Circle Art

This is an easy art project for your kids to do! 

All you need is:

Paper (we use card stock)

cups various sizes (we also used cut toilet paper rolls)

paint

 and brushes

 

First squirt some black paint for the kids on a flat surface - we used paper plates, and give each child different cups. If you don't have enough, you can have kids switch the cups around. Then they will dip the edges into the paint and make a print on their paper.

Let the circles dry. Then kids can paint them. Make sure that the black paint dries because then if they smudge it it will mix with the colors and it will look a bit messy.

 

Look how fun they turned out!

Sparkly Sea Shells

The kids were watching Team Umizoomi and one of the episodes had a girl who lost her sparkly sea shells and the team was helping her find them. That sparked an idea in them and they were asking for days to make them! Finally we found some time!

What you will need:

glitter

sea shells

glue

paint brush

newspaper

 

After the kids picked their sea shells, they spread the glue all over them using paint brush.

 

Then the simply sprinkled the glitter on top of the glue.

 

These turned out so cute! I love when they come up with their own projects... saves me time fro planning and they are that much more enthusiastic about it!

Paper Roller Coasters

When we were putting together this activity for the kids we had no idea it will be such a hit. They basically make their own roller coasters out of paper strips and give them their own unique name.

 We cut some strips of construction paper in many different colors, as our kids love to make everything "rainbow" and we gave them some glue and black paper.

 

They made lines on each strip just like roller coasters have and glued them in many different ways on their black paper.

 

They made many different roller coaster models you wouldn't believe. It was such a great team work as well - they dove right in it the next day during their play date and created multi-paper model. (not pictured but I should take a picture of that... I know)

We found this idea over at 1+1+1=1

Snow coloring

With all the snow outside, we couldn't resist and we brought some in! The kids had fun coloring the snow! Here is how they did it!

We used:

food coloring

water

fresh snow

droppers

The kids got their know in a bowl.

And they simply colored it using the dropper. They had a lot of fun and they also worked their fine motor skills while squeezing the dropper.

And finished product!

Melting crayons

When we saw this activity over at the Chasing Cheerios blog, we knew it would be an instant hit. We took an 8x10 canvas and stuck two rows of double sided tape to it at the top.

Then we placed pieces of unwrapped crayons to the tape at any pattern kids chose. Watch out, some of the crayons tend to slide until they melt at least a bit.

 We used a hair dryer to melt them. Put it on high and hot option. And let the canvas lay down on the table.

Now you can stand it up, the crayons will stay put.

 

Look at the cool way they are running down that canvas! We were all in awe!

 Kids decided to stop at this point and let it all dry this way. If you don't want to have any thicker pieces of crayons on the canvas, blow on them with the dryer till they all run off at the bottom. This looked really cool to us. We can't wait to hang it up!

Create your own planets - Solar system art project

The Solar System is on our schedule for the second time in the past 3 years. This is one of the topics the kids enjoy very much and they choose it every time I ask them what they would like to learn about. To kick off the unit, we read the book "There is no place like space" from the Dr. Seuss collection, and since the Cat in the Hat has his own planet at the end of the book, we asked the kid sto design their own Solar system. 

They decided to start by making the stars. They took black construction paper and white paint and by flipping the paint brush's bristles, they splashed the paint on the paper, which makes it look like a galaxy , no kidding!

 

Then they got down to the floor and traced different sizes of circular objects on an easel paper. 

We separated the project into 3 days. This time they colored their planets with markers, choosing their own design. We did stick to 8 planets but they had a free choice of colors and sizes. They got more creative as they went on.

Here they are ready to glue their planets to the "Space" picture. 

 

And now there is a new System up in Space! It's The Adi System!

 

Q-tip skeleton

We are learning about our human body and this time it is about skeleton. The kids are finding it exciting to learn about how their body moves and what are bones made of. As a fun craft we had them build a skeleton using q-tips. This could also be a great activity for Letter Q or for Halloween.

We used black construction paper and thin q-tips. Have the kids cut the q-tips into smaller pieces for bones such as fingers or toes. They loved this. It was nice to cut something other than paper :-)

We helped the little guys to squeeze the glue onto the paper but then they had to place the q-tips the way they wanted them. 

 

And last on the list is to add the skull! We used white pencil. You could also use white crayon, paint or cotton balls also make for a cute skull. You can add googly eyes!

Marble fish

For this fun activity with an exciting result you will need:

1 cup of Hot Water

1 Tablespoon of Vinegar

1 tablespoon of Oil (we used olive oil)

Food coloring

Cookie sheet 

Measuring cup and spoon

White construction paper

First, pour water onto the cookie sheet and then add oil and vinegar.

 

Next put in few drops of red food coloring and gently mix.

When we were done mixing it all together, we had the kids dip the paper fish into the solution (you can cut out any shape that works for you). They were so excited to see what will happen!

Doesn't this look cool? The kids LOVED the result!

 

Actually they loved it so much that they wanted to try different shape and color of the construction paper. And how did that work? Let me tell you, be glad that we tried it for you - the paper needs to be white, otherwise the result is not as clear and exciting! So the yellow star didn't show any results.

Buckeye tree nut animals

These buckeye tree nuts are the typical "fruit" of the fall. If you know about a buckeye tree, you are lucky! Go there and collect some of the nuts just around this time of the year. We really enjoyed this simple activity. All you need are the buckeye nuts and toothpicks.

We asked the kids what animal they would like to make and they came up with ideas such as a deer, a cat, and a caterpillar. Then we poked holes through the nuts with the toothpicks - for legs and neck... or possible antlers and ears.

 

We helped the little kids a bit because it was too hard for them to poke through. The big boys were fine on their own most of the time.

These made for such cute fall decoration!

 

We are linking to The Imagination Tree linky party. Go over there for more fun fall crafts!

Pumpkin candle jars

This was one of our Halloween Party activities. It is very easy and you end up with very cute Halloween decoration for years to come :-)

First find some cute glass jars, wash them and dry them so they are ready to be painted.

 

Then, if you happen to have a witch at your house at that time, have her cut out the Jack-O-Lantern face out of a painters tape. (you can also do it yourself ;-))

...and have the kids tape it to the jar.

 

Now it's time to paint the jars orange color.

 

And let them dry.

 

This is how they look all lit up with a tea candle!

Jonah and the Whale

Nearly everyone knows the story of Jonah, who refused to listen to God when He asked him to go to Ninive. What happened? When someone doesn't listen to God, there is a consequence, right? And so Jonah got swallowed by the big fish! 

After reading the story in the Bible, kids got to work to recreate the scene of Jonah's misfortune.

 

For step by step instructions please go here and visit Danielle's Place
Thanks for stopping by!

Make a kite

We are back from our summer break and we are ready to dive right back into work. First up is letter K and so we are making a kite. I should stress that this kite is NOT meant to fly, it is just another cute art work we can hang up to decorate our house ;-)

First cut out a diamond out of a stock paper in the usual shape of a kite and draw a line that connects opposite corners. Have the kids color the shapes whatever way they want.

Then have them glue skewers that you cut before hand so they match the length of the lines you drew earlier, on top of the kite.

 

Punch a hole on the bottom of the kite and tie a string through it. Have the kids tie ribbons to the string just like this.

We had them tie 3 to 4 ribbons.

Your kite is ready for display!