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Tag Archives: invitation to create

Giant Sticky Collage

5 / 26 / 185 / 28 / 18

Giant Sticky Collage | Mama Papa Bubba

Come August we will have been in our new house for a year, and though we’ve definitely ‘settled in’, our house is still a little stark.  We still have a few key pieces to purchase, but the biggest part of part of it? There’s really nothing on the walls.  I figure it will eventually come together and while I have a few different ideas for this tall bare wall on our landing {instagram wall? low profile book case?}, in the meantime we’ve been using it for all kinds of vertical projects and play.  This giant sticky collage was a total hit with both kids {and that’s no small feat when they’re 5 and a half years apart!} and was added to each day for about a week and a half.

Giant Sticky Collage{this post contains affiliate links}

The best part is that so long as you have these three items – contact paper {CAN}, wide painter’s tape {CAN}, and scissors – you can pretty much make this project happen with random loose items from around the house.  No need to buy anything new!

Now a word on contact paper…  You can find this stuff at office supply shops, but many dollar stores carry it too.  lt’s usually in the kitchen aisle with the other drawer liners and no slip grip rolls.  For this project, we used two full rolls of the clear contact paper that Dollar Tree stocks.

Giant Sticky Collage

Alright, so here’s the trickiest part of this activity…  Getting the contact paper {CAN} up onto the wall.  Not going to lie – it can be a bit frustrating at first.  We’ve been doing contact paper activities since Miss G was wee and I kind of have my method down now, thankfully.

First off – don’t attempt this while you have little ones who desperately want to get to the playing part of the activity around.  Still, even now, I put our contact paper up during nap time or at night when Sam is in bed.  It’s just easier that way.

Second – roll your length of contact paper out on a table and fold back just a couple of inches of the paper backing along the length that you’re going to tape.  This will reveal the sticky side {which of course you’re going to want facing outwards on your wall}.

Third – while still at the table, run a length of painter’s tape along that edge, adhering half of the tape’s width to the contact paper and leaving the other half to adhere to your wall.

Fourth – stick the contact paper up onto the wall, keeping it as straight and flat as possible and then gently peel off the paper backing.

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Now if you’re going to do a GIANT sticky collage wall using two strips of contact paper like we did, prep the second strip of contact paper the same way – the only difference is that the taped edge is going to be the bottom side of the collage wall.  Then, holding the non-taped edge of the contact paper strip {paper backing still on of course}, place it onto the first piece of contact paper so they’re overlapped a couple of inches.  I sort of pat it into place to make sure they’re stuck together well before gently tugging downwards and adhering that bottom strip of tape onto the wall.  The goal is to have it as flat as possible, I never seem to get mine *perfectly* flat and it really doesn’t matter.

Giant Sticky Collage

Last step – add painter’s tape {CAN} along each vertical side to complete your sticky canvas.

Giant Sticky Collage

Now for the fun part… Collecting your loose parts!  Basically anything goes here – no need to buy anything new unless you truly have a house free of any little junky bits / craft supplies.  Most all of our stuff comes from our craft drawers, but also look in your junk drawer.  Things like bits of string, twist ties, bread ties, and scraps of packaging work well!  You can also cut pictures out of your weekly flyers  – they’re basically like stickers when paired with a sticky collage wall and bonus: get the kiddos to cut out their favourites for some added scissor practice!

Here’s what I originally set out with our giant sticky collage:

  • coloured wooden matchsticks {CAN}
  • craft feathers {CAN}
  • flower acrylic gems {CAN}
  • googly eyes {CAN}
  • pompoms (these tend to stick for a short while and then fall off) {CAN}
  • sequins {CAN}

But again, go with whatever you have on hand.

Giant Sticky Collage

Then with the giant sticky collage wall set up and the loose parts collected, I left it for Sam to discover after his nap.  {Of course there’s really no missing something of this size!}

Giant Sticky Collage

He stuck up a couple of little parts {talk about an awesome fine motor skill workout} and was pleased as punch about the whole thing.

Giant Sticky Collage

We had to run off to grab Miss G from school {yup, with Sam in robot jammies}, but as soon as we returned home, it was back to the sticky wall.

Giant Sticky Collage

He was soooo excited to show his big sis!

Giant Sticky Collage

What I love about open-ended invitations like this one is that kids always seem to add their own spin on them given some time and space.  And honestly, most of the time their ideas are better than mine!  After Sam had lost interest and moved onto something else, Miss G asked to bring out our giant ball of multi-coloured yarn and I just think it was such a neat idea.

