Tuesday, November 8, 2011

November 8 - Coat of Many Colors

This is another project great for smaller scraps. I did this activity with a group of Kindergarten, First, and Second graders during a 1-week course I taught last year.

There's a book by Dolly Parton based on her song "Coat of Many Colors." I found it at the local library, but you can also buy it here. The story is about a young girl whose family is poor, but her mamma makes her a winter coat out of a bunch of scraps from the neighbor's rag box. The little girl is very proud of her coat. The book also references Joseph's coat of many colors from the Bible.

I began by making a coat cut-out for each child. I free-handed the picture, but you can find many images just by searching the Internet. From there, I cut small squares of fabric from scraps and remnants. I gathered lots of glue bottles, and I was set to go!

I gave piles of scrap fabric to each child, and they designed their coat of many colors by gluing the scrap fabric to the jacket. It was a great activity for multiple ages: the kindergartners were lucky if they got the fabric on the jacket, and the second graders could make complex patterns.

We had a great time bringing the story to life. I hope you can share this activity with some children in your life!

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