As a retired elementary school teacher I am used to
scrounging. We always needed supplies
that the school budget would not support.
That meant the teacher either scratched the project, bought it out of
her personal money, or scrounged. We
became expert scroungers. We enlisted
the aid of friends as well. We saved
plastic tubs, plastic lids (almost said kids), paper plates, paper bags, pine
cones, scraps of fabric, and mats for framing and a hundred other things.
Every holiday there were projects. Santa was made
out of paper bags with cotton balls for hair and beard, paper plate for face
and cap of red construction paper. Many
goals were met doing this besides the fun of it. Some are: following directions, measuring, imagination
for drawing and coloring in the face and others.
The Thanksgiving turkey was often made out of pine
cones, pipe cleaners, patterns for head and wattles which had to be drawn,
copied, and glued in place. Feet also
required patience and skill in tracing cutting and gluing. Eye hand coordination and imagination were
important.
Apple head dolls could be used for Halloween to be a
witch to take home. Apples were gathered
from a field trip or supplied by the parents.
Cloves were used for the face and then we sat then on the windowsill
until properly aged & withered.
Empty egg cartons were a prize – many projects could
be made using them. One of my favorites
was using them to plant seeds in the spring.
That’s when we were learning about growing things and understanding they
didn’t just appear in the Super Market.
I am now a senior citizen. You would think my days of scrounging would
be over, but no, no. I used all those saved
products with my grandkids. Now they’re grown so you’d think that those boxes
of scrounged and saved stuff would just be thrown out and no more gathered.
Well, somehow I haven’t been able to break the
habit. The lady who comes over to my
house to try to help me keep some order looks at my boxes of saved stuff (treasures)
and shakes her head. “Mary do you really need all these plastic bottles, Cool
Whip tubs and this other “junk”, she asks. “Yes,” I say! I am thinking that
some of my friends will need this stuff for projects they want to make with
their grandchildren, some 1st grade teacher friends, some church
groups or Day Care groups. It’s valuable
and I know somebody wants and needs it.
I lecture myself saying that I know today they use
different materials and make different projects. BUT I can’t imagine how technology
and digital stuff can beat the old hands on, get dirty, gluey and smudged with
colors and paint making a project. Then with a smiling face say “Look what I
did! I did it myself!”
Written while in hospital after knee surgery,
couldn’t sleep and was bored so wrote with paper and pencil in half dark.
1 comment:
I love that you wrote this while in the hospital, using old-fashioned implements. I saw on the news this morning that people with writer's block are trying old fashioned typewriters to get the juices going. Your paper and pencil did the trick for you, Miss Mary On The Mend.
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