A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
Conner really enjoyed this story. The first thing I did was to soak a piece of wood in water and let it dry by our wood burner. We discussed that if done enough, the wood will start to rot.
Next we did a Koi craft. You can find it here:
The next thing I did was to make Conner a pair of clogs. They didn't take that long, but he has really enjoyed them!!
Materials: a one inch piece of plywood cut into the size of the child's feet
4 pieces of the 1 inch plywood cut into1 inch strips and in the width of the shoe base
8 1-inch screws
nylon rope
scissors/knife
drill
lighter
First, you need to drill holes in the small pieces of wood so that your screws will be counter-sunk into the wood and won't scratch you floors!!
Next, attach the wood pieces to the bottom of the shoe platform. You should probably mark where to drill the other holes for the rope first, so the holes are not were the ropes are going to be.
I didn't, but I lucked out!
You are going to want to cut a piece of rope about 8 inches long. Tie one end in a knot and feed it through the top hole. Make sure the knot is under the clog.
Cut a piece of rope about 15 inches long. Tie a knot on one side and feed through one of the bottom holes. Again, make sure that the knot is underneath.
Make a loop with that rope and loop it around and push through the other hole. Adjust the length of this rope by using your child's foot and then knot off underneath.
You will then attach the first rope to the second rope and knot it. Check with the child's foot before knotting the rope.
Use a lighter to melt the nylon at all of the knots so that they will last longer.
He didn't want to paint them red, so I found some John Deere stickers and he went about decorating them that way!
Putting his clogs by the fire! These have gotten some good use! He would wear them everywhere if I would let him! So far I only allow him to wear them out to church and home.
Blessings!!
