Hanging Jellyfish Craft

To prepare for Logan's shark themed 4th birthday party, I decided that we needed a few hanging decorations and these jellyfish were perfect. The inspiration came from here and we made a few changes. The first was that I didn't have any bowls to use so I had to buy some. The original directions used paper bowls and watercolor paints which is lovely, but I found that Styrofoam bowls were cheaper so that is what we got. Since watercolors weren't an option with Styrofoam, we used acrylic paints instead. I loved the idea this person had for using up ribbon scraps, and I expanded it by adding the bubble wrap. I think this gives them some extra jellyfishy-ness, and it's a cute way to re-use some packaging material we had laying around.

This was a fun little project that both kids were able to help with by choosing the color scheme and then painting the bowls and bubble wrap accordingly. They also helped picked the ribbons to include, because believe it or not, I am such a ribbon junkie that we actually had to reject some in order to make it all fit and not look too cluttered. (Please tell me I am not the only person who can't go to Michaels without digging through their ribbon bin to see what there is!) Here is how we made our happy jellyfish, just in time for a celebration under-the-sea.

{A trio of friendly jellyfish.}

Materials:

• Styrofoam bowls
• acrylic paint/s in your color choices
• bubble wrap
• Styrofoam trays (to hold paint)
• foam paint brushes
• scissors
• googly eyes
• tacky glue
• assorted ribbon scraps
• masking tape
• fishing line (for hanging)

Directions:

1. First, I laid some bubble wrap, textured side up, and a bowl (Styrofoam or paper), upside down, at each work surface. I poured some paint onto a Styrofoam tray (You could also use a plate or bowl.) and then we used paintbrushes to apply acrylic paints. Foam paintbrushes worked well for this. Tip: Before starting, protect clothing and work surfaces as acrylic paints will stain. My kids wear old t-shirts of mine and Logan's is especially large on him, so I close it at the back of the neck with a clothespin. To cover the tabletop, we used cereal box liners, one per person. (Note: If you are concerned about bacteria from meat packaging, first run your Styrofoam trays through the dishwasher on the top rack. It will sterilize them without damaging the Styrofoam!) Allow paint to dry completely.
2. Using scissors, I cut the painted bubble wrap into strips, lengthwise. I cut each piece so that there were 6 strips, each one about 3/4 - 1 inch wide.
3. Then, I adhered the strips of bubble wrap to the inside of the bowls using tacky glue. We spaced our out so that they were somewhat even, although it does not need to be perfect by any means. Tip: We found it best to apply glue to the smooth side of the bubble wrap.
4. Next, we grouped together a variety of ribbons including: grosgrain, sheer, curling, yarn, wired, raffia, rickrack, whatever we had on hand, trimming them to the desired lengths (not all the same length). After the kids made their final choices, (red for Logan's, pink/purple for Mia's, and blue for mine), I bundled the ribbons together with masking tape and then affixed the bundles to the undersides of the bowls. I also used scissors to curl the curling ribbon and make adjustments to the lengths of ribbons as needed.
5. They added googly eyes to each jellyfish using tacky glue. 
   
6. Lastly, I poked two small holes in the top of each jellyfish for hanging. (I think I used a pin from my cork board for this.) For each jellyfish, I threaded fishing line through the tops of the two holes and then knotted it underneath, after I had strung the jellyfish up on my dining room chandelier. Then, I trimmed and excess fishing line and stood back to admire our friendly-faced jellyfish.

Easy Flower Printing Project

This idea isn't exactly original. In fact, there are plenty of variations floating around the internet already. Anyway, Mia gave me a Mother's Day card she made at school using this stamping method, and it is super-simple to replicate at home with very few supplies. (The hallmark of a good kids' craft project, in my opinion!) So, on a rainy day awhile back, when she wanted a craft to do, this is what I pulled out.

We don't buy a lot of things that come in single-serve plastic bottles, so I have been saving these for a bit. Mia got the water bottles at school and from a birthday party. These worked okay for making flowers. The Sierra Mist was purchased to enjoy mixed with our Bacardi that we brought back from Puerto Rico. If you want the prints that most resemble flowers, these bottles make adorable five-petal daisies. The Powerade bottles are the only ones that we normally have on hand since Brett likes to drink it after long runs, however, these were not the best for producing "flower" prints. They really just made a circle, which can certainly be used for print-making, but it just takes a little creativity to make them look like flowers. My kids ended up using the bottle caps as well, so that could be the centers of the flowers, if desired.

This printmaking project is a craft that is simple enough to be done with any age of children from toddlers on up. I think it was especially nice for Mia's kindergarten class, but I think it would work well, for preschool, too. P.S. Don't be surprised if this turns into a finger painting project. This tends to happen at my house, anyway, and it did with this craft, as well!

