Earth Day Bags.

We tried making freezer paper stencils recently, and it was one of those active involved small child crafting disasters. You know - we all have them - realizing that it was not working, but unable to stop the little fingers in the midst of happily creating...something...blob-like. SO, when the bag idea came up as one of our leading up to Earth Day projects, well, I decided to keep it simple (I'll save the freezer paper projects for me!).

The boys both have handmade bags for carrying things and use them all the time. But in talking and reading our Earth Day themed books, they asked why they didn't also have their own shopping bags. They know we carry ours along to the store, but they shop too (A said for things like toothbrushes and snacks!), and they need bags! So, we found plain canvas bags - small enough for kids, but yet big enough to carry a few things. We also picked up a few iron on patches.


I first sewed a border on the bags to make them look a little nicer. The boys then chose their sayings. We went over and over all of the possibilities of what the bags could say. It was important that they chose their OWN sayings, so my suggestions such as "Go Green" and "Earth Day Every Day" were enthusiastically rejected! :) They started with ideas such as "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Take Care of the Planet", and "I have to live here when I grow up so take care of it and be responsible!" - and we streamlined those down into words that fit on the bags (and for which we had the letters). They ended up with "Take Care" and "It's My Future". Perfect!


We then ironed on the letters and earth and we have bags! The boys loved peeling off those transfers to see the images underneath. They are very proud of their bags and are sleeping with them next to their beds tonight. Sweet boys.