NEWPORT BEACH : Students Take Up Colonial Crafts

Andrew Walker, 11, stood by a food-laden table shaking a container of cream, patiently waiting for it to turn to butter.

“This is great,” said the Andersen Elementary School student. “It’s really fun. It’s exactly what they used to do in colonial times.”

Andrew was one of 66 fifth-grade students, five visiting teachers and 30 parent volunteers who participated last week in Colonial Crafts Day.

It was a busy four-hour workshop that taught Americana craft projects, including how to make corn-husk dolls, tin signs, dried-flower wreaths, stenciled hearts, quill pen and berry-ink drawings, wood shelves and cross-stitched or woven bookmarks.

Andrew said the best thing was making a hammered tin sign with his name on it, an item he plans to hang on the door of his room.

“The fun part was seeing the way it was made,” he said. “All the bumps remind me of Braille. It’s sort of cool.”

Colonial Crafts Day culminates a month of colonial America study and is the highlight of the year for the children, said fifth-grade teacher Ceil Sharman, founder of the annual event, which costs each child $10 for materials.

“We’ve never had one discipline problem,” she said. “That’s because the kids are just so involved and happy in what they’re doing.”

It all started a decade ago, when Sharman decided colonial crafts could be easily taught to her students. She started out with seven crafts and little assistance. Parents quickly became involved, suggesting additional crafts plus variations of ones already being taught.

Today Sharman is helped by two parent coordinators who purchase the materials and organize other parent volunteers. Sharman has also taught more than 25 teachers from other schools how to do the workshops.

Based on the workshop selections they registered for, children made four different crafts, with the most popular workshops being pen and ink, woodworking, tin and cooking.

“One of my favorite things about this is that the boys sign up for cross-stitching,” Sharman said. “And they do the work with the most intent looks on their faces.”

In fact, one cross-stitching session consisted of nothing but boys--10 of them. One was 10-year-old Taylor Flaum. “I signed up because I thought it would be fun,” he said, pulling red thread through his canvas. “I wanted to know how to do it. And it is real fun.”

Now he plans to do more. “My mom is going to teach me to cross-stitch a little note to someone,” he said. “Everyone can do it. It’s not just for girls.”

Outside, Elizabeth Morse, 10, sanded wood for a shelf. She said that although her favorite project of the day was making dried-flower hearts, she enjoys woodworking too.

“I’ve helped my dad before,” she said. “Girls should do these things too. Girls can do things boys can do.”