Pack-O-Fun

(doesn’t this kid look really angry? anyway….)

My original thought was to scan one of the old issues of Pack-O-Fun that my friend Deb sent me and make it into a pdf that you all could download for free. I decided it would be fun to include some research on the publication’s history and found that it is indeed a living history! I found Pack-O-Fun’s website here, it’s now being published by a company called Amos Craft Publishing. At fist I wasn’t sure if it was still the same magazine, but after digging around on the website, I became convinced that if it wasn’t the same publication exactly, it must have been strongly influenced by Pack-O-Fun.

The submission guidelines are right on with what I’ve read in each issue of Pack-O-Fun that I have, which range from the the 1950’s to the 1907’s:

“Pack-o-Fun is looking for Arts & Craft projects that are:

• Easy to make
• Made from recyclable or low-cost materials
• Group activities for scouts, religious education classes, or elementary school classrooms
• Intended to help teach a curriculum-based concept within science or math through constructive creating (for our Surrounded By Science regular feature)
• Paired with a children’s picture book to help reiterate the story, theme, or main character (for our Literature Lift Off regular feature)
• Focused on a particular fine arts technique (painting, ceramics, drawing, etc.), famous artist, or period of time in art history to help teach fine arts concepts to a group (for our Art Smarts regular feature)
• Cultural crafts or those that focus on an ethnic tradition or holiday
• Themed around national, school, and religious holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, President’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Fourth of July, etc.
• Gift ideas for parents, teachers, friends, grandparents, or siblings made from low-cost materials”

It seems really geared towards elementary educations (teachers, parents, daycares) just like it was 60 years ago! Lovely!

It makes me think that maybe, someday, I’ll look back 40+ years on Craft Leftovers, and hopefully it will still be embodying the same ideals it does today.

Being that it is still in print, whether by the same publisher or not, I didn’t feel comfortable posting a full issue. Instead I’m showing you some sample pages. You can see a couple more pages here.

Sorry this post is coming so late in the day, it took me awhile longer to scan and research than I was thinking it would. All the same, have a happy Monday!

See you on Wednesday!

++ Kristin Roach ++

ps – I revamped my personal blog and added some new things to Kro Postal over the weekend. I’ll be adding some new things to the CL shop as well as Green Prairie Fibers this week.