{Beth is the in the middle here and is the art education director at the Octagon. She’s a super talented resourceful artist and it has been a pleasure getting to know her. She is an Ames C.art member too :) }
I love helping with art camps at the Octagon! If I could, I would go to every single one to help out–just not enough time in the day. The kids were awesome today and I wish I could go back tomorrow for more fun winter art camp projects.
{Amy volunteered all summer at the Octagon and they were able to bring her on as staff, hooray! She’s so good with kids and is super nice! }
Today we made our own version of a Yule Log. Because of the buckets of snow everywhere we came up short of sticks and branches. Resourceful crafting at its best: Yule logs made of sticks, felt, newspaper, and yarn! We even tossed some pine cones and floral spikes into the mix. I did go trudging in the snow this morning in my skirt to collect some sticks and things. I really should have put on some pants, so cold!
{Amy and I are helping to wrangle the yarn and tie up some yule logs}
We had 2 groups of kiddos come and make Yule logs. 10 in one group of younger kids and 9 in the other group of older kids. I think the age range was from about 6-10. They were all did awesome on their yule logs. I gave them a little back story about what a yule log is and then asked, “Do you want to make your own Yule logs?” And they all raised their hands and were like, “I dooo!” Haha, love that enthusiasm. I made one for myself too :)
Once they were all done making their “logs,” they wrote some wishes, drew some drawings for the upcoming year, and tucked them into the logs. They made lanterns earlier in the day, so they can put them out together in wonderful Yule Log tradition. We also told them about french yule log cakes and gave them all these yummy little swiss rolls. I had one for myself, haha.
Then we made pomanders! I love those. We poked cloves into an orange, wrapped it in tulle, then tied it off with a ribbon. One kid remarked, “these clove things kind of stink…but in a good way.” Haha. After making this one I’ve decided a great way to use up all those oranges I bought last week and have yet to eat + get some christmas crafting done in a jiffy. I’m going to whip up a bunch of these tonight. I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow :)
Happy crafting and have a great week!
Kristin