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Crafts for Learning programs are one-time or multi-session worksops for schools, libraries, and enrichment programs and other groups, including homeschoolers, scout troops, senior centers, bookclubs, or moms’ night out gatherings. All materials are provided, along with informational handouts containing directions plus fun quizzes, coloring sheets and other activities.

2008 Library Summer Reading Program - Catch the Reading Bug

Build a Bug House!

World History Through Crafts

Learn about different times and places while you make a great-looking craft to take home! World History Through Crafts uses hands-on exploration, stories, music and more to uncover the history, geography, language, food, architecture, transportation, family dynamics, literature, folk tales, and music of different cultures. Projects include:

The Abacus and The History of Counting:

From Babylon to Japan

Yarn paintings and Ojos de Dios:

The Huichol Indians of the Sierra Madres

Tibetan Sand Mandalas:

The Buddhist Way of Life

An Archeological Mystery:

Ancient Celtic Metalwork

Life in the Arctic:

The Inuksuk and the Storyknife Game

Prehistoric Cave Paintings:

Portraits of Ice Age Mammals

Colonial Pastimes:

Paper Quilling, Silhouettes, and Ben Franklin’s Glass Armonica

Funky Junk

Make great jewelry, accessories and totes from recycled trash! Collect your materials from the school lunchroom or home, and then learn how to make these great items:

• Milk carton change purses
• Potato chip bag bracelets or belts
• Juice pouch beach totes or lunch bags

A fun activity for scout troops or birthday parties!

Invent Your Own Country

Here’s your chance to be in charge (and find out what makes a country a country)! Team up with other students to write your own Declaration of Independence explaining what your new country is about; compose and record a national anthem; design a flag that symbolizes your country’s ideals; and make a 3-D map of your territory. You decide what kind of government, laws, and economic system will help your country achieve its goals. (Tyrants beware! You may be overthrown by your “loyal” subjects!) And you and your team come up with holidays, traditions and maybe even a new language that can bind your people together. At the end you’ll get a chance to display your country’s money, stamps, art, dance, music, clothing, food and technology at a class-wide Micronational World’s Fair.

Solar, Wind and Water Power

Discover the power of the sun, the wind and water through hands-on crafts, games and activities. You’ll find out how people have used the earth’s renewable energy sources over the ages, and how they’re using them today to help slow global warming. Use your creativity, imagination and technical know-how to do projects like these:

• Make a safe solar viewer
• Heat up the ingredients for Solar S’Mores
• Power a toy with a solar cell
• Light a light bulb with a windmill
• Make a colorful wind sock you can hang up at home
• Explore tidal action with a wave bottle
• Build a waterwheel that can turn machinery

Solar, Wind and Water Power workshops can be adapted for classrooms or enrichment programs. Kits and teacher training are also available.

Medieval Beasts and Botanicals:
Arts and Crafts of the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, stories about exotic creatures like the unicorn and the dragon were immensely popular, and plants such as foxglove and belladonna were prized for their healing and magical powers. Learn how people of the Middle Ages celebrated the natural world in their castles and cathedrals, their art, and their daily life with projects like these:

• Make a “stone” gargoyle
• Make a “stained glass” rose window
• Create a Heraldic Lion Banner
• “Weave” a unicorn tapestry
• Tell a story with a painted dragon triptych
• Illuminate a manuscript with gryphons and other strange creatures in pen and ink
• Chart a map in the Medieval style, complete with sea serpents
• Practice botanical drawing from live plants
• Plant a Medieval healing herbs in an indoor garden
• Press symbolic flowers or make a nosegay or hair wreath
• Use fruit and grain to make bread dough sculptures and other recipes

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

HOW MUCH DO PROGRAMS COST?

Prices are negotiable depending on length, number of participants, cost of materials, planning time, and travel expenses from Schuylerville, NY. Some of our programs are part of the BOCES Arts in Education program.

HOW LONG DO PROGRAMS LAST?

Short workshops run 1 to 3 hours, depending on the craft and topic. Longer programs which go into more depth and combine several projects or a larger team project are also available. Programs can be custom-designed to suit your needs.

HOW MANY STUDENTS CAN PARTICIPATE?

Programs can be designed for 10 to 30 students at a time. Some suggestions for larger groups include:

• Multiple sessions throughout the day.

• Setting up stations in a gym, cafeteria, or art room which participants can move around as they try different activities. Adult helpers may be required for this arrangement.

• Holding a parent-child evening workshop where family members can work together.

• Training teachers to do crafts, with materials and handouts supplied.

• Training student leaders to teach crafts and make history presentations to fellow students.

• Designing larger projects which students can work on in teams and combine in a final presentation.

WHAT AGE LEVEL ARE PROGRAM FOR?

Children 8-12 are the ideal age for most of our programs, but they can also be adapted for teenagers and adults. For family and multi-generational workshops, some projects may be suitable for younger students with adult assistance, or related age-appropriate activities can be substituted.