Collage time, berry style!

This is a great activity for anytime. You can do the leg work yourself or hand your kidlet a pair of scissors and a stack of magazines and let them go to town. I used to do this when I was 5. Yay! Allowing your kidlets to scavenger their berry pages helps with color recognition and of course building that good ol' self-esteem. Besides, maybe your kidlet doesn't want to make a strawberry, maybe they want to make a blueberry or perhaps a nanoberry. The hunt though can be a lot of fun and can also give you a few extra minutes to throw in that load of laundry, write a quick blog entry or grab your golf clubs from the garage. You can also do the scavenger hunt with letters, animals and shapes. Just make sure your kidlet is scissor ready and/or the scissors they are using are child safe. If you are able to go through and dismantle a magazine your self you can cram all the bits into a storage container or resealable bag and have your wee ones color sort into cute bowls or onto squares of colored paper. Having a couple of bags or containers on hand can be a lifesaver for when you need those extra minutes especially when you name them something spiffy like "Bea's Magic Rainbow" or "Simon's Secret Color Stash" You get my drift, and always, have fun!

What you need:

*magazines or paper scraps from mags in berry colors

*additional collage scraps in berry colors (optional)

*scissors

*glue stick

*yarn or string

*cardstock

*red or pink construction paper (optional)

*cayons, markers and/or paint (optional)

*hole punch

scrumdilly-do it!

Set out your supplies. If your kidlets are younger, have your scarps ready for them. I went throguh 2 magazines and tore out pages with red and pink colors and then cut them into strips and squares. I also did a page of green for the top of the berry.

Draw a strawberry shape onto the cardstock and cut out. Glue red construction paper to the top and trim if you want to use a colored base.

Let your wee ones go hog wild with the glue stick, covering the entire surface with adhesive. Now they can add all the scraps they want. You can also give them ribbon, tissue, beads, glitter, feathers, etc.

Once they are done, have them do another piece with the green scraps, attach the top, punch holes, thread with string and voila! A giant strawberry to hang or wear! (Because it's fun!)