{Play} Tinkerlab Challenge | Paper Bag Fan
February 5, 2012 in All Posts, Play, Toddler Activities
You’ve probably seen some of the fun challenges put on by Rachelle over at Tinkerlab.
If you haven’t, check them out here. For her latest Creative Challenge - Paper Bags - we made a Paper Bag Fan!
Materials
- paper bags
- anything to decorate your bags: markers, paint, pencils, or glue + gems/feathers/any small objects
- a round lid
- glue and/or tape
How To
One of Jane’s many of-the-moment obsessions includes fans and she loves nothing more than to cool you down with her own makeshift fans. Regardless whether you need it, she’ll flutter a flappable object near your face until you thank her profusely for cooling you down.
We had used washable kids’ paint on some paper bags a few days earlier for our Heart Attack on Hubby (post coming soon!), so I thought we would do the same thing to make pretty, painted, paper bag fans. But this was Jane’s project and she would have nothing to do with painting paper bags.
So, I provided her with some markers - strangely, she would have almost nothing to do with drawing on paper bags.
She had much more fun pulling the marker caps off and clicking them on again. And again. And again. And again.
She didn’t even want to cut the paper bags up.
But, when I pulled out the glue, we hit the jackpot! She loved squeezing droplets onto the bags.
I thought it was the coolest, too.
Jane decided to glue some leftover gems from Sam’s Pirate Themed Birthday Party onto the paper bags.
Your child could use any objects on hand, as long as they’re not too heavy. Wouldn’t feathers be awesome?
Figuring out how to put the paper bags together to look like a fan was a little tricky at first, but after spying our stack of 20+ frozen noodle containers we’ve been storing for an unknown project, I realized one of the lids would make the perfect base.
Jane helped gluing and taping down the bags around the lid and I arranged them into place. If you have an older child, she would be able to do this part herself. And instead of using a whole paper bag, you could use paper bag strips instead for a cool effect.
I played around with some of the gems - when Jane wasn’t looking! (Why should she have all the fun?)
But of course, I didn’t “ruin” her already magnificent creation, and quickly cleared them off before she came back!
To keep the fan from being too floppy, we glued popsicle sticks to the back of the fan for more support. You could glue on several rows, but Jane need the fan, “NOW,” so we stuck with a single-row backbone. (Try placing them vertically, too).
For more Paper Bag play inspiration, check out the linky below, which includes activities from these fabulous blogs and bloggers:Paint Cut Paste, Imagination Soup, Hands On: As We Grow, Child Central Station, Putti Prapancha, Irresistible Ideas for Play-Based Learning, Teach Preschool, The Chocolate Muffin Tree, Nurture Store, Small Types, The Imagination Tree, Toddler Approved, Red Ted Art, Sun Hats and Wellie Boots, Come Together Kids, Mommy Labs, Kids in the Studio, Rainy Day Mum, Glittering Muffins, Sense of Wonder, Mom To 2 Posh Lil Divas, Come Together Kids, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, A Mom With A Lesson Plan, Angelique Felix, The Golden Gleam, Share and Remember, Clarion Wren, Living at the Whitehead’s Zoo, Let Kids Create, De tout et de rien, PlayDrMom, Rainbows Within Reach, No Time for Flash Cards, Creativity My Passion, Messy Kids, The Outlaw Mom,Kiwi Crate, Tinkerlab
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Chrissy – who has written 426 posts on The Outlaw Mom® Blog - Creative Living in a Conventional World.
[…] the last challenge, we had a lot of fun making a Paper Bag Fan and I knew we’d have fun trying to create something out of an egg carton. The difference this […]
I love the fan! I also love that you kept supplying her with materials until you found just the right ones!
Ha, thanks, Jill
It’s interesting to see what pulls their interest from one day to the next. I was thinking we’d never end up doing the activity, but when she found what she wanted, she loved it!
Very cute! And a fabulous use of the Paper Bag! Love love love!
Maggy
Thanks, Maggy!
Haha! I like the moment where you added the organized array of jewels…and then wiped them away before she spotted them. She would have totally noticed, too! Your fan’s construction is genius and I’ll have to borrow it when we make fans.
Whenever we craft together, it’s so clear I’m the tightly wound one compared to my daughter! Thanks for the fabulous challenge - great inspiration to get out ordinary materials and so something fun and creative with them