Dragon Scarecrow Blowing Smoke 1
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Scarecrow Contest Winner in City of Santa Clarita

Over the years we have entered a number of scarecrow contests and 2021 was no exception. This year the City of Santa Clarita held the contest at the Senses on Main Harvest Festival and we were fortunate to WIN 1st place for the Creative Division AND 1st for the overall People’s Choice! Of course, our motivation for building the scarecrows is not about the contest, but it’s still fun to win. The children enjoy working on the scarecrows and it’s great for them to see the results. As in past years, the teachers do the project planning and organization, while providing the children with guidance and encouragement to work through each step.

2021 Scarecrow Alley at Senses of Main

2021 Harvest Festival at Senses on Main

The Harvest Festival is a one night event filled with fun and games and the kids had a blast! In addition to the live music and games there was Scarecrow Alley, a dedicated section of the street specifically for the scarecrow displays. It really was quite well done, however it would have been nice if the scarecrows could have remained on display for longer than one evening.

Scarecorw Contest Winner Certificates

Inspiration for Our Scarecrows!
The children in our care love to sing the “Puff the Magic Dragon” song so our entry for this year’s scarecrow contest was inspired by the song. We made a sparkling dragon and child they of course named, Jackie Paper. We didn’t stop there! Every dragon guards their treasure so to top it off, we also made a treasure chest.

Dragon Scarecrow Blowing Smoke

Types of Materials Used
Just as with out other past projects, we used a variety of materials on hand to build the dragon and child scarecrows. Typically, for the body parts we use whatever we can find. Perhaps parts from old dolls or stuffed animals, crumbled paper, straw etc. The children glued on various ornamentation parts and pieces. The parents also do their part by donating fabric, clothing or other items. This year we’d like to extend a special think you to Logan’s mom, Courtney for crafting the sign!

Thank You SCV!
Thanks again to the City of Santa Clarita. We appreciate the hard work by those responsible for hosting this terrific event. Let’s do it again in 2022!

2020 Scarecrow Contest

Santa Clarita Scarecrow Contest Winners
Our 2020 Entry Clown Scarecrows

In 2020 we entered the City of Santa Clarita scarecrow contest and won first place in the business division. Of course, some entries had only one scarecrow but we made 5 to better represent the children in our care. The largest scarecrow represents a teacher, the medium sized scarecrow for one of our older, 4 or 5 year old children and 3 small scarecrows, similar to the younger children in our care.

Creating and crafting the scarecrows was great fun, a terrific learning experience and a perfect example of family child care at work. Everyone helped, even our two, 1 year olds! It really was a monumental task and certainly more work for us teachers, but well worth it. Just so you know, we don’t do all the work for the children. Certainly, we do most the planning and organizing, but the teachers work hand in hand with each child, providing the instructions and encouragement needed to create and stuff each scarecrow.

Also, we wish to extend a special thank you to the families for contributing supplies and support to help make this project a success!

Children Preparing to Stuff the Scarecrows
Children Preparing to Stuff the Clown Scarecrows in 2020

How the Scarecrows Were Crafted

First, we went through all our old costumes and pieces of fabric on hand from other projects. Then, we sized the scarecrows after the children in our care. We even had the smallest and oldest children model the unfinished costumes BEFORE getting started with the stuffing. We even had the children provide their opinions of how they thought the scarecrows should look.

Before stuffing the clothing the children and teachers worked on adding the necessary decorative parts and pieces to make the eyes, noses, and mouthes, etc.

Scarecrow Models
These two cuties love playing dress up.

The children had the most fun part stuffing each of the five scarecrows. No, although we used some straw just for appearances, the kids stuffed each scarecrow with old newspapers we saved in advance. After that, it was just a matter to setting the scarecrows up. We used an old, worn out wagon and a sign post. The one large scarecrow was attached to the pole, the older child scarecrow was fixed to the wagon handle and the 3 small scarecrows were placed inside the wagon. Once in place we added a little more decoration and that was it!

Contest Winning Scarecrows at Marys Schoolhouse
2020 – Completed Clown Scarecrows

Thank you to my youngest son, Tim Gregory for delivering our scarecrows to the city and providing the instructions for the set up.

Drive Thru Scarecrow Alley
All the scarecrow entries were set up nearby the Santa Clarita Aquatics Center but due to COVID, visitors were only allowed to drive thru for viewing. I guess that’s why they called it, Scarecrow Alley. No wagon rides or pony rides or walking the displays.

More Scarecrow Contests of the Past

Before closing down back around 2016, the most popular scarecrow contest here in Santa Clarita was at Lombardi’s Ranch. We were all so disappointed there were no more local scarecrow contests to enter so when we heard about this new contest sponsored by the City of Santa Clarita, we went right to work!

Yes, we were thrilled to win first place but of course that was never the goal. The goals was to teach the children about scarecrows while having fun at the same time. Even our youngest kids know what a scarecrow is, even if they can’t quite pronounce the words. That’s a success right there!

Thank you to the City of Santa Clarita and those responsible for hosting this fun event and we hope to do it again in 2021!

Home Child Care in Valencia, CA

If you’re in search of quality child care here in Santa Clarita, contact us to check for openings. We are often full, but it’s best to get on our waiting list for future openings. Please call or text me directly and I’ll get back to you promptly.

Mary Gregory
661-210-7617