{Finished Prints by Mia, 6, and Logan, 3}

Materials:

• tempera paint
• empty plastic bottles (water, pop, Powerade, etc.)
• Styrofoam trays
• paper (heavier paper is recommended, but any will work)
• paint brushes (optional)
• cereal box liners (to protect work surface, optional)
• old clothes/paint smocks (optional)

Directions:

1. Old clothes are suggested for this. My kids each wear an old t-shirt of mine for paint projects. Logan's is quite large around the neck so I secure it in the back with a clothespin. You might also want to protect your work surface. I like using the liners from cereal boxes, but you can also use newspaper or a vinyl table cloth that you are not worried about messing up. Tip: If you have more than one child, set up a paint station for each kid. This makes things a lot easier when they each have their own space and materials to work with!
2. Pour some tempera paint onto a Styrofoam tray. We used powdered tempera paints that I mixed up before getting started, but ready-made paints would work, too. Tip: Styrofoam trays can be sterilized in your dishwasher so you don't have to worry about germs from meat! Tip: If you don't have any Styrofoam trays, use a plate. I don't suggest bowls, because you need a flatter surface to make this easy for kids. Tip: Unless you enjoy mud colored paintings, limit the number of paint colors that each child uses. I let my kids pick up to 3 colors for their tray. You can also choose colors that go with your decor if you think these will end up in frames. I let mine use yellow, red, and purple, knowing that they would mix the red and yellow together to get orange.
3. Let kids dip their bottles into the paint and then press it onto paper. We used construction paper and white card stock, and the card stock was my preference for this project. It produced clearer, more vibrant colors, and the heavier weight withstood the wetness of the paint, which got applied quite heavily in some places. Tip: Paint brushes are optional. You might want them if you would like your flowers to have stems, for example. Or you can use the brushes to apply the paint to the bottles if dipping them into the paint isn't getting the desired coverage. 
4. Allow paint to dry completely before displaying the prints. Or, you can use it to make a card like Mia did for Mother's Day. Tip: I like to let paintings dry on the cereal box liners, which can easily be moved from one location to another, if for example, you need to use your table or counter for meals. Tip: Keep a black Sharpie on hand, and once kids have finished their prints, label them with name and age or date that they were created. This is much easier to remember right after doing the project and it looks nice in a frame, or relatives always appreciate this sort of thing, if you are running out of room for keeping your kids' artwork.

{Clever kids made use of both sides of the bottle.}

Water Balloon Painting!

This activity is definitely messy fun! You have been duly warned. It was an idea that I found here. While it sounds a bit kooky, I am always up for new ways of painting, so we had to try it out. The hardest part was getting them to be patient while I filled all the balloons, but once we were ready to go, the kids had a blast! If you're not afraid of getting of a bit messy, this is a great summer activity.

{Finished Painting by Mia, Age 6}

{Finished Painting by Logan, Age 3}

Materials:

• water balloons (Ours were from Dollar Tree.)
• paint (Ours was powdered tempera that I mixed up in small batches.)
• plastic dosing syringe (like the ones you get for administering oral antibiotics to little ones)
• paper (Ours was a roll of craft paper I got from a garage sale. I've also seen it at Dollar Tree. If you happen to have a roll of butcher block paper, that would work, too.)
• scissors
• masking tape
• bowl to hold the filled balloons (Nice, but not necessary, this came in handy as well when it was time to pick up the pieces of popped balloons.)
• towels, washcloths, wipes, or paper towel (for clean-ups!)

Directions:

1. I strongly recommend having everyone change into old clothing before starting. I asked my kids to go barefoot, but the pavement was hot, so we compromised and they wore their Crocs (easily cleaned up, so no worries).
2. Mix up your paints. I have 4 colors of powdered tempera paints: red, yellow, blue, and green, so I just mixed a small bit of water with each of those in my plastic paint cups. Then, I mixed red and yellow to get orange and red and blue to get purple, so we had a total of 6 colors to use. (Tip: If you have ready-made tempera paints, you can skip this step, but I think that powdered temperas are a good investment. You can make up as little or as much as you need for each use and it's easy to adjust the consistency to accommodate the type of paint project you are doing. In the end, I think they are cheaper, plus you don't have to worry about them drying out and being ruined.)
3. Add some paint to each water balloon, using a plastic dosing syringe. I think we filled about 20 balloons in total.
4. Next, add some water to each water balloon so that they are inflated more. Don't add too much water, though. They don't need to be as big as possible. (Tip: Honestly, I am wondering if this step since we had trouble getting them to pop, anyway, and this just diluted the paint. We tried only one balloon without the water, and while it was much smaller, it popped just the same -- with being stomped -- and the paint remained vivid and undiluted.)
5. Cut some paper off of your roll of craft paper (or butcher block paper) and adhere to a flat, smooth surface using masking tape. We did this in the driveway. Alternatively, you could weight the paper down with rocks, or skip this altogether if you are not concerned about it getting blown or moved in any way. (Tip: I recommend one piece of paper for EACH child. It's just easier this way.)
6. Now that you are all prepped, start making some art. Sadly, we found that the balloons did not pop when thrown at the paper. Rather, they bounced off and rolled away. So, I just suggested that Mia and Logan stomp on them, which they found to be great fun!

