mother's day brooches part 1

This year for Mother's Day I wanted to try something that could be worn outside of Mother's Day and landed on a painted floral pin.

I cut our a variety of flower shapes in different sizes with the idea that the children would select their pieces, smallest to largest...staple them together, then add paint before blinging them out with all sorts of sparkly goodness. This last unpainted flower was my sample. 

We used liquid watercolor to paint the flowers. I demonstrated how to wet the flower by submerging it into a tray of water. A few of the kiddos really got a kick out of that part, so they would paint their flower, submerge it to rinse it off, then paint again.

They came out even better than I had imagined! I think my favorites are of the flowers that got rinsed multiple times. The layers of color are so pretty. Stay tuned to see how they all turned out! I can't remember if I got photos of the children adding their bling or not but I do have final product pics!

mother's day gift wrap

For Mother's Day, the kiddos made sweet Sculpey trinket dishes and watercolor painted wood tags all wrapped up by their own hands. How sweet are these?

mini watercolors with preschoolers

The children painted up these mini masterpieces to go along with our Mother's Day gifts. I cannot post enough how much I love liquid watercolors and kiddos!

We do a lot of painting in my classroom. Much of the time what begins as a glorious riot of color ends as a thick blob of brown. Even the watercolors tend to get so crazy-mixed on their paper that the color is one big muddy mess and the paper has been carved into by the immense pressure three year olds feel a paintbrush needs to have applied to it. This is a process that most all children who paint go through and it while it needs to be played out I also feel young ones can learn and develop gentle nuances when it comes to painting special pictures or with special materials.

I manage this by introducing with awe in my voice how very special the paint or paintbrush or even paper is. These mini masterpieces were created using liquid watercolor fro Colorations. The brushes used were your run-of-the-mill classroom brushes but the paper, aah the paper is super fancy heavy weight watercolor paper (I cannot remember the weight or the name). I only bring out the special paper for special projects and the children know this and treat it with much reverence. By keeping the size of the paper small, the children can focus on creating their masterpiece without tiring out attempting to cover the entire surface of their paper. Before we begin we talk about colors and wonder what the receiver's favorite color is (this is a really great exercise in thinking about others and what they might like. There are many a-ha moments when the children realize that they like pink but their Mom may like yellow. There is a great deal of dialog that follows when we talk about what others may like or enjoy). From there we talk about cool colors or warm colors and develop a two to three color palette that when mixed will not be muddy. When we paint on our watercolor paper I do not water down the liquid watercolors but allow them to be used in their full strength. We place the colors into a small white plastic paint palette which we only use alongside our special paper. Their creations never fail to make me swoon. I cannot wait to delve into the special materials with my new group of students!

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!

make a cupcake liner and coffee filter {sun} flower

Back in November when we had our week of sunflowers, the kiddos make these fun coffee filter and cupcake liner flowers to take home.

 

I set up a table with all the supplies to create sunflowers along with a vase of flowers for inspiration. There were three different colors/prints of cupcake liners, brown coffee filters, tissue paper, sunflower seeds, and gluesticks. The children began with a coffee filter (though some chose not to use one) and layered on their cupcake liners after they flattened them. When they were happy with their layers, they picked a number between one and ten then counted out the corresponding number of sunflower seeds to glue onto the center of their flower-to-be.

 

 

As the glue dried on their flowers, they selected a stick (dried branches from my grapevine) and to paint with green paint they mixed up on their own choosing from a selection of blues and yellow paint (thus revisiting little blue and little yellow). Glitter is always a choice (gotta use those pinching grips) and a wee tissue leaf or two was squished atop the wet paint. Once the stems were dry, the children squeezed out a blob of glue onto their stem and placed their flower where they wanted it. This was a project that focused on following steps with a lot of fun discussion in between.

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.

mother's day make: arted up catch-all

This simple catch-all can be created by even a wee toddler type. As long as she or he can wield a marker, they're good to go. Just make sure to sit with them as they get all artsy on ya. 

Materials:

*one plain or white ceramic dish

*permanent markers 1-3 colors

Place your dish onto a marker friendly surface. This dish here was picked up at Target for $1.99 but you can find similar pieces at your local thrifts, box stores, or maybe even the dollar store. 

 

 

Hand your kiddo a marker and let them scribble or draw away. It's so simple that even the sribblyist marks will pack a punch. If my metallic markers could have been located, I totally would have used those!

