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Category Archives: get crafty

A Poppy for Grae: A Remembrance Day Poppy Hack for Kids

11 / 10 / 1211 / 2 / 15

Remembrance Day Poppy Hack for Kids | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

I’ve always thought that children should be encouraged to wear poppies just as proudly as adults do come November, but let’s face it – they’re just not that kid-friendly.  The straight pin is just too pokey (and sometimes just downright dangerous), and inevitably, they fall off within a half hour of being put on and get lost.

So while I taught at a school that encouraged all children, including my 2 full classes of Kindergarteners, to wear a poppy on the day of our Remembrance Day assembly, I had to figure out a better way.  Some teachers  wrapped scotch tape around the bottom of the pins, and I briefly experimented with replacing the straight pins with safety pins, but helping 40+ five year olds with either on an already busy day was just too much.  I needed something I could put together in advance and the kids could put on themselves… And that’s when I figured out this simple Remembrance Day poppy hack.

This morning, using my magnet method, I modified a poppy for Gracen to wear throughout the weekend.

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Here’s what you need… A poppy, two small identical magnets (the stronger the better), a tiny embellishment of some sort (sequin, bead, pearl, button, etc.), and some glue (preferably something that will bond well to the slightly plasticky back side of the poppy… Hot glue can be used in a pinch, but a good craft glue will adhere better).

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First, take apart the poppy.

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Then, using just a tiny bit of glue, stick your embellishment onto the black centre piece of the flower.

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Now, using a tad bit more glue, glue the black centre onto the main part of the poppy.

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Depending on the type of glue you’re using, you may have to let the front side of the flower dry before flipping it over.  Once it’s dry, adhere one of your magnets onto the backside of the poppy with a generous amount of glue and allow it to dry completely.

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When your little one is ready to wear the poppy, simply slide the second magnet  inside their shirt and place the flower on top. (Attaching the poppy to a shirt pocket or collar works well too.)

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If your magnets are of good quality, the poppy should stay securely attached to your little one’s jacket without a problem also.

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Of course this method is not suitable for young children who still put random objects in their mouths, but it’s perfect for older children and those who are completely done with the mouth stage.  As with all toys and accessories, supervision is key.

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11 Comments

Painted Polka-Dotted Pumpkin

10 / 30 / 1211 / 1 / 12

Last year, we all carved our pumpkins together.  And though Gracen had a blast scooping out pumpkin guck, sorting seeds, and watching the carving action, she didn’t really get to take part in decorating her own pumpkin.

So this year, we decided to switch it up a little.  Brad and I still carved our pumpkins, but in order to let Gracen be fully in charge of decorating her very own garden-grown pumpkin, we set her up a little pumpkin painting station.

IMG 1237IMG 1242IMG 1244With a handful of brushes and little containers of purple, green, orange, black, and glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint, Grae got busy beautifying her pumpkin.

IMG 1252IMG 1257It was  the best of both worlds, because not only did she get to decorate her pumpkin, but she also got to help us do all of the fun messy parts of carving ours.

IMG 1269After having her fill of icky gunk scooping, it was back to pumpkin painting. She covered  the entire thing in a thick layer of paint and then we let it dry overnight.

IMG 1525The next day, we used a little trick I learned years and years ago and cut a hole in the bottom of the pumpkin (no need to mess with trying to get a lit candle in through the top – you simply set your candle down on a surface and place the pumpkin on top).  Together, we scooped the insides out and used our apple corer to polka dot the pumpkin’s surface (which worked brilliantly, btw).  

IMG 1533Gracen loves it.  It glows just like Mama and Papa’s jack-o-lanterns do, and we were able to preserve almost all of her painting masterpiece.

♥

4 Comments

Little Polar Bear

10 / 29 / 1211 / 1 / 12

IMG 1159While searching for a basic hat pattern for our Waldo and Wenda costumes, I came across these ridiculously cute hat patterns on FleeceFun.com.  They are super simple to put together (trust me – I took the one mandatory sewing class in grade eight  and turned on a sewing machine again for the first time just a couple of months ago) and they’re free!  Naturally, Miss G had to be in on the fleece hat action, and she requested I make her a bear hat.  I’d say she makes a pretty sweet little polar bear, wouldn’t you?  

