Remember my temper tantrum last week, when the kids wouldn’t behave at the allergist? I told you I had a little inspiration for a project for BabyGirl, and here it is.
I crocheted six little handbags in different colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. Admire the rustic, amateur quality of the bags that proves they’re homemade, won’t you? :) I used the yarns I had on hand, so the yellow rug-yarn bag is big and chunky and the orange sock-yarn is slippery and thin. No two bags are identical in size or stitches, but they’re all pretty close, and the kids think they’re wonderful with their unique qualities. JediBoy has asked for a purse of his own, and I’m halfway through a larger one in green.
Once I had the six bags done, I added rainbow buttons on the outside (we need to buy two […]
Original post by piseco
Our local children’s museum had a library day today: free admission to anyone with a library card, crafts at tables set up in every room, and a reading and book signing by children’s author Matthew McElligott.
Most of the crafts and activities had a general reading theme, including lots of tables to make bookmarks and one featuring Curious George. Since Matt McElligott’s two most popular books are about Backbeard the Pirate, several of the tables had a pirate theme. At the first table, just inside the doors, the kids could make pirate flags by putting fun foam stickers onto pieces of felt. JediBoy chose to make his a pirate ghost flag.
In another room was a fantastic activity. The library staff had photocopied black and white pictures of Backbeard, and brought along a whole bin full of fabric scraps (from a librarian’s personal quilting stash) so the kids […]
Original post by piseco
Thanks to supportive comments, a good night’s sleep, and a happy, sunny Thursday, we’re all doing a lot better here today. I had to laugh, though, when I came into the living room this morning and saw a mound of books. While I had been coping with my negative emotions, JediBoy was coping in his own way. With “fluff.”
The mound contained 21 Sesame Street picture books, 15 Curious George picture books, 26 Berenstain Bears books, 12 Clifford books, 7 Dora and Diego books, 16 Magic School Bus books, 5 Little Critter books, 3 by Robert Munsch, 3 by Ezra Jack Keats, 8 by Frank Asch, 4 by Kevin Henkes, 27 other miscellaneous picture books (mostly 8×8 paperbacks), and a handful of chapter books (Magic Tree House, Arthur, and Pokemon) - more than 150 books in all, almost entirely fluff! Twaddle! Drivel! And exactly what JediBoy needed to get through the […]
Original post by piseco
The kids love to paint. Today they are using shiny paint - half glue and half tempera paint on aluminum foil. BabyGirl likes to refill her paintbrush often and glop and sloosh the paint onto the foil. JediBoy experiments with designs.
Three or four paintings in, things start to get silly.
Really silly.
I am finally forced to capture the silly monkeys behind bars.
DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS. THEY EAT ENOUGH ALREADY.
Original post by piseco
Can I help it if two of the kids’ activities I like to participate in overlapped this week?
Muffin Tin Monday was a themed lunch: exploring your family, your heritage, your ancestry through food.
The Unplug Your Kids challenge word was kitchen.
So we had to have an Unplugged Muffin Tin!
In order to prepare for today’s lunch, JediBoy and I were working even before breakfast. We decided to make homemade Polish egg noodles, or kluski. These were the best part of my Buszi’s homemade chicken noodle soup. One year when I was in college, my mother and I visited my grandmother and I watched her make pie crusts and placek and kluski - and wrote down what she was doing. Before that, I only knew how to help. Now I have my own recipe to follow.
We made the dough before breakfast - two eggs, two cups of flour, […]
Original post by piseco
It’s time for another Think! Challenge. You can check out the solution post for other creative ideas.
This week, our instructions were to:
Put the following out on a table: 2 cups, 2 spoons (plastic or real), 6 sticks of spaghetti, 15 inches of tape, two 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper, a measuring tape and lots of quarters or pennies (the measuring tape and quarters/pennies cannot be used in the solution). Using the cups as the ends, tell your students to build a bridge that spans 9 inches and will hold as much weight as possible. When the bridge is complete, measure its strength by placing quarters/pennies on it (or anything else you want). Count how many quarters the bridge holds.
JediBoy was excited to build a bridge. First, he carefully lined up the six pieces of spaghetti between the two cups, and they held about 6 quarters before rolling […]
Original post by piseco
The weekly theme at Unplug Your Kids was white, and like several other families, we used this as an opportunity to make something white and spooky for Halloween.
