As you can tell by reading my posts this week my nephew and I hung out over the weekend. Well, my mom had bought various colors and patterns of Duct Tape and we decided to get crafty making a gift for his mom and one for himself as well! We followed directions from these blogs (although for the tote we made our own straps): Tote and Wallet.
I won’t bore you with the how-to’s since you can read that above. I found these projects to be great for pattern recognition (my nephew picked out the pattern and was responsible for telling me which one was next for the tote). We also worked on measuring to measure the correct lengths of tape as well as visual perceptual skills to know how to line up the tape to be even and/or to cover the fabric. We also got to work on cutting and tearing skills as we made the tape into the correct lengths. He also picked out the size of the tote that he wanted. We folded the fabric so he could get an idea and he would say bigger or smaller until we got it just right. He also asked to add the credit card pocket in his wallet so that he could put gift cards that he gets for the holidays in there (all his idea).
What was challenging was dealing with the tape with an almost 9 year old boy. Duct tape is quite sticky and when it is lying sticky side up it sticks to everything, especially when someone is rolling the rolls of tape around or waving the ruler around or even just moving their hands around. Also, its hard to set the tape down sticky side up because it is sticking to your fingers. Despite the frustrations with tape is was worth it just to see how proud he was of the tote he designed for his mom!
PS – I would definitely recommend adult assistance with this project.
What projects have you made with Duct Tape?