I  just may have to make a few more to add to her tickle trunk…

♥

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Felt Board Jack-O-Lanterns

10 / 26 / 123 / 22 / 14

Felt Board Jackolanterns

Here’s a new {Halloween-themed} felt board activity I whipped up for Miss G this afternoon while she napped.  It was a super quick project and couldn’t have been more simple to put together.

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All you need is some felt (I just use the cheap craft store stuff for felt board activities), a really good pair of scissors, and maybe some fabric glue if you want make your pumpkin stems green like I did.

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I often cut out my shapes freehand, but since I wanted 3 distinctly different pumpkin shapes, today I quickly sketched them out first.

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Next, I cut out my pumpkin shapes, as well as some green stems for the tops.

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Using Aleene’s OK To Wash-It fabric glue, I attached the stems to the pumpkins and set them aside to dry.  Of course, you could stitch them on or use regular craft glue for this job instead.  Or, another thought…you could not attach them at all and let adding stems to the pumpkins be part of the designing process.

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While the glue dried, I worked on cutting out some jack-o-lantern eyes, noses, and mouths.  I did this freehand, making up the shapes as I went along.  Folding the felt in half in order to make symmetrical noses and mouths / two eyes at once made the job a lot faster and easier.

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When Grae woke up, she was super excited to find her new felt board jack-o-lanterns waiting for her and got to playing right away.

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She designed and redesigned the jack-o-lanterns again and again, sometimes very cautiously and sometimes more abstractly.  She even ended up using eyes as eyebrows and upside-down mouths as moustaches (two things I wouldn’t have thought of!)

IMG 1023♥

For an easy and inexpensive felt board DIY, click here.

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Handprint Spiders & Golf Ball Painted Webs

10 / 23 / 129 / 17 / 13

Today Gracen and I did one of our favourite things… We had a little mama and babe crafternoon.  A Halloween crafternoon to be exact!

Handprint Spider  Golf Ball Painted Web

This is by no means a new idea, and it’s nothing fancy, but it is something I’ve always enjoyed doing with my kindergarten students.  It’s fun, messy, and personalized with wee little handprints.  Perfect for Halloween cards for grandparents, teachers, or a special friend. Here’s a quick run down of how Gracen created this little masterpiece.

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First, start off by drawing a large asterisk on a piece of black construction paper or card stock (we use a hand over hand technique for jobs like this).

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Next, connect the tips of the asterisk with concave lines in order to create a web shape.

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Then, cut out the web. (This is tricky for little hands.  Gracen tried, but our poster board is was so thick that it was next to impossible for her… This may be more of an adult helper sort of job.)

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Place a small roll of tape in the centre of your web.

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Tape the web down in the centre of a box lid, baking pan, or plastic  paper tray.

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Next, put some white paint in a small bowl or container and plop a {very scuffed} golf ball, bouncy ball, or large marble inside. (While I find golf balls work best because they’re big and heavy, marbles and bouncy balls make a more solid, web-like lines.)

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Shake and swirl the container so that the golf ball is well coated with paint.

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Next, gently tip your golf ball out of the container and onto the web.

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Swirl and roll the paint-coated ball over the black paper web by tipping the tray back and forth.

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When it’s sufficiently spider web-y, remove the paper from the tray and set it aside to dry.

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Now for the spider…  Gather up some brightly coloured paper, black paint, and a foam brush.

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Using a foam brush, paint a good, thick layer of black paint on your little one’s palm and fingers (not the thumb).

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Help your little one press their hand on the paper a couple of times to create two spider bodies and half of the needed legs.  Allow the prints to dry for a couple of minutes while you wash hands.

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Next, rotate the page so that the fingers are pointed downwards.

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This time around, paint just the four fingers of your little one’s hand. (I like to use the opposite hand for this part so that the fingers are angled the same way, but that’s just the crazy in me. ☺)

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Stamp them on the other side of the palm print in order to complete the spider’s body.

