Chilling Out: Garden club celebrates the holidays

Garden club celebrates the holiday season with a pinecone penguin craft.

Arieis Feldpausch, Staff Writer|December 20, 2022

Madeline+Arbuckle+poses+with+her+pinecone+penguin.

Madeline Arbuckle poses with her pinecone penguin.

 

Garden club meets once a month after school in room 190. This month’s meeting celebrated the approaching winter holidays with a craft: pinecone penguins. 

 

The penguins, which could be made into ornaments, were made with pinecones, felt, wooden beads, and paint—making them easy and affordable gifts or decorations.

How to make your own pinecone penguin

Materials– Pinecone, large wooden bead, hot glue, black and white paint, black and orange felt, red yarn (optional)

  1. Glue the wooden bead to the pinecone. If you are making an ornament, make sure the holes of your bead are on either side of the head as you will be putting your yarn through the hole.
  2. Paint your pinecone with black and white paint to make the body of a penguin.
  3. Cut two arms out of black felt and two feet and a beak out of orange felt.
  4. After your paint dries, glue the felt pieces onto the penguin.
  5. Paint eyes onto your penguin or use googly eyes.
  6. Place red yarn through the hole in your bead, or as a scarf around your penguin’s neck and you’re done!

Monthly meetings vary from discussions about environmentalism to crafts.

 

Garden club president Elizabeth Yoon wants those who are interested in garden club to know that it’s an open space to destress after school and learn about the environment.

Garden club president Elizabeth Yoon demonstrates how to make this month’s craft.

 

“Anybody is welcome at any time. It’s a really fun and relaxing club.  It’s a lot of arts and crafts that people come to do with their friends,” Yoon said.

 

Garden club vice president Jaanvi Reddy Muchanthla shared why she joined the club.

 

“It’s a really chill and fun community where you get to relax after school and do fun crafts. We also learn about really important environmental issues,” Muchanthla said. “I joined garden club back in January 2021. I wanted to find a place where we could talk about environmental issues at the high school, and I realized, ‘Hey, garden club could be doing more about this.’ Ever since I’ve joined, we’ve talked a lot about environmental issues and found ways to help people be creative. We’re a really cool community and there isn’t any commitment to us, but it’s a fun time to be creative and to learn about nature.”