Crockett Johnson

For fans of


this activity will take you right back to childhood! You can also substitute any of the other (original) Harold books, such as





This activity requires a large amount of floor space, yarn in various colors, a bottle of glue for each child, a box of stick crayons, and a roll of old-fashioned accounting calculator tape





I cleared away the furniture in the center of the classroom (luckily, our center divider is made of a row of rolling bookcases) and lined my students up against one wall. Then I went from child to child and gave them a stick crayon. They could pick any color, since you're allowed to trade with a friend at any point in the activity.




Then I laid down the roll of calculator tape in front of each child, had him or her hold one end, and then we let it roll across the classroom floor until it hit the bookcase on the opposite wall. This was the source of much hilarity. Then each child wrote his or her name on the paper and began the All-in-a-Row One Line Design. You can draw as many loops and jiggles and squiggles as you want in your line but you can't pick your crayon up and break the line at any point, except to change crayon (and pick up right back where you left off) or change your line to yarn. I gave each child a ball of yarn (we used inexpensive 100% Cotton Yarnfor this project) and, again, they were allowed to swap colors with each other at any point. When you reach the end of your roll of paper, your design is done!

It works best to make a squiggle of glue and then lay the yarn down on top of the wet glue. It also is a good idea to have a rock or some other weight on either end of your long piece of paper. I found that this project lent itself well to collaboration and teamwork and students who finished early would go and help others lay the string down their glue. So perhaps this would be a good activity for students to do in pairs. The only problem is... who would get to take the finished artwork home???

This project was a BIG hit! Thank, MaryAnn, for suggesting it! We have loved this unit on Storybook Art.