Bean Frame

A craptastic way to show off your favorite photos!

You will need:

• Plain, wooden picture frames (We found ours in the dollar bin at Michael's Crafts.)
• Assortment of beans (Walmart sells a bag of mixed beans for around $2.)
• Glue

How to:

1. Apply glue to one section of frame at a time. (It's a slow process. Focus on a little bit at a time.)
2. Add beans.
3. Let dry.

Thoughts:

We got this idea from a great kid's book called Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! by Nancy Wallace. Elliott lost interest in gluing the beans on after 20 minutes or so, so we spread this craft out into a three day project. Gluing the beans on did get a little tedious. Near the end he got so bored he ended up just pouring the beans on to the glue and we shook off whatever didn't stick. (It looked just as good.) Despite the boredom, he did enjoy making this frame and it actually looks really cute.

When Elliott got a little sidetracked, I used the opportunity to let him sort the different types of beans. He especially enjoyed finding ones that he eats. (Which would be two: peas and chickpeas.) As an added bonus, he actually tried a new bean after making this frame-the Lima bean. He wasn't a fan, but trying something new is a win in my eyes.