I discovered this book last year and fell in love with it, so we brought it home from the library again this year. It's called the Scarecrow's Dance by Jane Yolen. It's got everything a children's book should have...amazing illustrations, a fun meter and rhyme for reading aloud, and such and uplifting story. The scarecrow decided to leave his post and dance around in the autumn night. Then he finds the little farm boy knealing beside his bed saying his bedtime prayer...praying and thanking God for all the things you'd expect a boy to pray for and ending with the boy praying a blessing on the scarecrow. After that the scarecrow knows how much he's needed a loved and heads back to his post after offering a prayer of his own. I just found the book quietly uplifting while not being at all preachy. I perfect read for fall and Thanksgiving.
After reading it, Becca and I decided to make our own Scarecrow. We kind of made it up while we went along. Here's how we did it...
This is what we started with.
I used a hanger and bent it roughly into the shape of a person. We tied a pencil on to be a back support so she could stand on her own. Besides, the scarecrow in the book is on a pole.
We added some stuffing to fill
Then we wrapped some scrap fabric around the body. I started with her head.
Then around her legs, and added more scrap fabric for the straw.
The fabric strips will look more "scrappy" if you tear rather than cut them.
Then we drew a face on her, and she just needed a hat. I couldn't think of a way to make a straw hat, so I planned to by one at the craft store. They didn't have any, and then I thought of making a little bandana/kerchief for her out of a triangle of fabric with some straw/fabric hair tucked underneath. I think this turned out better anyway since Becca really wanted her to be a girl.
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I have not read this book, but I love love love Jane Yolen. I'll look for that one at the library. The scare crow is adorable, Becca looks like she really loves it!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a sweet project! Pinning to my fall/autumn board right now! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOh man - he's ADORABLE!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat amazing sculpture! I love him! Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn. I am going to share this post on the Read.Explore.Learn Facebook page tomorrow.
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