I’ve always thought that children should be encouraged to wear poppies just as proudly as adults do come November, but let’s face it – they’re just not that kid-friendly. The straight pin is just too pokey (and sometimes just downright dangerous), and inevitably, they fall off within a half hour of being put on and get lost.
So while I taught at a school that encouraged all children, including my 2 full classes of Kindergarteners, to wear a poppy on the day of our Remembrance Day assembly, I had to figure out a better way. Some teachers wrapped scotch tape around the bottom of the pins, and I briefly experimented with replacing the straight pins with safety pins, but helping 40+ five year olds with either on an already busy day was just too much. I needed something I could put together in advance and the kids could put on themselves… And that’s when I figured out this simple Remembrance Day poppy hack.
This morning, using my magnet method, I modified a poppy for Gracen to wear throughout the weekend.
Here’s what you need… A poppy, two small identical magnets (the stronger the better), a tiny embellishment of some sort (sequin, bead, pearl, button, etc.), and some glue (preferably something that will bond well to the slightly plasticky back side of the poppy… Hot glue can be used in a pinch, but a good craft glue will adhere better).
First, take apart the poppy.
Then, using just a tiny bit of glue, stick your embellishment onto the black centre piece of the flower.
Now, using a tad bit more glue, glue the black centre onto the main part of the poppy.
Depending on the type of glue you’re using, you may have to let the front side of the flower dry before flipping it over. Once it’s dry, adhere one of your magnets onto the backside of the poppy with a generous amount of glue and allow it to dry completely.
When your little one is ready to wear the poppy, simply slide the second magnet inside their shirt and place the flower on top. (Attaching the poppy to a shirt pocket or collar works well too.)
If your magnets are of good quality, the poppy should stay securely attached to your little one’s jacket without a problem also.
Of course this method is not suitable for young children who still put random objects in their mouths, but it’s perfect for older children and those who are completely done with the mouth stage. As with all toys and accessories, supervision is key.
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With a handful of brushes and little containers of purple, green, orange, black, and glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint, Grae got busy beautifying her pumpkin.
It was the best of both worlds, because not only did she get to decorate her pumpkin, but she also got to help us do all of the fun messy parts of carving ours.
After having her fill of icky gunk scooping, it was back to pumpkin painting. She covered the entire thing in a thick layer of paint and then we let it dry overnight.
The next day, we used a little trick I learned years and years ago and cut a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin (no need to mess with trying to get a lit candle in through the top – you simply set your candle down on a surface and place the pumpkin on top). Together, we scooped the insides out and used our apple corer to polka dot the pumpkin’s surface (which worked brilliantly, btw). 
Gracen loves it. It glows just like Mama and Papa’s jack-o-lanterns do, and we were able to preserve almost all of her painting masterpiece.
While searching for a basic hat pattern for our Waldo and Wenda costumes, I came across 
♥
Grae chose to use our alphabet cutters, so to have a manageable number of cutters to work with, we picked out just the letters in her name. We lined the tray of her beautiful easel (a special Christmas present from her Uncle Gary) with foil, mixed up some paint in colours of her choosing, and pulled down some paper for her to stamp.
She knew exactly what do to, and got to work dipping and stamping her letters right away.
She worked on the bottom half of her art piece for a while, then requested a chair so she could stamp the top half of her paper too.
This is her masterpiece once declared finished.
The other bonus? Clean up was a breeze. I filled a sink full of warm, soapy water, Grae walked each cutter to the kitchen and plopped them in, I crumpled up the foil, and we left the painting on the easel to dry. 
First of all, we retrieved a few buckets of ocean water and created a little plot of firm, mouldable sand. You could easily do this project near the shoreline where you normally find perfect sandcastle sand, but since the tide was high and the shoreline was littered with seaweed and shells, we opted for this method instead. (You can also do this project at home by mixing play sand water in a baking pan or shallow dish of some sort.)
Next, using the bottoms of our sand buckets and a plastic cup, we made several wells in the sand approximately 1 to 2 inches deep. (You can also use drift wood, feet, hands, and beach toys to make wells of different shapes and sizes.)
Then, using shells we collected around the beach, as well as a few glass stones we brought from home, we created designs and patterns in the bottoms of the wells. One thing we did learn about this is that in order to show up well in the finished product, the decorations need to be pushed down quite firmly into the sand – otherwise they just get completely buried in plaster. (At this stage, you can also use your finger or a stick to draw designs in the wells. Just remember that if you choose to write something, you need to write it backwards so that it faces the correct way on the cast.) 
Next, using a container from home, a couple of cups of plaster of paris powder (readily available at art supply and hardware stores), some ocean water, and a piece of drift wood, we mixed up our plaster according to the directions on the box (2 parts powder, 1 part water).
Then we filled our wells almost to the top. At this point, we experimented with adding a couple of straws to two of the wells in order to have a hanging hole at the end. Turns out, it worked great. The only thing we’ll do differently next time is add the straws before the plaster (much easier when you can see the stones and shells, rather than digging around trying to avoid them ☺).
Easiest step? Playing and eating snacks while waiting for the plaster to set. 
After about 30 minutes, I gently poked the plaster to find out that they were dry and hard, so I gently scooped up one of the casts, along with some of the sand below it. Sure enough, it was fully solid. Grae helped me scoop up all of the casts and place them gently in a bucket.
Next, we took the casts down to the ocean for a quick bath to remove the excess sand.
Here’s what we ended up with.
These two are Grae’s favourites… The octopus was made with the bottom of one of her 
So today, Grae and I gathered up our materials… White glue, table salt, food colouring diluted with water, black card stock, and an old baking pan.
The first step was creating a design out of glue. After a quick demonstration, Grae went to town creating squiggles, zigzags, and loops.
Here’s her masterpiece.
Working quickly, Grae generously cover the entire design in salt.
When the glue had been fully covered, we carefully shook off the excess salt into a little bowl to save for later.
Next, Gracen used an old medicine dropper to blob drops of the food colouring/water mixture onto the salt. Although the results looked cool, I quickly realized two things. First, the glue/salt lines had to be much thicker in order absorb more of the colour mixture, and second, more of the paper had to be covered in glue/salt in order to up the chances of the dripped colour actually hitting it.
We tried again, this time with Grae and I creating the glue pattern together so I could add pressure to the bottle and ensure the glue lines were good and thick. The immediate finished product looked better, but once dry, it looked much like the first attempt… Faded, clumpy, and flaky.
Not only did the finished product remain bright and intact even once dry, but the process was way more fun too. Letting the glue dry first allowed the colour drops to move much further along the salt lines… And it was indeed magical!
