how to make a mushroom

get your classroom or group of friends, co-workers, relatives or inmates together and make a bunch of mushrooms! make as many as you can. then plant them in your school yard, your lawn, your friend’s lawn, a neighborhood park … wherever people will see them.

i’ve provided a short instructional video…CLICK HERE

…as well as step by step instructions below.

here’s what you will need:
· paper lunch bags
· bamboo skewers (the kind used for shish kabobs)
· small rubber bands (found at office supply stores or beauty shops)
· glue sticks
· hot melt glue gun

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okay, first take a bag and open it up.

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next squeeze the bag in the middle with one hand…

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…then using the other hand “pop” the top down to make a mushroom cap. be sure not to pop it too hard or it will pop for real and ruin the bag.

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okay, now take a bamboo skewer and place it up through the stem of the mushroom with the pointed side out. BE VERY CAREFUL. THE SKEWERS ARE VERY POINTY AND SHARP!

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squeeze the lower part of the bag into a stem shape. DON’T TWIST IT, just squish it.

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grab the neck of the mushroom with one hand and flatten the top with your other hand. rotate your mushroom a bit while doing this. this will take practice.

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once that step is completed, push the corners of the bag inward. this gives the mushroom a more rounded appearance. If not your mushroom will have square corners and no one likes a square cornered mushroom.

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alright. now using your thumbs and forefingers, pinch and rotate the underside of the mushroom cap. this gives it a better mushroom shape.

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now put one rubber band all the way to the top of the stem. easy right?

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then place another rubber band toward the bottom of the stem. these rubber bands keep the mushroom from bulging out if they get wet or rained on. ( note: if rubber bands are not available, you can use masking tape. )

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next open the bottom of the mushroom a little bit and squirt a drop of hot melt glue into the base of the stem. make sure the  comes in contact with the bamboo skewer and the paper. ( note: you can also use white glue, but it will take longer to dry and will not withstand rain.)

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pinch the bottom of the mushroom to squish the glue to the paper and skewer. without the glue, your mushrooms will fly off the stick in a gust of wind. HEY! HOT MELT GLUE IS HOT. IT WILL HURT IF YOU GET IT ON YOU. I SHOULD KNOW. ASK HELP FROM AN ADULT IF YOU NEED IT.

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your mushroom is now complete. yeeay!! carefully place it into the ground. now make few hundred more. what else were you going to do with your day anyway? make a bunch. you can put them in a pattern or make a natural looking crop of mushrooms. you can paint them or do whatever you want. think like a mushroom and  have fun okay?

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