Aug 10, 2009

Freaky kiddy scarecrow

My kids ask to do the weirdest stuff. Today they somehow cooked up between them that they really really wanted to make a scarecrow. They were very careful to tell me that we needed wood to make it. Chugging the last half pint of tea I had in my hand I said "um, ok, let me see if I can find some in the garage". Turns out we did have some appropriate shaped bits of scrap wood, but I didn't want to bang nail holes in them willy nilly, because we've got other plans for them, so instead I let the kids tape them together and tie them with string.
Really, this isn't so totally weird to me, because coming from the UK, we used to make Guys every year for Guy Fawkes night. My kids know nothing of this kinda nutty British tradition though.

A long time ago we made some "I'm you!" masks. I think it was over a year ago now.
They are still in the pile of dress up clothes, so we got one of those to use for it and some of the kid's clothes to stuff with shredded newspaper (saved from a parcel we had delivered a while back)

The kids stuffed the clothes and taped shut the arm and leg holes.
They wrestled the mini scarecrow into some welly boots and then I helped them to draw around their hands on some card. They cut the hands out and taped them on.
After the mini guy fawkes/scarecrow eyeless horror movie prop was complete, things pretty much disintegrated into throwing shredded paper around and stuffing t up each other's tshirts whilst squealing.

Thankfully they were totally into helping to clear it up after though.
Even though I know it's here, the thing is still making me jump when I catch it in my peripheral vision. I might put it in the bathroom before I go to bed, to scare anyone that goes to pee in the night. Would that be very mean? Actually, coming from a person who nearly didn't need the toilet anymore after being assaulted in the night by a sponge bob square pants helium balloon, that does sound overly cruel. Just look at it though! Tell me that isn't the stuff of nightmares! They are so proud of it.

17 comments:

PaulBo said...

Hey! I get some warning of the monstrous creation awaiting me before I even get home from work this time!

Top skills, kitten muffin! The girls look like they had a great time :)

Lindsey said...

I figured I should pre-warn you. I have enough laundry to do already, without adding your soiled pants to the pile ;)

Amy said...

Cute idea. But those eyes really are creepy haha.

Lindsey said...

I know! Terrifying huh! It's because the eyes of the mask were cut out, so the kids could see through them when they were pretending to be each other. It makes for a totally zombietastic scarecrow though!

Valerie @ Frugal Family Fun Blog said...

AHHHHHH!!!!! I shouldn't have looked at this so late at night!

Stephen King.... eat your heart out.

Love the photos of the stuffing flying everywhere!

Yelena said...

Laughing so hard, woke up the cat. My little one's been into dressing up his fav teddy bear. So maybe we'll upgrade to scarecrow this week! Thank you for fantastic pics and a laugh-out-loud commentary.

jojoebi-designs said...

urghhhh that is SO scary! Maybe post 'her' near the door to scare off intruders!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

Those are fabulous but would totally scare me! I can see why the kids love them so much!

A Daft Scots Lass said...

What a fun project!!!!

Jen Walshaw said...

What a totally cool, if not very scarey guy/scarecrow. We have a village fair near us and they put out the scarecrows for a week before, the children love visiting and looking at all of them. Their fav this year was the doctor who and tardis. Although yours is mych scarier with those eyes

Anonymous said...

that is terrifying and hilarious.

Dana Leeds said...

That looks like so much fun! (Especially throwing things around at the end.) And, how wonderful that your kids were so helpful in cleaning up. :-)

Rachel Q said...

We gave our roommate a life-size cardboard cutout of Legolas from Lord of the Rings for her birthday. That made the rounds of jokes, like sticking it in the shower or behind doors. I know what you mean about jumping when you catch it with the corner of your eye. :)

Queen Mommy said...

That is hysterical! You got some great newspaper-throwing action shots!

Regina @ Chalk In My Pocket said...

Oh I'm totally making 3 to freak out my neighbors...one of me, my husband and daughter...

hear my devious cackling?! Heeheeheee...all in good fun...

Anonymous said...

This is great!
I can't stop laughing though :))

meg said...

Freaky is right! I tried to make a scarecrow with my boys a year or two back with little success. Boots are a great idea and having some sort of frame too. That mask is classic though. Nice to see your cool blog.