1) Most kids just color a picture of some sort of character. The link given earlier was a good one. You can use card stock or regular paper to print the coloring page. Then most people laminate them or use clear contact paper to cover them. I hosted a cowboy once that was pieced together from construction paper (his body was one piece, his pants were glued on top, his shirt was on top, etc... like a layered paper doll). He wasn't laminated, but he was so thick he held up just fine. 2) How long you host is up to you and the Flat's family. If you know in three weeks you're going somewhere spectacular, it's probably going to be fine with the family for you to keep it that long. But if you just keep it for a while, the family tends to start missing their Flat. 3) Usually you just send it back to its family. Then you can start all over with a different Flat. The idea is to keep them going so they see the world (or at least a big chunk of the country). But they come home in between visits to unpack and share what they've learned. :wink:
Ok! Sounds great! Count us in! I've got contact paper, and I'm sure the boys will have a great time making their flats.
I'll host 2 at a time, but will likely only send one out. We can take flats to Sea World and to the Alamo and other historical missions/sites. If we receive them after all the fall activities get started, the flat will likely see a swim practice (maybe a meet, if the timing is right) and ballet classes. It doesn't matter if it's a boy or girl.
I think the kids would likely enjoy hosting a Flat, but I'm not sure where we could take one (or more). We do enjoy field trips, and since we're going to be doing "communities" this year, we'll be doing lots of little field trips locally. We could take them to the park and to visit the baby alligator nursery. Depending on when they come, they might get to see rice being harvested. Or crawfish. We don't live near anything big like Sea World or such.
There's no need to feel obligated to do anything big and spectacular with your Flats. The point is to learn about geography and about how other people live. A baby alligator nursery is something that few of us will ever experience! And going around town will teach kids about how you live and what life is like in your town.
I was wanting to take part, but we don't go hardly anywhere. We go to Church, the store, the bank, the doctor's office, and the hospital. We have a lot of fun, but don't think a flat would!
Why wouldn't the Flat? I mean, so you take pictures of your City/town buildings while you're living your normal life. You take pics at church. You explain a little about your denomination or specials things your church does. Is your bank in a historical building? Can you include a map of your town or brochures from local attractions? Point is, everyone's life is interesting. We just don't always realize it's interesting while we're living it...
Can we travel a little outside of our town, or do we have to stay within the confines of our city then?
You can travel where ever you choose. For example we live close to the Loonie Monument and I have taken the flats there for pics. I have even photographed road signs with them that maybe some else wouldn't see where they live. We also live right in the Canadian Shield so we have photographed the rocks behind the flats. And photos aren't always necessary you can draw pics too if you like. Or make leaf rubbings or so on. It's all in fun and to learn about other places and people. I will say I have learned that if you are sending a CD of pics in the mail make sure they know at the post office so they can mark it or the CD will get wrecked.
Exactly... if you live somewhere we don't, we'll learn something! I just happen to live in a big city with lots of options. I have lived in a very small town, and I hosted a flat then, too.
What a neat idea, it's a shame though that it didn't start sooner. We just had 3 country fairs in our surrounding area. What fun it would have been to go to them and compare. Also our vacation to Georgia then Florida with my oldest DD. Next year maybe we can start a vacationing flat at the end of school. The beginning of school would be a share the summer event with all of our HS "students".
Ok, can someone please explain to me what a "Flat" is? I'm really sorry if I should have figured this out but I really have no clue. I'd love to join in if I knew what it was!
Here's another link to some cut outs to use: http://www.flatstanley.com/template.htm just click on the one you like and a larger one will pop up that you can print and color anyway you like!
Oops, don't know how I missed that! Sorry. Anyway, it sounds fun and I think my 6 yr old would love it. Count us in.
I would love to be a part of this!We could host 2 flats at a time.We are always on the go so I'm sure I could keep it interesting,plus we are going on an out of state trip to a big zoo at the end of the month/beginning of September.This is totally new to me but I think my kids would have a ball with it.I have 4 boys and 1 girl,and I don't have a problem hosting a cowboy or a princess!
I forgot to say, we should probably just host a "boy flat." My 4.5yo is really into, "No, that's girl stuff," right now. He wants nothing to do with "girl stuff."