What is it about Christmas time that everything has to have glitter? My house looks like a fairy threw up. There is every color glitter imaginable scattered everywhere. The funny thing about that is the only two colors that this most recent project entailed were blue and red. Yet, I'm finding silver, gold, white, and every shade in the rainbow. I think during the holidays, it just magically falls off the kids as they walk.
Our most recent project with glitter was supposed to be a nice, clean, easy project. That's why I decided on it instead of something more creative. Simple, simple, simple is what I wanted. Last year, for Christmas treats for the kids classes, they made each child a foam bookmark with those little foam stickers. Super cute. Super easy. No mess. No fuss. Perfect. This year, I wanted to go that same route, but you just can't do the same thing two years in a row, especially when you have kids from last years classes in class again. So, this year, the kids and I compromised on foam ornaments. There were kits with 24 in each. Perfect. I only needed 2 then, which saved me money for not having to buy smaller packs that weren't kits. Totally should have spent more money. Though the ornaments were fun for the kids to do, the first day we worked on them, they quickly lost their appeal. First, they only give you the EXACT number of foam stickers needed. Now this wouldn't be such a big issue if these pieces weren't so tiny. Even Husband and I had trouble getting these little pieces off. When you can't get the sticker off, the foam then rolls up on itself and forget about trying to get it unstuck because it's not going to happen.
Then there was the glitter. Dear Lord, the glitter. The scarf stickers were glitter stickers. Glitter stickers that dropped glitter like you've never seen. I'm not kidding when I say it was everywhere. It was all over the kids. All over the dog. All over the table, chairs, and floor. I was in my eyes and up my nose. That was pleasant....or not. To make it just a little more difficult, this project took 3 days. Yes, three. Day 1, the kids worked on them for an hour and a half and they each only got 12 partially done. That night, I worked on them for an hour and half after the kids went to bed. I did all the itty bitty pieces for Sunshine. I put the strings to hang them on all 48 (and of course the thread to hang them is glittery, too). I wrote on the backs of all of Sunshine's. So, after Day 1, we are totally invested in this project and there's no going back. To make it just a little more fun and exciting, this project also took up our whole dining room table, which is our only table. Kids thought it was fun that they had to eat their meals at the counter, but the mess just stressed me out.
Day 2 of this project, Sunshine managed to get the remainder of hers done because, well, I had done over half of them for her. She just had to put the bigger stickers on to finish up. Even with the bigger stickers, she somehow managed to get them all folded onto themselves. This means some reindeer don't have red noses or dark brown hooves. It is what it is though when you only get the exact number of stickers. I'd love to say in the product's defense it was geared toward older kids with better fine motor control, but no, it's for ages 4 and up.
Day 2, Monster only got 3 completed and the remainder of them started. That's after an hour of work on these. Top it off, we are now on the second day of no table usage. Finally, Day 3, after another hour of work, these damned ornaments are done! Well, mostly. Monster is going to write on the backs of them, but at least I was able to get the stuff off my table!
There should be no pre-made craft project for kids ages 4 and up that is this difficult. If you add it up, I spent 5 hours of my life dealing with crappy craft foam stickers. I'm positive I could have found a better way to spend 5 hours. And yes, it was my time, too, since I needed to be right there to help. I managed to multi task when I could, but I couldn't go any further than the kitchen since I kept getting called back to unpeel a sticker. The good news is that I learned my lesson. The bad news is that I'm sure I'm going to be finding glitter until next year.
Our most recent project with glitter was supposed to be a nice, clean, easy project. That's why I decided on it instead of something more creative. Simple, simple, simple is what I wanted. Last year, for Christmas treats for the kids classes, they made each child a foam bookmark with those little foam stickers. Super cute. Super easy. No mess. No fuss. Perfect. This year, I wanted to go that same route, but you just can't do the same thing two years in a row, especially when you have kids from last years classes in class again. So, this year, the kids and I compromised on foam ornaments. There were kits with 24 in each. Perfect. I only needed 2 then, which saved me money for not having to buy smaller packs that weren't kits. Totally should have spent more money. Though the ornaments were fun for the kids to do, the first day we worked on them, they quickly lost their appeal. First, they only give you the EXACT number of foam stickers needed. Now this wouldn't be such a big issue if these pieces weren't so tiny. Even Husband and I had trouble getting these little pieces off. When you can't get the sticker off, the foam then rolls up on itself and forget about trying to get it unstuck because it's not going to happen.
Then there was the glitter. Dear Lord, the glitter. The scarf stickers were glitter stickers. Glitter stickers that dropped glitter like you've never seen. I'm not kidding when I say it was everywhere. It was all over the kids. All over the dog. All over the table, chairs, and floor. I was in my eyes and up my nose. That was pleasant....or not. To make it just a little more difficult, this project took 3 days. Yes, three. Day 1, the kids worked on them for an hour and a half and they each only got 12 partially done. That night, I worked on them for an hour and half after the kids went to bed. I did all the itty bitty pieces for Sunshine. I put the strings to hang them on all 48 (and of course the thread to hang them is glittery, too). I wrote on the backs of all of Sunshine's. So, after Day 1, we are totally invested in this project and there's no going back. To make it just a little more fun and exciting, this project also took up our whole dining room table, which is our only table. Kids thought it was fun that they had to eat their meals at the counter, but the mess just stressed me out.
Day 2 of this project, Sunshine managed to get the remainder of hers done because, well, I had done over half of them for her. She just had to put the bigger stickers on to finish up. Even with the bigger stickers, she somehow managed to get them all folded onto themselves. This means some reindeer don't have red noses or dark brown hooves. It is what it is though when you only get the exact number of stickers. I'd love to say in the product's defense it was geared toward older kids with better fine motor control, but no, it's for ages 4 and up.
Day 2, Monster only got 3 completed and the remainder of them started. That's after an hour of work on these. Top it off, we are now on the second day of no table usage. Finally, Day 3, after another hour of work, these damned ornaments are done! Well, mostly. Monster is going to write on the backs of them, but at least I was able to get the stuff off my table!
There should be no pre-made craft project for kids ages 4 and up that is this difficult. If you add it up, I spent 5 hours of my life dealing with crappy craft foam stickers. I'm positive I could have found a better way to spend 5 hours. And yes, it was my time, too, since I needed to be right there to help. I managed to multi task when I could, but I couldn't go any further than the kitchen since I kept getting called back to unpeel a sticker. The good news is that I learned my lesson. The bad news is that I'm sure I'm going to be finding glitter until next year.
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