Eclectic Red Barn: A Floppy Valentine

Monday, February 9, 2015

A Floppy Valentine

Some of you might remember that by the end of the 1980s, the 5¼-inch disks had been superseded by the 3½-inch disks for computers. By the mid-1990s, the 5¼-inch drives had virtually disappeared, as the 3½-inch disk became the predominant floppy disk. The advantages of the 3½-inch disk were its smaller size and its plastic case, which provided better protection from dirt and other environmental risks.

For some of you, you have never seen these disks, for me however, I had lots of them and gave them to my daughter. She wanted to make something out of them. She had had them for some time and over the weekend, had an idea.

Eclectic Red Barn: 3 1/2 floppy disk turned into a Valentine

She was on Pinterest and found two Valentine images to print. I do not know the origin of these prints, but my thanks go out to that person.

She printed them but what to do with it. As a teacher, you don't always have enough funds to buy supplies for your students. How could she use the prints to make a cute Valentine for the students to make.

Behold her floppy disks. Now these disks were different in that they were plastic and could be opened up. She split them open.

Now she had two pieces. She glued one saying to the front and one to the back.

Eclectic Red Barn: Floppy disk turned into a Valentine

It just so happens, that the disk have two holes at the top which made it perfect to add ribbon. You could always use pipe cleaners for this as well.

Once she had the ribbon in, then they could stand them up.

Eclectic Red Barn: Side view of Floppy disk turned into a Valentine

What a great way to use up those floppy disks. She sat them on her desk to see the reactions from her fifth graders. They loved them and asked if they could make these for their parents. Of course, that was the plan all along. Aren't teachers clever?

Sometimes the simple things turn out so cute. I saw that you can still buy these floppies on eBay. You may even find them at garage sales and thrift stores.