{Photos taken mid-pop!}

{See the splash? Messy fun!}

7.  Let your paintings air-dry. (Ours took about an hour on a bright, sunny day.) Then, remove them and display, if desired. Personally, I was thinking of this as a process-based project rather than a product-based one, but the results were pretty cool, so I found a place to hang each of the finished art projects. (Tip: Our finished paintings fit nicely on two different doors. I just made sure to place them above the doorknobs.)

A Charming Teacher Gift!

Well, school has officially ended for the year, but not before the presentation of teacher gifts. Mia took her teacher and the para-pro the gifts that we had made, birds nest earrings with handmade cards. We were down to the wire on this, too, because I didn't get her to write in the cards until yesterday. So they were not delivered until this morning, the very last day of school! Both of these lovely ladies thanked me at pick-up time, so I decided the gifts were a success.

But, what really surprised me was that her teacher, Mrs. Myers, gave ME a gift! It was completely unexpected, of course. I can't imagine too many teacher give gifts to the parents at the end of the school year when they already have so much on their plates. This is what makes it so special and so very sweet!

{My life is charmed -- a gift FROM the teacher!}

She gave me a bright pink Gerbera daisy, and told me that Mia had selected the color she thought I would like best. (Secretly, I believe that Mia selected the color she preferred, but that doesn't really matter. I do LOVE it.) Here's the really special part about the gift. It was completely personalized because Mrs. Myers, along with the entire kindergarten class, had stamped their thumb prints in various colors and then signed their names. (And, the teacher in me noted that every child's signature was legible, which is an accomplishment for many of them! Trust me, I can tell you this from personal experience, having sorted many, many papers over the past several months. This was the first time that there wasn't one or two I was unsure about, and I like to believe that my special education background has given me pretty good handwriting analysis!) That she would find the time to have the whole class do this for me was so thoughtful, and it completely made my day to receive this on Wednesday!

{Look how they've "bloomed!"}

It felt amazing to read these words, "Thank you so much for your support in my classroom this year! It's because if parents like you that we can do as much as we do with our little sweethearts!" (See, Self, it's not a waste of a master's degree to collate, file, and do other mundane classroom housekeeping tasks! Not that I miss doing these things in my own classroom one bit, thank you very much.) While it felt wonderful to be appreciated as a volunteer, it had me thinking that this would also make a very thoughtful gift FOR a sweet teacher, if you happen to be looking for ideas. The trick is just to find a way to get all the kiddos in the class to sign it in secret. I especially love the thumb prints, too, it's just a little something extra.

Homemade Sidewalk Chalk Experiment #3

The third time's a charm, right? I think that I did, in fact, nail it this time. My first sidewalk chalk experiment was successful, but time-consuming due to the large size of the chalk. Also, I was concerned that the cost of the powdered tempera was a deterrent for some people. I wanted to find a more cost-effective solution that would also allow me to mix colors as I pleased. Then, I thought about the second experiment, and how it was good for color mixing, just not setting up as "chalk." I realized there must be a way to combine the Plaster of Paris from experiment #1 with the food colors from experiment #2 in order to get the best of both worlds. So, I looked online to see if anyone had done this before. Bingo! I found directions from this blogger, who also happened to share my dream of making shaped sidewalk chalks.

I used approximately 2 1/2 bags of Plaster of Paris mix. The box contained 4 bags and cost about $4 at Wal-mart. After two go-rounds, I made a total of 22 egg-shaped chalks, which works out to under 12 cents apiece if you are only taking into account the cost of Plaster of Paris. (I did not try to figure in the cost of food coloring. If you don't have some, get it because it is a super craft investment. Today, I saw that it was on sale at Kroger and 2 boxes were only $4.) This is comparable to the cost of store-bought sidewalk chalk, and this gives you the bonus of making it whatever shape you like! You can see that my egg-shaped chalks nest very nicely in a re-used egg carton. Wouldn't that make a cute gift for some of your favorite little people? So, now that I know how to make chalk with this method, I am way more excited by homemade chalk, and I can actually see myself doing this again and again.

{Homemade egg-shaped sidewalk chalk! Just in time for Easter!}

Materials:

• molds (I used 2 Jell-o Jiggler egg-shaped molds.)
• 1 cup Plaster of Paris
• 3/4 cup water
• container to mix in
• spoon
• funnel
• food coloring
• cake pan (optional)

Directions:

