Day 53: Smelling Tubes

For day 53, I was supposed to make something that requires mainly your sense of smell to use.

After spending all year as an Autism Spectrum Disorders teacher and absolutely falling in love with the position and the kids, I moved schools and jobs to a Pre-K varying exceptionalities classroom. It's bittersweet... I will miss my kids like crazy and I am scared to death of starting something new, but I'm also excited about the new experience.

So, lately I've been blowing up Pinterest with Pre-K ideas (much to the dismay of my followers, I'm sure) and found this one from ShareandRemember just a few days ago.  This is a montessori-inspired project where you fill up old spice jars with essential-oil soaked cotton balls and let the students smell the different scents.

I only have a few (I only had a few essential oils/extracts on hand and could only spare 3 empty jars) but will add to the collection as I go on. I also don't have printer ink, so my students will have to deal with handwritten labels.

For my scents, I used vanilla extract, cucumber melon essential oil (leftover from Lauren's bath salts) and Peppermint extract.

Day 51: Hedgehog Pillows

On day 51, I had to make something that would not usually be cuddly into something that was. I actually completed this at the beginning of the school year, but was so caught up on Day 50 that I never got around to posting about it.

To make these pillows, I just used scrap fabric to make the shape of a hedgehog and eyes, stuffed, and sewed.

 They aren't the most hedgehog-looking creatures and my students had a fun time guessing what they were, but they were a good addition to my reading library.

Day 52: Cookie Monster Bean Bag Toss

Okay, so it's been almost a year since I last posted on this blog. I've been teaching away and creating lots of cute stuff with and for my kids, as well as for myself, but I just  haven't been blogging about it!

But now it's summer, and for the first summer in years I have very little to do!
In other words, time to craft!
Already, in the week that I've had off, I've probably attacked about 20 things from pinterest, and I have more on the docket for today.

I've been better with keeping up with my toomanycraftstoolittletime blog, and I'd love for you to head over there and check out what I've been doing all year!  I also got engaged and had many friends get married, so there's lots of cute wedding-themed things over there!

But now, back to teaching 365.

Day 51 was to create a project that you have to completely flip upside down to use.  Now, this caught me up for quite a while and I just couldn't figure out what to make.

Finally, I made this Cookie Monster Bean Bag toss (inspired by Smile Like You Mean It) that I had been meaning to do for the longest time.  Of course, you toss the cookie bean bags in the mouth, and when you're done you open the box and turn it upside

down to get them back out!





To make this, I drew a cookie monster on scrapbook paper and mod-podged it on a box.  I cut out the area where the mouth is.  I then made 12 cookies out of light brown and dark brown felt, hot-gluing them and filling with rice.

This only took about an hour, and I bet my kids will love it!