Grandma Stop Reading This NOW!

I'm serious Grandma, avert your eyes!

Okay... The coast is clear.

I am SO proud of the boy's gift for his grandparents, I just had to show you!

He got the basic idea from an Art Attack episode, his single favourite television show EVER which is still re-running on TVO Kids here in Canada thank goodness! I couldn't find the link to the exact craft, but the idea is to make a framed, 3-dimensional outline of your country. It's wall art, you see.

So he and his Dad started working on it sometime last week. (Don't you LOVE IT when that happens?) Together they made the cut-out of Canada, the background and frame out of a chunk of corrugated cardboard box. Then they covered the whole thing with a papier-maché layer made of PVA glue and "loo roll" paper. We don't actually call it "loo roll" here. We call it toilet paper, but since he discovered Art Attack, the boy tends to call it loo roll in some Neil Buchanan-esque British accent. So great.

They let the whole thing dry for a few days if I recall. Lo weighed it down with a bench so the cardboard wouldn't curl while drying. Overkill perhaps, but it worked. Then the boy painted it.

We thought it was pretty much finished at this point, but the boy wanted to do some custom detailing. Here's what he did:

1. He reproduced the Canadian flag from a small paper flag he keeps in his toy cabinet.
2. He drew out and coloured the word "Canada" which I helped him cut out and attach with Mod Podge.
3. I also happen to have a star compass stamp so he used it to create a compass for his map.
4. He made a set of 3 arrows which can be moved hither, thither and yon. One arrow for Grandma, one for Grandpa (Grandpa travels a lot) and another for both of them together. I helped him laminate the arrows with packing tape. They are held in place with sticky tack which also allows them to be moved easily.
5. He created a detailed set of instructions on how to use the map. We glued that to the back.

Here's a translation of the note on the back and the instructions, which he wrote by himself. He's 6 years old, by the way:

(not in the photo) Merry Christmas to you. Love, The Boy

13 December 2010

Place the arrows where you are.

Look, where you are.

Look at the flag, where you are.

Look at the country where you are.

Make sure to look at your compass.

Look at the red arrow for girls.

And look at the green arrow for boys.

The big arrow is for everyone.

The End

He's fond of commas, but who isn't? Finally, we brushed Mod Podge over the entire thing to make it last forever, and added a hanger. Here is the final result:

The GPS or GRANDPARENTS Positioning System! The ideal Christmas gift for today's busy grandparents. Tee hee.

I think they'll adore their new low-tech-made-with-love GPS, don't you?

Well you have yourself a fine fine evening, and I'll see you soon!