Friendship Sticks A Friendship Stick is made from a simple stick of wood, found on a hike, or in your backhard. It's meant as a symbol of friendship. Make one for yourself; make another for a friend. This little stick
means "Friendship" It's a doll, of the simplest kind. Find a stick you like the shape of. Use your pocket knife to cut off the bark and to even up the stick. Use sand paper to smooth the wood until you like the feel of the wood in your hand. Use your pocket knife again to whittle a bit of a hat on your stick, and to whittle the eyes, nose, and mouth. Then whittle a cross at the neck of your new little stick doll, and whittle a row of seven buttons down the front of the stick doll. When the idea of Friendship Sticks first appeared in a Camp Fire book, the suggestion was to use the sticks to symbolize interracial harmony. That symbolism got lost on me, and I always used the Friendship Stick project as one of simple friendship, and one of encouraging each child to represent him/herself with the stick doll. Make as many as you want; share as many as you want. Collect sticks from your friends to represent them, or make sticks to represent them. After the whittling and sanding, the kids used permanent Magic Markers to add color.
The longest of the three Friendship Sticks shown above is about 10 inches. Mahawe's Memory Book |
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site by Alice Marie Beard