Sock Doll

I had a little doll making session at my nephew's 1st birthday party in Auckland. Didn't get to take photos as I was busy showing the kiddos how to make funny dolls. Haha, this was the funniest. It was quite a challenge as the little ones were hardly four years old and only two of us adults helping to make the dolls. With kids that age you really must have one adult to a kid. It was great fun all the same!

Teach your toddler ABC, make them Apple Banana Crackers

Apple Banana Crackers Recipe

step ONE: spread one thick layer of Mashed Banana on a cracker
step TWO: lay Apple slices on top
step THREE: cover with another Cracker

*CHOMP*

Happy teaching!

Eco Project for ages 3 and up | HOW TO MAKE SOCK DOLLS

These sock dolls are really fun and easy to make! Sit back and watch your kids amaze you with their creativity.

MATERIALS

• Old newspaper
• Old kids' socks
• Toilet roll tube/ small plastic bottles
  
• Junk such as fruit jackets, plastic bags, ragged cloth, paper bags, dried leaves etc etc etc
• Eco friendly glue
• Eco friendly marker/felt pen or magic color

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Crunch up 2 sheets of old newspaper into a ball the size of a tennis ball
   
2. Push it all the way into the sock
3. Next goes the toilet roll tube or bottle
   
4. If you're using tube simply tuck in the remaining of the sock into the tube
   
5. Draw eyes, nose and mouth on newspaper, cut out and stick
6. Decorate the doll and go wild with your assortment of junk!

Eco Crafts Workshop with Caterpillar | 24 June 09

More awesome creations by the Caterpillar kids. I started the class by going through the Paper Lifecycle chart like what I did with the previous class.

Saskia is quite an artist. Initially she asked me to help her draw eyes as she doesn't know how ... after some coaxing from me she whipped up those cute lazy eyes all by herself and designed a dress from fruit jacket and used the paperbag handle as ribbon. The beanie is made from a cut up sock. Her doll's name is Flowery.

This is Qaila and her pretty pink dolly. She drew the eyes just like her own with long eye lashes, her doll does in a lot of ways resembles her looks. So pretty.

This is Kelly's doll. I love it, it's so comical and fun!

Kelly at work. Stuffing newspaper ball and toilet roll tube into the sock .

Marvin who thought it was funny dodging the camera so I never got to take a decent shot of him except this oneThis is Marvin's Mr Yellow Bow heehee... very funny. I especially like his color sense. The green blob on its head is the hair by the way.

Eco Crafts Workshop with Caterpillar

I was really looking forward to my session with the Caterpillar kids after I returned from Ubud Bali. The kids at Green School really inspired me and I couldn't wait to see more great creations from these little geniuses!

I started the class by discussing the lifecycle of paper. Some of the kids already knew paper came from trees. Those who didn't found it rather fascinating. 'How could paper be from trees?' wondered Marvin. 'A tree!?' he went, with question marks hovering above his head.


Good quality illustration and print always works on kids a lot more effective than a page full of text. I got the kids to tell me their version of the stories first to get them thinking, and then I explained the illustration.

Before I started the workshop proper, as a warm up exercise I got the kids to fold things from newspaper. Syaza folded a boat, Sabrina made an origami bird, Anya made a river, Reiya made an art piece :) and Anya's kakak folded a plane. The whole idea was for them to realise how useful newspaper can be apart from just disseminating news. Newspaper is a wonderful craft material and they don't cost a cent.

The main purpose of the newspaper for today's class was to make balls for the eco doll workshop. I used to use tennis ball for the doll's head but it's not something every household has them. So, with just newspaper, toilet roll tubes, old socks, old mags and some junk the kids put together their own variations of cool dolls.


Look at Max's creation and check out the wings! He's very good with colors and has got good design sense. Great styling Max!

This is Syaza's little 'white' riding hood :)

Sabrina's cat in evil costume, haha, very creative!

Little 3 year old Reiya, very serious, showing us what we can do with newspaper instead of sending them for recycling or worst to the landfills!

Anya made Custard (left) a new friend for Strawberry (right). A clever way to use the fruit foam jackets. As you can tell she's a pink lady. "Anya, Custard look really pretty with the pink ribbon and pink dress!"Joel's moving octopus! Who would've thought? Very clever, Joel!

From left Joel, Ian, Anya, Syaza, Reiya, Max and Sabrina.

