Yummy Cookies and “Can Do!”

Today, we decided to do something nice for the neighbors who mow our yard for us all the time. We have not been able to pay them, so we made some home made chocolate chip cookies and put them inside an old popycock can that we cleaned out and filled with pretty pink tissue paper lining. We then peeled the can’s original wrapping off and replaced it with white paper, which we sponge painted in two shades of blue and white to imitate the sea. We cut out little sea creature shapes and Mod-Podge-ed them to the can after the paint dried. We also used the Mod-Podge as glue to adhere some google-eyes to the creatures and make them more interesting. I did some detail work with a black permanent marker after that. We cut some old blue jeans up to make a round topper for the lid, and tied it down with a blue rubber band and a pretty multi-colored metallic woven string, tied in a bow around the edge of the lid. Now, we’re off to show our neighbors the “depth” of our appreciation with a tasty, pretty treat!

We included a white sand dollar, a red squid, a green school of fish with tiny different-colored rhinestone eyes, a big yellow and orange fish, a black spiney urchin, a green eel, a blue seahorse, an orange crab, and a yellow starfish. We ran out of room for the turtle and whale we made. Oh, well! Surely, there will be a next time!

The idea came from a Family Fun magazine. I have put the link for you under the title of this post! So if you want more detailed instructions and a supply list, you can click the “Can Do!” at the top of this post and it will take you to Family Fun’s project sheet for this project. You can see their photo of how the ones they did turned out. They have others besides just the fish. I love using Family Fun’s craft ideas from their magazine. Last October, we did lots of their 4th of July type crafts while we did an election unit and prepared for a wonderful election party on election night. The kids had such a blast.

This would be a great craft for a friend who’s having an “under the sea” birthday, for a housewarming gift in a coastal city, for a unit study on the ocean, or just for fun! Now if I could only quit eating all the leftover chocolate chip cookies!