Now that we’re back in Canada and plan to be here for a while, one thing I really want to help Miss G learn is our cell phone numbers. We still haven’t decided whether or not she’ll go to traditional kindergarten next year, but even if she doesn’t, I think it’s a valuable thing to know.
Summer vacation is officially in full swing – Brad’s home from Kuwait, we’re back in BC, and life is good. And now that we’re settled an in one place for a little while, Miss G and I have begun digging into the collection of fabulous activities in the Backyard Summer Camp eBook I co-wrote with a handful of awesome kid bloggers a couple of months back. Today, we decided on making the jewelled shell necklaces from the ocean-themed section of the book written by Amanda of The Educators’ Spin On It. Miss G loved the activity because the necklaces were just like the ones mermaids wear, and I loved it because we had all of the materials we needed on hand and it would only take a moment to pull it together {score!}
This week, Miss G and I are participating in a candy play series with several other mamas and munchkins… On Monday we created beautiful glossy paint using Skittles, on Tuesday we created mouldable and edible candy clay, and yesterday we sorted, counted, and graphed SweeTARTS.
Gracen and I have been having so much fun coming up with interesting ways to play, learn, and create with candy this week. Since we almost never have it around, she thinks being able to play with candy is really cool, and with Halloween coming up, I’m thrilled to have some tried and true ways to put her candy stash to good use without it going into her belly or the garbage can. Today’s activity was crazy simple {in a good way}, and we had a ton of fun with it. Not to mention that it was perfect for my little lady who adores dress-up, jewels, and crafts.
With another ‘goodbye play date’ happening this morning, Miss G and I decided that it would be fun to make something special to take along for each of her little playmates. Grae suggested necklaces, which I thought was a brilliant idea. We made a quick stop at the store, picked up some unfinished wooden beads and some hemp cord (both available at craft stores and dollar stores) and our project was underway!
First up, was painting the wooden beads… While painting all of the sides of round beads can be quite a challenge for little ones, this is my favourite {and easy} way to help set them up for success. All you need is a smallish box of some sort (a fruit crate or shoebox works well) and a few bamboo skewers. Then just make a few slits down both sides of the box, slide the beads onto the skewers, and place the skewers into the slits. With this handy little contraption, your little one won’t have to worry about holding the beads and they’ll easily be able to spin the beads while painting.
For this project, Grae chose one colour from my acrylic paint stash (the pink one) and in order to create an ombre effect I had in mind, I grabbed the white one. Besides only needing one paint colour plus white {or black}, the beauty of an ombre project is that you only really need one mixing bowl and one paintbrush.
Starting with our original colour and our largest beads, Grae began painting. The process was really quick and easy and she enjoyed it a lot. I did follow behind her with a dry brush just to spread out a few globs of paint here and there, but she was able to get really good coverage all on her own. We slowly made our way through the medium and small beads, adding a little bit of white to our paint with each batch.
As Grae finished painting each skewer of beads, I removed them from the box and placed them on a {very old and well-used} baking dish to dry. This was our completed collection of beads, which was more than enough to make 5 necklaces.
Acrylic paint dries really quickly, so we were able to string our necklaces not too long after painting the beads. For each necklace, we used about 60 centimetres of white hemp cord, 1 large dark pink bead, 2 medium ones, and 6 smaller ones (2 per shade of pink).
Because we normally use a knotted string when beading, this project was a little different for Miss G. This time we used the cord without a knot, started with the biggest, darkest bead in the middle, and added the outside beads in pairs, one on each side. It was a great informal ‘lesson’ on symmetry and Grae picked up the concept right away.
Here’s the order we went with… The largest, darkest bead in the middle fading to the lightest, smallest beads on the outer edges.
Once Grae was done the beading, I looped the cord in a circle, overlapping the ends about 12 centimetres or so and made a quick, single knot on each side to create an adjustable necklace. I trimmed the excess cord a little bit, and our necklace was complete!
Isn’t it pretty?
I love this project for so many reasons – it’s quick, easy, inexpensive, and looks beautiful too! Doesn’t get much better than that, does it?
I think it’s safe to say that Grae loves it too… ☺
♥
For extra fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.