Giant Sticky Collage

Now here’s my secret to making the interest for invitations to play or create like this one last as long as possible…  Add a few new things each day or two!  So in this case, I’d make sure the landing was tidy (I’ve totally noticed that my kids don’t gravitate to spaces that are scattered and a mess), then I’d add a few new things into the loose parts tray to keep interest high.

Over the course of the week, I added:

  • different types of acrylic gems {CAN}
  • bits of colourful plastic straws
  • foam shapes     {CAN}
  • sushi grass
  • lolly sticks {CAN}
  • and whatever else I found around the house that I thought would be neat

Giant Sticky Collage

This is what our giant sticky collage wall looked like several days in…

Giant Sticky Collage

Sort of chaotically beautiful, isn’t it?

Giant Sticky Collage | Mama Papa Bubba Blog

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Cardboard Cake

10 / 28 / 1611 / 13 / 16

Cardboard Cake | Mama Papa Bubba

Oh my goodness, did Miss G ever have fun creating this colourful, sequinned, drippy cardboard cake!  Perfect timing too, as her baby brother’s first birthday is just over a week away and she’s absolutely vibrating with excitement.

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Frog Pond Sensory Play

4 / 7 / 164 / 20 / 16

Frog Pond Sensory Play | Mama Papa Bubba

This week Miss G and I have been enjoying an old favourite – some slimy frog pond sensory play!  It’s funny how some things just never seem to get old…  I love that about play – it sort of just evolves with the child as she grows and changes herself.  

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Glittery Bejeweled Mini Pumpkins

10 / 6 / 1510 / 14 / 15

Glittery Bejeweled Mini Pumpkins  an invitation to create | Mama Papa Bubba

This afternoon’s invitation to create was a very simple one…  Tons of glitter, jewels, glue, and a few adorable ‘baby boo’ pumpkins.

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Mini Pumpkin People {An Invitation to Create}

9 / 30 / 1510 / 6 / 15

Mini Pumpkin People Invitation to Create | Mama Papa Bubba

Yesterday while visiting The Apple Barn out in Abbotsford, Miss G fell in love with the itty bitty pumpkins scattered throughout the u-pick pumpkin patch.  While we’re planning a family trip to pick the pumpkins we’ll carve later in the month, she totally convinced me to buy a couple of mini ones by telling me all about her grand plans to decorate Rosealina and Harold {yes, she even had names for them} with some of the fun craft supplies we keep on our art cart.  {I mean how can you say no really?}  

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Sweet & Stretchy {EDIBLE} Marshmallow Dough

8 / 1 / 131 / 14 / 14

Edible Marshmallow Dough | Mama Papa Bubba

While Gracen napped this afternoon, I decided to finally put the bag of marshmallows I’ve been carting around for the last couple of weeks to good use.  And oh my word, am I ever glad I did!

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Building Sugar Cube Structures

7 / 14 / 137 / 22 / 13

Sugar Cube Structures | Mama Papa BubbaIMG 0236Upon returning from my first ever weekend (and overnight, actually) away from Miss G, she immediately asked if we could open the last of her activity bags.  She explained that she had already opened all of the other bags, but had saved the ‘bonus bag’ to do with me once I returned home.

IMG 0237She pulled the items out one by one and this is what we found inside… A box of sugar cubes, some white glue, and several pieces of thick cardboard.  The note inside explained that the materials were for building structures, and Gracen wasted no time getting started.

IMG 0242First up, she told me she was going to build ‘biiiiig’ towers. ‘Big, big, big, big, biiiiiig ones’. And that she did.  Layering a little squeeze of glue between each sugar cube allowed her to create several tall towers.

IMG 0245When her towers reached the height that satisfied her expectations, she asked for help with making a ‘rectangle’.  I squeezed the glue out onto the cardboard in a rectangular shape, and she place the cubes along the path.  We continued this pattern several times and finished off with a top layer that made the structure look castle-like.

IMG 0249With our sugar cube box running low, we decided we had enough left for one last structure.  Grae decided on a pyramid with a fence around it (the fence was very important) and so that’s what we did.

IMG 0253I really love this activity because it can be very open-ended – the possibilities are endless!  Grae loved it so much that she was quite disappointed when the sugar cubes were gone, so we’ll definitely be trying it again soon! 

♥ 

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Contact Paper Egg Decorating

3 / 27 / 134 / 2 / 13

Contact Paper Egg DecoratingI set up this little creative table for Miss G this morning and she was so over the top excited about it that she could barely contain herself.

IMG 7144It was very simple to set up, but still took too long for Miss G’s likes.  All I had to do is cut out a few large egg shapes out of construction paper…

IMG 7145Then cut smaller ones inside, leaving an outline a couple of centimetres thick.