1. In a container (preferably something you aren't worried about "ruining"), mix 1 cup Plaster of Paris with 3/4 cup water. Tip: I used an old margarine tub.
2. Add several drops of food coloring. You can use any color or combination of colors that you like. For my first batch I used 15 drops of yellow. Stir until color is well blended.
3. Snap together your egg-shaped molds (or whatever molds you have -- I have not tried it, but I am sure you could do this in muffin tins, cake pop pans, or even Dixie cups. Or try toilet paper tubes as I did in experiment #1.) Tip: If desired, set the molds in a cake pan or on a cookie sheet to help catch the inevitable drips and dribbles.
4. Using a funnel, pour your Plaster mixture into the egg molds (or whatever mold you are using). Once filled, tap to get rid of air bubbles. I found that one batch filled about 3 and 1/2 of my egg cups. Tip: A skewer was occasionally helpful for getting some of the lumpier bits to pass through the funnel.
5. Set aside to firm up. You can remove from the molds after 24 hours. Tip: I used a butter knife to help loosen up the edges of the molds in order to get them open. Then, let them continue to air-dry for about another 48 hours before using the sidewalk chalk.
6. Repeat as desired. The first time I made these sidewalk chalks, I did three batches: yellow (15 drops), blue (15 drops), and green (15 drops). Once the molds were emptied and cleaned out, I made 3 more batches: orange (8 drops yellow + 7 drops red), red (20 drops), and neon purple (10 drops).
7. Enjoy your shaped sidewalk chalk! Note: In the photo, you can sort of see how my original batches have some color that has sort of risen to the tops as they dried. I am not sure why, but I don't think if affects how well the chalk work. The colors appear to be distributed throughout the whole chalks, and more importantly, I tested these out and they work beautifully! Plus, they are not dusty.

Homemade Sidewalk Chalk Experiment #1

I am getting a bit of spring fever, feeling like winter definitely needs to finish up around these parts. So, when I found a recipe for sidewalk chalk on Pinterest, I decided I needed to try it out. Brett teased me when he saw this on my daily to-do list. "You can't make sidewalk chalk," he insisted. This just convinced me that I could and I would succeed at making some sidewalk chalk for the kids.

I had been saving TP tubes for awhile and I had powdered tempera paint already. I did need to purchase some Plaster of Paris, which I got at Wal-mart for around $4, so that wasn't a huge investment, especially considering I used only 1/4 of the box. We had masking tape at the ready, which just left one thing that stumped me: "greaseproof paper." What, I wondered, is the American equivalent of this? I decided that it would either have to be parchment paper or wax paper, and since parchment is wonderful for baking, and generally speaking, wax paper is something I would use more often for crafts, I went with wax paper. This seemed like the right choice. However, if I did this again, I would try duct tape in place of the masking tape so as to prevent leaks since I learned while doing this to not skimp on the masking tape.

{The Finished Sidewalk Chalk}

Materials:

• toilet paper tubes
• wax paper
• tape (masking or duct)
• 1 cup Plaster of Paris
• 1 cup water
• powdered tempera paint
• funnel (optional, but definitely helpful)
• container for mixing (preferably one you don't care about)
• spoons (for mixing)
• somewhere flat to let your chalk set up (I used a cake pan.)

Directions:

1. Completely cover one end of an empty toilet paper tube with tape, making sure there are no openings. Tip: Masking tape works, but I am thinking duct tape will work even better for this.
2. Line the inside of the tube with wax paper. Tip: I found that the best way to do this was to tear a piece of the wax paper so that it was slightly longer than the height of the tube, fold it into thirds, cut the wax paper into 3 pieces, and then roll one piece into a tube. I also added the leftover bits to the bottoms of the tubes, layering them on top of the tape. I don't think this is ideal, though, since some of the wax paper bits are still imbedded into the ends of the chalk.
3. In a container, mix 1 cup of Plaster of Paris with 1 cup of water. Add the tempera paint and stir. The original directions suggested starting with 1 tablespoon, and adding more as needed. 
4. Stand the tubes straight up, so that the tape side is down. (Tip: I did this in a cake pan, and I wished that I had first lined it with wax paper. Make sure that whatever container you choose will not be needed for several days.) Then, pour the mixture in, and tap to get rid of air bubbles. Tip: A funnel was very helpful for pouring.
5. Now you will need to wait. After the Plaster of Paris mixture sets up a bit (I think this was a day or two), you can tear away the cardboard tube and wax paper to allow it to finish drying and hardening. This whole drying process took about 5 days. (Some notes on color mixing: I made a total of 6 chalks. Some were the size of the entire tube and some were a bit shorter due to leakage issues. The first one was pure red tempera paint, and I had added a total of 3 tablespoons to my Plaster of Paris mixture. Half of that was poured into one TP tube, and in the remaining batch, I added 2 tablespoons of blue powdered tempera paint. I mixed this up to make purple, which I poured into my second tube. Then, I washed out the container and mixed up a new batch of water/Plaster mixture, which I added 3 tablespoons of yellow paint to. Again, I poured half of this into a tube, and then added 2 tablespoons of red paint to the remainder, mixing up orange for my fourth tube. After that, I again washed my bowl, and started a final batch of Plaster mixture, to which I added 3 tablespoons of blue paint. The final chalk tube was made by adding 2 tablespoons of yellow paint to the remainder of the blue batch, so it, of course, made green chalk. In the end, I was happy with the color saturation.)

{This is what it looked like while the chalk was setting up.}

Is it worth it to make your own sidewalk chalk?
Honestly, I just wanted to know whether or not this would work. Considering you can purchase ready made chalk for about 10 cents a piece, and it comes in many, many colors, making it probably is not worth the effort for most people. It definitely was a time investment. We didn't just make the chalk and then play with it an hour later. It took several days to set up. Plus, there is cost associated with buying any materials you do not already have.

