Craft Story Club: Glass Marble Magnets

I can't remember why I thought it would be a great idea to buy 5 lbs of clear flat marbles.  I ended up using a total of 10 for the project I was doing, which left me with about 4.9999 lbs of clear flat marbles.  Space is tight in our library, so I try not to buy too far ahead for crafting, and the manager is strict about clutter.  Storage space is at a premium.

Thus, Glass Marble Magnet Craft Story Club was born.

I was so excited about the magnets that I forgot that Craft Story Club starts with 2 to 3 stories.  What in the world was I going to read about Glass Marble Magnets???????  For a moment, I felt like I had painted myself into a corner.  Then, I looked over at the fridge in the staff room and saw the one lone little magnet on the front and storytime was saved.

Refrigerators!

Yes, of course, magnets and refrigerators go together like peas and carrots or Forrest and Jenny.  Marvelous.  Let's get books about refrigerators!

....

Did you know there aren't that many books about refrigerators?  I was shocked.  Shocked, I tell you.  Actually, no, I wasn't.  I figured there wouldn't be many, but I also figured there would be more picture books about refrigerators than there were about magnets.  I looked at the non-fiction books about magnets, but they were so wordy and had experiments that I wasn't prepared (read: willing) to do in a storytime setting.  So, the 5 or 6 books I found would have to do.

Being the marvelous procrastinator that I am, I didn't read any of the books until 2 hours before the program. All I can say about that is, "at least it was a full 2."  Going through my scant pile, I was kind of sad.  There were books about heroic cheese and bananas (Missy Swiss by David Michael Slater), imaginary monkeys that live in the fridge (Maggie's Monkeys by Linda Sanders-Wells), animals conspiring to open the fridge to eat all the food (Heave Ho! by Heinz Janisch), and a very cold family in the fridge who all get taken away one by one by the monsters who create earthquakes (The Shivers in the Fridge by Fran Manushkin).  The last one was the only one that seemed to deal with what I wanted since it turns out the entire family is a bunch of magnets that got lost in the fridge.  

Then I picked up The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan

Inside this innocuous looking book is a marvelous story.  I would almost say a modern fairy tale.  The main character is living a life of monotony and routine.  One day as Desmond is looking through the junkyard for stuff for his Thrift store, he sees a pink refrigerator with a brass magnet on it.  He tries to get the magnet off, but it's stuck - even when he uses a crowbar.  Finally, he notices the note that the magnet is holding on the fridge that says "Paint more."  Opening the fridge, Desmond finds a beautiful red sketchbook and all sorts of paints.  He takes them back to his store, thinking to sell them, and finds he can't bring himself to do it.

I really don't want to tell the entire story here, but I will tell you that it is absolutely marvelous.  The children were extremely involved as I read it to them.  If you ever do storytimes and you haven't heard of this book, I would highly recommend it.


Because I do need to read at least 2 books, I also read The Shivers in the Fridge by Fran Manushkin

The story goes on too long for the punchline at the end, but it was about magnets and refrigerators, so it was the book that won the getting read contest.  The children were not as interested in this story.  Which was fine, because it was time to go craft anyway.

I was worried that this craft was too little and not involved enough.  Boy, was I wrong!

Added to my 4.9999 lbs of flat glass marbles, I threw in scraps of scrapbook paper, white paper for them to make their own designs and markers.  (and glue and magnets)

This is a pretty simple craft with few steps.  What takes the most time is choosing your decoration and waiting for the glue to dry.  Here are the steps:

1. Choose your decoration and cut it to size for your marble (ususally this involves tracing around the marble).
2. Put one drop of glue (we used Elmer's School Glue) on the flat part of the marble.  Brush the drop until it is spread evenly on the glass.
3. Put your decoration decoration-side down on the flat gluey glass
4. Put one drop of glue on the back of your decoration and brush the drop until it is spread evenly on the paper.
5. Put one last drop of glue on the back of everything and stick your magnet on.

I've found that it dries best if you lay the whole thing magnet side down.  The glass doesn't slip around as much.

And that's it.  That's the whole thing.  Honestly, once you have your decoration, the whole thing takes about a minute.

I am so amazed by how these turned out, and the kids and caregivers all had a wonderful time making them!

This one is a hybrid - a child drew on scrapbook paper. 

Look at mine!!

The snowflake was made from scrapbooking paper, the other was drawn by a child.

One girl and her mom made 5 magnets.  This is 3 of them.

We even used stickers (non-glossy) as decorations in our magnets.

I covered the tables with newspapers in order to keep them cleaner....I didn't see the picture of the wine bottles there until much later.

Making the magnets - tracing around the shape of the glass marble

Most of the magnets together!  (Some were made after the picture, some were taken home in various states of not done-ness)

For a craft that I thought would be too small and too quick, it turned out to be marvelous.

And I still have 4 lbs of glass marbles left.