diy paint splattered bowls

 

We made these super cool bowls for our Mother's Day gifts. Thy turned out so ridiculously happy and cool that I think I am going to do them again next year. It may be our classroom thing.

First we had to shape our bowls. Our bowls are made of sculpey clay. Each kiddo used half of a small sculpey block to create their bowl. To begin, they were given the clay and encouraged to play with it to soften it up. Then they placed their piece of clay between two layers of wax paper and used a rolling pin to squish it as flat as they could get it. Some of the children asked for help when it came to flattening their clay. The sculpey is a bit hard compared to play dough. After they flattened their clay they then used their hands and fingers to shape it into a bowl. The idea was to create a small catch-all for mama's keys, coins, or jewelry. The bowls were places on a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper underneath. I wrote their names below their bowls and attached a small piece of masking tape with their names as well. The tape would come off before baking and was placed just in case the bowls got mixed up in transit. I took the bowls home to bake according to the instructions on the package and they came out gorgeous! Sculpey, while the not the most price-friendly option made for a really pretty and modern looking bowl. The clay bakes to a matte finish. It's really cool!

We painted the bowls and our gift wrap two days later. This was done two weeks before Mother's Day as one never knows what they day may bring in preschool. To paint our bowls I set up a splatter paint station in our room, using a large vinyl tablecloth as a backdrop. As a group we discussed what colors were were going to use (keeping it to three) and decided on gold, pink, and black. The kiddo in my class love the gold paint! As the children played about the room, I would ask them if they were ready to paint their bowls. We would place their bowl onto our large sheet of white paper and they would get to splattering away. This was a first for all of my kiddos and they had a blast. Before each would have a turn we would look at our paper and decide what section needed paint and the kiddo would place their bowl in that section. Doing this one at a time created a special activity for each child, yet knowing that the happy paint splattered paper was a result of all of their efforts created a feeling of group effort and community. The next day the children flipped their bowls over and got to more splattering.

We wrapped our bowls the last day of class before Mother's Day. Before we cut the paper, the children had to measure to see if they could fit their bodies on it. We used photos to document their scientific discovery and they may have had more fun lying on the paper than painting it. For wrapping their bowls, we used tissue paper (they chose their tissue color) to wrap the bowl first. I explained to the children that their bowls were very precious and delicate like glass. They took me very seriously and wrapped them up oh-so-carefully. I added pre-torn pieces of hot pink scotch tape to the table edges for the children to tape up their packages. The tape did not have a dispenser and the children have a trying time getting the tape off themselves. Those that can and wish to do their own tape tearing and/or cutting.

 

 

 

So there you have it! Our paint splattered bowls that we made back in May for Mother's Day. Happy splatters, pretty bowls, lovely wrapping, and joyful kiddos. This can totally be an anytime project!

paint a wooden ornament {and wrap it up!}

 

Blank wooden ornaments can be found at most craft stores. Usually fairly priced as $2 or $3 they can pack a lot of punch without breaking your piggy bank. If you pick them up now for next year you can get them for under fifty-cents (I need to do this)!

 

 

 

Use acrylic paints for the ornaments and let your kiddos choose two or three colors. I had the children at school pick two similar colors and we added white. We are always talking about the color wheel and complimentary colors. For this project we first talked about warm and cool colors and then the children got to decide of they wanted warm or cool colored paint for their ornaments. Young children love to mix paint together and they will mix any and all colors they can. This is science at its best and the children have ample opportunity to mix away in the classroom For this project however we focused on our colorwheel and went with colors that would not muddy up.

Use wax paper to lay the ornaments down to dry. The ornaments won't stick too much and any drippy paint will be left on the paper and not on your table. If we had any glitter left, I am certain the children would have glittered their ornaments up. Even without, the ornaments are snazzy, don't ya think?

After the ornaments were dry, it was time to wrap them up. We used plain white paper (their painted wrapping paper was a gift to take home) and washi tape. I placed each ornament on its own sqaure of paper and had the children fold and crease their presents. They chose which washi tape they wanted to use and I helped them tear off pieces in the size they indicated.

Next up was yarn. They chose the yarn and I tied it around their presents  (unless they wanted to o it) as they hit up the giftwrap table for a bow. After peeling off the back paper they stuck their bow where they wanted and proudly posed for a photo before running the present to their cubby. So cool!

mother's day make: pom-pom magnets

 

This super fun and quirky-cute project packs a whole lot of color into a little box. Your grade-school kiddos can whip these up in a day and may even wish to make some for themselves. No fancy gadgets needed! All you need is a handful of colorful yarn, scissors, strong glue, and button magnets.  Check out the diy over at scrumdillydilly.

valentine's day: straw crazy!

