What Can You Do with a Paper Bag? [Paperback]

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Author, Contributor), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

With a little imagination, the answer is "plenty!" Armed with scissors, tape, and glue, it's easy to turn an ordinary paper bag into an extraordinary hat, wig, mask or crown. Simple step-by-step instructions show readers how to make a golden crown, a curly Baroque wig, Perseus's winged helmet, a pharaoh's headdress, George Washington's wig, a Japanese geisha hairdo, an African mask and sixteen other imaginative designs. An engaging activity book for both home and classroom, What Can You Do with a Paper Bag?, inspired by works of art from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will provide hours of educational and entertaining dress-up fun.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The humblest of materials transform the pedestrian into the sublime in What Can You Do with a Paper Bag? by Judith Cressy, photos by Maria Quiroga and Christine A. Butler, illus. by Edward Heins. "Perseus' Winged Helmut," "George Washington's Hair" and a "Curly Baroque Wig" number among these 21 chic chapeaux, all inspired by paintings and sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has over 2 million objects in its collections. Judith Cressy, project editor at the the museum, was inspired by 23 of them to create these crafts.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First Edition edition (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811832201
• ISBN-13: 978-0811832205
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,139,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Can You Do With a Paper Bag?, May 24, 2003

By 

K. M. Cormier (Swampscott, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Can You Do with a Paper Bag? (Paperback)

This book, published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, is a TERRIFIC book if you are interested in childrens' crafts and art. The book provides very detailed and easy-to-follow instructions on hat and mask making using your average grocery store variety paper bag (and a few other on-hand items). The hats and masks are all inspired by works of art found in the museum. Our elementary school are using these activities at our Spring Arts Festival. The results are dynamic and the costs for matierials is little to nothing.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Children Create Ingenius Crafts From Humble Supplies, September 18, 2004

By 

Jana L. Perskie "ceruleana" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Can You Do with a Paper Bag? (Paperback)

This is the best book for a rainy afternoon and a bored child (children)!"What Can You Do With A Paper Bag" written by Judith Cressy and published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has 21 paper bag projects geared to fascinate your child and encourage creativity and imagination.

Step-by-step instructions, very easy to follow, illustrate how to make Mayan masks, a Pharoah's headdress, crowns, a Fang (African) mask, a "Perseus Winged Helmut," George Washington's hair, and many other clever ideas. All you need are paper bags, (grocery store brown bags are good), scissors, glue, tape, crayons or paints, and an eager child. The humblest of supplies can provide hours of fun.

**A side note - The book was inspired by works of art from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It can also be used as a teaching tool for showing children the art of different cultures at different periods in time.

Excellent and highly recommended!
JANA

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars art linked with education, February 26, 2006

By 

Moneek Pines (Philly) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What Can You Do with a Paper Bag? (Paperback)

Great book. It is sometimes hard to find books that relate to art and history. I love this book in the class and at home with my own children.