Age: Preschool and Elementary
Time: 30 minutes or more

ART

Are you and your kinderartists looking for something to do with all of those canceled postage stamps that are piling up in your desk drawer? If you don't collect them, why not create with them? Simply gather a small baby food or jam jar, or a match box or toothpick box, some canceled postage stamps that no one is saving, white glue, paint brushes (old and new), tempera paint and some water-based sealer or hair spray.

Ready, set, go and glue a few handfuls of canceled stamps all over the jar or box (don't forget the lid). Apply the glue with an old paintbrush, making sure to brush a layer on top of the stamps to prevent them from peeling away. Next, paint the remaining area of the box or jar with whichever colors of paint you choose - adding a hint of glue to the paint to help it stick to your jar. Finally, when your work is dry, add a light coating of water-based sealer or hair spray to protect your work.

FACTS

Philately [fila-telly] is a really fun word which is used to describe the hobby of stamp collecting. If you are a stamp collector, you don't have to worry about gaining weight from your hobby. The United States Postal Service tells us that because there is no more than one-tenth of a calorie's worth of glue on every stamp, you will not put on the pounds as a result of licking and sticking them.

Now you know.

© Andrea Mulder-Slater

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