While away the days of summer....

...with an air tent! This is something my brother used to do in the summer with me. We would build it in the yard and then sleep in it...those were the days! It is easy to do, though you need to really make sure everything is secure as you don't want any tent catastrophes, and it is so refreshing you just may want to nap in it as well!

What you need:
*an electric fan, a box fan works best
*an extension cord (if you are building it outside
*two layers for the tent, worn vintage sheets work, the lighter the better
*rocks, bricks, books and/or other objects to anchor the tent
*masking tape or painters tape instead of the objects (might not hold as well)
*space to "build"

scrumdilly-do it!We set up our tent out doors and discovered that the small wonky fan we had was not the most stable of fans so I had to anchor the fan down do it wouldn't tip over. The first things you do is lay out the floor layer. We used a tablecloth that was a good deal smaller than the top of our tent. This size difference truly works best for a tent that has lift.

Next, we layered the top sheet over the tablecloth and anchored down three sides with any object we could hunt down.The fan was set up at the open end, smack dab in the middle. We plugged it into the extension cord and turned the fan on, holding our breaths! It worked! Sort of...some adjustments needed to be done.If you can fully seal the three sides of the tent, air from the fan will escape creating less of a lift for the tent ceiling. We moved the edges of the top sheet so that they matched the bottom layer and then we tucked the sheet under the tablecloth to create a seal of sorts. Next, we re-anchored the three sides and turned the fan on once again. We had "lift off!"Crawl into the tent and enjoy your summer day. The colors on our ceiling made for a pretty garden tent. A parachute would probably be the best bet. If you can do this near a wall where you can "build" a tent stabilizer, a piece of rope or twine that is anchored up high on the wall and then anchored to the grass at an angle it would create more support for the roof of your tent. Never leave young children in the tent unattended. Fans are super enticing to small fingers. If the fan tips or falls, it won't hurt anyone (unless it falls on them) but it may startle and that wouldn't be fun.

So there ya go, take a vacation in your backyard, front yard or living room with a nifty hideaway made from two sheets and an electric fan. We used our tent time to create doodle monsters. What are you going to do with yours?

Cauliflower Projects 5 & 6

Another one? I'm telling you, this veggie is more than just tasty! Project Five:
Set out new paper, new brushes and that nifty, nifty core of cauliflower. For this project you are going to have your kidlets paint directly onto the bottom of the core. If you look closely you can see that the top of the core allows for a good grip so that the painted part becomes a stamp of sorts. They can paint it with one color or multiple colors or paint and wash and paint again. Really, just have them paint it.
Have your wee ones paint and then stamp onto their paper. They may want to make a picture, that is fine. If you want to do project six you can have them stamp their blobs a wedge away from each other with no overlapping. Set aside to dry and get ready for the final project!
Project Six:
Cut out each blob your kidlet painted and adhere to dark cardstock.Have your wee ones turn their blobs into monsters, space creatures and animals using the markers. Cut out of dark cardstock so that you have a border around the creatures.Glue to a craft stick or other stick and you now have cauliflower monster puppets! See? I told you this would be nutty. Who knew you could do so much with a cauliflower?

Cauliflower Projects Two, Three & Four

This one involves the leaves of the plant. You can of course do this with any type of non-poisonous leaf. Have fun!

Same set up as before, only hand your wee ones a paintbrush. Get out those leaves and have your wee ones arrange the leaves onto their paper. You may want to tack the leaves down a smidge with a loop of tape or a dot of glue stick.Once the leaves are arranged, have your wee ones paint over the paper so that the leaves act as a stencil. When they are done, remove the leaves and set aside, don't throw them away! If you use a large enough sheet of paper, you have some nifty gift wrap!
Project Three:
Paint with the painted leaves! Huh? Remove the painted leaves from the stenciled picture and flip them over so that the paint side is facing down.Lay on top of a new sheet of paper and press firmly so that an imprint is left behind. Do this until there is no more paint on the leaves and set the leaves aside for project four. Try to use the leaf imprints to create an object, shape or person. Have fun with it!

Project Four:
Make a collage with the painted leaves. I know, nutty, right? Pass out some cardboard cut from cereal boxes or maybe a paper plate, or heavy cardstock and have your wee ones make a painted leaf collage.

You may want to use regular school glue for this one. You can also use pre-cut cardstock folded in half and have them make thank you cards are "just because" cards.

Next up, stamping with the cauliflower core!

Play with your food!

Well, only some of it. The other day I was in the kitchen chopping away at a head of cauliflower when I looked into the scrap bowl and saw all these possibilities. I now bring to you an assortment of projects come to life by this underrated vegetable. Who knows? Maybe your wee ones will actually eat it after all is said and done and painted with, on and around!First up, paint with cauliflower! When you trim all those bits and pieces of for your food making adventures, you end up with a lovely core, smaller bits of stem and some nifty green leaves and such. I've got five projects for you using your scraps so stay tuned! Let's have some fun!

Materials:

*cauliflower scraps

*paper of your choice; recycled, cardboard or paper bags

*paint such as a washable tempera or an acrylic if you're brave

*paintbrushes

*tray or plate or palette for paint

scrumdilly-do it!

Project One:

Set up the workspace with paper and add your paints to the tray or plate. Set out a bowlful of cauliflower scraps and challenge your kidlets to paint a picture using only the scraps.

The best option for this project is the dip and paint.Limit your color palette to a few colors that mix well and you can avoid a glob of brown goo. Set aside to dry and you have a lovely abstract painting.This will also work with other veggie scraps. If you're planning on making veggie scrap soup by all means make the soup instead! See ya tomorrow for more cauliflower fun!

With a tweak, tweak, here...

(photo property of Lydia at Litttle Blue School)

You have got to love this vast, vast world also known as the internet. Check out how blogger Lydia of Little Blue School approached our art in parts project, she added words! Yay Lydia! Read more about it here. Thank you Lydia for sharing this with the 'do. We love sharing so don't forget to share with us what your interpretations of our projects look like. We can't wait!