Shaving Cream and Food Coloring Fun

Mixing shaving cream and food coloring is one of O's all time favorite activities. She loves to swirl the colors together to see what happens. We pressed a sheet of white cardstock onto the shaving cream and then wiped it off to make a pretty picture. Then O proceeded to cover herself in shaving cream. She had so much fun and made SUCH a mess! Luckily, we were doing this messy activity out on the screened porch! I brought out pitcher after pitcher of water and poured it over her before I let her come in the house :)

Summer Leaf People

As another activity in our backyard exploration, O and I collected leaves to make Summer leaf creatures. We laid them out on the floor and put hardback books on them to flatten them. After a couple of hours, we removed the books and made leaf creatures. I made a girl wearing a dress, so O made a leaf boy so they could get married. I love the face that she drew on her leaf boy :)

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I enjoyed this activity much more than O did!

Found Object Art

During our week of studying our backyard habitat, I thought it would be fun to make art with found objects. O and I found the perfect board in our garage. Then we went into the lake to collect empty clam shells...there's never any shortage of these! After the clam shells dried, I drew the outline of a fish on the board. We spread glue on and in the fish outline and filled it with clam shells. This was a fun and easy project, and we were happy with the end result!

This project was inspired by a similar art project by my cousin, Anne. Anne collects rusty nails and bits of glass from the field where she rides horses. She then glues these bits of found objects to boards in the shapes of horses. They are amazing! Thanks, Anne, for the inspiration!!!

Creative Painting

O had a fantastic time painting with dry tempera powder a few weeks ago! I set up this art activity by pouring red, blue, and yellow tempera paint powder into 3 separate lids for her. I gave her several sheets of white cardstock to paint and cotton balls to dip in the paint. She applied the paint powder to the paper with the cotton balls and then painted over the paint powder with a paintbrush she had dipped in water.

Then she said she wanted to experiment...she dipped the cotton balls in water before dipping them into the paint powder, she sprinkled the paint powder across the paper before wetting it, she used q tips to spread the powder around, etc. She did everything she could think of and totally enjoyed herself. I love it when an art activity is so successful!

Nature and Art

We have been learning more about the plants and animals that live in our yard this week. We've found dead bugs that we've inspected with a magnifying glass, and we've read books about lakes and lake animals (since we live at a lake). On Monday we took our paper and watercolor paints outside and painted landscapes while pushing E in her swing.

O and I took turns painting pictures, and she was a little upset when I painted my sky all the way down to the grass on my picture. She demonstrated and gave me instructions on how the sky should only be a blue strip at the top of the page. I remember drawing the sky this way and then having a sudden realization that the sky does not actually look like this. I asked O if she was sure if the sky should just be a small strip at the top of the page, and she was adamant :) Love it!


After we painted for a while, O decided to paint her foot, too.

I'm looking forward to more outside painting with O soon. I think it would be a lot of fun to go on the dock to paint, but we have to wait until we have someone to watch E since her little fast self would crawl off the dock in a second!

Painting a Birdhouse

O painted a lighthouse birdhouse for her daddy for Father's Day, and she REALLY got into it! She started painting with brushes, but she quickly decided that she'd rather paint with her hands. She mixed the paint together and smeared it all over her hands and painted the house. Before I knew it, she'd smeared the paint all the way up her arms to her shoulders. Wow! Then she asked for a wet towel to wipe it off...Um, no. I took her out to the deck and sprayed her off with the waterhose. What a fun and messy day!

From Art to a Softie

I found this post saved in draft from months and months ago. I can't believe I haven't posted this already...

A few months ago O drew this portrait of her baby sister. I loved it so much that I wanted to do something to preserve it (she drew it on lined notebook paper). After thinking about it for a few days, I realized it would make the perfect softie!

I traced around O's drawing with an iron-on transfer pencil (I have no idea where to find these pencils. I have looked and looked, and the only one I could find was in my mom's old sewing stuff, so it is probably 30 years old). I ironed the drawing onto a piece of cotton fabric. Then I embroidered along the lines using the backstitch. This was simple and fast to do, and O was VERY proud.



After I finished the embroidery, I cut out the fabric along with a same sized piece for the back of the softie. I pinned them right side to right side, sewed them, and left a small opening for turning. After I turned the softie right side out, I stuffed it, and my mom sewed the small opening closed. Done!