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When the paint is dry, attach some googly eyes to the spider’s body using white craft glue.
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Then, cut the spiders out, leaving a small border of coloured paper around the edges.
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Attach the spider to the web with glue or tape, or if you want the spider to have a little wiggle to it, glue a small pompom in between the web and spider.  And voila… All done!
And if handprints are still too tricky for your little one, here’s what we did last year using a footprint instead:
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♥
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Cupcake Colour Matching Felt Board Game

10 / 20 / 123 / 22 / 14

After seeing how Lindsay from The Little Red Horse turned my felt board DIY into an awesome birthday gift (check it out here), I decided to *borrow* her idea and whip up something similar for one of Grae’s little friends whose party we attended this weekend. (Thank you, Lindsay!)

I liked the idea of  a creating a colour matching game, but wanted to try something different than ice cream cones this time around… Something a little more October birthday-ish, so cupcakes it was!

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All I did was cut out cupcake tops (with a candle attached for gluing purposes), cupcake liners and candles in coordinating colours, and little yellow flames.

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Then, using Aleene’s OK To Wash-It glue, I attached the coloured candles and flames to the cupcake tops.

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Voila! An easy little felt board game that allows munchkins to practice colour matching by pairing up the tops and bottoms of the cupcakes.

Sadly, I didn’t take a photo of the finished product, but the felt board looked exactly like Gracen’s, said “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” across the top, had two of the felt cupcakes in the middle (because the little boy was turning two) and said “JACKSON” (the little boy’s name) across the bottom.  We also included the rest of the alphabet, the other cupcakes, and a jack-o-lantern face designing game each in a little bag separately.

Gracen loves her felt board, so she was very proud to give one to her little friend come party time. ☺

♥

2 Comments

Heart Stamping with Paper Rolls

10 / 17 / 1210 / 17 / 13

For one reason or another, I began saving toilet paper rolls a while back. (Don’t ask me why, because I don’t remember. Probably something Pinterest related?) So with a collection of 10 or more paper rolls just sitting around, I decided it was time to do something with them.  I don’t know how I came up with the idea for this project actually…  Maybe I’ve seen it somewhere before? I don’t think so, but it’s certainly a possibility given my tendency to snoop around the internet in the wee hours of the morning.  Either way, I’m probably not the first person in the world to think of using empty toilet paper rolls to create heart-shaped stamps, but since I’ve scoured the web and I can’t find paper roll heart stamps anywhere else on the internet, maybe I’m the first to post about it?

(Disclaimer: While I wouldn’t have my students bring in tp rolls to use for crafts in my classroom, I’m {semi} okay with using rolls from our house in our house.  If you’ve read the same article I read as a beginning teacher about tp rolls being covered in fece particles, you can always opt for paper towel rolls, craft paper rolls, or wrapping paper rolls instead. ☺)

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To get started, you’ll need two things: paper tubes and some rubber bands.

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First, flatten your paper tube and press down along the two creases.

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Next, invert one of the creases in order to begin creating a heart shape.

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Play with the shape of the heart by squeezing the tube until you’re happy with it.

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In order to help the heart keep its shape, wrap an elastic band around the tube once or twice.

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Make one heart stamp for each colour of paint you intend to use.

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Lastly, pour out a few dollops of paint (we used crafter’s acrylic) and place one stamp in each paint puddle.

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Then set your wee one loose!

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We started on the easel, and ended up on the floor using the stamps to make some homemade wrapping paper, but the stamps would also be perfect for making beautiful homemade cards or some art to hang in your little one’s room.

♥

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Painting with Cookie Cutters

10 / 4 / 1210 / 7 / 12

At one of Gracen’s recent Strong Start classes, Teacher Sonika had a painting station set up that used cookie cutters in place of paintbrushes or fingers.  Gracen really enjoyed dipping the different shaped cookie cutters into the paints and then onto her paper, so today we decided to try the same activity at home.  

