The sports coaches at Travis’s camp have whistles… which means Travis needs one too! Well, it turns out that we couldn’t exactly make a whistle sound from this Highlights craft, but it was fun to make and Travis was so proud to wear it around his neck.

First, cut a strip of paper that is 1 inch wide and 9 inches long. I love letting Travis help with a ruler for sneaky “math” practice.

Cut out the strip and cover in duct tape; we used a colorful blue. Cut a u-shaped notch in one end.

Grown-up step: Hot glue two juice lids to the opposite end from the U.

Roll up, continuing to glue, until there’s only a 1/4-inch gap open between the lids and tape. Fold back the U so it overlaps this gap. I knew we needed to get this exactly right for a true whistling sound, but because we were working in those quick minutes before camp, I had to sort of fudge it.

Snip the end of the tape so there is an opening to blow into.

Attach a pony bead to the back of the whistle with hot glue, and thread through yarn to go around your “coach’s” neck.

As I mentioned, Travis did more of a hoot hoot into the whistle, and didn’t get a true whistle sound, but he loved it and proudly showed it off to camp counselors.