gingerbread men round 2

This year the children whipped up their own puffy paint to paint their gingerbread men and/or houses with. After reading more than a dozen recipes for diy puffy paint I came to the conclusion that the ratios did not need to be exact and that all you needed was salt, flour, baking soda, and a little water (plus liquid water color).

 

We mixed up our paint at circle time. Each kiddo was given a small container and spoon on one of our white plates (I LOVE these plates). Then I talked about the paint we were going to make and how it was a recipe. We've been working on recipes almost every week. The children took turns scooping out their desired amounts of the ingredients and got to mixing.

There were a lot of comments when the children found their paint to be too thick or too thin. After a little experimenting they each came up with their perfect pot of paint.

 

I poured the paint into small squeeze bottle that made it difficult for the children to get all squeeze happy. They really had to work those squeezing muscles!  Even though they each mixed up their own color we talked about sharing the paint with the rest of the class and how we could accomplish that through kind words and questions.

 

While I love the idea of using real candy to decorate their cardboard people and houses (like we did last year) I wanted for them to make something that could possibly be kept without attracting critters. To remedy this I spent one television program using various paper punches and a paper pad of holiday paper from Michael's to punch out circles, stars, and hearts of various sizes.

 

 

The children delighted in their creations and use oodles of thinking skills when they realized their paint would not puff up when we cooked it  (pop into microwave and cook for 20 seconds or so)if it was covered in paper. I loved seeing and listening to their collaborations and discoveries. Some layered circles and told me it was like "Disky" back from when we did our Kandinsky study, while others talked about shapes, size variations, and practiced their one to one correspondence with one paper shape to each blob of paint that they then counted out.

I mean, lookie how happy these creations are (blurry photos and all)! I used a template the mister made for me last year. I need to transfer to the computer so you all can have a copy if ya like.

Also, the clean up was so pretty I had to take a picture of it as well. We kept the paint out and available for the day. Oh my goodness! I just realized the sticky bottles of paint are in a zip bag somewhere in the casa...where did I put them?  I better find them before they get super ickified! Yikes! Enjoy!

diy beaded fireworks

This is a patriotic take on a project I originally posted for Valentine's Day. You can turn this into a fun color sorting project by having your kiddos sort out the red, white, and blue beads from a random bead assortment. I picked up my beads a few years ago from a craft store. You can use assorted beads, pony beads, or perler beads even. If your beads are clear, you will want to stick with white, pearl, or silver pipe cleaners.

Materials:

*pipe cleaners

*assorted beads

*plate or tray for sorting 

Step 1: Sort out the colors you wish to use, for the fireworks we used red, white, and blue beads.

Step 2: Hook one end of a pipe cleaner.

Step 3: Thread on a bead and push it to about two inches from the hooked end.

Step 4: Continue adding beads. The opalescent pipe cleaners are bulkier than the foil so beads with smaller holes will not thread onto them.

Step 5: Thread on a small tight fitting bead when you are about an inch from the end. This will keep the beads from falling off.

Step 6: Twist up the end tail for added protection and hang in a happy place!

 For kicks you might try using one of those GIANT pipe cleaners and larger wooden beads or painted pasta noodles. Ooh...that has given me an idea!

make a marshmallow garland

This super easy garland project can be whipped up with even your young twos and threes. A plastic needle is extra long and should both prevent poking and swallowing. This project will work those fine motor skills and get the creative juices flowing when given a variety of marshmallows and straws to play with. If you talk to your kiddo about creating a pattern with their straws and marshmallows you've just added math to the mix. Here's what you need.

Marshmallow and Paper Straw Garland

*large marshmallows

*plastic needle

*waxed dental floss

*paper straws

*two pony beads or buttons

*scissors

Gather up your marshmallows and pop them into a pretty bowl or two. Hand your kiddo a pair of scissors (if they're scissors ready) and let them cut up their paper straws. Set the cut straws into their own happy bowl and set aside. I have found paper straws at Michael's, Target, and online. If you cannot find paper straws, plastic straws will work and can be found in many different colors.

 Thread your plastic needle (I found mine at Michael's) with a long length of dental floss that has been double knotted. You want to use dental floss to keep the line as unsticky as possible (it will still be gooey as marshmallows are magically gooey). The plastic needle will easily poke through the marshmallow and is sturdy enoug for little fingers to thread through the cut star pieces. Tie one of your buttons or beads to the end and get to threading. Here is where the patterning comes in. You can ask your kiddo to create  a pattern of two or three and then have them thread it. As they thread the pattern (red, green, marshmallow) talk about repeating and patterning. Use their example but mix it up and see if they can find the mix-up. 

