Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Log Cabin Out of Paper Bags (Little House on the Prairie Craft)

Remember the colorful paper beads we made two weeks ago from magazine paper?  Well today the girls (3 years old) and I turned brown paper lunch bags into a log cabin using a similar technique.  My Little House on the Prairie enthusiasts had a great time with this project (and Mom had quite a bit of fun too).  We worked on it all throughout the day, but the mechanics of it are fairly simple.  Here are the instructions..

I took regular brown paper lunch sacks and cut them into six strips each.  Then we put glue along the edge of each strip and rolled them into logs around markers:


 At first we wrapped the strips around a single marker, but after everyone struggled with getting the marker out after it was wrapped, L came up with the idea of joining two markers together.  She seriously came up with that solution all by herself, and I was a very proud parent (and felt silly that I hadn't thought of that myself).  We also made some shorter logs to use for making a door and window.  

I think we ended up with 36 large logs.  I was going to have the kids count them and divide them into 4 groups, but they were too excited to get started.

I found a cardboard lid for the base, and showed the girls how to glue down our logs.  Then it was just a matter of building and building..


Most of the artwork we do around here involves glue sticks, not white glue, so the kids were very excited about trying their hand at squeezing out lines of white glue.  The building process took all day because we'd add a couple more layers of logs each time and then wait for them to dry before continuing in order to have a bit more structural integrity.  I also added some supports in the corner from pieces of paper bags so everything wouldn't collapse.

This is was very much a collaborative project between me and the kids, but I made every effort to let them do the bulk of the work.  After adding a folded piece of construction paper for the roof, our log cabin was done:

Of course we read some of our Little House picture books throughout the day.

I have to admit that our final masterpiece was really neat.  It was also a fun toy, as I took out the girls' Little House paper dolls...

 

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12 comments:

  1. This is sooooo cute. Pinning it on my Recycle board.

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  2. That is really clever. We are doing a lot with paper atm. Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  3. What a wonderful idea!
    T.F.

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  4. This is really a fantastic idea. I can really see my kids getting into this. Thanks for sharing and I am following you on Facebook and google+.
    I would love for you to follow back.
    Jillian
    http://puzzlemecomplete.blogspot.com/

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  5. Super Idea! Great way to add an activity to reading time.

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  6. Wow! Cool idea and certainly different to other paper bag crafts. Love it.

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  7. Love it, and sure brings back memories! thanks so much for sharing on Craft Schooling Sunday!

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  8. What a great learning activity with recycled materials. I'm bookmarking this for our Little House activities in the spring. I'd love if you'd be willing to link up to my kids architecture linky. Thanks for sharing!
    http://motherofdiscussion.blogspot.com/p/we-built-this-linky.html

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  10. Paper bags are good option for packing and gift purpose. Moreover they are eco friendly. Go for them and save the environment.

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  12. Cool i think im going to use this idea

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