When we moved from India to US in the month of August, I was a little worried about my babies. Specially my older one, Diya. She was leaving behind not only her family but also her school – the teachers who adored her; her classmates and seniors who had grown to be great friends. I prayed that her new school should also be something she’d come to love. And with each passing day, I feel my prayers are coming true.
Her teachers here in the Moore Elementary School, love and care for her just like her teachers back in India, she has made some awesome friends and is doing well in her lessons and other activities. She has amazed everyone around with her ability to learn the English language. She has picked the nuances of grammar as well as accents, she still messes a bit on her tenses, but more often than not she speaks correctly – in full sentences and paragraphs. I am so proud of her. :)
So for this adorable little princess, we had to make a scarecrow. Yup! In her school they are getting ready to celebrate Halloween and are also learning about harvest, autumn and what not. At home me and Mr. C make every attempt to keep them still connected to our India traditions,  we do want her to learn about the new culture in the US while she is here.
So, I put on my crafters hat on and gave a shot at making a scarecrow.
On some googling we found a few paper scarecrow patterns but then discarded most of them for one reason or other. Taking a more straightforward approach I simply drew a circle for head, a loosely shaped rectangle for body and smaller rectangles for hands and feet on pieces of a old cardboard box. Assembled these together and stuck them with crafters’ glue.
Diya wanted to put on real clothes on, but since we have just moved I don’t have very many useless old clothes yet, so I cajoled her into making a paper dress for Mr. SC (ScareCrow, what else? :D)
Here are the supplies we scavenged from our store room:
– Cardboard box – Scrapbook paper (one color for shirt, another for rompers) – Glue – A couple buttons – A pair of scissors – Push pins – A pair of googly eyes – A thin strip of red paper for lips, a skin colored triangle for nose – Sharpie and black marker for coloring hair – Bought a stick and a Styrofoam cube from Wal-Mart
The flood we had in our apartment had damaged some of my scrapbook paper so we used part of that to make his shirt and trousers. Added suspender belts also with the paper.
The patches on his romper are strictly for cuteness. ;)
With a marker we simply drew stitch lines to make it appear like the short was stitched. Cut into the end of his arms to give a frayed look.
A pair of googly eyes from my crafts stash, a rectangle for nose and red paper cut out for lips adorned his face.
And yes, we did give his shirt a collar too.
We gave him a cap matching with his trousers and embellished it with a honey bee sticker. Also added some frayed piece of cardboard to act as his hair.
Finally we mounted him on a stick (purchased from Wal-Mart) and adhered to the stick using push pins. These push pins double up as his shirt buttons. (Clever, haan? That was Mr. C’s idea!)
The note from Diya’s teacher said he should be able to stand on his own. So, we secured the stick onto a Styrofoam square (also from Wal-Mart) like so:
Tan ta dan… Ladies and gentlemen, presenting Mr. SC as he stands tall in my living rom right now :)
Diya loved every bit of the activity as well as all the fuss we made over her school project. When one of my friends came over this evening, she proudly showed off with Mr. SC.
What do you think? Isn’t he cute?
So friends, do you also help your child in his or her school project? Do you have fun together? What’s your secret tip for keeping younger kids busy while you work on something like this with older ones?
Would love to hear…
xoxo,
