Sock Puppets

Ghosts, Ghouls, & Goblins 15th Anniversary, Barony of Carillion 10/20/2012
Coordinated by Eorsebet and THL Jolie Delarue

Sock Puppets: Ages 3+ with parental/guardian assistance for those under the age of 8

Materials Needed: clean cotton socks (or fabric made sock forms from stretchy material), sequins, gems, feathers, glue dots, ribbon, yarn, buttons, googlie eyes, felt cut out in the shapes of ears/nose/mouth/spots/stripes, pipe cleaners, pom poms, fabric markers/paint, needle & thread, scissors, & fabric cut for crowns/hats/capes/clothing/etc. (Note: use of small materials that may be a choking hazard for those under the age of 3)


Prep ahead: Cut out felt into the shapes of facial features (mouths, tongues, teeth, noses, eye brows, ears, mustaches, etc.), limbs, and wings, create wigs out of yarn, and attire for people hand puppets out of fabric.

Activity: Participants take a sock and decorate how they like to bring their sock puppet to life. They can choose to use craft glue & glue dots to attach the parts of their puppet or use a needle & thread to attach parts.Use pipe cleaners for bug antennae, tails, and whiskers.

Sock Puppet made at GGG 15, October 20, 2012

Sock Puppets made at GGG 15, October 20, 2012

Masques

Ghosts, Ghouls, & Goblins 15th Anniversary, Barony of Carillion 10/20/2012
Coordinated by Eorsebet and THL Jolie Delarue

Masques: Ages 3+ with parental/guardian assistance for those under the age of 8

Materials Needed: glitter glue (assorted colors), markers or colored pencils, sequins, gems, feathers, glue dots, ribbon, 1/4" wooden dowels, cardboard or cardstock cut out half masques, single hole punch. (Note: use of small materials that may be a choking hazard for those under the age of 3)

Activity: Participants take a masque and decorate how they like with glitter glue, markers/pencils, sequins, gems, ribbons, and feathers. They can choose to have it as a hand masque on a stick or wear it using ribbon to tie the masque around the head.

supplies for crafting masques

completed masques - top with a dowel to hold up to the face; bottom with elastic to wear

more completed masques

Heraldic Devices & Belt Favor Making Class

Icefalcon's Ducal Challenge, Barony of Carillion 04/21/2012
Coordinated by Eorsebet and THL Jolie Delarue

Heraldic Devices: Ages 2+ with parental/guardian assistance for those under the age of 8

Materials Needed: ; poster paint, markers, or colored pencils in the 7 heraldic colors (white/silver, black, yellow/gold, red, blue, green, and purple); rulers, cardstock shield shapes; stencils or stamps with period charges (recommend using cookie cutters as stencils as the plastic ones are safe for young children to use and the sets of 100+ have many shapes that are period charges for use); paper plates; paint brushes; poster board; print outs of the various field divisions (can be gotten from the SCA website); heraldry books or print outs of actual heraldic devices that have been registered in the SCA or those that were used by European nobles between 476 AD and 1600 AD.

Items to prep ahead of time: Stencils (can be made by printing out the various charges that are found on the SCA website and then taping them onto cardboard or craft foam sheets and then using an exacto blade to cut them out); poster board display showing the various field divisions that are possible for the participants to choose from and listing the colors that can be used for the field and charges as seen in figure 1.

figure 1

Activity: After discussing with the participants the various choices for dividing their field and the choices for the charges that are permissible, pass out materials to each participant for them to begin designing and coloring their shield. Use paper plates for the poster paint needed for those who choose to use stamps like the device to the right in figure 2. See figure 2 for completed examples.

figure 2 (the left device was designed with a dolphin and a fish stencil, the middle device was designed with a circle and an egg stencil, the right device was designed using a dragon stamp with poster paint)

Belt Favor Making: Ages 3+ with parental/guardian assistance for those under the age of 8

Materials Needed: 8 inch by 10 inch felt rectangles in the 7 heraldic colors (white, black, yellow, red, blue, green, and purple); fabric paint in the heraldic colors; stencils or stamps with period charges (recommend using cookie cutters as stencils as the plastic ones are safe for young children to use and the sets of 100+ have many shapes that are period charges for use); paper plates; paint brushes; fabric glue or needles and thread; scissors

