will know there are seeds in it. Any suggestions?

 

For the pot, get some light cardboard and mold it in a circle around his head. Attach the two ends with staples, then cover in tin foil. Add a handle with either cardboard/tinfoil etc.

The bag..

Got an old pair of pantyhose? Fill up the leg and tie the end to a stick from the yard.

Hope that helps!

 

Hmmm...interesting dilemma

I am not very crafty either but I'll try to give it a shot.

For his head....what about wrapping one of those plastic folgers coffee cans in tinfoil? Will that fit on his head or be too big?

For the bag, what about an onion bag, the mesh ones (maybe put the birdseed in a see-through ziplock baggie and then position it in the onion bag so you can't see the zipper part)

Like I said I'm not crafty either though...:?

 

Wow!!! she is much better than me DMJMom!!! 8)

 

Pantyhose INSIDE the onion bag. Combine the 2 ideas - that sounds perfect!

 

Pantyhose is a great idea, thanks! I'll have to keep thinking about the hat/pot. I really don't want to run back to Michaels in the rain, otherwise I'd probably do the foam. I might have some black construction paper though. A coffee can, even the big ones wouldn't work. you never realize how big your kids' head is until you need to fit something on it!

 

What about just taking the construction paper and somehow wrapping it around one of hubby's baseball caps to somehow make it stand up?

 

http://www.littlegiraffes.com/apples.html

I am totally bored at work!!! So I googled it, in the above link, there is directions on how to make a Johnny Appleseed Hat about 3/4 down the page.....

 

Thanks so much! I saw that website the other day, but didn't see anything useful to me, so didn't go all the way to the bottom of the page. That is perfect! I knew my fellow 4042ers wouldn't let me down!

 

Just a cloth sack with a small hole in it, everyone will know it has seed! :jester:

 

Is your son at Westview by chance doing a Wax Museum? I have to come up w/ Ben Franklin. Why on earth does the school make us do this stuff?--LOL I am NOT crafty. And kids at this age have no clue what to do. The girls don't have any ruffled shirts for him to wear so I'm out of ideas as well. We have a hat that will work. Can't give him any of our glasses or he'll break them. Urghh. Don't have any pipe cleaners to make glasses w/ and under doc orders, can't drive right now. So, any ideas how to make glasses out of nothing? No foam, and the kids used ALL our construction paper. I refuse to buy more as I'm tired of the waste. No matter where I hide stuff for future projects, they hijack it. I've found some Ben Franklin websites but am trying to figure out what exactly to do w/ him. So, once you all figure out Johnny Appleseed, can you give me some ideas on Ben??? Thanks!

Stephanie--mom to 7

 

Jen,

Those were the exact same things I was getting ready to type in. Cardboard, foil, 3/4 of a paper towel roll and bingo a pot. Pantyhose for the seeds.

Grace

 

My hubby (who I've got helping me on this project) hated the pantyhose idea, guess it's a guy thing! But I think we're going to try to use a bird seed bag, which is what we're going to use for the apple seeds anyway.

Stephanie - yes, it's for Miss Tyler's class tomorrow morning. It would have helped if I was in town this past weekend, I could have done it then. I feel for you with 7 kids, I've got 3 but he's the only one in school for now, so it's not so bad. I don't know how you do it! As for the glasses, I wish I had some I could lend you, but the only kids' ones I have are sunglasses and they won't help. I know they sell reading glasses pretty cheap places, but if you can't drive that won't help either. And what to do for a ruffled shirt? No ideas there either. At least with Johnny Appleseed I get to send him with old, holey clothes, as Johnny lived in the woods and played with animals. So that part was easy! If I think of anything for you, I'll pm you tonight. But as I said before, I'm not very crafty!

 

Thanks DMJmom. We are trying to get creative w/ a white shirt and ribbon. We'll see what comes of it. Oh, and then my 5th grader, get this, decides she should volunteer to bring something for the V-day party. That part is fine as I tell the teacher AHEAD of time to let ME know NOT my kids. Well, she proceeds to tell the teacher that she'll bake 5 seperate items for the class. Uh, excuse me kid, who told you that?! Teacher knew that was probably not the case but still she(my daughter) knows better. One of my 1st graders went today to her party w/ no v-day cards. She couldn't find her list. Urghh. I pinned them all to the homework room so we wouldn't lose them. Teacher probably thinks I'm an idiot by now--LOL. My other first grader has written his cards and taped lollipops to them but he can't remember what I'm supposed to bring for the party. I did manage to get one of the kids a fundraiser package to take to school for those hoot & holler baskets. When you have to do 4 of them for the same school, it can add up quickly. I have a master calender and a system but as you can see, if the kids say stuff or volunteer stuff they're not supposed to or lose stuff, then the system is out the window--LOL. I plan to go to the Wax Museum tomorrow but even that is confusing as I have a time written down but it is different from what my son wrote in his agenda. Can't go too early or my other kid will keep screaming(he's Deaf & loud after awhile of sitting still). I'm going to go in by what he wrote down but if he's wrong, he'll just have to deal w/ it.

at what point do kids get responsible enough to give mom the correct information??? Please let it be soon or I'm losing my mind! Have a great evening and can't wait to see what other mothers came up w/ as you know this is NOT a kid project--LOL.

stephanie--mom to 7

 

Sometimes useful things can be found in hubby's garage or workshop...wire that can be twisted and shaped into things like glasses, interesting hats/goggles, scraps of wood for props. And don't forget the toybox...maybe there are some old kids' sunglasses that can have the lenses popped out, and then wrap them in electrical tape to make the frames black, etc. We have actually used paper mache (shredded newspaper dipped in watered down elmers glue and then painted with poster paint) to make an astronaut's helmut (my oldest daughter had to dress up as Neil Armstrong) and we have printed out things from the internet to use, too. (badges, patches, etc.)

 

Stephanie - I thought Ben Franklin looked very handsome this morning! And I see you found some pipe cleaners!

We did end up making the pot from that website that had been mentioned on here, so that worked well. I thought we did pretty good considering we had no idea what we were doing! We spent about an hour on it last night, but got it done! Phew!

 

I hope Helen Keller held up ok? She was safety pinned within an inch of her life and wearing boots a few sizes too big. Also refused to wear regular clothes underneath the costume.

 

Not my Ben Franklin--LOL. We never did find glasses. Mine had on a brown hat, white turtle neck, and very long brown blazer. We worked some ribbon to make it look like an ascot like they wore back then. Proud that he remembered his lines. All the kids looked great! It was really a neat idea and I enjoyed going. Then, came home and went back for my 5th graders' party. Only to end up going to urgent care to see if she broke her leg. Ah, the thrills of parenthood. BTW, not broken. Yeah.

Got to run. Had a good time today though. Great idea. Next year, I'll be more prepared w/ ideas since I got to see all the kids this year. Enjoy your evening.

Stephanie--mom to 7

 

Oh, I didn't know they'd have more than one Ben Franklin! I was wondering, kept looking for a woman with a couple extra kids with her (like me, I had my 2 & 4 yo with me, that was fun!) But I thought it was a great idea too, won't have a second grader for a few more years though, time to gain imagination! Have a great night!

 

I think Helen Keller was in our class. Was she wearing old fashioned clothes (skirt and top) and high black shoes?