kid stuff |
CREATE YOUR OWN FALL
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Numerous crafts and bright ideas bring autumn to the Sunshine State. | BY ANDREA STETSON
hotos of children jumping in a pile of leaves or collecting colorful leaves or taking a hayride through the woods give a picture of a northern fall. Costumes in stores feature furry longsleeved creations. None of this is a picture of what autumn or Halloween is like in sunny Southwest Florida. So we set out to find ideas to create a picture of the season in the sunshine. Jamie Berendes, a former art teacher at Bonita Springs Elementary School, says she adapted to the environment when teaching students. Since there are no leaves turning into browns, reds and yellows here, she had students create them from local greenery. “We got some leaves and we cut sponges in the shape of the leaves, and then we sponge painted the leaves,” Jamie explains. Jamie also likes to use shells in her creations. “We took scallop seashells and hot glued fake feathers around the top,” she says. “Then we glued googly-eyes and a triangle of felt for the nose to make turkeys. You can also do pine cone turkeys, since we have those here, too.” Dani Korson, a member of the Bonita Springs Shell Club, says volunteers there make fall crafts out of shells. “We usually use sea urchins, and
we paint them orange and put little seashells on the top for a stem,” Dani says. “The swirly worm shells make a good stem. Then we paint a face on it and make a pumpkin.” “You can always do shell art,” adds Naples artist Laura Barnard. “Kids can collect shells at the beach and you can spray paint them in lots of colors. They could use them to decorate around a mirror. We would go out and collect pine cones and then spray paint the pine cones. They can put glue on the pine cones and sprinkle them with glitter.” Barry Leaman, the youth education director at the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs lived in Salem, Massachusetts, for many years and found the transition to a Florida Halloween three years ago quite startling. “Talk about a big deal. They revolve their whole economy around it,” Barry says. “My kids had to adjust, too, because they were used to the change in seasons.” The 20-year veteran of teaching art says his philosophy is more about family and less about the season. “Family gathering events, that is what I am looking for,” he stresses. “When I came down here, I realized that everything I learned about fall goes out the window.”
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA PARENT & CHILD » OCTOBER 2020 » 23