Items to prep ahead of time: Cut the felt in half lengthwise to have two 4" x 10" favors. Take one felt piece in each color to cut into six 4" x 3 1/3" rectangles. Take each of these small rectangles & fold in half lengthwise. Take the scissors and starting at the fold cut off a curved piece up the side for form a shield shape when laid out flat. See figures 3 and 4.

figure 3 the belt favor piece

figure 4 a shield shape made of a yellow shield and black shield each cut in half

Activity: If you have done the heraldic device first, have the participants use the device they designed as the basis for designing their belt favor. Pass out to each participant a contrasting color belt favor felt strip of their choice and then a felt shield in the color of their field. If they chose to divide their field into two or four divisions, take 2 felt shields, one in each color used, and cut them so that the pieces when put together match the heraldic device. If three divisions were used, then cut three felt shields to get matching pieces for making the correctly colored and divided field in the shape of a shield as in figure 4 above. You can cut the shield shapes while the participants are designing their heraldic device to save on time so the materials are ready to pass out as soon as participants are ready to move onto making their favor.

The participants can either choose to glue or sew the favor together first and then paint the
charge(s) onto the shield shaped field. Or they can choose to paint their charge(s) on the shield first and then attach the shield to the belt favor after it has dried. Either way, when they are ready to attach the shield to the favor, have them glue or sew the shield shape to the bottom of the favor. Once that is attached fold the remaining top part of the favor in half with the top edge touching the back of the favor where the top edge of the shield shape is on the front. Then sew or glue the seam together. That should give a large enough belt loop for wearing the favor on a belt. See figure 5 for a completed favor.

figure 5 completed belt favor, this one has the shield shape glued to the white favor and has the charges painted on with white fabric paint.

Viking Hats

Bellringers/K&Q  Bardic Champions/12^th Night, Barony of Carillion 01/07/2012
Coordinated by The Honorable Lady Jolie Delarue & Eorsebet

Viking Hats: Ages 5+ with parental/guardian assistance for those under the age of 8

Materials needed: Fleece pre-cut to the template; thread or yarn; chenille needles; scissors

Items to prep ahead of time: Each hat requires 8 pieces of pre-cut fleece cut to the given template (see figure 1).

Figure 1

Activity:

• Participants will select either 2 or 4 colors of fleece to work with and a matching thread color. Each hat is constructed of 4 panels and each panel is made of 2 piece of the same color fleece.
•  After threading needles, start by sewing together 2 panels (4 pieces of fleece as illustrated in figure 2).

Figure 2

• Once the 2 panels are sewn together using a straight stitch, add another panel and sew as illustrated in figure 3 using a straight stitch.

Figure 3

• Then add the final panel stitching together as illustrated in figures 4 and 5.

Figure 4

Figure 5

• Finish by rolling the edges up as much as is necessary for the wearer to keep the edge out of his/her eyes as illustrated in figure 6.

Figure 6

Graham Cracker Castles

Bhakail Yule 40^th Anniversary, Barony of Bhakail 12/03/2011
Coordinated by The Honorable Lady Jolie Delarue

Graham Cracker Castles Activity: Ages 3+ with parental/guardian assistance for those under the age of 8

Materials needed: Graham Crackers; Ice cream cones (waffle & regular); Royal Icing in pastry bags; Candies, marshmallows, sprinkles, or colored sugar; Empty Cardboard Cereal Boxes; Aluminum Foil; Plastic garbage bags; Baby Wipes; 4x6 Index Cards; Pencils; Tape; Toothpicks with Flags;  (optional: canned goods to help the walls of the castle stand while gluing them together with icing)
Items to prep ahead of time:

• Royal Icing separated into pastry bags in white, gray, browns, or any other color for the exterior of a castle.
• Fold down the empty cereal boxes flat & cover with aluminum foil for use as the building base for the castles. Tape down edges of the foil to prevent paper cuts from handling. 
• Make smocks out of plastic garbage bags by cutting a head hole & two arm holes for participants to wear over garb to keep from getting icing on clothing.
• Out of duct tape or paper, make flag shapes to attach to the toothpicks.

