simple Analogy

Multicultural Crafts for Kids: The Universal Language

No matter which continent you live on or what culture you are a part of, there is one language that can be communicated without words...

LOVE!

All it takes is kindness, time, and genuine caring to "speak" this language to children all around the world!  We took some time to communicate love and friendship specifically to children whose parents have recently gone through a divorce.  Many times these children just need a little bit of extra love and to know that someone cares.  We did this by making small gifts for them.

Supplies:

pony bead assortment

stretchy cord (can be found by the pony beads or in the jewelry making aisle)

foam sheets

geometric foam stickers

sharpie pens

cello bag

candy

Approximate cost:  less than a dollar per gift

Directions: 

First, the children made friendship bracelets.  We chose to make simple beaded bracelets with pony beads.  

Cut the cord into 11-12 inch lengths to give plenty of room for tying off at the end.

Tape one end of the cord to the table so that the beads do not fall off. 

String on the beads. 

Tie an overhand knot. 

There are hundreds of options for making friendship bracelets.  I chose this way because of the variety of ages I was working with and my time constraint.  If you have more time or want a little more of a challenge check here (embroidery floss version), here (fabric version), and here (finger knit version) for a few more ideas.

We then used foam sheets (3 1/2 x 5 in) and foam stickers to make cards to go along with the bracelets, letting the children know that Jesus loves them.  I put a ton of stickers and some sharpie markers on the table and let the kid's be creative in the design.  Some looked like robots, some looked like this one, some looked like a pile o' stickers.

Insert the card, bracelet, and a few pieces of candy (which is a universal language of its own) into a cello bag and you have a simple, inexpensive gift that speaks volumes to a hurting child.

Whether they live in America, Africa, or the Islands, whether their parents have gone through a divorce or not, children of every culture need to know that they are loved.

As always, I couldn't have done it without my partner in crime!  Thanks, Megan, for willing subjecting yourself to crowds of kids, multiple repetitions of directions, late nights, and the general chaos that comes with crafting with children.  You are a gem! 

That wraps up this year's Multicultural Crafts for Kids session!  I hope you've enjoyed it.  For more multicultural craft projects to do with children, check out the archives.  Happy crafting!

Multicultural Crafts for Kids: Zambia, Africa Tasting

Zambia Food Tasting Menu

sugared peanuts

sugar cane

Zambians like to much sugared nuts.  Make your own, or if you run out of time just buy honey roasted peanuts as a quick fill in.

They are also really trying to get a foothold on the sugarcane market.  Most children have never tasted sugarcane, so this is a new experience for them.  Now while you can buy the actual cane and shuck and cut it up yourself, I opted for the already prepared kind.  Bought mine here!  As you can see in the picture above, the sugarcane is very woody, so make sure the children just bite it to taste the sweetness, but do not chew and swallow it.  We had good success, but the very young children were supervised to make sure we didn't have any issues.  Some liked it; some said it was "like chewing splinters".

Multicultural Crafts For Kids: Zambia, Africa

Ready for another culture?  Introducing...

Zambia, Africa

The Zambians craft a cloth made from the bark of mulberry and other varieties of trees.  This tapa cloth is then designed with geometric patterns and ink.  It is used as clothing or decorations in their homes.

Supplies:

brown paper grocery bag or craft paper

pencil

ruler

tempera paint (or markers)

Approximate cost:  $.10 (or free if you already have a paper grocery bag)

Directions:

Cut your bag or craft paper to measure about 9 x 10 inches.

Wad up into a ball.

Wet with water; squeeze out excess.  Gently open paper so that it does not tear and set on a counter overnight to dry.  This will give it a nice texture.

When dried completely, draw several vertical lines with a pencil.  I drew mine with a sharpie so you could see it better, but pencil is the way to go!  They should be slanted in different directions!

Draw several slanted horizontal lines through the vertical ones.

Using black tempera paint, paint your design like a checkerboard.  The result is a very authentic looking tapa cloth design.

Another design option is to draw alternating half circles on the horizontal lines.

A different result entirely!

Options:

Younger children-  Draw the designs on the paper beforehand, and have them paint it.

Older children-  Give them a blank sheet of paper, some examples, and have them draw and paint their own design.

