The Dream Flag Project, inspired by the poetry of Langston Hughes and the tradition of Nepalese Buddhist prayer flags, is an annual poetry/art/community-connection project for k-12 students. Started in 2003, the project has spread to more than one hundred schools from Portland to Palm Beach. To date, more than 40,000 Dream Flags have been created by students in 34 states of the U.S. and by students in Canada, Australia, Honduras, China, Japan, Costa Rica, Nepal, Rwanda, Kenya, and South Africa.To participate in the project, teachers register on this web site. There is no fee. Students first read poetry of Langston Hughes, particularly his dream poems. Then they create their own dream poems and transfer them onto pieces of 8 ½ by 11 in. cloth. They decorate the cloth in all sorts of ways, and finally attach the Dream Flags to a line - just like the prayer flags. The result is a visual line of color and hope that gets displayed in the school or in other public places.
The annual kick-off on is on February 1, the birthday of Langston Hughes. Culmination activities are in April, National Poetry Month. Dream Flag Lines are completed by the first week in April. The project can take anywhere from 90 minutes to 9 weeks to complete, depending on what a teacher wants to do with it.
The Dream Flag Project website has plenty of resources to help complete the project.