My kids love to paint with their feet, but now that it’s chilly outside we aren’t doing the big foot-painting parties in the driveway every week. So I put out this favorite white paint and black paper to make this favorite decoration.
It’s super-simple: step in the white paint, make a white footprint on black paper. For toddlers or other kids who would think running around the house in painted feet would be fun, have them sit in a chair during this process!
You can make several footprints on each page. We used black cardstock so the ghosts would be a little sturdier, and we fit 5 of BabyGirl’s size 6 feet or 3 of JediBoy’s size 13 feet on each page.
When […]
Original post by piseco
We’re jumping on board a new challenge over at Think! This is their fifth week of challenges, and you can head over here to see other kids’ solutions.
This week, the challenge is to
Place the following materials on the table:
1 bag of marshmallows
2 paper cups
10 paperclips
5 sticks of spaghetti
1 inch of tape
10 inches of string
“Suspend” as many marshmallows as possible at least 1 inch above the table.
JediBoy was eager to try the challenge today. Here is his first try, with six marshmallows:
He wanted to stack more in a similar way, but they wouldn’t stay put and he started to get frustrated. I suggested he stack them a different way, so he tried stacking them vertically:
This was even more frustrating, and he asked me why I wasn’t trying anything! So I played around a bit and came up with a “bridge” that used his first idea but […]
Original post by piseco
I finished my little pig project by applying the last coat of matte sealant this morning, and the kids have been having a great time playing with the set so far. I’ve been reading the different versions aloud as they act out the story. They both love blowing down the houses!
This is our set. I made three pigs and a wolf, blocks for the straw, sticks and bricks, and painted a small wooden bowl to hold everything. The small underlay is half a sheet of green fleece.
Here is our first little pig with his house of straw. All of the bits are wood pieces that I picked up at the craft store yesterday. The pigs (Boy Game Piece 1-11/16″) are painted with store-brand pink acrylic paint. The straw house is made from just two blocks (Design Bar 3″) painted dark yellow.
Our second little […]
Original post by piseco
We couldn’t bring our Chesso friends to the lake, so we brought the lake - or at least the lake bottom - to them.
Before we left camp last week, we filled up six quart-size freezer bags with sand and rocks from the lake. Today, we brought the bags over to Leigh’s house and let the kids dump them out into foil pans, swish them around with water, poke at them with brushes and sieves and basters. It was fun in the way that the pricey “pan for gems” tourist traps are - the kids were delighted to find “crystals” and “coal” and “gems” in their pans.
Paula and Emily look for treasures:
Nate concentrates on using his baster:
Anna can’t help but smile:
JediBoy delights in a fabulous find:
Ben and BabyGirl bond over rocks:
It was great fun, and kept the kids occupied for a long time. Emily even went back out […]
Original post by piseco
I’ve enjoyed reading Amy’s Notebook lists - weekly lists of links to great ideas or fun projects she’s found. I bookmarked several of the ideas as things I wanted to try. This week, Amy has an exciting contest! Those of us who complete an “experiment” - take on a project or craft we found through her notebook - will be entered to win a great prize.
The list of “experimenters” and contest entry page can be found here.
A few weeks ago, in Amy’s Notebook entry from July 31st, I spotted a link to - let’s see if I can get this straight - an idea Amy found on Craftzine linking to Sakurako Kitsa’s flickr site featuring an idea she originally spotted on Iron Chef America! The funny thing was, I had just seen the same basic idea in the latest issue of Family Fun magazine.
It’s one of those […]
Original post by piseco
The other week I saw this terrific idea on AmandaChristina’s blog Hearts and Trees. She has a series of posts teaching basic watercolor techniques to kids. Last week’s technique involved making a wash and then flicking, dripping or dabbing rubbing alcohol onto the still-wet surface to create a really interesting texture and pattern. Click on over to see a great explanation and video… it’s okay, I’ll wait.
We gathered our supplies: watercolor paint (we chose black), flat brush, watercolor paper, water, old cloth diaper for drying/cleaning the brush, rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab.
