Happy Hump-day! I can't believe it but I only have about 30 more days of school... it's completely NUTS!
Even though the year is almost over, it's not too late for a DIY project... or, if it is too late, pin this picture and make yourself a class quilt out of baggies this summer!
My friend made one of these for her 4th grade class and I knew I HAD to make one too. We don't have tack strips or individual class bulletin boards at my end of the building, so whenever we put stuff up in the hallway, we have to tape it. The tape doesn't always hold well and it's a lot of work to rip tape, loop it, and cross your fingers that it will stick. Not only that, but for GOOD tape (ie. Mavalous tape), it's really expensive!
So, this weekend I went to Target (obviously!) and bought these materials. I had the scissors at home, but did buy a box of Ziploc baggies, two rolls of patterened Duct tape, and one roll of plain.
Our class sizes range from the upper 20s to 30, so I made my quilt 5 x 6 so I'd have 30 bags. I have 26 kids this year, but you never know what the future will hold!
I started by just taping two bags together. This is the front of my quilt. I laid the baggies updside down so the logo won't show when I have student work inside and just taped:
Here's the back. I did run a strip of clear Scotch tape across on the back after I put the tape on the front. It helped adhere the bags together as well as not making the sticky part of the tape on the back exposed.
Then I added two more bags...
I kept adding bags until it looked like this:
I forgot to snap a picture of the next step. It was the hardest and a few of my edges are a little "lumpy", but next I used the plain purple tape to make a border all the way around my quilt. It was helpful to so about half of each side at a time. I put the purple tape down on the front and then folded it over on to the back. When I did that, a few of my baggies ended up being taped closed on the back, so I just cut them open again.
So, here's what it looks like... hanging up in my house with a piece of paper inside!
And here's the whole thing from the font...
Here's a close up of the back. You can see where the opening of the baggie is left unsealed in the back to slide in student work.
Here's the view of the whole back...
It took me about an hour and a half to complete this quilt. Aside from the purple tape around the edge, it was pretty painless! A few of my lines ended up a smidge crooked, but I think that once there is work inside, you won't really notice!
So, there you have it! My weekend project! I hope you'll pin this pic and give yourself a project for the summer!
My brain is just swimming with variations on this... you could make a 3x3 one and put it at a center with directions for activities inside each one, or put in 9 different activities and students would have to complete three of them to make a tic-tac-toe of activities related to the topics you are studying... I'd LOVE for you to leave your ideas in the comments below for me and others to read!
