This month, we are celebrating one of our very favorite Reading Time Buddies, Mr. Aaron! As you may having noticed, Mr. Aaron is much like your favorite cartoon character (think Arthur, Scooby-Doo) in that he essentially wears the same outfit every time we see him. In this case, it's his iconic and stunning blue tie-dye shirt with a big green heart in the middle.
While tie-dye was a bit outside our ability for a Reading Time, Miss Barb has devised an excellent alternative that employs an unconventional craft material: a coffee filter! With some markers, water, and a bit of hot air, you can recreate a tie-dye effect in just a few minutes!
Here is what you will need for supplies:
💚Coffee Filter
💚Washable Markers
💚Pencil
💚Glue Stick
💚Cardstock (for the heart. We used white, and the heart was traced from a cookie cutter.)
💚Scissors
💚Water (in a spray bottle)
💚Wire Rack
💚Paper Towel
1. Open up the coffee filter so it looks like a circle. Run your hands over it a few times to get it to flatten out as best as possible.
2. Fold the filter in half, then fold it in half again. You will have a pie shape, almost like a triangle.
3. Get the markers and just start coloring whatever design you want! Squiggles, shapes, lines... just be sure to push the marker firmly against the filter to get the colors through the layers. It will be important to keep some white showing to get a better tie-dye look.
4. Place the colored filter, still folded, on some paper towels. Using the spray bottle, lightly get the filter wet until the water absorbs all the way through 4 layers. You may have to turn the filter over and spray the other side. Don’t open the filter yet!
5. Important: With paper towels on your work surface, tuck the filter between another paper towel and push down on it. You are pushing so the colors get all the way through.
6. Carefully (very carefully or it will tear), open the filter to the original circle shape and lay it flat on the wire rack to dry.
7. While the filter is drying, work on tracing, cutting out, and decorating the paper heart.
8. Once the filter is dry (it will take 20-30 minutes), get the glue stick and glue on the heart.
That’s it! Now you can hang this as new art created by you! Maybe try hanging on a window to see if the sun can catch the colors!
Please note: this program will take place in both Idaho Falls AND Pocatello on November 19th!
IDAHO FALLS: We will be at Winnie & Mo’s, 343 A St, starting at 10:30am.
POCATELLO: We will be at Marshall Public Library, 113 S Garfield Ave, starting at 1:30pm. You can find us in the Community Room.
We will be singing some of Mr. Aaron's favorite songs and reading two of Mr. Aaron's favorite books. And of course, we will be learning some signs that we can use throughout our program and into our daily lives!
We will be posting a recorded version of this program later on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook as soon as we are able. Craft Corner will be part of that video, so if you need extra help, Miss Barb and Miss Cali will be happy to guide you!
It is grand that we get to spend time with y'all each month, and we would like to thank you for supporting our program. It is nice when we can take the time to lift each other up and recognize the things that make each one of us special and unique. To borrow from Mister Rogers: "People can like you exactly as you are." Thank you for being part of discovering what that means to each of us every Reading Time.
***This is an independent program. It is not sponsored by any government agency or institution.***
This craft was inspired by this YouTube video from South Central Regional Library: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y78BIsaBBLU
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