Workshop Planning Guide
![drawing of finished lightning bug](https://sites.psu.edu/illuminationpsu/files/2020/11/Lightningbug1.jpg)
MATERIALS:
- Plastic water bottles or similar
- Paper towel tubes
- Plastic bags
- Bottle caps and hard-to-recycled materials (bottle caps, juice boxes, red cups, etc.)
- Packing Tape
- Scissors
- Hot Glue and Glue Gun
- Tap on puck lights (for back of bug)
- Optional: Fairy Lights for inside of bug)
- Batteries
PREPARATION:
- Wash hard-to-recycled items in advance
- Sample High-Flying Lightning Bug
- Sample “pole attacher” from tube
- Tubes, bottles, clear tape and glue guns
- Buffet of hard-to-recycle trash on table
STEPS:
- Think and Plan
- Attach “pole attacher” to bottle
- Add wings and streamers made from bags
- Decorate with hard-to recycle stuff
- Tape pole and light in place
PROCEDURE:
Dream
What kind of lightning bug do you want to make? What are the possibilities of these materials? Allow participants to play.
Build
Use a tube to make a phalange that will allow bug to be put onto a tall pole for the parade (see drawing). Attach this to the bottle by first gluing and then adding some ext
ra plastic tape for security. Gather a plastic bag in the center and puff it out to make wings (see drawing).
Light
Tape your puck light to the back of your bug. Be careful to tape it in such a manner that is stays on the puppet, but can still be turned on and off.
Embellish
Using bottle caps and other non-recyclable materials plus a glue gun, add eyes, legs, antenna, and other decorative elements.Find a few colorful bags that would look great with your creature. Snip them into long strips and attached to the pole to add movement and joy during the parade.
Celebrate
Remind people to bring their lightning bug to IllumiNATION and join in this campus-wide festival!
CONNECT:
On the surface, the role of the workshop leader looks like it is to teach people how to make high-flying bug puppets. It’s true that you want to lead people to complete the project and feel successful. Ultimately, however, it is even more important to connect with the people in your workshop, listen to their ideas, encourage people to talk to each other and let them know how important they are to the process. Our goal isn’t just to make a bunch of nice light-ups. Our goal is to inspire a community of people to feel connected enough to the concept and each other that they want to participate in our campus-wide community celebration, the IllumiNATION festival.
For a downloadable pdf, click the link here.