By Kathy Antoniotti
Akron Beacon Journal

The scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, actor, singer and dancer Ray Bolger, almost stole the show 70 years ago as Dorothy’s true blue friend who helped her find the Wizard.

After Dorothy freed him from the pole that held him prisoner, the scarecrow went with her to the Emerald City, where the Wizard granted him an honorary degree of doctor of thinkology.

The origins of the scarecrow are murky, but some historians believe scarecrows have been standing guard in the fields as long as humans have been growing crops.

Scarecrows may have been used along the Nile River to protect wheat fields 3,000 years ago, and Romans took the idea of scarecrows with carved faces to England and Europe.

In medieval Britain, boys acted as live scarecrows, patrolling farms fields and throwing stones at the birds. When it became apparent there weren’t enough children to guard the fields after the Great Plague, farmers invented a clapper to make noise over a large portion of land to scare birds away.
The scarecrow has become a symbol of fall, and even city dwellers use scarecrows to celebrate the season. I made a scarecrow yarn bug using directions and patterns I found at http://makingfriends.com/bug/bug-scarecrow.htm on the Web.

Supplies you will need:
-Orange, gold, brown yarn.
-Sheet of orange craft foam and scraps of yellow craft foam.
-5-inch straw hat.
-2 20-mm wiggle eyes.
-1 2½-inch plastic foam ball.
-1 orange pipe cleaner.
-5-inch square of cardboard.
-1 section of an egg carton.
-Tacky glue.
-Clothespins.
-Scissors.
-Black fine-point marker.

Make a pompom by wrapping yarn around the cardboard at least 100 times. Mix colors or use all one color. Cut a 6-inch piece of yarn and slide it under wrapped yarn. Tie tightly into a double knot. Turn cardboard over and cut completely through yarn on this side. Turn yarn sideways and smooth down strands.

Press the foam ball onto a hard surface to flatten bottom. Glue the bottom of the egg carton section to flattened area. Cover the top and sides of the ball with tacky glue. Separate the strands of the pompom to fit the foam ball. Press pompom into place. Arrange yarn.

Print and cut out the patterns of the feet and hands from the Web site, trace onto orange craft foam and cut out. Glue the egg carton to the foam feet. Glue on wiggle eyes.

Cut the pipe cleaner in half. Glue a hand onto one end of each pipe cleaner. Poke the other ends of the pipe cleaners into the bug for arms. Bend at the elbows. You can use clothespins to hold until the glue dries.

Cut squares of craft foam for patches. Draw dotted lines for stitching. Glue to hat. Glue hat to the head of the yarn bug.