JediBoy covered the paper with a black wash. I explained that he could just do a square or rectangle in the center of the paper, but he wanted this to be outer space which is, of course, entirely black with no white edges.
JediBoy started by dabbing on the rubbing alcohol with the cotton swab, […]
Original post by piseco
Ever since the day I saw these sand molds on My Mom Shops, I knew we had to have them. The problem was that mymomshops herself thought these were only available from French store FNAC. I did a few quick searches that night before bed, trying to find them in the US, but I struck out. So I sent out a quick email at 9:30 asking PisecoSis for help, she put the word out on her LJ, and by 10:35 I had an email reply with the website for Discount School Supply. And I ordered these darling, marvelous molds.
Sand molds of an Egyptian pyramid, the Acropolis, a Mayan step pyramid, the Coliseum, and the Taj Mahal. Too cool!
They arrived today, and JediBoy and I took them up the hill to the park with the BIG sand box.
The Taj Mahal and the step pyramid were […]
Original post by piseco
Ursa Major and Ursa Minor! Yes, we’re making an indoor planetarium. Here’s a quick shot of BabyGirl crawling inside to join JediBoy:
This is a repurposed lawnmower box. We painted it black inside and out, leaving a white star on the front and a white shooting star on the back for decoration. We sewed on a black handkerchief for a door curtain. We sketched out JediBoy’s two favorite constellations in chalk on one end, punched small holes with an awl and inserted bulbs from a string of white lights.
Today we’ll choose some constellations for the other short end of the box, and the kids will decorate the ceiling and long walls using these:
So far, the kids absolutely love this. It has taken a place of honor in the living room, and the kids are often hiding or playing inside. The only thing I wish […]
Original post by piseco
We didn’t have good luck with the Perseid meteor shower last night, what about you? We did go out at bedtime (from about 9:00 until 10:30) and saw maybe half a dozen. The sky was so bright with the moon, it was hard to see much. We planned to go out again, but when I woke up at 2 am it was overcast… and again at 4 am, and again at 6 am. We were sad that we didn’t get to see the peak of the shower, but we might try again tonight.
The Perseids are particularly sentimental for me. Ten years ago this week, PisecoDad and I were staying with my parents, getting ready to move away and get married. As the household started winding down for bed one night, I started talking about the meteor shower and peeking out the windows and getting […]
Original post by piseco
There’s nothing like a day spent with friends. We haven’t spent nearly as much time this summer with Heather and her kids as we usually do - we’ve traveled at different times, and our kids have been sick at different times, and things just haven’t worked out. Finally today the sun shone down and we got to spend a happy day at Heather’s.
I only took pictures while the kids were outside, and they were doing so many different things (and in so many shades of nekkid) that really only this one candid group shot seemed postable.
It’s the five kids - doing their own things. Jamie’s hanging out on the slide, JediBoy is playing but unwilling to get in the water, Ethan has been swimming and is now sunbathing, BabyGirl is exploring the toys, and Ben is jumping into the pool.
I also snapped this picture of BabyGirl holding […]
Original post by piseco
What’s our project this week?
The lucky find of a lawnmower box at Lowe’s yesterday set us off on a brainstorming session for this delightful project. (Our Lowe’s no longer saves appliance boxes, even upon request, because they’ve had too many people ask for them and never return to pick them up. JediBoy spotted a lawnmower box at the front of the store that was empty but not yet broken down.)
So - what will we do with it? Can you guess?
Our plan fits our interests this week - but it’s not about Ancient Egypt or the Olympics.
We’ve finished the first step, which you can see involved paint, and we’re waiting for the paint to dry.
Original post by piseco
The Unplug theme of the week (HOT!) gave me the chance to pull out this activity, something we hadn’t done since last summer.
We melted crayons with our magnifying glass - and oh, what fun! (Yes, we also burned holes in leaves and lit small piles of dried maple seeds on fire too.)
As we assembled our materials, just crayons, a grater, paper and the magnifying glass, we waited for the hot, hot sun to peek back out from behind the cloud.
JediBoy grated some crayon bits onto a piece of paper. (Yes, I have baggies of crayon stumps sorted by color family on our art shelves. Doesn’t everyone? Or am I just obsessive in my craftiness?)
Then he aimed the lens, and in a few seconds the gratings of crayon started to curl, twist, flip and suddenly melt into tiny pools of color.
