Those who know me well – or even if you’re marginally acquainted with me – know that I’m no good at crafts. Making play food out of Play-Doh or stick figure drawings is about as artsy as I get. Oh, I’ll provide the supplies for my kids. That’s not a problem. There’s always paper and crayons and markers and paints available. And I’ll provide the set up and take down work – I just stink at coming up with ideas.You’d think that my kids would be scarred from my lack of creativity or motivation when it comes to arts and crafts.
Turns out it has just the opposite effect! My 8 year old son will go up to his room with a whole bunch of items he raids from the recycle bin and come out later with a masterpiece! He’s an amazing inventor who has “creating a Clone Trooper Halloween costume out of paper plates” on his summer To Do List. So . . . we have a $1.99 stack of paper plates awaiting transformation. He’s trying to decide whether to connect them with staples or string.
In the meantime, he disappeared up to his room and came down with a working FRISBEE!!! How fun is that? So when you’re waiting for your picnic dinner to come off the grill, grab a couple paper plates and get busy.
How to Make a Frisbee
Supplies:
- 2 paper plates
- crayons or markers
- staples
- scissors
Instructions:
- Poke a hole in the center of 2 paper plates, so you can cut out the bottom/middle of the plate.
- Line up the plates (eating side to eating side) and staple the sides together.
- Decorate your Frisbee.
- Go out and play!
(Now, I would have said to decorate the Frisbee before stapling — but what do I know about crafts?)
If you want to get more advanced with the idea, here’s a lesson with astronomy tie-ins from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on how to make a 2D Flying Nanosat.
Julie
Thursday 2nd of September 2010
I love this! Leave it to kids to come up with some of the BEST and most creative ideas. We have been posting about the power of imagination and creativity on www.ToolsOfGrowth.com this week, too!
Michele
Friday 3rd of September 2010
Love what you're doing on Tools of Growth. Nurturing imagination and encouraging pretend play is so important. Thanks for the comment.