My kids and I are fans of blankets. Like, really, really big fans. Joshua has three on his bed at all times, Emma has two, I still have my baby blanket, and the three of us are often snuggled under the same blanket on the couch. Or we’re each under our own blankets.
Why am I telling you about our blanket love?
Because last night we went to the Georgia Aquarium to help Project Linus kick off their 15th annual National Make a Blanket Day and celebrate the release of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters on Blu-Ray/DVD on December 17th (that’s today!).
What’s Project Linus, you ask?
Project Linus is an organization which provides handmade blankets to children in need. To date the group has donated an estimated 100,000 blankets to children through volunteer efforts in local communities across the country. Blankets made in a community stay in a community.
What’s a movie about a boy and mythology have to do with blankets?
Percy Jackson was created by author Rick Riordan. He’s a teenage son of the Greek god Poseidon. In his latest on-screen adventures, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Percy and his friends must rescue the Golden Fleece.
Blankets + Fleece + Sea = a really cool event that helps kids give back.
Fox, producers of Sea of Monsters, has teamed with Project Linus and donated the fleece for 1,000 handmade blankets. Up to 200 blankets were created last night at the Georgia Aquarium. As more blankets are created during the drives set up in local communities, UPS has committed to making sure the blankets get delivered.
Basically, it was a feel good Monday night.
I’m working hard to teach Joshua about giving back. I don’t want him to grow up not knowing how to help others by giving. But concepts like generosity, both of spirit and possessions, is hard for a 4 year old to grasp.
But he can grasp blankets and how much he loves his, so this event provided an excellent opportunity for me to talk to him about why volunteering and helping others is so important.
When we got into the room, I let him choose the blanket we would be making, and while he didn’t stay with me the whole time and couldn’t tie the fleece himself, he did check in on my progress as I tied and tied and tied some more. All in all, it took me about 45 minutes to tie our blanket, which was pretty great time, I think.
(While I was tying, Joshua was making friends and checking out the Georgia Aquarium’s Beluga whales and eating popcorn and ice cream. You know, being 4. And Emma was eating everything and spilling everything. And unplugging one of the TVs playing Percy Jackson. [Yes, that happened.])
These blankets were so easy to make that I kind of want to make some more for our local Project Linus for National Make a Blanket Day in February.