KindCrafters were at it again last evening! Led by two Girl Scouts, Parker Vanhooser and Emily Nitz, approximately 60 families/groups gathered to make plarn.
What is plarn you ask? It is plastic yarn! The scouts chose this project for their "Silver Award" and partnered up with KindCraft to make it happen! Parker and Emily explained that they chose this project to help protect sea turtles, to reuse plastic bags, and to help the homeless by providing them with plastic mats made out of plarn!
After a brief introduction and video instructions, KindCrafters gathered their materials-scissors and recycled plastic bags, and got down to work. Thank you to all who donated plastic bags! We made a small dent in this pile!
Everyone had a job-from throwing away scraps, to cutting off handles and making strips-all participants were engaged and having fun. KindCrafters know how to have a good time. Some stretched out their plarn to see how long it was; some threw plarn like confetti.
There are many ways to make plarn, but the technique used at the event was to cut strips of plastic and then loop them together to make one giant plarn strand.
We then wrapped the plarn into a plarn ball-the goal is to make each ball about the size of a basketball. The plarn ball will be dropped off to Church of the Resurrection in Overland Park, KS where they will be weaved into plastic mats for the homeless. Once the mats are completed, Parker and Emily will deliver the mats to Uplift Organization (http://www.uplift.org/about) who will hand them out to the homeless on their regular routes.
The girls set a goal of making 10 plastic mats. It takes about 1,000 plastic bags to make one mat. Here are all of the plarn balls we made at the event! If you would like to make more plarn at home, you can drop off plarn balls to the Girl Scouts until November 3, 2018. Please email courtney@kindcraft.org for more details!
This process takes some time! It was amazing to see the grit these kiddos used-they weren't going to stop making plarn! Parker and Emily will take these plarn balls home, and connect them so they are the correct size (the size of a basketball).
A very special thank you to our event sponsor, Devon Burrell with Farm Bureau Financial Services (DevonBurrell.fbfs.com). We appreciate your support for our event! Thanks for attending and helping to make plarn!
I could not be prouder of these girls. They had a creative project idea and carried it through effortlessly! A job well done girls! You are quite deserving of your Silver Award!
Want to get involved with KindCraft? Check out our upcoming events and register! Events fill quickly so don't delay! www.kindcraft.org