Elizabeth Meyer School students get crafty at Creative Hands® Kids Day
Wearing name tags and gazing around in wonder, the kindergartners slowly file into the room along with their teacher, Persephone Kelly. On the far wall is a large drop-down projection screen.
“Mrs. Kelly’s class!” A boy named Andre exclaims as he sees his teacher’s name appear on the screen, followed by the names of his 17 classmates at Elizabeth Meyer School in Skokie, Ill.
It’s 10 a.m. Thursday, April 22, at the Fibre-Craft Materials Corp. headquarters in Niles, Ill. This is just another Kids Day, one of the programs regularly held at the arts and crafts company’s office to connect with the community and learn more about what kids like.
But first comes a question crucial for any group of young students. “Before we start, does anyone have to go the bathroom?” asks I-Wen Kim, Fibre-Craft’s product development director.
Two girls raise their hands. A third pipes up: “Me too!”
They’re shown to the bathroom just outside the doors as Heidi Growosky, Fibre-Craft’s product development supervisor, talks about the Creative Hands® brand and conveys in simple terms how a craft goes from a concept in someone’s head to its arrival on store shelves.
“What does yellow and blue make?” Heidi asks. The students reply green. “What about a yellow marker on blue foam?”
“It’ll just make the yellow color because it’s on blue foam,” one girl named Leta says.
Nodding, Heidi goes on to explain how special markers, like the ones made by Fibre-Craft, stay the right color on foam. “Are you ready to have some fun now?”
“Let’s get started!” one boy shouts.
Now it’s down to business. A total of 11 Fibre-Craft employees from different departments—all wearing lime-green smocks with “get sm’ARt” and the Creative Hands® trademark splashed across the front—station themselves around the room to lend a helping hand wherever it’s needed. There are seven worktables, each with a tray containing all the supplies essential for arts and crafts projects: glue, glitter pens, sequins, feathers.
For the first project, the kids get to decorate a foam person however they want.
“Look, I’ve already put glue all over my person!” a boy named Lucas says as he is handed a paper napkin.
“I’m done. I’ve made myself happy!” Andre says, referring to the expression on his foam person.
“I broke this with my thumb,” Lucas says, holding up a Fuzzy Stix™.
“Your thumb is your strongest finger,” Andre says sagely.
“You forgot your hair,” Lucas says, pointing to project.
“I don’t want hair,” Andre replies. “I’m the first one done!” he adds proudly.
Meanwhile, Ms. Kelly is glancing around the room, a smile on her face. “They’re all mesmerized—it’s so cute.”
Next comes the warehouse tour, where the kids measure its length in footsteps, walk inside one of the trucks backed up to the docking area and witness some of the machinery at work, including a large shrink-wrapping device and some very tall forklifts.
“Oh man! Whoa! That thing can actually touch the ceiling!” Lucas exclaims while watching the forklift demonstration. Just moments before he had been asking: “When is it going to be lunchtime?”
Returning to the first room, the kids start on another project, one specifically designed for Earth Day. They’re each given an empty toilet roll and a piece of colored tissue paper to make the body of a bird. Then, with string, googly eyes and other components, they’re able to accessorize their creation.
Soon it’s lunchtime, and the kids are happily eating pizza while watching Pixar short films on the large drop-down projection screen. Afterward, they receive Creative Hands® goody bags from Fibre-Craft. Before leaving, at Ms. Kelly’s prompting the Fibre-Craft staff receives a treat of their own: an Elvis thank-you. The kindergartners perform one of Elvis Presley’s signature moves while mimicking a favorite saying of his: “Thank you very much.”