O stared it for a while and wondered why she didn't give baby sister a nose or a neck :) I'm looking forward to making more softies from the girls' drawings. I'd also love to make pillows using their drawings (which would make a great gift for grandparents).

Edit to add: I photocopied O's drawing 1st...I didn't ruin it by tracing over it with the iron-on pencil. The actual drawing is framed downstairs in the kids' art area and is hung low on the wall at their eye level.

Painting with Yogurt

Since both girls were taking their 1st antibiotics, I'd been trying to get them to eat lots of yogurt. Since we needed a fun activity to do, I decided to let them finger paint with yogurt.

O and I put out 3 plates of plain yogurt. We tried to color one plate of yogurt purple with blueberries, but it didn't work that well. We made one plate of yogurt brown with chocolate syrup, and we left one plate of yogurt white. I taped a big piece of paper to the floor of the screened porch, and O dove right in. E was a little more hesitant. O smeared the yogurt on the paper and all over herself. She rubbed it into her arms and said it was yogurt lotion.

The girls had a lot of fun with this activity. We didn't get any great artwork out of it, but it was all about the experience, not the art :) Also, this was a great sensory experience for the kiddos. We may try painting with pudding once E is a little older and can eat pudding.

1st Embroidery Project

O recently completed her first embroidery project! She was so proud and excited, and I loved watching her intense focus and attention. For her first embroidery project, she chose red thread and did not want to follow a pattern. She just wove the thread in and out to make lines on her cloth. She was very engrossed in this activity, and we are both looking forward to more embroidery projects for her.

Nature Crown

O and I had fun making this simple nature crown today from a cereal box, Magnolia leaves, Azalea flowers, and staples.

To make the crown, I cut 2 strips from a cereal box and stapled them together to fit O's head. We picked Magnolia leaves and stapled them to the cardboard crown. O chose the flowers, and I stapled the flowers between the leaves. This was fun, simple, and I love how it looks on my little sweetie :) Oh, and it's perfect for Earth Day!

O and my mom made a Magnolia Leaf Crown last year, too! This might be a yearly tradition :)

Wet Chalk Art

Last Wednesday was a rough day for me. I was stressed over my inability to do the things I needed and wanted to do because of my wrapped and splinted hand. I was also feeling very discouraged by how slowly my wound was healing. I needed a quick and easy activity to cheer me up and to entertain O.

Art Jar to the rescue! We dipped chalk in water and drew on one our outdoor chalkboards. O said "I'm making smooth, broad strokes like I do with paint." She paused and then said "I made paint!!! Can you believe I made paint?!!!" She soaked the chalk in the water for a while, and it was even nicer to work with. She then started "painting" with her hands and feet by smearing them in the wet chalk. We had a lot of fun, and we'll definitely do this again soon.

Easter Baskets for Fairies

O and my niece had a fun time making fairy Easter baskets on this week!

To make the baskets, I cut 2 cups out of a cardboard egg carton for each girl. They colored the cups with markers. We twisted a pipe cleaner to make a basket handle and hole punched a hole in each side of the basket. We put the pipe cleaner through each hole, and we were done! The girls filled their tiny baskets with flowers...most people would call the flowers weeds, but O thinks they are "beautiful!"

String Art

Our 2nd Art Jar activity was making string art! O was VERY excited when she chose this activity from the jar, but she wasn't very enthusiastic once we got started on it.

To do this activity, you need string (or yarn), paint, and paper. We dipped the yarn into the paint, placed it on a sheet of cardstock, folded the paper over the string, and pulled the string out. Then we "danced" the yarn on the paper which was much more fun and had a cooler effect than pulling the yarn. However, O decided that she liked painting with her fingers best of all!

Marshmallow Bunny Art

O was thrilled to do another marshmallow art activity today!

To complete this activity, I drew a bunny on a piece of cardstock. I gave O a bowl of mini marshmallows, and she bit each marshmallow in half before sticking the other half on the bunny. She's looking forward to eating the marshmallows off of her artwork after showing it to her daddy. Silly girl!

Sticker Resist Painting

Our 1st Art Jar activity was sticker resist painting. This activity has been on my to do list for a very long time. It was fun, but I was a little disappointed (but not surprised) with the results.

