Directions for Making Neck Coolers

MATERIALS:

“Magic Crystals” – These are the watering crystals you put in the soil of potted plants. They swell with water and then give it off slowly to the plants, or to a hot neck in our case.

These crystals can be found in the garden department of many stores. (I got an 8 oz jar of Soil Moist at Armstrong’s Nursery for $9.99. It makes at least 30 neck coolers.)

I used scrap fabric that was 44-45” wide. (that becomes the length to go around the neck)

DIRECTIONS:

Wash the material before starting. To make it softer. Cut up whatever amount of material you’ve got into 3 1/2″ strips (by 44″). Fold lengthwise, right sides together, and sew together, leaving one end open and tapering the other end to a point. Turn the sewed strip inside out so that you have the good side visible.

Now you will make pockets for the crystals. I haven’t seen ones that can be purchased made with pockets. They still work, but by sectioning the neck cooler it “bends” better.

Sew a line widthwise about 14″ from the tapered end. Pour into the open end ¼ tsp of crystals and make sure that they slide down to your sewn line. Measure 4″ and sew another line widthwise, making that first pocket about 4″ long. Do this 3 more times until you have four pockets filled with crystals. Now just sew up the open end, and you’ve got a neck cooler.

One note of caution: You will be tempted to add more crystals to each pocket, thinking that more is better. However, these crystals swell A LOT, and packing them too tightly: 1/8 tsp swells to about 1/3 cup of gelatinous balls.

Soak the coolars in water until they swell and then tie them on. This part can take 15 minutes or more, especially the first time they are activated. The crystals eventually wear out and will not absorb as much water.

Directions for Using Neck Coolers
There are “magic crystals” sewn into the four “pockets” of each neck cooler. In order to use your cooler, soak the whole thing in water until the crystals in the four pockets expand and the pockets bulge. The first soaking may take as long as ten minutes before the crystals absorb as much water as they are capable of. You can then tie the neck cooler around your neck….the crystals will slowly give up their absorbed water and the evaporation of the water should cool you for hours. The neck cooler can be re-soaked and used again and again. It should last about two months (regular use) before the crystals lose their ability to absorb water.

We know of no negative skin reactions to the “magic crystals”, even with long-term use. However, should you develop any skin problems, discontinue use. In addition, wet crystals are VERY slippery. For safety reasons, we advise discarding ripped neck coolers.

Alternate Sewing Directions

One yard of 36″ wide tan cotton muslin will make 9 neck coolers. “Magic Crystals” are the watering crystals you put in the soil of your potted plants. “Moisture Plus” and “Soil Moist” are two brand names. Cut the muslin into 4″ wide strips (by 36″ long). Fold lengthwise and sew across the short (selvage) end, and down the long side, using a fairly short stitch length. Leave the other end open. Turn the tube right-side out. A pencil makes this step fast and easy. Press flat.

To contain the crystals in the middle section of the neck cooler, sew a line across the tube about 10″ from the stitched end. Spoon just 1/4 teaspoon of crystals into the open end and make sure that they slide down to your sewed line. Sew another crosswise seam about 15″ from the first seam, to contain the crystals. Finally, just stitch the open end closed.

Maybe we could work with the museum staff on coating some of our cd’s or possibly borrowing a press or given the instructions to make one of our own at camp? They looked pretty cool.

I have some pictures to post but for some reason WordPress can’t upload my images… Once I get that figured out you’ll see some examples.

1. Charades—game for Monday as getting to know you—act out your favorite animal (no sounds of course), sport/activity, food
2. Nature Hunt—every girl must have one of each item on the list and then for craft they can draw an animal/robot/or ??? and incorporate the items they found (rock, leave, twig, feather, etc.) and then name their creation or sun prints http://www.makingfriends.com/summer/sunprints.htm or self-portraits http://www.education.com/activity/article/Nature_Self_Portrait_second/
3. The game of Jenga (I’ve never played so not sure exactly how it’s played…I just know you have to pull out a block and then add it to the top)—if there were 2 sets of the game, each group could be split into 2 teams.  Winning group is whichever group doesn’t knock it down or it can be a camp wide competition to see which group can make the tallest building.
4. Sand art with bottles (either edible or not) http://www.myrainbowdust.com/category-s/44.htm
5. String sculpture http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/kidscraftsart_sxbr.htm
6. CD photo frame http://www.makingfriends.com/photocd.htm
7. Build a greenhouse http://www.education.com/activity/article/Soda_Bottle_Greenhouse/
8. For color/sound day– http://www.education.com/activity/article/windchime_kindergarten/ or http://www.education.com/activity/article/Play_Rainbow_preschool/

Oh and have I mentioned how much I love the internet!  Searching for CD crafts lead me to all these other really great ideas.

Looking forward to the next brainstorming session.

Fondly,

Kellie Wilson (still working on a camp name….)

http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/projects.shtml