So in my former life, I was a teacher....I spent the majority of my career teaching Language Arts (reading, writing...grammar when I could sneak it in) to 7th and 8th graders. Actually, not a lot has changed....I'm still teaching a lot of L.A. and the maturity of 2 and 4 year olds *is* a lot like that of 12-15 year olds :)
Anyway, while I was teaching the writing process, I was known for some....out of the box ways to combat writer's block as well as editing and proofreading. One of my favorites was to tell 15 year old boys to lay on the floor and write in crayon. Yep...crayon...worked every time. Well, every time they were willing to try it. There is something paralizing about holding a pencil and staring at a blank page. But while holding a crayon, they're so focused on how rediculous writing with a crayon is that they forget they were stuck and the ideas FLOW!!
Apparently it's the same with little kids. Not so much from a writer's block perspective, but from a it's-really-the-same-activity-but-because-we've-changed-one-thing-Mommy-buys-herself-more-time-to-cook-dinner perspective. My four year old has been coloring and making cards in the afternoon all week. She just made her umteenth card for Daddy, but I wasn't quite finished getting dinner in the oven and I didn't want to turn on the TV for them......so....
Black construction paper and yellow chalk! A whole new world of coloring discovery.
It's the little things.
To steal a line from one of my favorite blogs: "It's great to be a homeschooler." :)
Oh, and sorry there are no pictures of our latest art work. My camera is MIA and my Droid has gremlins...grrr...but that's a different blog post.
Showing posts with label kid craft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kid craft. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
That's What They Tell Me....
Word on the street is that I'm nesting. Well....praise be to God! I'm super glad that I'm pregnant then, because this house is a disaster! Wait....I'm glad I'm preggers because babies are always and only a blessing....yeah, that's right. But this nesting thing is a close second.
We've got a long way to go (especially if we ever plan on letting outsiders in the front door ever again), but every little bit helps....and I'm trying to do a thorough job as I go. I got into this mess because I would clean clean clean...and then "sweep whatever was left under the rug" (ie, in one continuous motion, toss it into my craft room/office and shut the door quickly before anything escaped). Thus, the craft room would be my audition material for "Clean House".
But we're getting there.
Over the last few days, I've set my timer (small children, indecisive thyroid, pregnancy, dogs, husband-who's-a-bigger-pack-rat-than-even-me....I run out of steam quickly) and gone into the office armed with industrial size (ok, maybe not, but the big, black ones) garbage bags and I've been ruthless! My inner crafter and tree hugger had to be bound and gagged a few times, but my love of repurposing is part of what got me into this mess....literally.
It's a little frustrating to spend time, effort and allergies (cleaning kicks up a looooooot of dust around here) and not feel like it even made a dent in the problem.....but then I just go out and look at the big, full garbage bags and I feel better.
And then there's the storage containers....
I FINALLY got through some of the toys in the toy room. I have an awesome storage thingy from IKEA with little pull out tubs of different sizes. I had visions of the girls taking out one tub at a time and making the toy room a little more toddler friendly....they could choose what they wanted and be able to handle it all on their own. Great idea....
So far so good on the clear boxes. Maybe I made a bigger deal of it. Maybe (for now) it's more organized. I've always been a person who will put something away EVERY TIME if there's a clear place for it....it's all the extra "stuff" that I struggle with....and so now....all the extra "stuff" in the toy room is still strewn about waiting to be pitched, donated or settled...somewhere.
In the mean time, the girls have been so excited about the boxes and I've seen them play so well with the "new" toys in the boxes. We've had dinosaur trains, doll birthday parties, tool bench creations and much more. The big one never realized we actually had that many blocks....and the little one feels like such a "big girl" when she can "do self". She's sooo good at putting away!
We've got a long way to go (especially if we ever plan on letting outsiders in the front door ever again), but every little bit helps....and I'm trying to do a thorough job as I go. I got into this mess because I would clean clean clean...and then "sweep whatever was left under the rug" (ie, in one continuous motion, toss it into my craft room/office and shut the door quickly before anything escaped). Thus, the craft room would be my audition material for "Clean House".