Green School Bali | Eco Doll Workshop

This morning's session with the kinder kids at the kul kul campus in green school, Bali was FUNtabulous! It was my first time conducting a class during a holiday... without my magic tool box!

The usual materials for doll making are toilet roll tubes, tennis balls, old socks, magazine paper and marker pens. But there was no way I'd be able to find used tennis balls and collect toilet roll tubes in time for this class. I panicked a little but thanks to the inspiring energy in Ubud...churning out ideas was as simple as a wave of a magic wand. Abbakaddabra! and my new list appeared before my eyes. Plastic water bottles to replace roll tubes, crunched up newspaper to make balls and as soon as I got there I raided the garden for anything we could use to decorate the dolls.

All it took was 30 minutes for these little geniuses to make these super cool looking sock dolls.

The best craft class ever!

Esabelle's Eco Art Project | Strawberry the Lioness

24 May 09

Hi, my name is Esabelle, I'm 6 years old. My project is making an eco doll out of ball, toilet roll tube and socks.

My doll will go traveling with my teacher, Penny. They're going to a little village called Ubud, in Bali, Indonesia. We will write and update each other about our daily eco adventures during that three weeks while she's away in Bali!

Tomorrow, Penny will be coming over to my house to teach me how to make my eco doll!

25 May 09
See! My eco doll, Strawberry is her name and she's a lioness. Isn't she pretty?? We made her a giant orange colored fan to match her personality and a huge juicy yummy strawberry in case it's hot and she's hungry.

Strawberry is same age as me, 6 years old. She absolutely loves strawberries and must eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day. Her favorite hobbies are playing and drawing.

"Mmmmm... slurp...yum yum" Strawberry enjoying her sweet'licious strawberry made by Esabelle's mommy, Sylvia.

Farewell Note from Esabelle

Esabelle bidding farewell to Strawberry with a note... In her note is Strawberry (on the left) and her buddy going 'BOINK' 'BOINK' BOINK'

27 May 09

1. "Ahhh... I really miss my best friend Esabelle, wonder what she's doing now?"
2. Esabelle chit chatting with nodi about her excitement and what she's going to learn in Bali
   
3. Looking outside at the other aeroplane
4. "We're above the clouds!" We're above the clouds!!"
   
5. Nodi fascinated with the cottony cloud. Strawberry said to Nodi, "DID YOU KNOW that clouds are made of water that comes from the earth?"
   
6. "We're landing! We're landing!!" "No, not landing into the waters, there's an airstrip below for the aeroplane to land"

28 May 09

"Bali has so much of trees and beautiful flowers. DID YOU KNOW that trees cleans up pollution in the air and makes clean fresh air for our lungs?"

"WOW, Belle, look at how green and fresh the paddy field is!"

"Hmm.. how come there's no strawberries??"

29 May 09

"Belle, look at this gorgeous lotus flower!" DID YOU KNOW that the lotus symbolizes purity, beauty, majesty, grace, fertility, wealth, richness, knowledge and serenity?

"Strawberry Jam on freshly baked bread! YUM YUM YUM"

1 June 09
"Belle! Belle! Guess where I am?!?" I'm at the GREEN SCHOOL!!!

"Look behind me! It's an organic vegetable patch... they grow their own vegetables here in the school!!"

"I met these two lovely lovely ladies on my way up... err... oh I can't remember their names..."

"Belle, meet Ben Macrory. He was our tour guide and some important person in the school I think. He spoke really really fast like a speed train it was just impossible for me to catch everything he said!... at times he's Chinese, at times he's Indonesian but most of the time he's American... I dunno, maybe he's African"

"Oh, this lady was really nice to me I really like her and I could tell she likes me a lot too!"

"I was hoping this was a strawberry plant...sigh, it's only tomato..."

"Yikes! This one looks really scary!"

"WOW, so many interesting activities! I wonder if they accept dolls in this school?"

"Belle, this is Mr Suriawan, he's the Art Teacher of Green School and a master of shadow puppetry! His company is called Me and My Shadows. Guess what!? Guess what!? He invited Penny and I to teach the kinder kids how to make dolls like me this Friday! (It has been postponed to this thursday 10 June coz they need time to collect the junk )

"Belle, meet John Hardy, John, meet my best friend Esabelle. John is the happiest and the cleverest man I've ever met. He loves Earth so much he built the Green School!

Totally exhausted and sound asleep (shh...)

5 June 09
A letter from Belle!!! What a coincidence, I just posted a postcard to Belle this afternoon telling her I miss her... SEE!