Activity:

• Have each participant (or parent/guardian) take a 4x6 index card, fold it in half & write their first name & age on the card.
• Distribute foil covered cardboard bases and graham cracker packs to each participant. Also, allow participants to choose 4 ice cream cones and some candy decorations to use. When working with varying age groups, it is suggested to allow the youngest to choose first and then go up by age.
• If there are enough bags of icing, allow each participant to choose their own bag to work with. If there are not enough bags of icing, then pair up participants to share colors & take turns using all the colors they wish to use for assembling and decorating.
• Have the participants use the icing to glue together the graham cracker walls and roof of the castle.
• Depending on how many levels (1 or 2) each participant would like for their castle, place the ice cream cones on each corner of the roof to act as turrets or towers.
• Use icing to attach toothpick flags, candies, sprinkles and colored sugar to the exterior of the completed castle for further decoration.
• Once the participants have completed their castles, set up a Youth A&S display with each participants castle & name card while the icing dries.

Example of one of the completed "Castles" constructed by one of the attendees at Bhakail Yule '11 on display as part of the Youth A&S table.

Custom Event Bookmarks

Custom Event Bookmarks: Ages 18 months + with parental/guardian supervision for under the age of 8.

For each Barony of Carillion event, we create a custom bookmark to commemorate the event using the heraldry of the Barony and other heraldic images that go with the theme of the event. The bookmarks are done in a coloring book style so that any one who chooses to participate in completing their own bookmark can learn a little bit of heraldry while also practicing the art of illumination.

Materials: Cardstock paper; MS Word (or Open Office); Photo editing software; Printer; Scissors or paper cutter; Single hole punch; Colored pencils or washable markers; internet access; 1/4 inch ribbon

Items to prep ahead of time:

• In MS Word (or similar document program), change your page layout to be landscape and your margins to be 1/2 inch all around.
• Divide your page into 5 columns.
• Set your paragraph to be centered.
• Choose the font you would like to use and go into the options for the font and select the check off box for emboss. This will make the font appear & print as an outline of each letter that can then be colored in.
• Type in the name of the event, who is hosting the event, the date of the event.
• You'll want to download the images of which ever heraldry and heraldic images you wish to use in your bookmark. Many of the heraldic images and the various heraldry can be found on the SCA or separate kingdom websites.
• Using the photo editing software, you'll want to remove the color from each image you wish to put in your bookmark. If the image is already a black and white outline, you can then add it into your bookmark.
• Put your cursor in your word document where you like the image to be. We generally put the images above and below the wording as you can see in the example picture below. Once you have everything you want for the front of your bookmark, make sure it stays in the first column by adjusting image sizes or font sizes as appropriate.
• Then select everything and copy and go to the top of each column & paste so that you now have 5 bookmarks on one sheet.
• If you would like to do something on the back side, as we do, you can add additional images with the colors removed on a second page. The more heraldry or heraldic images you add the more you can teach those who want to participate in making bookmarks about the icons and imagery we use in the SCA.  
• Once you have everything set for front and back, you can print the front & then flip the pages once dry & put them back into the printer to print the flip side. Be careful that the top of the front of the bookmark matches up with the top of the back.
• Once both sides are printed, cut the bookmarks apart and punch a hole in the top center.
• You can cut out various color 1/4 inch ribbon to 6 inch lengths for the participants to decorate the bookmark with by pulling through the hole & tying off.
• You can also make one larger one on a separate sheet all by itself with the full color version of each image you use. This can be your focal point when explaining the reasoning behind each piece chosen and explaining what the image represents.

Activity:

• Have participants choose a bookmark, a ribbon, and colored pencils or markers in the colors they would like.
• Let them color in the images and the words and when they are finished, have them tie the ribbon to the bookmark through the hole punched in the top.

These are the front & back of the bookmark we customized for the Barony of Carillion's Bellringers/K&Q Bardic Championship/Twelfth Night. Being a royal bardic competition we used the Queen's favor and the Carillion heraldry for the front of the bookmark and then the awards symbols used for the Bardic Champions and the award given to musicians for outstanding vocal performance on the back.

