Need help for service project

[Daisy1029]

Hello fellow Bunny Parents.  I am in need of your knowledge and brilliant ideas.  I am a first grade teacher and want to do a service-learning project with my kids.  In the spirit of the hoildays season and to coincide with our Character Education objectives and an upcoming trip to see a Christmas Carol, I plan to have my students make toys for a local rescue.  The plan is to of course get parent permission to participate and then after our return from our field trip, I want to have the kids use the remaining afternoon to create homemade toys for the 28 or so bunnies at the rescue.  We have been discussing how to be a good citizen since the beginning of the year and I feel very strongly that the kids need to understand that being a good citizen not only applies to interactions with people but animals as well.  Showing compassion, kindness, honesty, fairness and respect (these are the areas we have covered so far) to ALL living creatures. 

Now I need your help with ideas for toys.  Specifically toys that do not involve hay.  I have a few kids with allergies that I know will keep them from working with hay.  The other kids I figured could stuff paper bags and toliet paper tubes with hay as toys.  Other then these 2 ideas I am a little lost.  The only toys I ever make for Benjamin are these 2 items and that’s because if it doesn’t have hay he won’t play with it. 

I would appreciate any and all feedback, toy suggestions, etc.  I want this to be a beneficial project not only for the kids but also for the bunnies. They deserve toys and fun things for the Holidays too.  :-)  Plus, I know the lady who owns the rescue could definitely use the help as well. 

 

 

 

 

[Elrohwen]

That’s a fantastic idea! What a great thing to teach the kids.

I think someone mentioned taking TP tubes, pinching the ends, and filling the middle part with pellets or pieces of dried fruit. That could be a good one.

[Daisy1029]

Thanks Elrohwen. That’s a good idea, especially with the dried fruit.

What about a couple of mason jar rings tied together with raffia? Do you think that would be a good toy? They could be put in the cage to be played with or even hung from the side of a cage so they could jiggle/rattle them.

I thought maybe even a couple of the kids (who can’t be around hay) could make a diggy box for the buns exercise area.

Keep your fingers crossed I get approval from my prinicpal tomorrow to do this project and that my parents are supportive of it as well.

[Elrohwen]

Oo, the diggy box is good. Kids would love ripping up strips of paper I think. Is colored construction paper safe for buns? That would make it especially colorful and fun. You could ask the manufacturer, but I’d think anything made for kids would be safe to ingest.

And the rattle toy sounds awesome too!

Are the kids old enough to cut holes in boxes? They could make a little bunny hide-a-way or castle thing out of boxes.

[Daisy1029]

They are 6 & 7 years old. I do have a few that could cut holes without injuring themself or others. I may have them build a hide-away.

I love these suggestions. Thanks so much and keep them coming.

[Monkeybun]

I’m making Monkey a box that has strips of fabric hanging down from the top of it. She loves running through dangley stuff, and loves fabric, so it should be fun for her

[MooBunnay]

You could make one of those rattle type things by letting the kids string balsa wood pieces on sisal rope, kind of like this BinkyBunny toy, just without the flavoring: Balsa Kabob . I bet you could find what you need at a craft store, and I think that it would be good even without the flavoring for the bunnies to chew on.  

That is great what you are doing with your kids – you will be teaching them some great life lessons!

[BunnyLiz]

Very simple, but I throw them together for my buns sometimes. Cut a few pieces of cardboard, maybe 3 inches by 5 inches, and cut a slit in them half of the way down and interlock them together that way. Just two pieces, to make a X of cardboard. Simple but my buns like them. If your making a few larger toys for their exercise space, maybe get a few to cut some newspaper for this too https://binkybunny.com/BUNNYINFO/ToyTest/tabid/65/Default.aspx

[Lintini]

If you live near any Starbucks, we have tons of boxes that we recycle daily if you need some perfect size diggy boxes. I bet they would even spare some of the shredded paper to put in them. Just walk inside and ask them if they would donate some boxes and shredded paper

[Daisy1029]

Thanks Lintini, I will be sure to stop by my local Starbucks on Saturday and see if they will donate. I also have several copy boxes that I plan to donate to the rescue anyway as they use them for houses throughout the year.

[LittlePuffyTail]

I think that’s so great what you are doing for the buns and the kids!!!!!

