The parent-teacher organization at our school is very active and very supportive of the work of teachers. This comes through on many levels. One way that the PTO raises money for its work is with an annual Apple Pie Craft Fair, and each classroom is encouraged to do a small craft with their classes for “sale” at the fair. It’s really about getting our students’ parents to come to the fair and buy stuff to support the school.
Honestly, I don’t look forward to the craft fair project, and it may be because I just haven’t ever found a project that can be done in a short amount of time with connections to learning in an engaging manner for something that can be sold (mostly, to their own parents). Also, it has to inexpensive, since the PTO will only reimburse us for a nominal amount for supplies.
I’ve done:
- rainsticks
- calendars
- stick figure movies
- stained glass artwork
This year, I decided to get WikiStix and let them create imaginary creatures that have gone extinct. They liked that, and with feathers and googly eyes and glitter glue, the students had a fine creative time. Not much learning, but fun.
When I was making my own sample for them (my old friend, B Sharp, the lost note), I turned on my time-lapse stopmotion software and captured myself in the act of creation. Sort of funny to see.
Peace (in the strange things),
Kevin