We took turns, so that one of […]
Original post by piseco
We’ve been so involved with our own projects for the last few weeks that we haven’t done things to fit the Unplug Your Kids theme. But this week, I was instantly inspired. Our history chapter this week was about mummies and pyramids in the sandy deserts of Egypt and so I brought out the quite rough sandpaper!
We photocopied this image of a flattened pyramid (a square surrounded by four triangles) because I happened to find it in a book we were using. You can find lots of them to print online, including some here and here. JediBoy cut out the pattern while I found a few sheets of sandpaper from our art studio (we love to just draw on it with crayons or chalk).
Then he traced the pattern onto the back of the sandpaper…
cut out the pattern from the sandpaper…
folded the triangles up…
and now we have Sandpaper […]
Original post by piseco
As promised, here are a few pictures of the kids’ tie dyed shirts from Friday.
JediBoy’s bull’s-eye (or Eye of Sauron) and BabyGirl’s mini-spiral:
JediBoy and BabyGirl’s “matching” spirals:
BabyGirl’s bull’s-eye and JediBoy’s V for Volcano:
Original post by piseco
August 1st is Tie Dye Day… around our house, anyway!
Two years ago, near the end of July, I told PisecoSis that I’d welcome any suggestions for new things to do with 4 year old JediBoy. She suggested that we tie dye on August 1st in honor of Jerry Garcia’s birthday, and we did. We did a few things that first year (including a pair of darling little boy undies), and did just two shirts last year.
Today, we pulled out the Jacquard kit and did 9 shirts and 3 pairs of socks. JediBoy was very interested in the process and in choosing a design, not just scrunching randomly. He really wanted a spiral shirt and a bull’s-eye shirt, so we did those plus a few V designs.
I did the folding on most of the items, though JediBoy did his own bull’s-eye shirt and accordion-fold socks. He […]
Original post by piseco
Today PisecoDad is home sick with the same awful cold BabyGirl is just getting over. While the two of them napped upstairs, JediBoy and I went on a wonderful Egypt romp.
For old times’ sake, we read his two favorite books from when he was 3: Mummies in the Morning (Magic Tree House, No. 3) and The Best Book of Mummies. Then we spent a long time looking at a fantastic book that Pappy brought earlier this year: The Amazing Pop-Up, Pull-Out Mummy Book. The pages of this book unfold to a five foot long picture of Tutankhamen’s mummy case with little flaps to flip up to see inside.
Yesterday we had started our chicken mummy, and this morning the salt mixture was quite wet and clumping. We tossed out the old salt and made up a new, dry batch. According to what I’ve read, we’ll probably […]
Original post by piseco
It’s Friday, and it feels great. Poor BabyGirl has a little fever and a runny nose, so she’s taken no less than five naps today! But in between her mini-naps, we’ve taken advantage of the finally sunny weather and dry driveway to tackle some fun outdoor art projects, the best of which was…
Original post by piseco
In the hot part of the afternoon, while BabyGirl slept sweatily upstairs, JediBoy and I had fun painting outside. We made this charming cornstarch-vinegar paint, which is as much fun to make as it is to use.
All you need is plain vinegar, cornstarch and food coloring - plus some baby food jars.
Measure 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, 2 teaspoons of vinegar and 20 drops of food coloring into a jar.
JediBoy enjoys being able to measure and pour all the ingredients himself, but the best part comes next: put the lid on (tight!) and SHAKE.
Once you’ve made a few colors, you’re ready to paint. It sounds like a tiny amount - just four teaspoons - but you’ll find it’s plenty. JediBoy and I made four colors, and we both painted, about a dozen sheets in all, and there was still paint left over.
I like this paint because as it […]
Original post by piseco
We’re reading about the early Nomads and first villages in our history book, and we read the delightful kids’ graphic novel Ug: Boy Genius of the Stone Age by Raymond Briggs. We laughed out loud as Ug tried to convince his parents to help him make soft trousers to replace his stone ones. Today we made “cave paintings” on old paper bags - I brought out a box of charcoals but it was JediBoy’s inspiration to pick some berries and crush them for color.
A group of hunters:
A mammoth hunter:
A cave baby:
Original post by piseco
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