IMG 0280Grae chose to use our alphabet cutters, so to have a manageable number of cutters to work with, we picked out just the letters in her name.  We lined the tray of her beautiful easel (a special Christmas present from her Uncle Gary) with foil, mixed up some paint in colours of her choosing, and pulled down some paper for her to stamp.

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IMG 0287She knew exactly what do to, and got to work dipping and stamping her letters right away.

IMG 0292She worked on the bottom half of her art piece for a while, then requested a chair so she could stamp the top half of her paper too.

IMG 0294This is her masterpiece once declared finished.

IMG 0297The other bonus? Clean up was a breeze. I filled a sink full of warm, soapy water, Grae walked each cutter to the kitchen and plopped them in, I crumpled up the foil, and we left the painting on the easel to dry.    

♥

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Homemade Rain Sticks

9 / 19 / 129 / 1 / 13

Homemade Rain Sticks

After stumbling upon this post from The Imagination Tree a little while ago, I knew we had to try making rain sticks of our own.  We had a few really heavy duty cardboard tubes already on hand (two from rolled art paper and one from our Stuck on You parcel – review to come soon!) and since we’ve recently been collecting and making instruments for Gracen’s collection, it was the perfect project.

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To get started, we collected a bunch of things from around the house…  An assortment of pantry goods (beans, rice, and popcorn seeds to be exact), a hammer and some small nails, these duct tape sheets Grae picked out on our most recent States trip,  some fluorescent dot stickers for decorating, and the cardboard tubes of course.  (We also got out a Sharpie, a pair of scissors, and a small tin can out part way through the project.)

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Here’s a better look at just how sturdy our tubes were.  Like mentioned on Imagination Tree, ordinary paper towel and toilet paper rolls are not thick enough and won’t work for this project. Basically, you want your tube to be sturdy enough to withstand nails being pounded into it, and sturdy enough to hold the nails in afterwards.

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Although this next part was a little too tricky for Grae to do on her own, she sure enjoyed helping. Using flat-headed nails that were almost as long as the diameter of the tube, we pounded them into the cardboard roll at random intervals. What worked best for us was hammering the nails in together using a hand-on-hand technique or having Grae hammer nails that I’d already put halfway through.

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Here’s what the inside of our tube looked like once we’d finished with the hammering job.  Of course, the more nails you add, the slower the beans or seeds will move through the tube, meaning a longer ‘rainfall’.

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Next, we traced the end of our tube onto the backside of a duct tape sheet together two times and cut the circles out.

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Then, using a small tin can, we traced and cut out two larger circles too.

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In order to seal off the end of the tube without having our seeds stick to the duct tape, we placed the smaller circle in the centre of larger circle (sticky sides together).

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Then carefully placed and sealed the larger duct tape circle over one end of the tube.

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Next, my little helper chose her filling (popcorn seeds) and added a few handfuls to the tube.  (She wanted the tube to stand on its own without falling over and was having no luck, so she quickly went and retrieved this mason jar from the kitchen… Of course, being her mama, I thought this was quite brilliant.)

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With our seeds added, we created another double-layered duct tape circle and sealed off the second side.

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At this point, you could really decorate the outside of the rain stick with anything, provided you ensure the nails are covered and cannot be removed by curious little fingers.  We decided to use our duct tape sheets since they secure the nails and look pretty all at once.  The bonus was that they were also the perfect width to fit the length our small tubes, so all we had to do was cut them in half to avoid wrapping around the tube more than once.

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I positioned the tube onto the duct tape paper and Miss G gave it a good roll.

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And there you have it – a fluorescent pink and leopard print duct tape rain stick!

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Of course, nothing in this house is complete without being plastered with stickers, so on went a bunch of fluorescent dots.

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Here’s our finished collection.

♥

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Homemade Puffy Paint

9 / 11 / 129 / 27 / 13

7 times out of 10, if you ask Gracen what she’d like to do, she’ll answer “Bike ride!” or “Park!” Guaranteed, the other 3 times you’ll get a very enthusiastic “Paint!”  So that’s just what we did today.  With G on my lap, we browsed my Toddler Activities Pinterest board looking for a fun and new painting method to try.  There were many options – wellie boot painting, muffin tin painting, fizzy sidewalk painting, salad spinner painting, bubble painting, and more – but the pin she selected?  This homemade puffy paint recipe.