For me, this wasn't a big deal since it meant only buying the Plaster of Paris, which I knew would get used for other projects in the future. I got four jars of powdered tempera some months back on clearance at Michaels for 99 cents each. I think that was probably a steal at the time. However, if you don't have powdered tempera paint, it may not be worth it to you to invest in this, unless you know that you will use it for other things. (It's great for just mixing up small amounts when the kids want to paint, and you can get the consistency exactly the way that you want it to be.)

For this experiment, I used $1 worth of Plaster of Paris, and I made 6 chalks, so that works out to about 17 cents per chalk, more than what you would likely spend at the store for ready-made sidewalk chalk. However, it is worth noting, that the TP tube chalk is much larger, so it will last longer than store-bought sidewalk chalk, meaning it's not an equivalent comparison.

There are some definite pros to making this chalk that are worth mentioning. This chalk comes out rather large, so in addition to lasting a long time, it is also nice for little hands. There is also the possibility of making shaped chalks in molds, and I am planning to try this with our Jell-o egg molds at some point. The chalk is dry to the touch and quite dust-free, which means it isn't very messy. This is a huge bonus in an art supply. Also, the most important thing to mention, is that it does in fact work as a sidewalk chalk.

Generally speaking, I think homemade art supplies are worth the time and materials to make them. They are usually cheaper and work just as well or better than the store-bought variety. However, I don't think homemade sidewalk necessarily chalk fits into this belief for me. It was a good experiment, and I am glad I tried it so now I know. Other than wanting to possibly try again in some different molds, I don't believe I will be making too much more sidewalk chalk. The bottom line for me is that it is a time-consuming process and it requires space for drying that I don't really have in excess.

Rock On, Kids!

I know this isn't the most original of project ideas, but we painted rocks recently. Actually, it was Mia's idea. We started the looooong process of clearing out our rock bed in the front of the house, and she commandeered some of the rocks for painting. Since I know I good (simple) idea when I hear one, that's just what we did. This project can be as simple as you want (paint all rocks a single color each, and display on a shelf or in a jar) or more complex such as painting designs or even creating dimensional faces with yarn, puffy paint, googly eyes, or other materials that you have available.  If the weather is nice, you could even do this outside to save yourself some cleaning up. Don't have rocks? Take a nature walk; then you have a two-for-one activity. Or try smooth pieces of wood or all those sea shells you have sitting around.

{Even little ones can do this.}

Materials:

• rocks (any shape/size available)
• paint (We used acrylics; tempera would also work.)
• paintbrushes
• smocks or old clothing
• newspaper (to cover work surface)
• paint tray (We use old Styrofoam meat packages -- Wash well before using.)

{Mia's Rocks}

Optional Materials:

• puffy paint
• googly eyes
• feathers
• pom poms
• sequins
• beads
• yarn
• buttons
• acrylic gems
• stickers or rub-ons
• tacky glue (unless you used self-adhesive items)

DIY Sidewalk Paint

I found this recipe for sidewalk paint, and decided we had to give it a try. It is quick and easy to make your own sidewalk paint with just a few items you have in your kitchen.

Materials:

• glass jars with lids (one per color)
• water
• corn starch
• food coloring
• measuring cup
• funnel (optional)
• foam paintbrushes (or sponges)

Directions:

{green, neon pink, neon purple}

1.  In a glass jar, add 1/2 cup corn starch, 1/2 cup water, and food coloring (approximately 12 drops).
2. Make sure lid is on tightly and shake until contents are completely mixed. Repeat as desired to make different colors.
3. Paint can be applied with foam paintbrushes or sponges.

Notes:

• This paint dries quickly.
• It is kind of thin, so you may need to apply more than one coat. However, do not let it dry between coats, because the moisture will cause the original paint to be washed away.
• Clean-up is easy. Paint can be hosed off if desired. Or you can just wait for it to rain. We used foam paintbrushes, and it washed out with minimal effort (even after we had allowed it to dry on the brushes -- normally a big no-no with paint).
• Food coloring may stain clothing so you may want kids to wear old clothes before making/using this paint.
• If the paint is unused for awhile, it starts to separate. You can simply shake it up again, and continue using it.
• Colors are not as vibrant as sidewalk chalk and some colors may fade once the paint is dry. We noticed this especially with the neon purple.

My Little Sunshine Mask

{Mia made this sunny mask in preschool.}

Materials:

• paper plate
• scissors
• orange and yellow paper
• glue
• crayons

Directions:

1. Cut the center out of a paper plate.
2. Have child color the paper plate ring as desired.
3. Cut triangles out of orange and yellow paper. (You can also use a template.) Older children can do this themselves.
4. Have your child glue the colored triangles onto the paper plate ring.
5. Once glue is dry, your child can wear her mask.

This is such a simple craft, which makes it really nice. I like how happy it makes her to wear the mask, and of course it makes me happy, too. I may just burst into song with "You Are My Sunshine" or "Mr. Sun." We could use some sunshine on this dreary day. By the way, I just discovered that there are far more verses to "You Are My Sunshine" than I ever realized. I only know the first two, which I sing sometimes when Logan requests a lullaby. (I love that he's 2 1/2 and still asks me to sing to him.)