With a few supplies, you kidlet can whip up a series of necklaces or garlands, their choice!

Materials:

*twine or yarn
*scissors
*straws (save your straws!)
*glue stick
*paper punch
*scrap paper

scrumdilly-do it!

Hand your wee one a pair of kid friendly scissors and let them go to town cutting up a handful of straws. This is a great project for recycling them straws you've collected out and about! If your wee one is really wee, cut each straw into two or three pieces so that they can lace them safely (with supervision).

Start your tot off by either tying one of of the string to a piece of straw or anchoring a loop between two punched shapes (tape off the end if it is too floopy to easily thread through the straw beads). If you tie off, make sure to leave extra room at the other end so you can knot up the finished fancy-pants piece!

For the punched shapes, make sure the twine is sandwiched between the two with a healthy does of glue stick.

For the lacing, let them go to town. You can talk all sorts of math and science during this as your kidlet creates seriation and patterns in their stringing. Alternate if you like between the shapes and the straw beads.

Package them up in small tins, stitched bags, plastic bags, half a cardboard tube decorated and capped off. there's all sorts of fun ways your wee one can gift these to friend, family & teachers!

more fun with cornstarch clay

If you are a regular reader, you will have maybe, just maybe hopped on over to Craftzine to see my recipe for cornstarch clay and maybe, just maybe, you have checked out my most recent for the do post on clay rubbings. Here's a nifty take on continuing the fun, you know, just in case those boredom blues are still going on.

You will need:
*batch of cornstarch clay or other clay suitable for baking
*fun objects from around the house (beware of possible choking hazards)
*watercolor, food color or other thinned paint
*scratch paper or soft white paper. printer paper is fine
*cookie cutters
*cookie sheet
*string, yarn, or other length of lacing

scrumdilly-do it:

This is what you do after you have already finished with the clay and crayon rubbings. Remove the objects from the clay.Mix up a batch of liquid watercolor or add some water to food color and have your wee one paint up their imprinted clay.Place a sheet of paper over the painted clay to lift a print. Wipe down with a damp sponge for another color combo, etc.Once your tot is finished with the painting and printing, pass out the cookie cutters and have him or her cut out some shapes. Preheat your oven to 250F. Use a straw or pipecleaner to make holes near the tops of each shape. Place on a cookie sheet and bake until hard (at least thirty minutes). The paint will have set and the holes will have shrunk up a little but they should still be large enough to string.Make pendants, keychains, bead chains, etc. Make small clay shapes and adhere to plain cuff-links or tie clip for Father's Day gifts. Most of all, have fun and be safe. Children under three should be supervised and only an adult should take care of the baking.

Don't throw that away-strawberry baskets

We don't often come by these nifty little gems these days but if you get your berries from a local stand or farmer's market, you just may be lucky enough to score some! There is much you can do with a strawberry basket. Today, we will show you how to make a Mother's Day pendant or brooch!What you need:
*green strawberry basket
*ribbon, lace and string scraps
*pom-pons, buttons, sequins, etc.
*pipe cleaners
*paper scraps
*sandpaper
*glue
*glitter
*pin-backs if making brooches
*scissorsscrumdilly-do it!

First off, this project is most easily done with a strawberry basket but can be adapted using cardboard, styrofoam, cereal boxes or other material. Use this project as a guideline and have fun experimenting!

Cut up your basket into parts. You can cut it into five or more parts, depending on how big your wee one wants his/her surface space to be. You will be setting up materials for weaving which is perfect for working those fine motor skills. If your kidlet is easily frustrated and not ready for such an activity, prep one side of a cereal box for them by cutting out areas they can implement into a weaving project of their own.If you are going to make a pendant, make sure all "pointy" bits are trimmed. If your wee one is insisting on gluing away,please sand the surface of the basket piece a bit so that the glue has something to hold onto. Otherwise, the glue will peel off. You may want to encourage your kidlet to glue after everything else is in place. Pass out the small pieces and set out all the bits and trim and let your wee ones weave away. They can use paper cut or torn into strips,ribbon, yarn, string and pipe cleaners. They can weave, twist, turn or tie. The possibilities are endless! Next up, add some sparkle, buttons, pom-pons, you name and set aside to dry.Loop a length of ribbon or string through the top of the pendant to create a necklace. Glue a pin-back to the back of the pendant with a super strong glue like E-6000 if using as a brooch. Make sure you do the super gluing yourself. Never EVER let your wee ones use the powerful glues!Wrap your giftie up in a brown paper bag decorated with your wee one's artwork and handiness and you are as good as gold! Don't forget to take pictures and send them to us to be featured on "the 'do!"