Constructing Dragons

Mudthaw, Barony of Settmour Swamp 03/24/2012
Coordinated by The Honorable Lady Jolie Delarue & Eorsebet

Dragon Making Activity: Ages 2+ with parental/guardian assistance for those under the age of 8

Materials needed: Empty Cardboard boxes from granola bars, crackers, butter, etc.; Spray paint in dragon colors (blue, black, silver, red, etc.); Empty egg cartons; twine; craft glue; pom-poms; googlie eyes; cray paper  in various colors including either red or pink for tongues; white sticker foam paper; poster paper card stock in colors matching the spray paint; ¼ inch wooden dowels; glue dots; sticker gems; paper plates or bowls; foam brushes; scissors; baskets or paper lunch bags; an awl or very sharp pointy scissors for punching holes; pencils; 4x6 index cards

Items to prep ahead of time:

• The cardboard boxes will become the dragon heads. Take a pair of scissors and cut off the open flaps of the box & then in the short sides cut out triangles to make the box look like it has an open mouth (see figure 1).
• At the same time take the egg cartons, discard the tops of the egg cartons and cut apart each egg cup from the bottom of the carton.
• Spray paint the boxes for the dragon heads and the egg cups which will be used for the dragon’s spikes. You’ll want to do as many coats as needed so that you no longer see the original packaging colors.
• While the heads and spikes dry, cut out the body shapes from the poster board, the length should be between 15 - 18 inches and the width should be a maximum of 3 inches (see figure 1 for template).
• Also cut the white sticker foam paper into long thin spiky strips to be used as teeth (see figure 1 for template).
• Then cut the cray paper into 15 inch strips and cut some of the red or pink cray paper into 4 inch strips to make the tongues making sure to cut a triangle shaped notch out of one end.
• Last cut the twine into 10 inch strips, you’ll need 3 per dragon.
• If the googlie eyes and gems do not already have sticker backs, consider putting glue dots on them ahead of time leaving the paper on the side not attached to the eye or gem. It saves a lot of time during the activity.

Set-up:

• You will want one table to put out all the materials. We recommend putting out the materials in wicker baskets or on wooden or bamboo plates.
• Have 2 or 3 other tables (depending on the number of participants) for the participants to work at. On each table have 1 foam brush, 1 index card, 1 pencil and 1 pair of safety scissors per chair at the table and depending on the number of chairs, one paper plate or bowl for every 4 seats for putting glue in for the participants to share.
• We also recommend that each adult assisting with running the activity have an awl or pointy scissor to punch the holes in the body & head for attaching the strings & dowel at the end.

Activity:

• Give each participant a basket or paper lunch bag and have them pick out 1 head, 1 tongue, 1 body, 1 teeth strip, 1 pair of googlie eyes, 3 pieces of twine, and as many pieces of cray paper, pom-pom and jewel decorations they like.
• When they pick their seat, ask them to write their name and age on the index card and put aside.
• Have the participants start with placing the teeth, eyes and tongue on the dragon using glue or glue dots when necessary. Make sure participants know to cut the teeth to the correct length before peeling of the paper to expose the sticky part for attaching to the head.
• Have them pick two of the smallest pom-poms they chose to be the nostrils of the dragon and attach using glue dots.
• Using 3 glue dots, attach the head to the flat end of the dragon body.
• While the participants put the face, head, and body together, pour glue into the plates or bowls for the participants to share and instruct them to paint the top of the dragon’s back with glue using their foam brushes. As quickly as possible before the glue dries, place the strips of cray paper down the back to form the wings and tail. Help any participants who need aid in centering the cray paper on the back.
• Next using either craft glue or glue dots, attach the egg crate spikes to the back and any other decorations (pom-poms or gems) to the back and head of the dragon.
• Once each participant has deemed their dragon complete, have an adult punch three holes in the dragon, two in the body and one in the head. Carefully thread the twine through these holes and tie off a knot for each piece of twine under the dragon’s body. Tie the other ends of the twine to the wooden dowel.
• Once all are complete you can set up a youth A&S table and place the index cards with each child’s name and age with their dragon on the table as the glue dries completely.