Lovely Little Ladybug

{Ladybug by Mia, Age 5}

Materials:

• small paper plate
• red paint
• paint brush
• something to hold paint
• black construction paper
• 2 black pipe cleaners
• 2 googly eyes
• scissors
• circle punches (optional)
• paper trimmer (optional)
• glue
• clear tape
• newspaper (optional, to protect work surface)

Directions:

1. Protect work surface with newspaper. Have child wear old clothing or cover up clothes. (We use an old t-shirt of mine for a paint shirt. Pour some red paint onto a tray or plate. Have child paint the bottom side of a small paper plate. Set aside to dry.
2. Use paper punches or scissors to make circles out of black construction paper. We used a 2" circle punch for the ladybug's head and 1/2" circle punch for the ladybug's spot. Depending upon your child's age, she could do this on her own. (I just made lots of different sized circles and had them ready. There was a third in-between size that Mia chose not to use. Punching circles and cutting pipe cleaners were the only parts of this craft that I did.) Note: You can also make a long, narrow strip of paper to show the division of the wings on the ladybug's back. Mia opted not to use this.
3. Cut a black pipe cleaner in half. One half will be bent to form the ladybug's antennae. The other half will be cut in half again. Take the second pipe cleaner and cut it into quarters. You will now have 6 shorter pieces of pipe cleaner to use as legs.
4. Once the paint is dry, make the head by taping the 2" (or larger if you prefer) circle to the plate so that it is slightly overlapped by the plate. (Note: I had suggested to Mia that she might want to tape the backside so it wouldn't show, but she wanted to tape it on the front.) Glue on two googly eyes. Bend the 1/2 length of black pipe cleaner as desired to make the antennae and then tape it to the top of the head (on the backside if you don't want the tape to show).
5. Glue the smaller circles to the ladybug to make the spots.
6. Tape the 6 shorter lengths of pipe cleaner to the ladybug's body (on backside if you don't want the tape to show) and bend as desired. You now have a lovely ladybug to display once all the glue is dry.

Here is the source of inspiration for this project. Other favorite bug crafts that we have made include beaded clothespin butterflies, coffee filter butterflies, and butterfly footprint paintings.

Corn Syrup Painting

Here is a messy, but fun idea for painting using items you probably already have in your pantry. We did this indoors with lots of newspaper to protect everything. (Just don't allow paper to dry on the newspaper because it will likely stick.) You could also do this outside on a warmer day, which I think would be ideal. The only problem is that I was afraid to display these paintings when they were finished because I didn't want to attract ants or just plain have a runny, sticky disaster on the walls. I would say this project is about the process more than the finished product. (By the way, the finished product takes about a day to dry.) The colors are brilliant and in the end, the paintings are shiny and quite attractive, but I wouldn't suggest saving them for posterity. The idea for this one comes from here.

{"Daddy on a Summer Day" by Mia, Age 5}

Materials:

• paper
• crayon
• corn syrup
• bowls
• spoons
• food coloring
• paint brushes

Directions:

1. You will need one bowl for each color you are making. Pour in a small amount of corn syrup. We used about 1 tablespoon per bowl.
2. Add a few drops of food coloring to each bowl and mix with a spoon. We used 3 drops each of red, yellow, blue, neon green, and neon purple.
3. Draw your design onto paper using a crayon. Glossy art paper was recommended by the original poster, but I had poster board and paper plates on hand, and both worked fine.
4. Fill in design by painting with corn syrup.



{The end result is a glossy raised texture that resembles pottery glaze.}

5. Allow to dry. (This takes a long time... Some of ours were still smudged easily after 24 hours.)

{I painted the design on a paper plate, allowed to dry, and then cut into an egg shape. Note: The colors do run together so less intricate designs may work better.}

One Last Summer Craft

{The pie tin was handy for catching stray sand.}

After a recent trip Up North to see Grandma and Grandpa, I let Mia collect some sand to go along with her shells (zebra mussels). I had seen this project for a mermaid wand in the FamilyFun Magazine and figured she would love it. We used a skewer in place of a dowel, which I don't necessarily recommend for two reasons: 1) they are sharp, and 2) it's not as long as a dowel. (That said, I had skewers on hand, and it worked fine.) I wasn't sure where the tacky glue was so we used regular Elmer's glue in its place. I also do not recommend this. The sand was falling off (although I am not entirely convinced this wouldn't happen will tacky glue, too), so I ended up throwing it away. Shhh. Don't tell Mia. Here are the actual directions for making the mermaid wand craft. Of course, theirs looks much more professional. This is the 4 year old version.

Paper Plate Tree Frog Craft

Mia likes frogs and I decided that these plastic cups that once held mandarin oranges would make perfect froggy eyes. All we needed was a face, and a paper plate seemed like the obvious choice. This craft was pretty quick to do and Mia was able to make it almost entirely on her own.