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Though we stuck to the recipe fairly closely, we used a slightly different method to make it.  Here’s what we gathered to get started…  Water, salt, self-raising flour, food colouring, a zip-close bag, an ice cube tray, and some paint brushes.

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I of course had the help of this monkey too. (I asked her to do something funny and this was her immediate reaction… Good to have a solid go-to funny face on deck for moments just like these.)

Puffy paint

Though you really don’t need it, we used a mason jar to hold our bag upright and open for us (a cup would work just as well) so that Grae could add ingredients without having to hold the bag open at the same time.  First, she added the salt and flour to the bag.

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Then we zipped it closed and she gave it a good shake.

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Next, we added the water…
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Zipped it closed again {making sure all of the air was out first}, and she smushed everything together until it formed a goopy paste (this was her favourite part).
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Next, we cut the corner off of the bag.
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With just a tiny bit of help, Grae squeezed the mixture out of the bag and into our ice cube tray.
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Then she added several drops of food colouring to each compartment.
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Using our paintbrushes, we stirred the colouring into the paste.
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Then it was time to paint!
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Although most posts about homemade puffy paint instruct you to microwave your artwork, we rarely use ours and I really didn’t want Grae sitting in front of the microwave peering in while each of her pieces ‘baked’.  Instead, we popped ours into the oven for a few minutes on the lowest setting, and it seemed to work just as well (putting them in the sun to dry would probably work too and may give the paint more of an opportunity to rise also).
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The result? Fully dry, yet slightly squishy paint blobs that can easily be hung or added to a art portfolio without crumbling apart.
Want to try for yourself?  Here’s our recipe…
Homemade Puffy Paint
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons of self-raising flour
  • 2 1/2  tablespoons of salt
  • 3 tablespoons of water (you can add more or less depending on your desired consistency, just be sure to not make it too thin, otherwise it won’t ‘puff’ well)
  • food colouring
  • 1 zip-close bag
  • 1 muffin tin or ice cube tray
Place the flour and salt into the bag, zip closed, and shake well.  Add the water, zip close, and smush around until the mixture forms a smooth paste.  Cut the tip off of one corner of the bag and squeeze the paste into your muffin tin or ice cube tray.  Add food colouring and blend.  Create your puffy paint masterpiece making sure to lay the paint on thick.  Bake your artwork in a 150 degree oven for 2 to 4 minutes.
Have fun!
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Summer Fun: Sand Casts

9 / 8 / 129 / 9 / 12

We’re hanging on to every last bit of summer we can around here, and have spent the last two days at the beach.  Today, I packed along with us a few simple materials to try out a very cool beach project I saw long ago on Honest to Nod.  It went surprisingly well for our first attempt, and we’ll definitely be trying it again before the summer’s vanished completely.  Here’s how Miss G and I made our very own sand casts…

IMG 9446First of all, we retrieved a few buckets of ocean water and created a little plot of firm, mouldable sand.  You could easily do this project near the shoreline where you normally find perfect sandcastle sand, but since the tide was high and the shoreline was littered with seaweed and shells, we opted for this method instead.  (You can also do this project at home by mixing play sand water in a baking pan or shallow dish of some sort.)

IMG 9447Next, using the bottoms of our sand buckets and a plastic cup, we made several wells in the sand approximately 1 to 2 inches deep. (You can also use drift wood, feet, hands, and beach toys to make wells of different shapes and sizes.)

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IMG 9450Then, using shells we collected around the beach, as well as a few glass stones we brought from home, we created designs and patterns in the bottoms of the wells.  One thing we did learn about this is that in order to show up well in the finished product, the decorations need to be pushed down quite firmly into the sand – otherwise they just get completely buried in plaster. (At this stage, you can also use your finger or a stick to draw designs in the wells.  Just remember that if you choose to write something, you need to write it backwards so that it faces the correct way on the cast.) 