To do this activity, O decorated a piece of white cardstock with stickers. She then painted the cardstock. After the paint was dry, we peeled the stickers off the paper. Unfortunately, the stickers tore the paper, so the effect was not what I had hoped. Luckily, I thought this might happen, and I warned O that her painting might tear. I was so glad that I forewarned her because I'm sure she would have been very upset if I had not. O had a lot of fun painting, and we are looking forward to our next Art Jar activity!

The Art Jar

We've needed something to jumpstart our art activities around here lately, and I decided that an Art Jar would be just the thing to do it! The idea for an Art Jar came to me when I was making my Pregnancy Journal Jar (a year ago!).

To make the Art Jar, I cut strips of card stock and put an idea for a simple art activity (using supplies that I have on hand) on each strip. I'm hoping that we'll do an activity from the Art Jar at least a couple of times a week. The ideas for the activities have come from library books, activities we've done in the past, and eventually I'll go through the starred items in my google reader and add more strips.

O is VERY excited about the Art Jar. We've completed one activity so far, and we are looking forward to our 2nd Art Jar Activity on Friday.

Since several people have asked what's in The Art Jar, I'd thought I'd share a list of a few of the activities. I don't actually have the jar with me now, so these are just from memory...

painting with marbles
painting with feathers
pop paper prints
leaf prints
string painting
make a sculpture with packing peanuts
make a sculpture with straws and tape
contact paper collage
medicine dropper art

Petals & Leaves Necklace

O and I were thrilled that all of Guh-guh and Grandpa's camelias were in bloom when we were at their house this week. I thought it would be fun to make a simple necklace using the petals and leaves.

O pulled the petals off the flowers while I threaded a blunt needle with yarn. I tied a knot on the needle so that the yarn wouldn't slip off of the needle, and then I showed O how to thread the petals and leaves onto the yarn. She was a little frustrated after her first few attempts because she was pulling on the petals too hard and the yarn was tearing through the sides of the petals. After I showed her how to be very gentle and slowly slide the petals down the yarn, she was successful. She enjoyed making a "patterin" of leaves and petals, and I was proud that she persisted in this task (she wanted to quit at first when the petals kept tearing).

After she finished her necklace, she asked me to make a ring of petals on yarn to put on her hair bun. It looked so pretty...I wish I'd taken a picture :(

Matching Stenciled Shirts

O and I made matching freezer paper stenciled butterfly shirts for O and E last weekend. O chose the butterfly stencil from a set of nature stencils that she received for Christmas. I traced the pattern onto the freezer paper, cut out the pattern, and ironed the paper (shiny side down) onto the shirts. I mixed fabric medium with acrylic craft paint, and O and I painted the shirts. This was a fast, fun, and easy project with great results!!!

O was very excited to have matching shirts with her sister since they have both grown out of their matching appliqued shirts.

O has had a great time pretending to be a witch lately...she wears her orange witch hat and high heeled "glass slippers." She's quite a sight :)

We made these shirts a couple of weeks ago, and I was surprised by how much the butterfly faded in the wash. Maybe cheap acrylic craft paint and fabric medium isn't the way to go...

Marshmallow Heart Art

O made marshmallow heart art this afternoon while warming up after playing in the snow all morning. She had a great time and said she wants to do this every Valentine's Day.

To prepare this activity, I drew a heart on a piece of cardstock. I gave O a muffin cup full of mini marshmallows. We bit the marshmallows in half, ate one half, and placed the other half on the line to make the heart. O loves marshmallows, but doesn't get the opportunity to eat them often, so this was very exciting for her :) This art didn't last long...within a few hours she'd eaten all of the marshmallows off of her paper! I guess that's a good thing...now I don't have to figure out how to preserve and save this piece of artwork :)

Glittery Snow Playdough

O and I made homemade snow playdough about a month ago, and I just realized that I'd never written about it. We followed this recipe and added white glitter and peppermint extract. It smells delicious! We had fun making and playing with the playdough, but O lost interest in it rather quickly (very surprising since she used to be obsessed with playdough). Luckily, this playdough lasts and lasts (if you store it in an airtight container), so I'm sure she'll be ready to play with it again eventually :)