{Tree Frog by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• paper plate
• green paint
• red paint
• foam paintbrush
• newspaper
• glue
• 2 empty plastic fruit cups
• black felt
• black marker
• pink pipe cleaner, felt, or paper (optional)

Directions:

1. After covering work surface with newspaper, paint the back side of a paper plate green. (We used acrylic paint which dries quickly but will stain clothing so take care when using.) Allow paint to dry.
2. For eyes, we re-used two clean, dry plastic cups. Paint the outside (or inside if you prefer) of each cup red.  Allow paint to dry.
3. Cut two circles from black felt (or craft foam or paper) and glue onto the plastic cups. (I did the cutting.)
4. Line the rim of the plastic cups with glue and adhere to the paper plate.
5. Draw a mouth using a black marker.

Other Ideas:

• Instead of making the eyes red you could use white, yellow, or orange paint.  
• Add a tongue made from a pink pipe cleaner, felt, or construction paper.
• If you don't have plastic fruit cups you could try using egg carton cups or yogurt cups to make the eyes.
• Add a craft stick on the back of the frog to make a puppet.

4th of July Mini Flag Craft

It had been at least two weeks since I had done any crafts with the kids *gasp* so it wasn't too surprising when Mia told me yesterday that she wanted to make a craft. I had been anticipating this and had been willing my brain to come up with something patriotic in time for the 4th of July. Fortunately, when she asked for a craft, those creative juices kicked in and I immediately thought of this super quick and easy flag craft. I promise that very young and even beginning crafters can kick this one out in under 5 minutes.

Materials:

• white construction paper
• scissors
• blue and red Bingo markers
• drinking straw
• tape

Directions:

1. Cut a rectangle out of white construction paper. (I folded the paper in sixths and cut out 1/6.)
2. Make a flag design by dotting on Bingo markers and allow the ink to dry. I used blue to make the corner of the flag and red to make stripes. My stripes aren't perfect, but I am pretending it's waving, so it's okay. Mia created her own design altogether. Note: I found our Bingo markers at Dollar Tree.
3. Use two pieces of tape to attach a drinking straw to the back of the paper.
4. Your flag is now ready to wave. Have a safe and happy Independence Day!

Other Ideas:

• If you don't have drinking straws, you can substitute pipe cleaners or tightly rolled newspaper that has been taped together to make the flag pole.
• You could also make mini American flags for Memorial Day, Flag Day, or Veteran's Day.
• Instead of American flags, consider making flags from other countries or even state flags to go along with geography studies.
• Invent your own flag like Mia did. You could create flags for different holidays or events: Halloween, Easter, Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, and birthdays come to mind.
• If you prefer, you could make triangular pennants in place of rectangular flags. 
• Skip the flag poles and make several flags or pennants and string them together to make a banner.
• Make several flags and put them in jars, aluminum cans, flower pots, or vases and use them as table decorations.

Father's Day Silhouette Craft

{Mia, age 4 and Logan, age 21 months}

Materials:

• black paper
• white crayon (or chalk)
• clear tape
• scissors
• decorative paper
• glue stick (or scrapbooking adhesive)
• paper trimmer (optional)
• picture frame (optional)

Directions:

1. Have child stand with his or her side against (or close to) the wall in a dimly lit room. 
2. Tape a piece of black paper (I used 8 1/2" x 11" card stock) to the wall so that the child's face fits in profile. (My paper wasn't quite large enough to fit all of Mia's hair so I fudged it a bit, but I don't think it's very noticeable.)
3. Quickly trace around the shadow of the child's face, hair and neck using a white crayon or piece of chalk. It doesn't need to be perfect, but you will want to do the nose, mouth and chin first before the child gets squirmy since these parts are tricky.
4. Cut out the child's silhouette.
5. Adhere to a piece of decorative paper. (I used 8 1/2" x 11" scrapbooking paper.) You can put the glue on the side you trace on if you are concerned about the white showing. If using chalk, it may be possible to wipe it off, too. Trim paper as needed and place your child's silhouette in a frame if desired. (I found two black 8" x 10" photo frames at Big Lots.) This makes a thoughtful and inexpensive gift for Dad's desk at work. (You could also make silhouettes as Mother's Day gifts, but I am assuming that if you're reading this, you're a mom.)
6. Repeat steps 1-5 with other children as desired. You could even create a gallery of silhouettes as your children grow.

Fruit and Veggie Prints

This idea came to me from a book called The Little Hands Art Book: Exploring Arts & Crafts with 2-to-6-Year-Olds, which was given to me by a friend. Mia and I made these fruit and veggie prints yesterday and it is really quite fun! Plus, the resulting prints are pretty cool to look at. I think they are nice enough to frame and hang in the kitchen or dining room. I was also thinking they would look nice if done with fabric paint on aprons or kitchen towels, perhaps.