But we're getting there.
Over the last few days, I've set my timer (small children, indecisive thyroid, pregnancy, dogs, husband-who's-a-bigger-pack-rat-than-even-me....I run out of steam quickly) and gone into the office armed with industrial size (ok, maybe not, but the big, black ones) garbage bags and I've been ruthless! My inner crafter and tree hugger had to be bound and gagged a few times, but my love of repurposing is part of what got me into this mess....literally.
It's a little frustrating to spend time, effort and allergies (cleaning kicks up a looooooot of dust around here) and not feel like it even made a dent in the problem.....but then I just go out and look at the big, full garbage bags and I feel better.
And then there's the storage containers....I FINALLY got through some of the toys in the toy room. I have an awesome storage thingy from IKEA with little pull out tubs of different sizes. I had visions of the girls taking out one tub at a time and making the toy room a little more toddler friendly....they could choose what they wanted and be able to handle it all on their own. Great idea....
but what we ended up with was kiddie junk drawers. Not cool.
So far so good on the clear boxes. Maybe I made a bigger deal of it. Maybe (for now) it's more organized. I've always been a person who will put something away EVERY TIME if there's a clear place for it....it's all the extra "stuff" that I struggle with....and so now....all the extra "stuff" in the toy room is still strewn about waiting to be pitched, donated or settled...somewhere.
In the mean time, the girls have been so excited about the boxes and I've seen them play so well with the "new" toys in the boxes. We've had dinosaur trains, doll birthday parties, tool bench creations and much more. The big one never realized we actually had that many blocks....and the little one feels like such a "big girl" when she can "do self". She's sooo good at putting away!
Now on to the craft room. I don't have a *real* before picture of the closet....to ugly for capturing. But as you can see in the first picture above, there's a floor now (we (Ben) tore out the shoe ramp in the bottom so there'd be a flat space), but there are still a few hanging items left over from when it was the nursery....as well as some random luggage (see, I don't have a set place for the luggage to go, so I think there's a suitcase, back pack or brief case in just about every room of the house!). But...God-willing...at the end of the day, there'll be a beautiful craft room/kid craft/homeschool materials storage system for me to declutter the world! Well, at least the craft room.
More to come.....
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Stay at home mommy/unschooling moment
So today (and I'm going to have to eat humble pie on this one) I uncovered a book I SWORE (and the poor lady went looking for) I had returned to the library...oops....but I'm glad I found it. I had thought up an idea (after looking at loooots of ideas for crafts with letters...with the grand plan of making an ABC book....not quite there yet).
So we read our book:
And we talked about the rainbow that God sent at the end of the story. M made a rainbow with her body. (she also made a giraffe and an elephant)
Then we got to the business of making our rainbow. This is my new non-toxic paint that I got from Park + Vine. I love it. It smells a little funny, but works great! Gotta get me some more colors!
So the idea was to cut an "R" out of construction paper and have M glue it down, but she was getting impatient...and this was spur of the moment...so Sharpie it is!
Also the idea was to make the rainbow with dots...but again, M had different ideas. I drew lines for S, but let M tackle it on her own.
They had a blast. I had to wipe off fingers from time to time, but all in all, not too bad.
So we read our book:
And we talked about the rainbow that God sent at the end of the story. M made a rainbow with her body. (she also made a giraffe and an elephant)
Then we got to the business of making our rainbow. This is my new non-toxic paint that I got from Park + Vine. I love it. It smells a little funny, but works great! Gotta get me some more colors!
So the idea was to cut an "R" out of construction paper and have M glue it down, but she was getting impatient...and this was spur of the moment...so Sharpie it is!
Also the idea was to make the rainbow with dots...but again, M had different ideas. I drew lines for S, but let M tackle it on her own.
