Grassheads

Poor Bradley…  Lately it seems as though his days off have been rainy, cold, and windy and today was no exception…  What can you do?  Embrace it with a family crafternoon!  And that’s just what we did.  We covered our kitchen floor in plastic, gathered our materials, and made one of my teacher favourites – grassheads!  I think I’ve made these with my students ever single year.  So far, every class, whether it was Grade Four or Kindergarten, loved them.  Hopefully Grae does too.  Here’s what we did…

We got started by gathering our supplies –  a nylon sock, grass seed, soil, empty yogurt container, jute, googly eyes, a red permanent marker, scissors, a spoon, and a glue gun.

Tip:  Don’t put the nylon sock over your head robber-style.  It may scare the socks off your little one.

Lesson learned and ready to go.  Put the toe of your nylon sock into your container and roll the top portion over the container.  The toe should be dangling just above the base of the container.
Scoop a few spoonfuls of grass seed into the toe of your nylon.

Make sure all of the seeds get down to the very bottom of the sock (otherwise your grasshead will be a grassface also).

Fill the sock with soil, pushing it down every now and then to create a nice round head shape.

When your head is the shape and size you desire, make a knot as close to the soil as possible in order to keep the contents of your grasshead nice and tight.

Next, using a permanent marker, draw your grasshead’s mouth.  Remember that the nylon’s toe will be the top of your grasshead’s head, and the knot will be the bottom.

Next, pinch a little bit of soil, along with the nylon, up from the centre of the face to create a nose.  Tie it off with some jute.  (An elastic or pipe cleaner works just as well for this job.)

Your grasshead should now look like this.  If you want to give him ears, this is the best time to do it.  Use the same method as you did to create his nose, but this time on the sides of his head.

Now choose some googly eyes.

Put eyes into a couple of dabs of hot glue and apply pressure to ensure they’re secured well.

Voila!  You have a hair-less grasshead!

If you’re feeling silly, you can celebrate with a grasshead kiss.

Bathtime!  But first, chop off the excess nylon leaving about 3 inches of nylon dangling from your knot.  This will serve as a straw of sorts later, helping your grasshead slurp up water from its jar.  Fill a sink with lukewarm water and fully submerge your grasshead for about 1 minute.  Afterwards, gently squeeze the excess water out of the grasshead, being sure to keep the seeds at the top.  This is a good time to mold your grasshead a little if you wish.

Fill a cup or jar with lukewarm water, place the grasshead’s ‘tail’ in the jar, and rest the head on the rim of the jar.  Add water as needed and watch your grasshead grow a wild head of hair!  Once the grass hair has really come in, you can cut and style it as you wish.  Mohawk anyone?

I’ve never tried it, but several of my students’ parents have told me that come late spring / early summer, they set their child’s grasshead in a little well in the garden, the roots took, and the grasshead lasted until fall.  Might be interesting to try… We could have a garden supervisor of sorts.