Decapitated Jingle Bell Spiders and Other Craft Disasters

I think for the most part, the primary grade kids did not mind having me as their librarian for a day.  But the crafts--oh, the crafts.  What a mess.


All the third graders had to do to make their Jingle Bell Spiders (to go with this story) was twist pre-cut pipe cleaners around the "neck" where a large jingle bell (body) and small jingle bell (head) were threaded together.  Piece of cake, right?  Um, not when twisting causes the thread to break!  I had to collect all the separated bells (jingle bell heads will roll!) and do careful leg attachments to their fragile replacements.  This so did not happen when my co-librarian made the "model spideys."
That said, once things came together, the kids seemed pretty delighted by their jingle spideys.


First grade--well, I think they just didn't understand what they had to do.  Not to mention they were a little fried from their Christmas play performance the night before.  We were supposed to read this story and talk about what St. Nicholas really brought the villagers--you know, in the abstract. . . only some kids have a one-track mind at this time of year, and they wrote down what they wanted from Santa.  I think my co-librarian is going to crack up when she sees that St. Nick brought a new Kindle (seriously? first grade?) to a completely snowed-in village in Old World Russia.
Not to mention the scissor-happy kids who sliced up their cut-outs and the overzealous gluers who slopped Elmer's everywhere.


Nobody can say I didn't try.  But man, am I tired.


   

Comments

Kate P said…
LOL! Especially if they're snowed in!
Dave E. said…
"jingle bell heads will roll!"

Just reading that cracked me up.
Kate P said…
Literally, they did!
Anonymous said…
Oh my gosh, I always hated craft time with the little ones! I am just too much of a control freak and there is just no controlling glue crazed seven-year-olds!
Kate P said…
Angela--basically, you DO have to be a control freak and think ahead to head off all potential disasters. We didn't count on the parent volunteer who thought she was helping by throwing OUT the cups we put glue in. (We wash and reuse EVERYTHING!!!) So we were stuck with the squeeze bottles--and kids tend to squeeze too hard!

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