IMG 7147Next I stuck the egg outlines onto some clear contact paper, and trimmed off the excess.

IMG 7158I quickly filled up some little containers with our homemade coloured rice, paper confetti, tissue paper circles, and strips of spring-themed ribbon, and set my impatient little lady loose.

IMG 7153She got started immediately, diving into the pastel ribbons first.

IMG 7156And the messy stuff afterwards.  ☺

IMG 7160She immediately completed two of the eggs, and left the third one to a complete a little later.  As of now, Miss G’s eggs remain as they were when she finished decorating them, but we may cover her designs with a second sheet of contact paper in order to make them a little easier to store.

♥ 

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Balloons and Sharpies: A Creative Table

2 / 26 / 132 / 27 / 14
Balloons  Sharpies{this post contains affiliate links}

This morning as Gracen was playing in her room (aka tearing everything off of every shelf and pulling everything out of every drawer) and I was doing a little bit of tidying, I decided to quickly load up her creative table with some new supplies.  We’ve had balloons floating all around the house since her half birthday balloon bath, so I grabbed a couple of soup bowls, placed a couple of balloons inside, and put out a little jar of my {coveted} colourful Sharpies.

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Without a word of exaggeration, upon coming into the room, Grae’s eyes lit up, she punched both fists into the air, and squealed “Yaaaay! New crafting stuff!”

IMG 6086

She found it pretty hysterical that she was allowed to draw on balloons, and asked several times, “Mama, it’s okay to draw on dese balloons?”

IMG 6088

Once she accepted that it was most certainly okay to draw on the balloons, she dove in.  Her favourite was a ‘game’ she asked me to play with her…  I was to draw dots all over the balloon and she was going to colour over top of each.and.every.one.

IMG 6091

While the thought of balloons popping did cross my mind, day old {and therefore slightly squishy} balloons and well-used Sharpies = success.

So what do you do with balloons that have been drawn on?  Well, all of the things you do with a regular balloon I guess… Play keep it up, have a game of indoor volleyball, try kicking it really hard to see how far you can make it go – the usual.  Unless of course, you’ve drawn a face on it – then you can attach cardboard feet and have a little balloon person hang out around the house.  Like I think the majority of kids’ art should be, this is all about the process. ☺

See some of our other creative table ideas here.

♥

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Contact Paper, Tissue, Sequins, Confetti, & Glitter: A Creative Table

2 / 25 / 133 / 1 / 13

Contact Paper Tissue Sequins Confetti  Glitter Creative TableThis creative table set up had a good long run in our house…  It’s been worked on day in and out for over a week now, and I’m sure Gracen would still be adding to it if there was any sticky space left on the contact paper.  

IMG 5750When it began, it looked like this… A piece of clear contact paper, sticky side up, tacked down to one of our vintage apple crates (it could just as easily be taped down to a table top), and a few little jars of decorating goodies, as Miss G calls them.

IMG 5756Included were sequins, confetti, tissue squares, and a container of glitter.

IMG 5753Although I often set up Gracen’s creative tables while she’s sleeping, this time around she helped me set up, selecting the glitter (of course) and the sequins to be part of it.

IMG 5759When we’d finished gather our materials, she began creating without direction or instruction… Carefully adding each item, one at a time, and pressing them down onto the sticky paper.

IMG 5755The lovely thing about contact paper is that because everything sticks to it, projects (even when they include a full bottle of glitter) never get wildly messy.

IMG 5918Grae revisited it daily, adding a little bit each time, until today when we decided it was time to switch things up a little.

IMG 6005Now we could have easily called it quits at this point, because art like this is definitely about the process and not the finished product, but Grae had announced early on that she would be hanging her finished piece on her bedroom door.  In order to preserve it a little better, we took out our contact paper once again and cut a piece the same size as the original one.

IMG 6007I then peeled the backing off of just the top edge of the new sheet, carefully lined it up with the art piece, and pressed the two sheets, sticky sides together, down.  Afterwards, I pulled the remaining backing off in order to cover the entire piece.

IMG 6009Here’s what it looked like with everything sealed in. We could have left it as is, but Gracen chose to cut it into two hearts rather than keep it as one large rectangle.

IMG 6011Here’s the finished product.  She very proudly hung it on her door turned art gallery, but it would be super pretty hung in front of a window where light could shine through too.

To learn a little bit more about how we do creative tables around here, visit this creative table post and this one too.  Or, pop by Tinkerlab, where Rachelle, the creator of the Creative Table Project explains.

♥ 

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