 Once finished, tie off the other end with the remaining bead or button. Hang in a happy place. Merry Christmas! 

turn those scrubby sponge snowflakes into ornaments

The plan for the scrubby sponge snowflakes really wasn't to make ornaments or anything specific but more of a printing project to keep little hands busy. Once I cut them out I thought they would make nifty ornaments and then I thought what if I wrapped yarn around them so they would look kinda like the apples in one of my most favorite fabric prints and so I went for it. What makes this even more nifty is that my small batch o' ornaments became the art for he december bed. I see many more of these ornaments in my future.  So here is how you do it.

Create your scrubby sponge snowflakes and cut about five notches into the edges all the way around. These notches will help anchor the yarn in place and allow you to hang your ornaments without using any tape or staples! 

 Cut a length of yarn at least 18" long and pop one end into a notch and begin wrapping using the other motches to hold the yarn in place. Ask your kiddos if they think they can create a star as they wrap. 

To create ornaments for your tree, loop off the final end piece and hang or give the yarn a knot that can be pushed onto an ornament hook. Easy peasy! 

 To create this wall hanging, tie five or so ornaments to a wooden spoon or nifty stick using various lengths of yarn. Use another length of yarn or fishing line tied to both ends as the hanger. If using a stick, make sure it is free of debris, visible fungus and/or critters. I banged my stick around in hopes of evacuating any wee beasties and then submerged it in water and set it outside to dry. As it turns out, there may or may not be a wee wood beetle in residence. The mister swears he can hear it, I choose to pretend he did not say that. 

Enjoy! 

diy glittery gelt

I know, I know...chocolate gelt is a favorite of the kiddos but why not make your own glittery gelt with some tinfoil, gue, crepe paper streamers and glitter? It won't go stale and can be used for the entire season! 

Glittery Gelt

*tinfoil

*mod podge

*crepe paper streamers or tissue paper

*glitter

*paintbrush

*large circle punch or scissors

Gather up an assortment of crepe paper streamers or tissue paper and let your kiddos go to town tearing or cutting a pile of colorful bits, both will get those small motor skills moving. Place on a tray or plate and set aside.

Tear out a large sheet of tinfoil and set it up in a spallter friendly workspace. Hand your kiddo a paintbrush and a shallow dish of mod podge or watered down glue and let them get to covering up their foil a la tin foil festive. Once they are delighted with the color party hand them a glitter shake and stand back! Set aside to dry.

Once dry, fold a section of foil over itself and punch out a series of circles. If you do not have a punch, trace or draw a series of circles over folded bits of foil about the size of a half dollar and cut out with scissors.

The crimping from the paper punch and/or scissors will lightly hold together the double circles. Gently pry apart and slather on some glue or mod podge, sandwich the foil circles back together and give them another coat of mod podge. Set aside to dry.

 Once your glittery bits are dry, gather them up, grab a dreidel, it's game time! These glittery coins are great for play money or fairy money even. Not the best idea to hand to kiddos under three as they might be too tempted to take a bite or swallow and that would be bad. I'm thinking these glittery bits would also make a nifty garland. In fact, I jsut might do that...stay tuned! 

make a dreidel garland

Have any neckties up for grabs? Turn those bits of swanky silk into a nifty dreidel garland. This fun project is easily created with scissors and glue. Here's what ya need:

Dreidel Garland

*eight neckties (old or thrifted)

*scissors

*tacky glue

*clothespins

*ribbon

 Gather up your neckties. I used eight to celebrate each day of Hanukkah but you can choose to use more or less. A single necktie would make a lovely dreidel decoration that can be hung on a doorknob or wall. I collected my neckties from various friends and thrift stores.  If your child is on the wee side (say younger than eight) you will want to cut the fat end of each necktie away from the rest. About eight inches is a good measure. If your child is scissors capable, they can cut off the skinny end of each tie about six inches long. If you wish to add some math fun to the mix, have them use a ruler to measure and a piece of chalk for marking. Mark on the back part of the tie in case the chalk decides to linger. 

Flip each large tie piece over and have your child draw a line of glue along the top cut edge. Tacky glue works best but you can use good old fashioned school glue as well. If you liberated the fat end of the tie before the simple stitch that holds all the folds in place you may wish to add a dab of glue or so to the folds as well. Once the glue is along the cut end, carefully fold the edge over and use a pair of clothespin to anchor until the gue dries. All those layers of silk and such will want to pop away from the glue so don't forget the clothespins. If you do not have clothespins, use a sheet of wax paper on top of the glued bits and plop a large book or two on top until dry.

 After all of the now almost-dreidel shapes have been glued it is time to make the dreidel tops. Pick up a cut skinny end, draw a line of glue along the cut end and fold over but not all the way to the edge. Next, add a blob of glue along the new bottom, flip over and center onto the back of the dreidel shapes. Rearrange the cothespins to anchor down the tops and set aside to dry.

 Once dry, cut a length of ribbon and thread each dreidel onto it. Hang in a happy place and enjoy! 