Quicker Option-  Don't have time for the paint to dry?  Color the design with markers instead!

Extra Activity:

Color a map of Zambia!

Stay tuned for Zambia tasting!

Multicultural Crafts for Kids: Pacific Island Tasting

Part of experiencing different cultures is tasting their foods.  Usually I have one "cooking" craft during the week, but this time I decided to do a tasting table each night. 

Pacific Island Food Tasting Menu

Papaya     Pineapple     Fresh Coconut

Coconut Water

Typically most kids have tasted pineapple and shredded coconut.  No big leap of faith for them to eat those.  But instead of using shredded coconut, I did fresh!  I had the shells there for them to look at and touch, and a jar of the coconut water that came out of ours.   They each got a small chunk to munch on.  For time's sake, I bought coconut water for them to taste instead of mining the water out of fresh coconuts for 30 children. 

Need help knowing how to mine for coconut water and crack a fresh coconut?  Watch this!  Very helpful!

The papaya was something most of them had never tasted.  I have to admit I was very unfamiliar with it as an individual flavor.  Having it mixed in a smoothie and eating it on it's own is not the same thing.  I was in foreign territory here and had to research how to choose one and prepare it.  I would recommend adding one lime per papaya to mask heighten the tropical flavor.  I guess it's an acquired taste.  Most of the kids didn't care for it too much, but at least they can say they tried it.

Portion Size:  2 chunks of pineapple, 2 chunks of papaya with lime, one chunk of fresh coconut.

Small condiment cups were perfect for holding the fruit and tasting the coconut water.

Multicultural Crafts for Kids: The Pacific Islands

Welcome to Multicultural Crafts for Kids 2012!  I'm so glad you're here.  Are you ready to delve into different cultures?  Let's get started with...

The Pacific Islands

There are approximately 30,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean, but the one you are probably most familiar with are the Polynesian Islands of which Hawaii is one.  The Hawaiian islands are beautiful and lush with their tropical climate.  When you visit these islands, you will notice the beautiful neclaces or lei made with fresh flowers.  Flowers grow in abundance!  So for our craft we will make a tropical flower...

Supplies:

1 large sheet of colorful tissue paper for each flower

1 green pipe cleaner/chenille stick

2 other colors of pipe cleaners

a few pony beads

Approximate cost:  $.20 per flower

Directions:

Fold the green pipe cleaner in half.  Then fold the other two pipe cleaners in half, keeping these two together.

Slide your green stem through the folded end of your other two pipe cleaners.

green = stem        yellow and orange = stamen

Take one of each color of stamen and twist together a few times.  Do this with the other two stamen.

You should have something that looks like this.

Now take your large sheet of tissue paper and cut it in half lengthwise.  Stack these on top of each other and cut in half width wise.  You should end up with four sheets measuring approximately 8 x 10 inches.

In full disclosure: I was going to be making these with 30 preschool-elementary age children. I made everything up to this point beforehand to reduce the actual hands on time with the children.  Remember one of the criteria for my projects is that it can be completed in 10 minutes!

With all your tissues neatly stacked, fold the short end up about an inch.

Flip your tissue stack over and fold up 1 inch.  Continue to accordian fold your tissue stack all the way to the other end like you would to make a paper fan.

Fold your folded strip of tissue in half to find the center.

Slide the center of your tissue strip between the two green pipe cleaners all the way to the top.

Pinch close to the tissue paper and twist the green stems all the way to the bottom to make a sturdy stem.

 
Cut a rounded edge on each side of your tissue. 

Starting on one side, GENTLY pull the top layer of tissue straight up toward the stamen.  I emphasize GENTLY because if you pull too hard, the tissue will tear.  Out of 30 children, there was only one very rambunctious boy who pulled too hard and ripped his flower.  He started over and his second flower was a success!  One out of thirty is not bad odds!

Continue to pull each layer of tissue toward the stamen. 

Repeat with the tissue on the other side.

Feed several pony beads onto each stamen and roll the ends around your finger so that they won't fall off.  Give the stamen a trim before you roll the ends if they are too long and crazy!

