Recycled trash gift crafts, picture frames for Earth Day or Mother's Day

Need inexpensive Mothers Day gift crafts for kids to make? How about recycled trash gift crafts for Earth Day? Or homemade math craft projects with lots of measurement activities? Repurpose and reuse recycled trash in homemade photo frames and spend next to nothing! 

Materials for Earth Day trash crafts or Mothers Day picture frame crafts for kids 

--cardboard boxes from cereal, pasta or any other similar sized box For lesson design, divide students into groups and give each student in each group a box of the same size. The groups can problem solve and work interactively to measure the dimensions for the frame. 

--recycled trash wrapping paper or wallpaper scraps  

--sharp scissors or paper cutter for older students 

--glue wash (school glue watered down) in containers from recycling bin (Styrofoam trays, pie tins, yogurt cups, etc.) for wrapping paper. 

--invisible tape for wallpaper. 

--small foam brushes or paint brushes (for wrapping paper)

--recycled trash refrigerator magnets or tabs from soda pop cans 

--hot glue gun 

--photograph of each child 

Directions for Mothers Day gift crafts for kids 

--Measure photograph dimensions 

--Measure and cut a window in the cardboard which is 1/2 inch smaller all the way around than the picture. 

--Cut out a frame around the window which is about 2 inches wide. 

--Choose a piece of wrapping paper or wallpaper to cover the cardboard picture frame crafts. --Cut the paper so that it is 1 inch larger all around than the frame. 

--Center the paper over homemade photo frames and make a small slit in the paper over the opening. --Cut to enlarge the hole and form a rectangular hole in wrapping paper, an inch smaller than the hole in the cardboard. 

--Cut one inch diagonally from each corner of wrapping paper. Gently fold the paper around the outer and inner edge of the frame to the back. 

--If you use wrapping paper, decoupage it: Apply a coat of glue wash to affix the wrapping paper. Cover homemade photo frames with a layer of glue wash to make them shiny and protect them. If you use wallpaper, simply tape paper in place. 

--With masking tape, attach the photos to the back of picture frame crafts, with image facing out. 

--Attach a piece of paper over the back to hold the photo in place and center it inside picture frame crafts. 

--Hot glue magnet or pop can tab to the back of the frame. You can use peel and stick magnet strips 

Celebrate Earth Day with these recycled trash crafts. Give inexpensive, handmade gift crafts for Mother's Day, win-win! 

Make Classroom Reading Games Using Cartoons and Comic Strips

Years ago, I made a file folder game that has traveled with me to elementary, middle school, special education, adult education and homeschool classrooms. This language arts- reading game uses cartoons, comic strips and graphic novels. I call this game Cartoon Cut-Ups. 

  Each student is given an envelope containing the individual frames of one cartoon strip. I use the colored comics from the Sunday cartoons in the newspaper. Each comic strip have six to eight frames. The object of the game is to reassemble the mixed up cartoon frames back in their original order so that the cartoon makes sense. Graphic novels work well also, but generally have more frames. Assembling a graphic novel cartoon will be more challenging.

  Cartoon Cut-Ups challenges a student skills in looking for details, sequencing, ordering and classifying. Cartoon Cut-Ups helps students explore and understand, plot, dialog, time progression, if-then relationships, contextual clues, drawing conclusions, making inferences and predicting character behavior. Higher order thinking skills practiced include analysis, application and synthesis.

  When choosing a comic strip to use for this reading game, look for cartoon that show plot progression at various levels of comprehension. Look for comic strips in which the plot progression can be traced from frame to frame. Many cartoons rely not only on dialog to carry the plot, but picture or context clues. Characters' facial expressions help identify the plot, also.

  

  To make Cartoon Cut-Ups, you will need:

  -one blank manila file folder

  -assorted comic strips, cartoons and graphic novels

  -scissors

  -small envelopes

  -small round or square stickers

  -gallon sized zipper bag

  -stapler

  -laminating materials or contact paper

  -dark marker

  Procedure:

  -Rule off 12 large squares on the inside of file folder, and outline them in dark marker. Number each square inside 1-12.

  -Laminate the file and the uncut comic strip.

  -Affix a sticker to the back of each cartoon frame and label the stickers in order. This way, students       can self-check    their work, correct any errors and have immediate feedback.

  -Cut comic strips apart along the frame lines.

  -Place individual comic strip pieces in unsealed envelope and label with name and difficulty level.

  -Gather all cartoon envelopes into zippered bag. Leaving bag open staple one side to inside of file folder, below the       zipper area. Seal bag.

  -Label outside of folder with game name. Write directions on the back.

Healthy School Snacks Ideas for Lunch

I'm on a mission to root out unhealthy school snacks that claim to be healthy and expose their true lack of nutritional value. I've had it with school snacks that proclaim to be healthy but are in fact full of junk. 

Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Bars and Eggo Nutri-Grain Waffles and most cereal and granola bars. Loaded with high fructose corn syrup, artificial color and hydrogenated fat, low protein and junk carbs. These are just cookies with a fancy "nutritional" name added. Look for snack bars with no HFCS and protein.

Sun Maid yogurt covered raisins: We are supposed to assume that because these raisins are coated in yogurt and not chocolate, that they have the health goodness of yogurt and are better for us. Wrong. Yogurt covered raisins are basically candy covered raisins. But they don't taste as good as Raisinets.

General Mills and Post Cereal Bars: Initially Post and GM had the audacity to market these as milk and cereal bars. Pulleez- they are basically Coco Puffs and Fruit Loops mixed with marshmallow and pasted together with more marshmallow. In short they are candy bars. Make Rice Krispie Treats at home and you'll be farther ahead. Or give your kids Coco-Puffs with milk. Or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks: Betty Crocker isn't the only one selling us a crock with her packaged 'fruit snacks'. Fruit snacks are a misnomer for highly sugared gelatin tidbits, similar to Juji Fruits and Dots, that come luridly colored , in bizarre flavors and are shaped like cartoon characters. Just the names Fruit Gushers, Fruit by the Foot (a sort of high fructose tape) make me ill. In my day, we called these fruit snacks candy. Welches and Sunkist Fruit Snacks are one step up. They at least do not have artificial color and do contain some fruit juice and 100% RDA of Vitamin C. You could just send the child to school with an orange or a banana.