Art Lesson with Kids: Unity and Variation in Painting Seashells

I've been thinking a lot about how the similarities in the things God has made help to make the world beautiful.  Diversity is an important element too, but without unifying elements, the world would be aesthetically jarring.  

The kids and I were looking at seashells the other day...noticing how pretty they look together.  We talked about the ways they are different, but also the things that they have in common that make them look like they belong together.

Succulents in Seashells: Kid's Craft

I never used to care much for succulents.  Deciduous leaves and lots of flowers just seemed more alive.  Ever since moving to drought-ridden Texas though, where dry weather plants reign, succulents have really grown on me. 

 Or maybe it's just because they have become trendy, and I'm more of malleable to popular opinion than I like to think.  

At any rate, they really are great, aren't they?  So many textures. So many fun names.  (baby toes!) So un-plant-like sometimes.  Not to mention the fact that they're adorably juicy...it makes you just want to squeeze their little leaves!  

Make Homemade Paper with Party Streamers

If your party storage bin is anything like mine, it includes a few crepe paper rolls that have gotten..ahem...a bit out of hand.

One glance at that sprawling monster with it's gnarly, multi-colored arms is enough to kill the party spirit in me every time.  I swear it must actually move around in the box between birthdays.  And of course, if any of that crumpled crepe paper actually made its way to my walls and ceilings for a party, it would likely make the poor, celebrated child weep at the bedraggled sight of it.

Best just to throw it all away, right?

Well, actually...not so fast.  Here's a terrific use for that colorful, fluffy mess.

Eliza's Cherry Trees: a Cotton Candy Craft

If you've ever been captivated by a flowering tree in the spring or wondered how the cherry trees ended up in Washinton D.C. you should run to go find this wonderful book.

Heart Shaped Granola Bars {Healthy Valentines Treats}

You know what I recommend?  Trial runs for homemade Valentines Day treats!  Ha ha...why not- right?  We did that the other day with these heart-shaped granola bars as I wasn't sure how granola dough would work with cookie cutters.  I'm happy to report that it works just fine (said through tasty granola crumbs).

I vote for making these above actual heart-shaped sugar cookies for the following reasons:

Stained Glass: Kids Medieval Project

When I visited Europe as a child, I remember being struck by the Gothic stained glass windows, and particularly the rose windows found in so many cathedrals- for their symmetry and massive scale.  So this year as we've been homeschooling through the Middle Ages, I found myself wanting to help my children interact a little with the beauty of Gothic stained glass somehow.  

I liked the way this project allowed my children to do their own work but create pieces that were unique and presentable.  I had envisioned helping them a great deal, but found that the the art mediums at both stages of the project were very forgiving.  My six-year-old and four-year-old made their windows almost entirely on their own. I think an older child could include finer detail and could maybe be more creative with the project.

Materials:

Glass rectangle from a small picture frame 
Black fabric puffy paint with a fine tip
Acrylic paints
Clear liquid glue

Blue Glue Batik

I tried this activity from Pink and Green Mama with preschoolers, and it was fun, but I think it would be a fabulous technique to try with older elementary-aged children.  It is important to use blue gel glue.  I tried it with both the typical white opaque and the clear gel with less than satisfactory results.  They both run while they are wet and shrink so much in the drying process that the lines turn into dots.

Leaf Printing for Fall

Before Fall slipped away entirely I wanted to share this project I did with my girls a while back.  Leaf printing on paper is an idea I found in MaryAnn Kohl's fun book Scribble Art.  She recommends using thin paper, but since all my paper was thick and stiff, I decided to try using some old muslin I had left over from another project.

I liked the earthy way the muslin looks behind the prints.  I used watercolor paint because I don't have an intention of washing it, but I think fabric paint would work as well.

Here are some tips I found for making good prints:

- Use sturdy, durable leaves with pronounced veins.  I used white oak.
- Make sure the paint covers the leaf entirely but is not too thick or globby
- Press down the fabric on top of the leaf (instead of the other way around)
- The second print is often the nicest; so try blotting on scrap fabric before printing on the fabric you hope to use

M has been wanting to learn to sew lately; so I think we may turn these into some simple, small pillows.

For more fall project ideas for places without "real" fall leaves see our Fall Stained Glass craft, and painted toast leaves.

