I will admit to being an occasional Amazon shopper. Sometimes I just need to zone out for a minute and Amazon never fails to provide something interesting to look at. One night a few weeks ago I really didn’t want to get started on my statistics homework so I decided to take a small detour to the Amazon site. While browsing I was delighted to stumble across some books on duct tape. Duct tape was an obsession of my father’s while I was growing up (well, actually it still is to this day) as his motto was basically that anything and everything could be fixed with a little (or sometimes a lot of) duct tape. Goop (you know, that all purpose adhesive) was another frequently used item at our house…but that’s another story! Anyway, fast forward to my life now with a husband and three boys and there is still plenty of duct-taping going on at my house!
Back to my Amazon browsing…there was one book in particular that caught my eye – 30 things to make from duct tape. I was intrigued so I clicked to see what one could actually make out of duct tape. Well, it turns out quite a lot! This book was written by a high school student who came up with ways to make jewelry, purses, ties, hats, placemats….you name it – all out of duct tape! Of course my mind immediately went to what a fabulous elaboration this is on traditional uses of duct tape. Then I thought about the transformation aspect – turning one thing into another. Of course there was the sheer volume of variations that could be made on duct tape usage. And what great apprenticeship opportunities….That was it - the book had to go in my shopping cart!
This book is now residing at our office, just waiting for families to seize the vast experience-sharing opportunities that lie within it. It is a great example of taking one thing and continuing to vary, elaborate, and transform it to provide on-going experiences with your child. This is also a wonderful way to engage in flexible and creative thinking: How many different things can we fix with duct tape? How many different things can we make from duct tape? What if we use the myriad of colored duct tapes that are apparently out there in the world available for purchase (am I the only one who did not know that these existed)? What materials can be used to decorate duct tape creations (what sticks to the non-sticky side of duct tape???)– stickers? Permanent markers? Paint? The possibilities are endless – and all from one roll of tape. If you decide to embark on a duct tape journey with your child, please stop back and share your ideas and the discoveries you make together!
(In case you are curious, here is the link to the book that inspired this post)
Until next week (and happy duct-taping),
Nicole
1 comment:
I grew up with duct tape holding most everything together. I often call my dad McGuiver for all his "creative" ways to fix things (including the use of a pop can to "fix" the hole in my muffler). I look forward to digging through that book!
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