{I stuck with realistic colors for Cucumber, Carrot, Tomato, Celery.}

{Apple/Cucumber/Celery/Carrot by Mia, Age 4}

Materials:

• fresh fruits/vegetables 
• knife and cutting board (adult use)
• paint (any color)
• paper (any color)
• something to hold paint 
• foam paint brush (optional)
• newspaper (to protect work surface)
• paper towels, wipes, etc. (for clean-up)

{I got more inventive here.}

Directions:

1. Cut fresh fruits or vegetables in half. Most any would work. We used apple, banana, strawberry, celery, tomato, cucumber, and carrot because that's what I had on hand. I also think mushrooms, broccoli, and raspberries would be cool to try.
2. Protect your work surface with newspaper. (You may also wish to protect your clothing. Mia wears an old tee-shirt of mine as a paint smock.)
3. Pour some paint onto a paper plate or similar. (We used acrylic paint, which stains clothing, so take care if using acrylics.)
4. Either dip your fruits and vegetables into the paint or spread it on with a foam paintbrush.
5. Stamp the fruit or vegetable onto the paper to leave a print. (Experiment with various amounts of paint by printing repeatedly if desired. I found that the less paint on the fruit/vegetable made for a "cleaner" and more distinct print.)
6. Allow paint to dry and display your artwork.

Slice of Summer Watermelon Craft

The inspiration for this project comes from: http://www.kinderart.com/painting/watermelon.shtml
Materials Needed:

completed watermelon craft projects

• red construction paper
• black construction paper 
• watermelon slice (real)
• green paint
• scissors
• glue 
• paint brush

Optional Materials:

• teardrop hole punch
• scalloped scissors
• black craft foam

Directions:

I used two different shades of green paint on this one.

1. Eat slice of watermelon and save the rind.
2. Coat rind with green paint.
3. Place rind paint side down on red construction paper and press firmly.
4. Remove rind and discard. Allow paint to dry.
5. Cut paper into shape of watermelon slice following green outline.
6. Use teardrop hole punch (or scissors if you don't have a hole punch) to make black construction paper seeds. (I didn't try this, but you could also use black craft foam for added dimension.)
7. Glue seeds to watermelon slice.
8. Use scalloped scissors to make bite marks in the watermelon slice, if desired.

   

   Watermelon craft by Mia, age 3 1/2 (scalloped "bite" by Mama)
   
   
   
   

Summer Sunflower Craft

Completed sunflower made by Mia, age 3 1/2

Finished Sunflowers

Materials:

• paper plate
• brown paint
• yellow construction paper (about 2 sheets per flower)
• pencil
• scissors
• glue

Optional:

• buttons
• bubble wrap (I didn't try this, but you could paint on the bubble wrap and then press it onto the flower's center to make a print.)
• ink pad (I didn't try this but you could make thumb print art in the flower's center- possibly for younger children)
• sunflower seeds or dried beans (I didn't try this, but the texture would be neat, and you could make interesting patterns in the center of the sunflower.)
• yarn (I didn't try this, but I am envisioning a long spiral starting in the center of the flower and working outward.)
• green construction paper (Our flowers don't have them, but you could include stems.)

Directions:

1. Turn paper plate upside down. Paint center of paper plate brown. Let dry.
2. Cut petals from yellow construction paper. 
3. Glue buttons or other embellishment, to center of paper plate, if desired.
4. Glue petals onto plate so that they touch the brown center section. Work around in a circle until white part of paper plate is no longer showing.
5. If desired, cut strip of green construction paper and glue to back of sunflower.
6. Allow to dry completely and display your finished sunflower project.

Notes:

• I made two different sized petals. For the flowers with small petals, I folded the paper into sixteenths and then cut into strips. For the larger petals (quicker to finish, possibly better for younger children), I folded the paper into eighths and then cut into strips. 
• I made templates for the two different sized petals, cut them out, made a pile of about 6 strips, traced template on top strip, and then cut out petals. I repeated this until I had all of my petals cut out. It saved a lot of time rather than cutting each petal individually.
• My petals were drawn free-hand. They don't need to be perfect. They took up most of each strip of paper.

Close-up of flower with larger petals

Close-up of flower with smaller petals. I think this is more realistic.

General Crafts Tips:

1. I like Aleene's Tacky Glue. It works for most craft materials and dries clear.
2. I use the sponge type paintbrushes for most of Mia's projects. They have a large surface for holding paint, wash easily, and are very affordable (so if one gets ruined, I don't feel bad throwing it away). You can find them on sale at Michael's and stock up (20 for $1, usually).
3. I usually use acrylic paints for projects. They are relatively inexpensive (I recently saw them at Michael's, 3 for $1), come in many colors, and quick-drying. The main downside to acrylics, is that they stain clothing so I usually have Mia roll up her sleeves and wear a paint smock.
4. I like to use old plastic divided trays from microwave dinners for mixing paints. They have lasted for years and it keeps something from ending up in a landfill! If I know we will use more than a couple of colors, though, I like to use egg cartons. They're a nice size for holding little amounts of several colors and keeping them separated, if that is what you want.
5. While waiting for paint to dry, I sometimes have another project for Mia to begin. Otherwise, a hair dryer works nicely to speed things along. 

This project was adapted from: http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunflower-crafts-galore.html