Travel Game: I Spy Treasure Bags

Well, we're back.  We lived a crazy three weeks visiting lots of relatives and friends up North, and now we're settling back in to our daily routine.  When I planned this trip I originally had all kinds of good intentions for making busy bags and learning activities to make the time pass like these magnetic puzzles or these fun marble maze bags.

But when it came right down to it, after all the packing and last minute errands I only ended up with about 15 minutes to spare for that kind of thing.  I tried to make the most of it, and in the end, I think we got very good mileage (no pun intended) for the time and effort spent.

I Spy Treasure Bags

First, I brainstormed to come up with a list of things that we were likely to see on our trip but that weren't too common.  Things like:

a moving train

a barn with a silo

horses

a suspension bridge

a car-carrying truck

45 speed limit sign

a school bus

something that said the word "Tennessee" on it

Then I did quick google image searches to find a picture for each item.  I printed off a large size of each picture and pasted them onto lunch bags.  I put treats inside of each bag.

I also cut and pasted all of the images in smaller version onto a single document.  I gave one paper to each girl to refer to as she looked out the window.  If she spotted one of the items she let us know and I found the bag with that picture on it.  Inside of each bag was a set of surprise treats for everyone.  Some of the bags had food treats (fruit leather, granola bars, etc).  Other bags had little toys or books.  

Since we were going to be on the road for almost three days straight, I waited until the second day to introduce the I Spy Bags.  It took the girls longer to spot the items that I thought it might, which ended up being just fine.  It spread the treats out over two days, and until the last item was spotted they always had something they could do.  

I think they noticed a lot more scenery than they might have otherwise, and learned a few things along the way.  (now they know what a suspension bridge is, for example!)

What other fun travel games or tips for road trips with kids have you tried or heard of lately?  On our next road trip, little J will likely be old enough to get restless and we'll have THREE fidgety kids on our hands!

Sticker Resist T-Shirts

Ever since I discovered the fun sticker and tape resist art technique that bloggers like Putti  Prapancha have featured, I've been giddy with all the possibilities.  We've done thank you cards, and tape resist collages, and just yesterday we tried our hand at sticker resist t-shirts.

Michaels has been had some pretty decent t-shirt sales, and I bought up a bunch of them the other day.  I got out our big pot of foam alphabet stickers and let the girls dig through to find the letters of their name.  We made sure that the stickers were pressed on nice and firm and that the names were centered decently well.

Then I got out the acrylic and fabric paints we happened to have around the house (acrylic paint works just fine on fabric, by the way...the only real advantage of fabric paint is the softness and flexibility) and told the girls to dab on colors close to the foam stickers.

They needed to guidance (and help in little G's case) getting the paint into all the little corners and crevices, but we got there eventually.

Since the girls like using lots of paint, I let it dry for about 4 hours before I ventured to take off the stickers.  I think next time, I would choose slightly larger alphabet stickers, but mostly, we were pretty happy with our t-shirts.  I like how they look kind of like a celebration of children's arts and crafts.

Excuse the bed heads on our top picture; we were excited to try them on as soon as the girls got up this morning. :)

Sharpie Tie Dye Method: 10 Tips

The Sharpie Tie Dye method is not at all original to me.  I've seen it around Pinterest a lot, and as far as I can tell the first person to do the sharpie tie dye method was Steve Spangler Science. But it was the first time for us, and we enjoyed the results so much I just have to share!

What worked well for us:

1.  Use small cups and a rubber band that fits tightly.
2.  Experiment with the different sharpie colors.  Some bleed more than others.  Some leave a more distinct line.  (We found that our blue pens didn't bleed much, but the purple and yellow spread quite far)
3.  Use a paintbrush to dab on the rubbing alcohol rather than a eye dropper .  The color bleeding is easier to control if you use less alcohol.  Only use rubbing alcohol that is 70% alcohol or higher.
4.  Wait for the alcohol to dry almost completely before you remove the rubber band.  If you remove it too soon the colors will bleed beyond the circle.
5.  Pay attention to what colors are next to one another.  Those colors will mix, and it is too easy to end up with ugly browns if you don't pay attention.
6.  Leave lots of white space between colors.
7.  Symmetry in the sharpie design makes for a more attractive circle.
8.  Flower designs look especially pretty.
9.  When you are done with one circle, start the next circle in a very different part of the fabric.  If your rubber band cinches a circle that is still wet, it will mess up the design.

10.  There is lots of patience and waiting required for this craft.  Watch a movie at the same time so you don't get impatient!


