4/20/16

Make A Newspaper Hat for Earth Day

Our elementary school has lots of fun traditions. One of our favorite, is the annual "Earth Day Hat Contest". During the Week of Earth Day, kids are invited to make a hat at home using recycled materials. Then they wear it to school and two winners (one boy and one girl) are chosen for each class. The assignment gets kids to 'think outside the box' and use lots of creativity.



Afton and I look forward to it every year. And this year, Maisy got to make her first hat!







To make the hats, you only need newspaper and tape. There is no 'real hat' under all that newspaper. You make the hat!

Layer 6-8 pages of newspaper on top of your child's head, alternate the direction of the newspaper so it goes in different directions. The center of the newspapers should be on the center of your child's head. Then 'squeeze' the paper around their forehead and back of head. Tape the newspaper around head with masking tape to create the crown of the hat. Repeat several times so you have a defined 'crown' and 'hat-band'.

These photos show the same "hat making" technique, but with butcher paper instead of newspaper. 
These photos show the same "hat making" technique, but with butcher paper instead of newspaper. 
Then remove the paper hat from their head and roll up the edges to make the wide brim. We rolled Afton's newspaper up more, so her hat brim is smaller. For Maisy's hat, we did not roll it up as tightly, so her hat brim is quite large. Tape the rolled up paper in place to complete the brim.




Then comes the fun part, decorating it! My girls made flowers from the coupon pages, bows from plastic Target bags, feathers from foam cups, and letters from a Totino's pizza box!



They were both so proud of their hats. They are a bit Kentucky Derby don't you think?!
Using materials from the recycling bin made us realize how much waste we make. Our recycling bin was full of so much stuff! Makes you think about how items are packaged and how we can reduce waste by reusing things and trying to purchase items that have minimal packaging.

PS- both girls won the hat contest in their class this year! Yay!

                 

See our past Earth Day Hats below:
Earth Day Hat 2015- click here for directions. 


Earth Day Hat 2014- click here for directions. 



Earth Day Hat 2013- Click here for directions. 




Earth Day Hat 2012- Click here for directions. 

Happy Earth Day!
  
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