First Fridays: November

I was having a difficult time thinking about what crafty item to showcase this month.  I will get to the fiber-art eventually, but this month I think I'm going to introduce you to an international program for students called TREPS.   It teaches kids entrepreneurial and business skills; skills they can use for a lifetime.  One of my largest grumblings over the state of our education system is that kids are just taught content and seemingly (to them) abstract skills.  They aren't really taught why these skills are important nor how they can apply them.  This is where TREPS can help.  When the  program was first introduced, I was initially skeptical, but the results  (the products, the enthusiasm generated and the business acumen developed) have shown me how valuable this program (and others like it) can be.

Our local school's PTO introduced and ran the program.  For six weeks, kids went through a series of workshops to develop a marketable item.  At the end of the workshops there was a Marketplace where the kids sold their products.  The young brain harnesses so much creativity and if they are given a positive framework in which to channel that creativity, great things happen.

At the Marketplace last year (which coincided with the Village's winter carnival weekend), middle schoolers were selling all sorts of amazing products that they had made themselves.  Some were constructed from scratch, while others were value-added products. Here are a few of the more interesting ones to get your creative juices flowing in time for the holiday season (photos are from more professional websites, but the kids' products were just as good).

*Recycled and sculpted LPs in the form of clocks, napkin holders, coasters

www.retroclassics.etsy.com

*Lip balm made from local honey

*Wool felted animals

www.needlefelting.brighterplanet.org

*Homemade dog biscuits

*Homemade fudge

*Beaded jewelry

www.engravable-jewelry.com

 So, if you think you are crafty, creative or industrious, think again! Unleash your creative powers!