Days 139/140: Bangles and Bath

Sorry about yesterday, I didn't think about blogging until late.  Mike yelled at me about it, so I guess we're good :-p

We made toilet paper tube bracelets.  They were so simple and a lot of fun.  All I did was take about a 1/2 inch slice of tubing out straight down the center, then i cut each roll into 6 bracelets.  The girls then chose 3 colors of paint and painted their bracelets.  Once they were dry, we decorated them with beads/googly eyes/gems etc.  Whatever they wanted out of the craft box was fair game.

here is what we ended up with, they are really cute.

Today, we brought back an old bath craft.  Remember the one we did a few months ago where the kids got to use the foam and decorate the bathtub with it?  Well, I brought that one back, mainly because we were sooo strapped for time.  We were out of the house ALL day, and got home in time for the girls to eat a few bites of a grilled cheese and get to bath.  It had been awhile, and I knew that they had fun last time.  This time though, their designs were so much more cohesive.  They needed no direction or instructions and they had a lot of fun.  I was proud of them!

Call it cheating, but hey, at the Greenhouse today, they did chalk, they flew kites, played with bubbles, today was full of all sorts of different enrichment so I was ok with bringing back an old craft.

Day 138: Paper Tube Airplanes

Another craft I can not take credit for... yet again, pinterest.  However, this was cute and something the kids found fun too, especially since they are so enamored with airplanes.

The original instructions called for using finger paints to paint the tubes a solid color, i really didn't want to get the finger paints out, so we used markers, which worked well, just the kids aren't old enough to completely cover a canvas (so to speak) in marker.

After they colored their tubes as much as they wanted, we cut 1 1/2 inch strips of construction paper for the wings.  The rear wing/tail, was simply creased to make the upward fin thing.  We applied glue and here are the girls' airplanes.  oddly, Penny's is the purple and pink one and Iris' is the blue one... go figure!

Day 137: Rings

Well, it is 11:40 and I am blogging.  Can't say I'm not dedicated.  This craft was born out of the need to have a quick, easy craft for the girls to do.  I googled "quick toddler crafts" and one of the first things to pop up was making pipe cleaner rings with "jewels" on them.  How much easier could we get?

So, I got out the hot glue gun, the pipe cleaners, and our little box of misc. craft items.  Mike even got involved and made himself a ring :)  All you do is wrap the pipe cleaner around your finger, twist it a few times to hold it in place, then bring the ends together and wrap it in circles.  Once it is wrapped, then you add a dab of hot glue and top it with a jewel. Thanks to the http://www.jugglingwithkids.com/2012/05/pipe-cleaner-rings.html blog for the idea!

Here are our rings... and my hot glue blister :(

Days 135 and 136: Turtles

I saw this idea on Pinterest (i think?) a few days ago.  Basically, you take an oval roaster, paint it green and turn it into a turtle shell.  Well, i decided to take it one step further and make turtle masks as well.  The girls LOVED them.  Iris wants to wear hers for Halloween.  Let me tell you, if she still wants to wear this in October, it will be a $2 craft WELL worth it!!!!

All in all, it was a very easy craft, just LONG.  First, we had to paint the "shells" green, which by far took the longest.  Do NOT attempt a craft like this on carpet, I am SO thankful that we have hardwood because not only did Iris knock her paint on the floor and I had to clean it up, but Penny dropped hers on the ground and instead of picking it up or telling me, she stepped in it and walked all over the dinning room/kitchen!  Gah, that child sometimes!!!

One the shells were dry, I used a small pairing knife and cut hols on the side walls for ribbon to go through.  Then I simply fed the ribbon through and tied a knot to keep it in place- instant turtle shell!!

Part two of this craft was to make the turtle masks.  They were simple, but time consuming, green construction paper and an accent color for the bandanna.  Iris chose red, Penny chose Orange- after they both originally asked for Pink, go figure! Simply cut out an oval face, draw a smile and a nose with black marker, then glue the bandanna across where the eyes will go, cut out eye holes and punch a small hole for some string to hold it on.  Tie a knot in your string and done! I am not an artist, so the masks are a little um, wonky if you will.  Maybe I'll enlist Garvin next time I need to do something like this :-p

Penny wanted to wear her shell to bed tonight, i think it was a hit! haha

Day 134: Rain Rain Come Again!

