Celebrating Flies, party-style

 One of those warm, sunny days sandwiched between snowy storms, I noticed flies swarming above the lilac tree. Tiny flies, to be sure, but just enough to remind me that Fly Season is on its way. And by this, I don’t mean the season where you grab your waders and pole and head to the trout creek. Oh, no. I mean the time of year when cluster flies and black flies and – oh so many kinds of flies – emerge or hatch or whatever they do so they can buzz around and … bug us.

Although, to be fair, they do play an important role in the world. They help decompose dead things, pollinate flowers, and provide fast food for critters of land, sea, and air. I bring up their nutritional contributions because I’m celebrating the one-year anniversary of my picture book, 13 Ways to Eat a Fly. 

 Over at Melissa Stewart’s Info-liscious blog, I share thoughts about writing it. (Thanks for inviting me, Melissa!) 

Meanwhile, I thought that over here we'd celebrate with party favors. And since you're wherever you are and I am probably a great distance away, they are going to be Make Your Own party favors.  

So grab some paper (origami paper or recycled gift wrap – even a sheet of graph paper will do) and some scissors, markers, and glue because it's time for arts & crafts!

If you don’t have origami paper, cut a 6” x 6” square of paper. Then fold one corner of the square paper to the opposite corner to make a triangle.

Turn the triangle so the longest (folded) side is nearest you. Now fold the left and right corners to meet the central point of the triangle.

Unfold, so you have your large triangle again. Then, slide your finger between the layers of the top point. Fold the top layer down so that the point meets the center of the long, bottom side.

Remember that right corner you folded up and unfolded? Well, you’re going to bring it up to meet the peak of the triangle again. But this time you tuck it into the pocket, right behind the middle triangle. 

Now do the same thing with that left corner: bring it up and tuck it in. At this point it looks like a diamond. But we’ll fix that…

Bring the tip of the diamond down to the bottom corner of the triangle, and crease it. Then tuck the flap of paper inside the pocket. 

Add wings and compound eyes to turn your bookmark into a fly. Or add eyes, wings, beak, legs, and other features to turn your bookmark into a fly-eating creature. Slide your bookmark over the corner of the page and – ta-da! – you’ve got a bookmark to slide over the top corner of whatever page you want to mark.