[Daisy1029]

I got approval from my principal and I am sending a letter out to parents tomorrow. We are set to complete the project next Friday (Dec. 11th) after our field trip to see a Christmas Carol. I told the kids about the project today and they are VERY excited. We are going to do a couple of ‘rabbit care’ lessons next week so they can better understand why we are using certain materials and not others. They had some very creative toys ideas themselves though most included carrots and other ‘fresh’ foods. 🙂

I am so excited and really hopes the rescue likes the toys the kids make.

[jerseygirl]

You could even do simple hidey houses with the boxes but would the rabbits enclosures be big enough for them?  Maybe some of them for a play area instead. The kids could decorate them up with pencils perhaps.
What about some posters for the walls at the rescue? Some simple themes -Values –  with illustrations by the children. Or some facts about rabbits that they can illustrated. Like “Rabbits No. 1 food is HAY” “Rabbits like lots of exercise time” Rabbits LOVE carrots (apple, banana etc) but this is a sometimes food” (You know like Cookie Monster’s cookies…) So simple messages but things that may just educate people coming thru the door. You could even keep it to wider themes – animal welfare in general, or promoting volunteering and donating. Sorry – thinking and typing at same time.
The kids themselves might even come up with some ideas!

[skunklionshow]

Your project put a HUGE smile on my face.  I used to teach in a therapeutic/behavioral health program for grades 1-8.   We had a total of 3 classrooms & each classroom had its own rabbit.  They were free-roamers & significantly cut down on behavioral outbursts.  We often had to be incrediably creative w/ bunny projects.  At one point we worked on fundraiser projects which consisted of making treats/toys for dogs & cats….we never quite finished that…however….

I LOVE the idea of making bunny posters.  I think an awesome long-term project would be for your kids to make a bunny care book.  You could identify 10 things to know about bunnies and coordinate w/ pictures.  Photo-copy books & provide as education tools foryour shelter.  You could also make a bunny calendar.  12mos of children’s bunny pictures.  Oooh I love that!  Maybe you could even sell them to raise money for your shelter.  Additional eventual project could be to make your own bunny treats.  You make the dough and then they can cut the “cookies” w/ cookie cutters and decorate w/ fruit bits/raisins or veggies.

We used to have bunny haven challenges, depending on the student’s grades/ages.  Small teams would have to build super bunny houses.  We usually got donated boxes from stores and students used non-toxic glue and veggie dyes to color.  They could be as creative as they wanted.

I also agree w/ diggy boxes.  I’d also say maybe you could make rag rug like rugs w/ fabric left-overs (I like denim) or even just do fabric braids w/ adding some cardboard circles thread threw.  Treat bags.  Paper pom pom balls (paper tied together w/ raffia or sisal.  You could also do similar w/ cardboard thread w/ sisal (great for fine motor skills).  Old tube socks stuffed w/ paperballs (newspaper) & tasty treats. 

I supervised a Learn & Serve America grant for humane education.  I could likely give you some good overall ideas for a larger future project…just let me know.  Good Luck!

[Monkeybun]

Posted By skunklionshow on 12/01/2009 03:38 PM

Y You could also make a bunny calendar.  12mos of children’s bunny pictures.  Oooh I love that!  Maybe you could even sell them to raise money for your shelter. 

 

I’d donate pics of Monkey for that

[Daisy1029]

Tomorrow is the big project day!!   

 Thanks again everyone for all the suggestions. I have a large list of toys for the kids to make tomorrow. They are also going to make the educational posters that I plan to bind into a book. I am scheduled to deliver everything to the rescue on Saturday morning. Hopefully she will be surprise and excited to get all this good stuff.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

I’m so sorry I missed this thread-what a wonderful thing your doing!! Let us know how it goes!!

[Daisy1029]

The students did a wonderful job on Friday. They made 8 different toys, created a card for each of the bunnies at the rescue and some of the kids made posters about rabbit care. They had a blast making all of the toys and they were very good at it as well.

I took the toys and stuff to the rescue on Saturday. The ‘owner’ of the rescue loved the toys and was so excited to read all of their cards. She is saving the toys to give the buns on Christmas morning. She also said she would takes pictures of the buns playing with the toys and is going to send them to me. That way the kids can see the buns playing with everything.

Thank you again for all of the ideas and suggestions. You all are great and I know your help really enhanced th project.

[Cassi&Charlie]

What a wonderful thing to do with your class over Christmas! Learning to respect animals is great, especially at such a young age. Thanks Daisy!

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