 

Add a simple heart and/or the date along the side or bottom and wrap it up in a bit of kiddo arted paper and gift away. This catch-all can hold Mom's or Grandma's favorite bangles or placed on a desk it makes for a great catch-all of paperclips and such. Happy almost Mother's Day! 

from the archives: mother's day

Here are seven fun and easy projects for your kiddos to make for Mother's Day!

*wallet-sized watercolors

*woven pendants

*thumbprint brooch

*beaded garden bling

*yarn wrapped planter

*gluten-free clay pendant

*washi taped vases

make a fingerprint brooch for mother's day

 Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I know this post comes late but I couldn't get pics to you earlier as we had the toddlers make these just this week.

There's a time for open ended art exploration with toddlers and then there's a time for having a very focused goal to the end product. This project is one of the few where I am focused not on the process so much as the product. Not exactly kid focused but still cool, I promise. We approached this as a project for the toddlers to "listen to instructions" and after a leisurely round of playing with the dough, here is what we did. The picks come from my redo as I was unable to get any of the kiddos working their fingerprint magic. 

Materials

*a half batch of porcelain clay

*pin-backs

*glue gun

*watercolor paper

*watercolors

*paintbrush

*small container of water

*small hole punch or fat needle

*pretty paper sacks (optional)

Our awesome toddler teacher made a batch of air dry porcelain from this blog. One half batch made more than enough for fourteen kiddos. We gave each kiddo a ball of dough to play with and when they were ready we broke off a smaller bal and got ready for some smooshing.

 

We used paper plates to flatten the dough into small disc and then had each kiddo press their thumb into the ball. Discs were quickly relocated to a piece of paper with their names written below their dough for some quality air drying time. The dough took a little less than 48 hours to dry fully and took on a slight yellowing which appeared to fade once the dough was totally dry.

 

 

 

Next up, we handed each kiddo a small torn piece of watercolor paper and had them choose two colors of Colorations Liquid Watercolor. When using watercolors with toddlers, I recommend using the liquid watercolors as the cakes need a little more attention than the young uns' generally have. There was a lot of discussion about Mom's favorite color but soon we were off and painting! Set aside watercolors to dry.

Away from tiny curious hands, use a hot glue gun to affix pin-backs to the back of each thumbprint. 

When the tiny watercolors are dry, use a small hole punch to punch two holes into the paper to affix the now super awesome brooch. 

Slip the whole thing in a happy bag with a message for Mom and stand back with a smile! Happy Mother's Day!

flower petal butterflies, part three

 This time we're gonna give 'em a whack or two. If yer handy with a sewing machine, you can then whip them up into a floral scented sachet. If not, use a larger piece of fabric and frame in a painted embroidery hoop.

Materials

*assortment of garden flowers

*2 small pieces of muslin or cotton

*2 small pieces of printed fabric

*newspaper

*board/old cutting board

*hammer/mallet

*rolling pin

*sewing machine or needle and thread

*cotton balls and/or fiberfill of choice

*pinking shears

*lace scraps optional

*dried rose petals or lavender or favorite scented oil

Arrange your petals on top of your muslin to create butterflies. Clickhere to see the first post on how to do this. When arranging petals, think front and back. Add small details first then layer wing petals on top followed by other accents. This way, when you clobber it with the mallet, you'll have two prints for your effort. 

 When satisfied, cover your butterfly with another piece of muslin and gently move to your board or cardboard.

Cover with a couple of sheets of newspaper and place the whole shebang on the ground outside. A hard ground that can take a wallop is best for this part. Before whacking with the hammer or mallet, use the rolling pin to gently roll the paper flat on top of the petals. This will help cement them in place and prepare for the clobber that they are about to get. Now you're ready to whack away! Give the newspaper covered creations a dozen whacks or so. You don't need to hit too hard which is why I would recommend a wooden or rubber mallet before a hammer. If you only have a rolling pin handy, give that a try and roll away.

Remove newspaper and gently peel the fabric pieces back away from each other. If you were successful, you should have two faint butterfly prints in front of you. Yay! 

Add a few details with a permanent marker and layer on top of your printed fabric. Stitch around the perimeter of the fabric leaving a two inch opening. Fill your pillow with flower petals or scent soaked cotton balls. We used a combo of lavender buds and fiberfill. Bring back to machine and continue stitching. Use pinking shears to cut around the edge to create a frilled look. 

 

 Handstitch or glue a loop of lace to the back to hang in your closet or leave as is and place in a drawer. Have your kiddo sign and date the wee pretties and give away for Mother's Day gifts. Yay for pretty!