Have you tried the sharpie tie dye method yet?  What tips could you share?  We'll probably be doing this again, and would love to have some new ideas.  

DIY Suncatchers with Clear Glue

I was thinking the other day about the Elmer's glue suncatchers my aunt used to make with my cousin when she little.  I had been trying to think of something colorful and a little translucent we could make them with when I noticed some pretty and bright drinking straws at the grocery store.

Here's what we did:

First, we filled a yogurt container lid with clear Elmer's glue. You can use the regular opaque kind also, but it won't be perfectly clear when dry.  (Even toddlers love squeezing the glue bottle)

Then we cut up the straws into little pieces.  (Be prepared for the straw pieces to "jump" around when you cut them. )

You can arrange the straws in a design or just sprinkle them randomly.  It will look prettiest if you fill as much of the lid as possible.

Set to dry.  It will take several days, maybe even a week, to harden.  Pull the suncatcher out of the plastic lid.  It may curl a little after you take it out.  If so, you can put it under a heavy book for a couple of hours to flatten it out.

Use a needle to push a piece of thread through the top of your suncatcher and attach to a suction hook so that you can hang it on a window.  So pretty!

For another drinking straw activity, try using them with playdough!

Straw-Blown Painting

Well, I have to admit:

My two-year-old couldn't do this activity at all.  (She can't blow through a straw yet, apparently)

My four-year-old did this activity with difficulty (her blowing  isn't super strong)


But I loved doing it!  (aside from a little light-headedness from blowing so hard :-) ) and I thought the results were very pretty.

It might be a good art technique to explore with an older child, or possibly a preschooler with a little more wind-power.  (My four-year-old is pretty dainty)

We used tempera paint which made for a very interesting texture and marbled effect.  But Anna at  The Imagination Tree used watercolors which I imagine might be a little easier to for a preschooler to blow around on the page.  We may have to try watercolors next time!

Ten Activities with Sticky Notes

Looking for something new to do today?  If your craft cabinet has as many random pads of sticky notes as mine does you can try one of these fun activities:  

Sticky Note Quilts (Sweet Vintage)

Mosaic (G Prime)

Building with Sticky Note Pads (Ready, Set, Read!)

Heavy and Light Activity (A Little Learning for Two)

Writing with Glue 

Crosswords (Having Fun at Home)

Treasure Hunt (Mummy Mum Mum)

Love Bugs (Inner Child Fun)

Lion Craft (Having Fun at Home)

Kissing Flip Book (Inner Child Fun)

Or, if you want something really simple for a beginning reader, try "reading the house."  (Label various objects with their names and let your child find each one and read it) Thanks, Busy Kids= Happy Mom!

And, here's one more "bonus" activity that I accidentally left off earlier.  This one uses alphabet post-its!

Letter Pad Name Spelling (Toddler Approved)

Collaborative Art: Watercolor Resist Collage

Here's a project that my four-year-old and two-year-old both participated in, and I think would have worked well if we had a wider age range too.

Patterns in Nature: a Book and a Craft

I've often enjoyed how the patterns and shapes in nature mirror one another.  That's the idea behind the beautiful picture book Shapes and Patterns in the Natural World. 

Melty Beads Crafts

Have a million melty beads that you're not sure what to do with? Check out my post Melted Bead Projects to Create with Children at Quirky Momma for instructions on these three ideas:

 Melty Bead Bowl

Melty Bead Nightlight 

Melty Bead Vase

Pasta Magnets

 

 When we were at the Asian grocery store the other day I spotted this fun bag of floral  pasta that I just had to buy because I knew it would be good for something or other.

Today I remembered that I also had some alphabet noodles I had picked up on clearance at HEB. Since we were having a neighbor girl over to play this afternoon, it seemed the perfect time to plan a project.

To dye the pasta, I squeezed a healthy amount of food coloring into containers with the pasta and then added a few splashes of rubbing alcohol.  I stirred, and then let them soak for about 10 minutes and then poured onto a paper towel to dry (took about 20 minutes to dry completely)

The easiest way to make the magnets was to peel the backing off of adhesive-backed magnet sheets and arrange the pieces of pasta on the stickiness (it held them just fine).

But for those who wanted a white background, I let them use a small amount of Elmer's clear glue (administered with a toothpick)

I really liked the rows of colorful flowers- would have been a good project for teaching patterns as well!