It has already been unbearably dry this year.  My allergies, the person who doesn't have allergies, are through the roof.  My husband has been struggling for almost 2 weeks with allergies.  It is time we wake up and smell the climate change people!  That being said, I saw these really cute umbrellas with rain drops craft today on Pinterest and decided that they would be great for the kids.

Finger paint paper cut to the shape of an umbrella, a pipe cleaner, and some news print (in our case a phone book) cut into rain drops.  Paint, cut, glue, done!  So I did most of the "cutting" but Iris did cut out 2 of her own rain drops- i was really impressed.  Penny put all of hers together, but Iris ran out of time before bed, so I put hers together for her.

Day 133: Sun Catcher

So, I must give credit where credit is due:  First, to my friend Susie who found this picture and reposted it on Facebook yesterday, and second to Courtney Luper (whom I do not know), that originally posted it to her facebook page.

So, instructions:

Sun Catchers!

So simple! Layer cheap plastic beads in cake pans (no lining required)
Heat oven to 400 and place cake pans on medium shelf. Bake for 20 minutes
Let cool & then just flip them out.
Drill a hole in it to make it a suncatcher! Great "craft" for kids (choose the colors, arrange them in the pans) to make as gifts for grandparents or teachers. You could use smaller ones as coasters. These look like glass but they are not breakable!

NOTE: Keep windows open for good ventilation

 

Yup, that's it... Mike got me a HUGE container of beads at JoAnns for Christmas, and we have used them here or there, but I still had the VAST majority left.  Well, i can honestly say, not any more.  We used most of them today.  But, we have beautiful sun catchers to show for our hard work!

We used 9 inch, non-stick pie pans and I told the girls to just fill the bottom of their pans with beads.  Easy, and surprisingly clean.  Once they were full, i forgot to taken pictures of this step, of course, I stuck them in a 400* oven, and then remembered after about 8 minutes that i didn't take pictures, so i took a picture as they started to melt :-p  After about 20ish minutes, they were melted enough, and 1 bead in one pan was starting to burn, so I pulled them out.  After about five minutes they were cool enough to flip out of the pans.  And all it took was a tip and they just slipped right out of the pan and onto the cooling rack.  After about another five minutes, they were done!

I won't have to drill holes because we only did a single layer and each girls' sun catcher has a couple of places right near the edge that is a small void of melted bead.  I'll just string a piece of fishing line through there and call it.

OPEN YOUR WINDOWS, because dang did it smell! lol
 

Day 132: Train Track Balls

Yup, you read that right.  Train Track Balls.  I am not expecting it to make any sense to anyone, because it doesn't make sense to me, but I feel like this was a HUGE breakthrough for us today.  For at least three days now, Iris has been asking to make Train Track Balls for craft and every day, Mike and I say "what the heck is that?" well, today, Iris asked again.  So I asked her "What do you need to make train track balls?" and she took me to the craft room, and this is how the conversation went:
Iris- Well, a small white circle ball that is in the drawer
Me- You mean a Styrofoam ball?
Iris- Yes, and beads
Me- Square or circle?
Iris- Square.  And we need glue

So, I gathered the supplies and she took me straight to the table and told me that we had to cover the ball in glue and put beads on it.  Well, as you may or may not know, Elmer's glue and styrofoam do not agree very well.  So, we tried that for awhile and the beads would NOT stick.  I ended up giving up for about five minutes, then I decided that I would wrap the ball in paper, glue the paper to the ball and let Iris glue the beads to the paper.  Well, that worked!

Iris took a lot of pride in this one, she used a small paintbrush to paint thin lines of glue on the paper wrapped styrofoam ball, and pressed each bead into the glue so that it stuck well.  This is what we ended up with when it was time for dinner.  I really think that she would have sat there and covered the entire ball with beads if i gave her the time.

But in short, this is a Train Track Ball, created, and executed all by my 4 year old daughter.