Paper Houses Build Civic Engagement
I had a hard time calling us a volunteer family since most of our good works happen during the day when dad is off at work. Thanks to DGT’s project page I discovered Habitat for Humanity’s Paper House Campaign. This fun craft allowed both girls to participate remotely in their dad’s Habitat for Humanity efforts. Plus it provided a great opportunity to talk about affordable housing and introduce the basics of civic engagement.
Miss Kindergarten was excited when her dad went off to build homes for people who couldn’t otherwise afford them. She has watched him build her play house and our chicken coop, and it seemed fitting to her. As she put it, “there are a lot of people at the homeless shelter waiting for houses.” They definitely needed his help
When I told her that we could help too, in our own way, she was immediately ready to get started.
The craft itself was simple and engaging enough to keep Miss K entertained for more than an hour. We simply printed out the template together, and off she went to decorate, cut, and glue her very own house. She spent extra time finding magazine people and pets to glue into the windows. The final version included a jaguar, two ladies, and an elephant. That’s some household!
While she worked (and Little Miss Two smashed her play dough), I followed some of DGT’s reflection questions to keep her thinking about the meaning behind the project.
- I wonder how it would feel not to have a place to sleep at night?
- I wonder how it would feel not to have enough money to buy a house?
- I wonder how it would feel to be part of habitat, building a real house for some?
- I wonder how it would feel to be part of a community that built your house for you?
Her answers were simple: “happy” or “sad” was all she said at first. I tried sharing my own answers, and before long she talking about how scary it would be to not have all the things she needed and how thankful she would be if someone helped our family.
She chose to send her house to Senator Amy Klobuchar, whose picture and address are on the fridge right next to other Minnesota law makers.
I helped her write the letter, of course, but the words below were all hers:
Not everyone has a place to live, some kids are waiting at the homeless shelter. My dad helped with Habitat for Humanity , and I wished I could help. I made you a house so that next time you can make more houses, you remember to help the kids at the homeless shelter.
With this one simple project, our whole family worked together for affordable housing.
Tags: Craft, Free, Improving Lives, Social Action, Strengthening Our Family
