Hands On Crafts for Kids

by Annabelle Keller

Gather seeds and beans to create a wonderful geometric design in a clay pot. Learn how to divide and measure a round object the easy way, using rubber bands.

You will need:

4" Styrofoam® ball
2 1/2" Styrofoam® ball
6" Cinnamon stick
2 1/2" Clay pot
Tacky glue
Small handful of green moss
3 Strands of natural raffia
4 Rubber bands
Fine point permanent marker
Toothpicks
Scissors
#2 Soft pencil
Ruler
Dried green and yellow split peas
Dried black, red kidney and navy beans

Instructions:

Glue the 21/2" ball into the pot. Push hard on the foam with your fingers until the foam is level with the top of the pot. Make a hole in the center of the foam with the pencil.
Place a rubber band around the 4" ball dividing it into 2 equal parts. Place two more rubber bands around the ball dividing it into six sections. Place the fourth rubber band around the center of the ball across the other rubber bands. There are now twelve sections. Make lines along the rubber bands with the marker, then remove the bands.
Sort the different peas and beans (an egg carton is great for this). Work first on one side of the center line. Glue the black beans along the lines to form sections. Spread one section with glue. Glue a kidney bean in the center and fill with navy beans. Repeat this process first with green peas, then with yellow peas. Continue until all sections at the top are covered. Let dry.
Make a 1" deep hole at the bottom of the ball and glue the cinnamon stick into it. Glue black beans over lines to form sections then glue different types of beans and peas in each section as you did on the top half of the ball. Glue the cinnamon stick into the hole in the clay pot. Allow to dry.
Glue moss around the base of the cinnamon stick to cover foam. Tie raffia bow around cinnamon stick at bottom of ball and trim tails to about 4".

Hint: Have family members make different sizes of balls using different patterns to use as a centerpiece at Thanksgiving.