Craft Projects To Do At Home To Mark The Conclusion Of Black History Month

For Black History Month which ends today, help the kids make a brightly colored wreath around a dove, the symbol of peace, and two concoctions honoring African-American inventors.

Picture 1: Materials 

Flesh tone or assorted colored paper

One sheet of yellow paper

some scraps of red or orange paper

scissors

white glue

Trace around little hands and cut them out. If you are doing the cutting, several sheets of paper can be cut at once. Glue the hands together by overlapping the fingers on top of the palms of the previous hand. It will take about 12 hands to make a circle.

Picture 2 - The Dove

Next, trace a hand with the four fingers tightly closed and the thumb pointing as far away from the fingers as possible. This will make the dove in the center. Glue the dove to the center. You can add accents such as a wing, beak, eye, or outline tail feathers.

Picture 3 - Finished Wreath

George Washington Carver dedicated his life to the southern United States agriculture. He liked to work with soybeans and peanuts, and he created peanut butter. Our concoction this week is home-made peanut butter!

Picture 1 - Ingredients

1 cup Peanuts

2 TB corn oil

½ tsp salt

Shell the peanuts and remove the skins (or cheat like I did and just buy them shelled). Place in a blender or food process or with the oil and salt. Turn on at low speed for about a minute until smooth. If it seems to be too thick, add a drop more oil.

Do you like cinnamon? Add some cinnamon. Do you like peppery things? Add some pepper!

Another African-American inventor was Garrett Morgan, who invented the traffic light.

Here is an edible traffic light made with the peanut butter you just made (or you can use store-bought, of course).

You will also need:

Graham crackers

Red, green and yellow candy coated chocolates (such as M&Ms)

and other candies (I used peanut butter candies).

Picture 2: Lay Out

Spread the peanut butter on a graham cracker that has been broken down into a rectangle and add the lights (M&Ms)

Picture 3 - Finished Snack

Some Black History Month Facts

Martin Luther King Jr. worked to end racism right up April 3, 1968, the day that he was assassinated by James Earl Ray. Although King's life was ended early, his hard work and dedication to ending racism can still be seen and felt in the United States today.

On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a bus in Montgomery, AL. Her action catalyzed a citywide boycott that helped to end segregation.

Biography.com tells the story of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in baseball's Major Leagues. It was 1947, and Robinson was mistreated by other ballplayers and by fans, but he was resilient and strong, and opened the doors to integration of professional sports.

He earned the Rookie of the Year award with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, the Most Valuable Player award in 1949, and helped the Dodgers win the World Series in  1955.