They had a blast. I had to wipe off fingers from time to time, but all in all, not too bad.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Busy Bees
So I had five girls under 4 (yes, UNDER 4....the oldest will be 4 in a few weeks, the next one 4 in Jan, the next one 3 in Oct, then 2 in Feb, and 1 in Sept...did I get that right, Mariah?). We had a great day! I thought we should let Momma know what we'd done today in a fun way. I got this idea from an ABC activity. This was the craft she did for B week. I thought it would be fun to put the bees at the top and write what was fun underneath. Thanks to Amy for the paper!
Sorry there are no shots during the process....I was doing paint on the feet of four little girls (the baby was asleep). In hind sight, I should have done both feet...I was only going to do one bee...but it was super easy to stamp the same foot twice. Also, if I did it again, I'd only paint the big toe and turn that into the stinger or something.
So, it's an upside down foot in yellow. I did three stripes as an example on one and each girl did the stripes on the other one. The eyes are a finger tip dipped in white. Once it dried, I drew the rest of the eyes, the antennae, the mouth and wings with a sharpie.
Then, I asked each girl (except S, I just did hers) what they liked about the day and wrote it below on the lines.
She's showing off her work.
She stood there and read them over and over! It was really sweet.
She wanted one more picture :)
Enjoy!
Sorry there are no shots during the process....I was doing paint on the feet of four little girls (the baby was asleep). In hind sight, I should have done both feet...I was only going to do one bee...but it was super easy to stamp the same foot twice. Also, if I did it again, I'd only paint the big toe and turn that into the stinger or something.
So, it's an upside down foot in yellow. I did three stripes as an example on one and each girl did the stripes on the other one. The eyes are a finger tip dipped in white. Once it dried, I drew the rest of the eyes, the antennae, the mouth and wings with a sharpie.
Then, I asked each girl (except S, I just did hers) what they liked about the day and wrote it below on the lines.
She's showing off her work.
She stood there and read them over and over! It was really sweet.
She wanted one more picture :)Enjoy!
Here's where I saw the idea: http://www.crafty-crafted.com/art-crafts/footprint-bee/
Stick Puzzles
This is a photo calendar (from 2005) of pictures my father-in-law took. I'm such a pack rat. It's nice to repurpose things, but it doesn't help me purge the abundance of clutter :)
So, you have to choose a photo that's smaller or can be cropped to be smaller than a popsicle stick (or get longer sticks, I suppose). In honor of Marlin and Nemo, we went with the clown fish. I wanted it to be a challenge, but not impossible. We're animal and nature lovers, so this was perfect.
So here's my cropped photo. I wanted a bit of the popsicle stick to stick out...you'll see why in a minute.
So Mod Podge. I love this stuff! There's two kinds: gloss and matte. I don't think it would matter which you use for this one....gloss might have made the front too shiny. It works best with foam brushes...which you can get for like $1 a pack...don't buy anything fancy because sometimes they don't wash out well and you have to pitch them when the craft is through.
So mod podge the back of the photo and line the sticks on the MP.
Here's what it looks like with all the sticks glued on.
Next, (this was the brilliant idea of the person whose blog I got the idea from) number the sticks. M can work on number order as well as visual relationship....and she can "check" herself.
So, you have to choose a photo that's smaller or can be cropped to be smaller than a popsicle stick (or get longer sticks, I suppose). In honor of Marlin and Nemo, we went with the clown fish. I wanted it to be a challenge, but not impossible. We're animal and nature lovers, so this was perfect.
So here's my cropped photo. I wanted a bit of the popsicle stick to stick out...you'll see why in a minute.
So Mod Podge. I love this stuff! There's two kinds: gloss and matte. I don't think it would matter which you use for this one....gloss might have made the front too shiny. It works best with foam brushes...which you can get for like $1 a pack...don't buy anything fancy because sometimes they don't wash out well and you have to pitch them when the craft is through.
So mod podge the back of the photo and line the sticks on the MP.
Here's what it looks like with all the sticks glued on.
