Ice cube painting

K and I made water color ice cubes yesterday. We filled a try with water and put a drop of water color in each cube, then mixed. It was a really fun project for k, but a disaster for L. L painted for a little while, then became obsessed with eating the ice cubes. K and I have another batch of color cubes waiting for us. I think we will wait for L to nap next time. :)

Koolaid painting

We've been meaning to do some koolaid paintings for a long time.  Boy was it a wonderful smell as we painted.  We just bought a variety of koolaid colors and added a little bit of water to each one.  The colors turned out great and the paintings smell great too.

Tried the egg paint bomb project:

http://www.playcreateexplore.com/2010/07/paint-filled-eggs.html

I saved our egg shells for quite awhile before we were ready. They were really easy to fill and glue shut. The problem though was that none of the kids were strong enough to actually break the eggs (the kids are were 2, 3, and 4). In the end us adults threw some and the kids stomped on them.

Another Mother blessing

I really have had a number of friends give birth in the last 5 months. For my last friend that just gave birth about a week ago I hosted her mother blessing in Chicago. Here is a picture of her birthing candle burning and the tree of life I painted on her belly with Henna.

Valentines Day Cards

Valentine printmaking.

First we used a big piece of plastic. We used masking tape to make a frame. Then we painted inside the frame.

Next k used a Q-tip to draw a picture. then he would press a piece of paper on top of the painting.

Here is K painting the plastic

Here is one of K's millions of prints. He had so much fun we ran out of room to let them dry.
K had a great time making these cards. I'm planning on using the idea to make other cards in the future as K had such a good time. Here is the website I got the idea from:http://sactrippers.blogspot.com/2010/02/hand-made-valentines.html

Tub Paint

We made this great tub paint the other night. Its just a mix of cornstarch, food coloring, and liquid soap. I just mixed until it had a good consistency. K had a great time painting the tub and himself. It was a bit of a mess to make (cornstarch always is) but it was lots of fun.

Fish Kites

First we cut out the fish and used glue to draw designs on them.
Then we painted over the glue with water colors.
Here is my fish flying out in the yard. The glue pops through the paint.
Here is a close up of K's fish.

Another fun project I keep reading about in blogs. K loves to paint so I cut out these fish kites to paint. We took them outside to fly. We ran through the yard first, then tied them to a tree to watch them dance in the wind.

Car Painting

We pulled out our big paper and some toy cars I had stashed away to make ourselves some tire paintings. It was a fun art project and kept K happy and creating for quite a long time. He ended the project by painting himself. Too bad I didn't get a picture.

Star lantern

K and I spent the morning of the 4th painting and creating this star lantern. We got the pattern from Childhood Magic: http://childhoodmagic.blogspot.com/

She made the tutorial really easy to follow. Thanks!

Watercoloring in the woods

We spent the day in our local state park hiking around the big pond. We stopped for a picnic near the water and K was able to run around and explore the woods. Then we collected water from the pond to water color with. K had a good time pointing out the wildlife (goose, woodpecker, and a swan).

We've been trying to get over to the state park more often so hopefully we will have lots more art in the park days.

Spring!

K and I traveled to Chicago to celebrate the first day of spring with a friend of mine. We had a full weekend of festivities which included two art projects. When we woke up Sat morning Mother Nature had played a little joke on us and it was 30 degrees and snowing! We bundled up anyway and went out to wake up the flowers and plants. The night before we had sewn bells onto strips of fabric so we could dance in the grass and by the flowers to wake them up. K wasn't much into tying the bells around his feet so he just shook his.

During the day we also painted flower pots. The first pot is K's, then my friend's, then mine. While K napped my friend and I crocheted mushrooms. For dinner we made a big salad with pears and yogurt dressing.

How did you all celebrate your first day of spring?

Kid Art

We've been doing lots of art around here as a family. K loves to have us all gather around the table and paint together. The sun and light water color are the end result of our masking tape painting. The others are the result of potato and lettuce stamping.


In other news I had some wonderful finds at Salvation Army today! I bought K a little wooden iron, a glass pitcher, a glass bean container, tons of wonderful cotton sweaters to unravel into yarn, two large wooden peg puzzles, a big basket for toys, and a little glass for K.
We also stopped at a natural toys store in the area and found some great clearance items! Some water colors, all natural glue, toy metal bowls, wooden milk jugs, and beaswax tea candles.

Ok I'm off to work on my leprechaun gnome. He is coming along great! Perhaps we'll be ready for his debut tomorrow.

Half Done Projects

Here is some of what I've been up to. Nothing is totally done yet, but coming along. I have 11 of 12 cherries bottoms done (although I might make two more so K can keep a set himself). I have the aprons cut out. I love the print, however, I realized as I was taking this picture that I accidentally cut half of the aprons out upside down. Opps! Luckily I have plenty of material to remake them. Finally K and I water colored in masking tape. I got the idea from Frugal Family Fun Blog. they do some pretty fun art projects. Anyway its not done yet because we have to wait for it to dry to peal the tape back off.
Hopefully I'll be back soon with some pictures of finished projects.

Candlemas

Up until two weeks ago or so I had never heard of Candlemas. Then I started reading about it on different blogs and such and was intrigued. It seems that the holiday was originally a Pagan holiday to celebrate the half way point from winter to spring. It is supposed to represent new beginnings. Many people celebrate by eating foods that represent the sun coming back, making candles, and making resolutions about new beginnings. It was also adapted by the Christian faith as the final day of Christmas. The day to finally take down decorations (see that's why your decorations are still up. :).
So I thought the holiday sounded fun and decided we should celebrate this year. We ate Acorn Squash, chick peas, and mangos (sun colored/shaped). After dinner we made paper lanterns by water coloring card stock, cutting out shapes, and glueing tissue paper over the holes. K had a great time not only water coloring, but he also really like picking out tissue paper colors to cover his holes. So the first lantern is mine, then K's, then C's, and then K's grandmother's (Grammy) who joined us for dinner.
Finally the holiday ended with us holding a moment of silence and sending light and warmth to a friend and her new baby who need the hope of new beginnings.

Magical Wand

I have finally gotten all the parts together for K's wand. The wood was all purchased online. Then everything was painted with watercolors and glued together. The ribbons were purchased from JoeAnne's. I haven't found a cheap place to purchase ribbon from. Let me know if you know where I can find it. I'm excited for K to receive this gift as he kept running off with the stick part of the wand while I was making it. Perhaps I"ll get a picture of K playing with it after Christmas.

Balls!

Along with the wooden peg people, and coins, I also purchased a bunch of wooden balls. I just finished painting them with watercolor and polishing them with beeswax. Here are the results. They will probably go into K's stocking.

Play coins

This past summer K was given a play cash register at a garage sale. It was actually very sweet. K was playing with the register while I was looking around. An older man, who had also been shopping, came up to me and said, "he looked so happy I knew he couldn't go home without it. I already paid the lady so he could keep the register." How sweet is that? Anyway the register only came with one coin so for Christmas I bought 10 wooden disks at a wood shop. I then painted them with watercolor and polished them with beeswax (yes I did take the plunge and buy the nontoxic stuff). Here is how they turned out.
To the side is the little bag to store them in.