Kelp Utensils

What You Need:

• Plastic utensils
• Green raffia
• Glue
• Tape
• Scissors
• Bowl

What You Do:

1. Have your child use scissors to cut various strips of green raffia. Don't have her worry too much about differing lengths or widths -- precise measurements are not required.
2. Help her pour glue into a bowl.
3. Let her dip one raffia strip in the glue.
4. Have her carefully stick the glued strip onto the end of one utensil.
5. Let her keep attaching raffia strips onto the utensil until there is no more room.
6. Help her wrap an additional raffia strip around the utensil, effectively binding the other strips together.
7. Have her tape down this strip.
8. Allow the glue to dry completely.
9. Show your child how to flluff out the kelp strands. She can even try curling a few strands around her finger to create a wavy effect.
10. Have her hold the utensil in her hand to make sure none of the kelp strands are too long. She should trim any strands that make the utensil too hard to use.
11. Encourage her to "kelp-ify" all her utensils! When she's done, she'll have a full set of ocean-themed utensils for her next meal.