IMG 9454Next, using a container from home, a couple of cups of plaster of paris powder (readily available at art supply and hardware stores), some ocean water, and a piece of drift wood, we mixed up our plaster according to the directions on the box (2 parts powder, 1 part water).

IMG 9455Then we filled our wells almost to the top.  At this point, we experimented with adding a couple of straws to two of the wells in order to have a hanging hole at the end.  Turns out, it worked great. The only thing we’ll do differently next time is add the straws before the plaster (much easier when you can see the stones and shells, rather than digging around trying to avoid them ☺).

IMG 9457Easiest step?  Playing and eating snacks while waiting for the plaster to set.  

IMG 9458After about 30 minutes, I gently poked the plaster to find out that they were dry and hard, so I gently scooped up one of the casts, along with some of the sand below it. Sure enough, it was fully solid. Grae helped me scoop up all of the casts and place them gently in a bucket.

IMG 9459Next, we took the casts down to the ocean for a quick bath to remove the excess sand.

IMG 9462Here’s what we ended up with.

IMG 9463IMG 9464These two are Grae’s favourites… The octopus was made with the bottom of one of her Melissa & Doug nesting pails and ‘happy face guy’ was made with glass stones and a chunk of a shell.

Grae and I are hosting a messy play date this week and this just may have to be one of our outdoor crafts for the day. Fun, simple, and the perfect way to hang on to summer long after it’s gone.

♥

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Fall Fun: Apple Stamping

9 / 6 / 129 / 11 / 13

Apple Stamping

After our awesome magic milk paint experiment today, Gracen and I took advantage of the overwhelming amount of apple pears our tree has this year and did something that reminds me of making homemade gift wrap as a child… Apple stamping.

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Needing to dedicate a day (or an afternoon at the very least) to picking the ridiculous amount fruit our tree is currently carrying, much of our backyard currently looks like this.  Sadly, once they’ve fallen to the cement pad, most of the apples are left badly bruised, a little mushy, and not all that great for eating purposes.

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So today, while we were picking them up and putting them in the compost, we saved a few of the better ones to use for stamping purposes.  Grae picked two “baby” apples and one “biiiiiiig” apple for the project, and then we collected a roll of art paper, some paint, and a knife (for Mama’s use only of course).

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I chopped the apples both vertically and horizontally, trying to get rid of the really yucky parts and keep the more decent parts all at once.  As you can see, some of these are still pretty yucky, but that doesn’t really matter when you’re just using them for stamping.

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Grae got started right away – dunking and stamping, dunking and stamping, again and again.

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Stamping of this sort often has better results when the paint it brushed onto the object, but since dunking the apples into the paint is much easier, and let’s face it – more fun, we just went with that technique. Grae didn’t seem to mind one bit.

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The end result {besides a toddler with multicoloured hands}? A beautiful masterpiece that could be hung and displayed or used to wrap a fall gift.

♥

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Raised Salt Art

9 / 3 / 129 / 5 / 12

After pinning this post by One Perfect Day on my Toddler Activities board a few days back, I knew Grae and I had to try it very soon.  

IMG 9292So today, Grae and I gathered up our materials… White glue, table salt, food colouring diluted with water, black card stock, and an old baking pan.

IMG 9297The first step was creating a design out of glue.  After a quick demonstration, Grae went to town creating squiggles, zigzags, and loops.

IMG 9298Here’s her masterpiece.

IMG 9301Working quickly, Grae generously cover the entire design in salt.

IMG 9305When the glue had been fully covered, we carefully shook off the excess salt into a little bowl to save for later.

IMG 9308Next, Gracen used an old medicine dropper to blob drops of the food colouring/water mixture onto the salt.  Although the results looked cool, I quickly realized two things.  First, the glue/salt lines had to be much thicker in order absorb more of the colour mixture, and second, more of the paper had to be covered in glue/salt in order to up the chances of the dripped colour actually hitting it.