Some of the girls wore these in their hair in true island style.  The boys made them and promptly gave them to their mom's.  "Or you could give it to your girlfriend!" suggested the same rambunctious boy who had to re-do his flower.  Although I'm pretty sure he gave it to his grandma!  Grandmas make good girlfriends!!!

Extra Activity:

Print a map of the Pacific.  Keep a children's atlas handy and have the children draw and label the following islands:  Fiji, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, Guam, Vanuatu, Tahiti.

Come back tomorrow to do some Island tasting!

Quick Meal Monday: Tex Mex Cheeseburgers

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Burgers are a great quick meal, and this one has a lot going for it!  A little chipotle in adobo mixed in with the meat gives a bit of smokey spice.  Bacon (yes please!), cilantro, queso, jalapeno...

To make it a little faster to make, go with a jar of queso instead of making your own.  Don't have time to chop onions, tomato, and cilantro?  Use prepared salsa instead.  We can make this work for a quick meal for Monday!

Add a link to one of your favorite quick meals in the comments!

Prepping for Multicultural Crafts for Kids 2012

Yes, it's almost that time again! Multicultural Crafts with Kids starts for me this week at our church's missions conference. I'll be helping the children learn in a hands-on way more about the countries our visiting missionaries are from.

This year we are featuring...

Zambia, Africa

and

The Pacific Islands

We will be doing crafts and tasting foods based on the cultures from those countries. 

Each craft will meet three criteria:

1. Cheap.
2. Can be completed in about ten minutes or less.
3. Able to be done by a preschooler with parental supervision AND by elementary age children on their own.

Want to see past multicultural crafts?  Look back through the last several year's worth of projects here.  Just keep scrolling down! 

Multicultural Crafts For Kids will start here on the blog on Monday, March 26.  It will be a week long multicultural party you and your kids won't want to miss.  I hope you'll join me!

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Grab the badge and spread the word! See you on Monday... 

Quick Meal Monday: Oven Roasted Chicken Wings

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Mighty tasty!!!  Serve these up with a salad or your favorite side and you not only have a yummy meal but also a mighty inexpensive one.  My whole family can eat dinner for $12, and I've got two teenage boys and a hungry husband.

Share your favorite quick meal by leaving a link in the comments!

Baby Shower Pennants

Did you guess pennants? 

One of our friends is having her first baby, so the craft day syndicate girls and I hosted a shower for her.  It's been a while, and we had so much fun putting things together.  We used her bedding as a jumping off point with the stars as a subtle side theme.

Michelle came up with the theme (picnic) and the food menu:  mini hotdogs (so cute - wish I'd have had more time to get a close up), peek-a-boo star PBJ, chips and dip, roasted veggie panini, fruit salad, rice krispie star pops, and lemonade.  Everything you'd find at a picnic!  And she made the guest book with a string of mini pennants running across the front.

Megan made the paninis and the cupcakes.  Love the star cookie toppers!

Beverly handled all the logistics:  scheduling, phone calls, facebooking.

I made the pennants and table runners.  Meg and I both shopped at our mom's for the fabrics.  The pennant triangles were 8" long and 6" wide sandwiched between the bias tape.  The table runners were all the leftover pennant fabrics cut into 10 1/2" widths and sewn together to look kind of like a rustic quilt.  I made one super long runner, and we cut them into the lengths needed for the tables.

Add a few picnic baskets around the room, mason jars tied with jute and filled with baby's breath to the tables, and best friends and you just about have our picnic themed baby shower in a nutshell.  We held it at our church.  I wanted to get a picture before the guests started arriving, but there were men on ladders installing speakers in the ceiling up until about ten minutes before the shower started.  Yeah, it cut it a little close, but in the end it all worked out. 

Just a note:  If at all possible, host baby showers with your best friends!  It's great!  

Quick Meal Monday: Taco Turkey Wedges

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Spring Break time!  This week I'm featuring Betty Crocker's Taco Turkey Wedges.  My guys love a good sandwich.  This one is packed with flavor and heavy enough to fill them up.

The star of this sandwich is the sauce:  sour cream, mayo, chopped black olives, and taco seasoning.  You'll want to slather it on!  Serve it up with chips (or more healthy fruit) and you've got dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes.