Welcome (back) to the blog. I can’t believe tomorrow it will be 2 weeks until Christmas. Today we have a Reindeer Antler craft from our friend Belinda Graham over at www.kidspot.com.au that is pretty cute – she is quite talented. 

Before we get into the craft, I want to say that I had originally intended to write about Who’s Hungry, a report that was released by the Daily Bread Food Bank. The report contained some concerning information about poverty in the Greater Toronto Area but I elected to put it on hold for now and continue our Friday craft series. We’ll explore it in a later blog. If you are interested, you can read the report here. If you can spare even one can of food, please do. Most needed items are
Baby formula & food
Beans & lentils
Canned fruits & vegetables
Canned fish & meat
Cans of soup or hearty stew
Dried pasta & tomato sauce
Macaroni & cheese
Peanut butter
Rice
Tetra Pak, canned or powdered milk

Please don’t feel like if you can’t fill a bag with food there is no point. One can of food brought to your local fire hall or any of the drop-off centres listed here can be the difference between someone eating and going hungry one day. It’s hard to believe that this is happening here but it is and it’s impacting children too. I won’t go on because I don’t want to get too preachy but EVERY little bit helps. If everyone gave just one food item a week, we wouldn’t have this problem. Just one food item – don’t underestimate the power of one. Back to our craft.  

Belinda’s Reindeer Antlers are so easy to make although you may need to pick up a cheap headband if you don’t have one around the house. Once again, I’ll leave her directions as is because they just work. When you have time, visit her blog to read about her many other fantastically creative ideas.

You’ll need:

• Crepe paper in brown or grey and beige torn into little pieces and scrunched into balls. (Older kids can do this as they go)
• Paintbrush
• Craft glue
• Headband
• Ears and antlers cut from cardboard a couple of millimetres thick – it should not bend too easily but not be too difficult to cut through. (Draw an ear and antler on the cardboard or copy one from the internet and cut out, leaving an extra long tab at the end where you’ll wrap it around the headband. Cut around the first piece so you have two that are equal.)
• Stapler

Instructions
Step 1
Face out the antlers so they’re the right way up. Have your child glue the front of them.
Step 2
Stick the beige-coloured crepe paper on the antlers and the grey/brown on the ears. Leave to dry.
Step 3
Wrap the long tab of an antler around the headband and staple onto itself at the back to secure. Continue with the second side-by-side and place the ears on the outside of the antlers. You might need a couple of staples to hold in place. The tighter you make it around the headband, the better you’ll avoid the cardboard flopping this way.
Step 4
Place on child’s head and use face paint to draw on a red nose

1. Glue the fronts of the antlers 2. Press the crepe paper balls onto the wet glue
3. fold the bottom of the anters around a headband and secure with a stapler

Pretty easy and sparks some creativity while teaching eco-resourcefulness as it puts old crepe paper to good use in a green and useful manner. An eco-friendly craft is a great way to pass the hours while the kids are stuck indoors and you get a pretty cool Christmas accessory out of it too. Enjoy and our thanks to Belinda.

Please don’t forget to support your local food bank this holiday season. Find your local drop off centre even if it’s with just one food item.