Book Hedgehogs: Altered Books Again

So last year, we had our first experience with Altered Books by making collages. This year, we played with altered books again, but made some Book Hedgehogs instead.

Now, before you get too impressed with me, I didn't come up with this idea. I just stole it hehe. I do find that I can be moderately creative. But, there are so many people out there that are extraordinarily creative that I just bask in the awesomeness of their ideas.

I saw some pictures of Avengers Book Hedgehogs on Pinterest, so I looked up directions for them on Google. The website, Cut Out + Keep, gave some easy-to-follow instructions.

Basically, you take a book around 100 pages long (or chop up a book until it is about 100 pages long), fold a page in half, and then fold the corners down into triangles. Once you've done it once, you keep going until the entire book looks like ours =D

Now, that might seem incredibly boring, but our library participants had a great time with it. They were thrilled with the final results, and they were chatting up a storm while they were making them. Ultimately, the kids being able to provide their own conversation while folding made the program work, but the finished hedgehogs are also totally worth it!

Altered Book Collages: Imagine, Resue, Repurpose

Has anyone heard of altered books? Basically, you take a book that isn't going to be read anymore, and you repurpose it into a craft project.

Some people make purses; some people make wreaths; some people make poems. But no matter what is made, I thought the idea was super cool!

First of all, it's cool because it is something totally out of the box.

Secondly, it's cool because it breaks all the rules. You aren't supposed to cut, paste, or damage a book. But, if the book is destined for a landfill, why shouldn't we use it as a craft project? If a book has been well-loved, why not love it one more time?

Lastly, it's cool because, well, its just cool!

For our first foray into altered books, we just did collages. Working at a library, there were plenty of discarded books to choose from. Then it was simply a matter of grabbing stencils, yarn, stickers, markers, fancy scissors, and buttons, and letting the kids imagine what their books could look like. Some of the kiddos decorated the covers, other kids picked a pair of pages inside, while other kids posted a single element onto each page inside.

The kids had a really good time, and I'll definitley do altered books again. Might be a different project next time, though, because there are so many ideas out there!