Make a Retro Tissue Tree

 When I was growing up, Christmas and Christmas decor was always a bit of a big deal in my house. There are things that only came out at Christmas time that while now long gone, still stick clearly in the noggin. From my mother's winter window ledge display (handmade by her) to our homemade salt dough ornaments (now lone gone) these iconic holiday goodies are what makes Christmas Christmas. Sadly, most of these treasures have been lost (along with my dear, quirky, mother) but a few are still around and today I am going to show you a redo of a Christmas Wall Hanging my sister made back in the 1960s, when she was six years old. For this version, you'll need to scrounge around for some items you may already have and pick up a small piece of burlap to begin, are ya ready?

Materials

*cardboard (cereal box or other thin board is fine)

*piece of burlap (my finished piece is about 8"X11")

*paint

*sponge

*straight edge

*clothespins or paper clips

*crepe paper (streamers are fine)

*white glue

*scissors

*sparkly pipe cleaner

*vintage button, pin or earring

*yarn

*tape

*sewing machine (optional)

 

Grab your cardboard and cut it down to a manageable size. The original tree is about 10"X12", I repurposed a stuffing mix box (from Turkey Day) and simply cut out the front, it measures about 8"X10".  Cut your burlap down to size about 2"-3" larger all around than your cardboard. Smother your cardboard with glue (the blank side) and center your burlap over it. Place a sheet of wax paper on top and a stack of books to weigh it all down and set is aside to dry. Once the burlap is dry, give it a whirl through the sewing machine, going around all four sides using a running stitch. I ended up doing this after the tissue tree was finished which is fine but you may wish to get a go on it first. You do not need to be it will help keep the burlap in place and give it a little extra incentive to not unravel too much.

While the glue is drying, have your kiddos select up to three (harmonious) colors of crepe paper or streamers. Streamers are great for crafting as they are inexpensive and have multiple uses. My sister's tree used three shades of green. My redo involved a bit of a modern twist on colors. Keep the palette simple which is why I suggest limiting it to three colors. Once they have their colors selected, hand them some scissors and let them cut of squares of streamer into a shallow dish. Set aside.

 While your kiddo is cutting up crepe paper, grab the other side of the box you repurposed (or any piece of cardboard) and cut out a triangle shape for your tree. This is where the straight edge comes in. This part is for grown-ups ONLY. When the glue is dry on your cardboard, clip your tree stencil to the front using paper clips or clothes pins.

Grab a small sponge or cut a clean sponge into a small square and give your paint a squirt onto a lid or other flattish container. Have your kiddo dab the sponge into the paint then onto their burlap. Have them use an up and down motion. This doesn't have to be even, this is more of a guide for the tissue paper and a nice bit of color for any spots that go unnoticed. Set aside to dry, it shouldn't take long,

Pour a small amount of glue onto a lid or other small flat dish or tray and have your kiddo grab a square of tissue and crumple it into a ball. Dab the tissue ball into the glue then place onto the edge of the triangle/tree. Continue until the tree is outlined. They may wish to use all one color or randomly mix it up, either way is fine, it is their tree.

 

Once the outline of the tree is finished, they may continue adding tissue balls until the entire tree is finished. Refill glue as needed. To create the trunk, fold one square in half twice to make a smaller squarish shape.

Once the tissue tree has been completed, give your button/earring/pin a healthy does of tacky glue and glue to the top for the tree's star. 

Next, grab your sparkly pipe cleaner and cut into four pieces varying the lengths. This will become your tinsel. Bend and shape if you wish and give each piece a good dose of glue before pressing down. Set aside to dry. Pipe cleaners and glue can be tricky as the pipe cleaner takes a while to warm up to the glue. Make sure your kiddo has something else to do next so that they do not fiddle with the pipe cleaner pieces.

Once everything is dry, use a large pin or needle to gently tug away the extra strands of burlap from the edges. They should unravel fairly easily. Your kiddo will probably like this part. Lookie at the happy fringe! Use scissors to trim if you need to.

Flip the whole thing over and tape a length of yarn to the back (one legnth of tape at each end of the yarn). I braided up my yarn, you do not have to. You can also use ribbon or twine. If you like, glue a happy paper backing to your board first so that you are not greeted with a product picture (I kinda like the product picture, it will give you a retro feel in about twenty -years or so). Have your kiddo sign and date the back as well. 

 Find a happy place to hang and admire. Now go bake some Christmas cookies! This project uses up all sorts of nifty developmental elements for your kiddo; scissor cutting, measuring, practicing the up and down of the sponge painting, small/fine motor skills during the balling and glueing, patterning and color fun in selecting their colors and shape recognition using "circles" in the triangle. This is a less than open-ended project but has its bits of usefulness in preparing your kiddo for following instructions, planning their vision within a set of instructions and using up all those nifty skills they are developing. I hope you enjoy this project and if you do make a tissue tree, please add it to the flickr group and/or email me an image and link and I'll add you to the 'do! Happy crafting!