IMG 9311IMG 9313IMG 9314We tried again, this time with Grae and I creating the glue pattern together so I could add pressure to the bottle and ensure the glue lines were good and thick.  The immediate finished product looked better, but once dry, it looked much like the first attempt…  Faded, clumpy, and flaky.

Though this project. like most, is definitely about the process rather than the project, we tried one more time with another two changes put into play. First, we allowed the glue to dry completely before adding any colour to it, and second, we used the food colouring as is, straight out of the bottle. 

IMG 9328Not only did the finished product remain bright and intact even once dry, but the process was way more fun too.  Letting the glue dry first allowed the colour drops to move much further along the salt lines… And it was indeed magical!

If you want to try making a raised salt masterpiece with your own toddler, here’s what I’d recommend…

1. Select a thick piece of cardboard or card stock as your background (regular paper is too flimsy and the salt design will crumble when bent) and place it on a large baking pan.

2. Together, create thick glue designs that cover as much of the page as possible.

3. Have your toddler very generously sprinkle salt over the entire page.  Shake the salt around to ensure good coverage, then empty the extra salt into a bowl for your next picture.

4. Set aside and let the glue dry fully.

5. Using food colouring straight from the bottle, have your toddler squeeze drops of colouring onto the salt lines.  Watch closely as the colour runs along the salt.

6.  Let dry again.

♥

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Handprint Canvas: A Yearly Tradition

8 / 28 / 129 / 22 / 13

Today Miss G and I continued on a little birthday tradition we started last year when she turned one – painting a handprint canvas together.  This year was even more fun than last because Grae was really able to get into it and participate in the process.

 

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After picking out our colour combination, we gave the canvas a few coats of pink paint, letting it dry in between each one.

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Then, once it  was completely dry, I brushed a thin coat of teal on Grae’s hand and together we carefully stamped in the middle of the canvas.

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With the project finished almost as quickly as it was started, Grae wanted to continue painting, so on she went…

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As she worked on her own project, I sketched out a number two on the canvas’ corner…

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Then carefully outlined it and filled it in with a paint pen.

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Tada!  A very simple art project that forever saves those little handprints I always have such a hard time wiping away from our mirrors and windows.

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And here it is next to last year’s.  Pretty amazing / heartbreaking to see the difference 12 months makes…

♥

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Kid’s Art Gallery Door

8 / 22 / 124 / 25 / 14
Art Gallery Door for Kids | Mama.Papa.Bubba.{this post contains affiliate links}

As a mama, I’m always looking for unique ways to showcase Gracen’s artwork without our little house looking like a cluttered mess.  One of the places we love to hang multiple pieces is on her bedroom door.  So much so, that over time, it’s become her little art gallery of sorts.  For the longest while we were just taping things up using masking or scotch tape rolls, then I jumped on the washi tape bandwagon, which took it up a notch, but neither were overly toddler-friendly.  I wanted Grae to be able to hang her artwork and switch around the pieces without having to muck around tape or ask for assistance.  So today, we put together a little gallery door that she can update and add to all on her own, with just a press of a clothespin.  Here’s what we did…

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Yesterday, while Grae splashed in the wading pool out back, I painted a handful of regular wooden clothespins.  She’d come out, dripping wet, help me with some painting, and jump back into the pool, splashing my table in the process.  With a couple of base coats dry, we used the eraser side of pencils, dipped them in white and black paint, and polka dotted our way along each pin.  The result was very handmade looking clothespins with a charm all their own.

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Today, we took some small 3M poster hanging strips and sliced them vertically using a utility knife and a ruler.  (This can be done using scissors, but trust me – use a utility knife. It’s much easier.)

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Next, we peeled off the protective paper backings and stuck the strips onto the backs of the clothespins, leaving just the tiniest touch hanging over the top edge (hoping it might make the job easier when we want to remove them one day).

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As a last step, I removed the other side of the protective paper and adhered the pins onto the door.  I put them on very gently at first, and once I knew my {random} layout would work, pressed them down quite hard to ensure a good stick.

The result was a gallery door where Grae can proudly display her favourite creations without needing much help to do so.

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♥

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