You can either continue and read the long version of what I've been doing lately, or you can skip straight to the bottom for the short and sweet version.

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So the new lady at work, Luvenure, asked my mum and I to help her out with her Urban Day Camp. It's a six week long program for Girl Scouts from low-income families; ages 5-11. Mum and I are helping with the Arts & Crafts week with a Medieval theme (not my idea surprisingly). We were given three weeks to plan and collect everything for 25 girls. Monday morning, Luvenure was nice enough to point out that she actually had 34 girls and forgot to tell us. Bit of panic for us, but we got it worked out.

Luvenure had a few other things planned, but we planned out the big events for the middle of the day (Mum and I tried to keep some projects recycled):

Monday: Sculpture and ceramics with homemade air-drying clay, tennis (made from wire hangers covered with old nylons, and old newspaper wads for the balls), and peanut butter play-dough (the greatest, and probably most unhealthy thing in the world. Sculpt it, then eat it!). They also made coats of arms while we weren't there.

Tuesday (now at 37 girls!): We did block prints with styrofoam meat trays, which we then glued to journals that the girls made themselves (from sheets of old printer paper, you know the giant perferated stuff popular in the 80s, and cardboard boxes from shipments to the shop I work in). We also made ball-in-cups with some pencils and sauce cups from places like Dairy Queen, Taco Bell, and KFC. I showed the Junior girls (9-11 yr olds) some of my costume books and bits of jewelry and such to explain medieval clothing (to be honest this is were everything went poorly, they all behaved appaulingly. Apparently, I'm not adult enough to deserve respect...grr).

Wednesday (EDIT 6/4/08): We taught the girls how to weave on cardboard looms and plastic containers. They absolutely loved it. Mum and I brought our looms with us and let them see how they worked. We talked about how thread and cloth was made. Mum showed how her drop spindle worked. It was relatively calmer and a little more fun than Tuesday. I don't think I'll ever get used to the hugs and the "Miss Liz," but it's interesting. They made their little princess hat picture frames (from old 2001 magnet calendars that the local waste management company donated to us). in the morning before we got there and this evening they're working on sewing cards (Daisies), small stuffed felt animals (Brownies and Juniors), and the simple cross stitch on gingham (Juniors). The Juniors are also working on a short play with Luvenure. I don't know if I'll get to see it though.

Thursday: They'll paint their pottery, and make tunics out of old pillow cases (and put their coat of arms on it from Monday). We'll have princess hats for them to decorated. I think we might be making dragon puppets too, and the older girls will put on their play late afternoon. As a surpise for the littler girls, I'll be dressing up in garb and bringing my blackwork embroidery to show them, as well as a few other pieces of clothing and fabrics for them to feel.

Friday for the kids: They'll all put on the outfits they made throughout the week, and go to Medieval Times!

Friday for me: I don't get to go to Medieval Times. I'm back at work for the day, frantically pricing everything for the giant sale I have to run with only one other helper on Saturday! After work though, I shall be celebrating the end of this insane week with magarita specials at Haciendas!

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In other words, I've been crazy busy trying to convince modern children that you don't have to spend much money to have fun. Mission thus far: successful with children under 7, neutral with 8-9 yr olds, complete failure with 10+.

Because of this whole program, I'm a little behind on my projects. I do have a few older projects that I've photographed for posting, and few new projects that are really close to being done. Sorry to anyone that's been waiting to see new work from me. I promise I'll get something posted in the next two weeks.

Sveiks,

icklesevvy