Next, (this was the brilliant idea of the person whose blog I got the idea from) number the sticks. M can work on number order as well as visual relationship....and she can "check" herself.
Then, cover the front with a layer of MP....word to the wise: Be sure you make even brush strokes! You will be able to see the strokes when you're finished. It just looks better.
This one is of a bonobo ape. The orientation is vertical vs horizontal. And again, fun.
Once it dries (and I don't have a photo of this because I just did the craft tonight), use a straight edge razor blade (or a knife I guess, but be careful!) to cut apart the pieces.
This one is of a bonobo ape. The orientation is vertical vs horizontal. And again, fun.
Once it dries (and I don't have a photo of this because I just did the craft tonight), use a straight edge razor blade (or a knife I guess, but be careful!) to cut apart the pieces.
This is sooooo not a kid-friendly prep craft. It did not take long to do....but really it's a homemade toy, not a craft to do with your kid. I suppose you could have your child pick out the photo and put on the MP and sticks....but it's super anti-climactic to have to wait for it all to dry and you're going to have to do the cutting yourself.
My plan is to store them in plastic baggies for her to use when she chooses.
Enjoy!
Corn Starch Painting
Here's the recipe:
1/4 C corn starch
1/4 C water
6-8 drops food coloring (it all depends on how dark you want the color)
I made blue, green and pink. You have to give it some good stirring....you've got to work it a bit to get the corn starch to dissolve. The blog where I found the recipe (and I need to start noting these things so I can give people credit....I'm really not trying to steal! I just don't always mark where the idea comes from and I don't always do it the same way) said to do 1/2 C each of starch and water....that would just make more. My amount was perfect for about 15-20 mins of painting for two girls.
It went on pretty thin and drippy and dried quickly. When it was dry it looked chalk-ish.
This would be great for a "messy party". It can be pretty doggone messy, but cleans up easily and is way fun! We used real paint brushes as well as foam brushes.
My little corn starch family :) This worked well on cement and black top.
Ok, so it did get a bit messy when S just sat down in it....but it cleaned up so easily.
This one bailed first....but she had fun while it lasted. I think she just likes getting messy.
Dried designs.
Enjoy!
1/4 C corn starch
1/4 C water
6-8 drops food coloring (it all depends on how dark you want the color)
I made blue, green and pink. You have to give it some good stirring....you've got to work it a bit to get the corn starch to dissolve. The blog where I found the recipe (and I need to start noting these things so I can give people credit....I'm really not trying to steal! I just don't always mark where the idea comes from and I don't always do it the same way) said to do 1/2 C each of starch and water....that would just make more. My amount was perfect for about 15-20 mins of painting for two girls.
It went on pretty thin and drippy and dried quickly. When it was dry it looked chalk-ish.
This would be great for a "messy party". It can be pretty doggone messy, but cleans up easily and is way fun! We used real paint brushes as well as foam brushes.
My little corn starch family :) This worked well on cement and black top.
Ok, so it did get a bit messy when S just sat down in it....but it cleaned up so easily.
This one bailed first....but she had fun while it lasted. I think she just likes getting messy.
Dried designs.
Enjoy!
Shape Sorter
Ok, so I got the idea for the shape sorting from one of the blogs I've run across lately. It really didn't take long to set up. I started simple: circle, square, triangle and rectangle. M really already knows these shapes inside and out, but she had a great time working on grouping, sorting and gluing.
I put the glue in a little cup and she used a q-tip to spread it.
I decided to hang it as a mobile...M is really into sand words (that's what the title is) and then we could hang it in the hall so Daddy could see it.
It doesn't have to be difficult or a lot of work in order to be good.
I put the glue in a little cup and she used a q-tip to spread it.
The best part of this was that she could do it all herself. Again, it didn't take long to set up, so I got some time to work on something else and she was happy (and not watching TV).
I decided to hang it as a mobile...M is really into sand words (that's what the title is) and then we could hang it in the hall so Daddy could see it.
It doesn't have to be difficult or a lot of work in order to be good.
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