Works of Art

Daddy just got a new office with a big empty wall, so we decided to help him out and create some masterpieces for him to hang. I gave each child a canvas (very cheap from Michael's, of course). I then gave them different colors of acrylic paint and some brushes and told them to pick one color to cover the entire canvas so that there would be no blank white spots. We then let it dry and they continued with their painting.

Yesterday, we took daddy out to lunch from work and the kids were so proud to see their paintings hanging in his office!

Art Work Frame

We got some unfinished wood frames and painted them so that we could put the watercolor initials in them. We are hanging them in the kids' playroom.

We used some acrylic paint and the kids just covered every bit of the wood. They are so proud of their masterpieces!

Watercolor Initials

We saw this one at Blissfully Domestic. I couldn't wait to do that with the kids and hang their creations in their playroom.

1. Using your computer, make the largest letter you can in whatever font you want

2. Put clear contact paper over the letter and using a knife, trace around the outline of the letter

3. Stick the letter on the card stock

4. Paint away

5. Once the paint is dry, take the contact paper off

This is part one of our project with this one. More to come tomorrow! :)

Sock Puppets

Using some kids socks we made a cat and dog sock puppet. We also used felt and fabric glue as well as pom poms for the nose. Make sure the glue dries completely before letting the kids use them. You may also need to put a piece of cardboard in the sock so that the top and botton don't get glued together. Hours of fun!!!

Paper Plate Lady Bugs and Bowl Turtles

Using some things we have a round the house, we made some lasy bugs and turtles. We painted both first and let them dry. After the lady bug plate was dry we glued down some black spots and a head with googley eyes. We also included pipe cleaner antenae. For the turtly we used construction paper for a head, tail and legs. So cute!

"Hand" Made Totebag

This is such a cute totebag that my son made me in preschool. It is such a cute gift idea for parents and grandparents. It has been designated as my library bag to transport books to and from the library. I love it!

Supplies needed:
fabric paint
plain tote bag (you can buy them at Michael's or JoAnns)

Dot pictures!

When I pulled out the box of sun catcher supplies the other day, the kids saw the paint dots and wanted to play with them as well. We made pictures just with dots today. We made flowers, caterpillars, and creatures. We also had some pictures that were made of circles that they could just fill in. So much fun! My son then began practicing writing his numbers using just dots. The possibilities are endless. We have also done this using stamp pads and fingerprints.

Painting Sun Catchers

I got these supplies from Oriental Trading . The kids love to paint them and they make great gifts. The paint will last a LONG time since a little goes a long way. You can also buy these things at Michael's also.

Spring Felt Board

We made felt boards about a year ago by covering pieces of cardboard with felt and gluing it on. I cut out a bunch of basic shapes at first and the kids had a ball. Then I made them a set of cut outs that would help them build snowmen and it was a huge hit. As I noticed my son making another snowman today, I thought it was about time to cut out some spring shapes. Here are our creations today. :)

Button Caterpillars

My daughter and I made caterpillars out of buttons. They were so much fun and very cute. We also added some googley eyes so we could see where the head was. :)

We liked our caterpillars to be multicolored but you could easily make these using patterns.

Supplies needed:

buttons

pipe cleaners

googley eyes
glue

Homemade Bubbles

I saw this on Make and Takes and just had to try them.  We had so much fun!  

Supplies needed:

4 cups water

1 cup dish soap (we used Dawn)

1/4 cup Karo syrup

cookie cutters

bubble wands

pipe cleaners

Painting Planters and Planting Seeds

To celebrate Earth Day, we had some old, faded metal pails and we decided to liven them up a bit by adding our personal painted touches. The kids also planted some daisy seeds in them and can't wait to see them grow.

Painted Vases

It was beautiful outside so we decided to go outside and paint!! We took clean, empty spaghetti sauce jars that will be some new flower vases and painted them using acrylic paints. They dried so quickly by sitting them in the sun for a bit. So beautiful!

Sculpt and Bake Clay

We used one of our 40% off coupons at Michael's the other day and got some clay. We made some spring bugs and they are baking in the oven as I type. :)

The kids had a ball with it. They played with it for a long time this morning. I used a toothpick to put holes in them before we baked them so that we could hang them up too. Too cute!

Caterpillar Clip Magnet

We are all very excited to order our caterpillars and watch them grow into butterflies and then release them. So in anticipation of receiving them, we made some caterpillar clips to hang on the refrigerator.

Supplies needed:

clothes pins

pom poms

googley eyes

pipe cleaners

glue

magnets

Our Craft Supplies

We have a place we stash all of our craft supplies and we always keep a bunch of things on hand. Michael's and JoAnn's have 40% off coupons in our newspaper weekly, so it is easy to keep up our supplies. I am also a huge fan of Oriental Trading Company. They have a lot of things that I buy in bulk like multi colored buttons, craft foam, googley eyes, and jingle bells to name a few.

I have gotten a few emails that asked me what craft supplies I always keep on hand. Here it is:

Construction paper
card stock
multi colored foam sheets
glue (sticks and bottles) I just got a glue gun for Christmas and it has come in handy a lot
buttons
googley eyes
sequins
pipe cleaners
pony beads
jingle bells
pom poms
cording
paper plates
tissue paper
clothes pins
tempera and acrylic paint
water colors
brushes
markers
stamp pads
crayons
felt
craft sticks

Other things I have rescued from my recycling bin:

toilet paper and paper towel rolls
water bottles
pickle jars :)
cardboard
egg cartons

I hope this helps answer some of your questions. If anyone has any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Finger Print Rainbows

As you may remember, I have 2 frames in my kitchen that my kids put artwork in every season as seen here. We have had our snowmen in there for quite a while and I have been ready for our spring picture. We made rainbows out of their finger prints using stamp pads and then we made a sun using the side of their fist and orange rays using their whole finger. We cut the sun and the rainbow out and pasted it on a blue sheet of paper and glued a few stretched out cotton balls for clouds. Now I am a lot happier to see the spring pictures especially since we had warmer weather this weekend. I am ready for SPRING!!

Supplies needed:
white and blue paper

cotton balls

glue

ink pads or paint

Art Work Wind Socks

It is really windy here today so we decided to make some wind socks. The first thing we did was make some artwork. We took a large sheet of art paper and my son wanted to draw his family on his, but my daughter decided that she wanted to cover hers with stickers. Then we taped some crape paper as tails for the wind sock. The last thing we did was punch two holes in it and tied yarn through them so that we could hang our wind sock. We have already been running through the yard (as you may be able to tell by my son's smushed wind sock). The kids had a lot of fun playing with them today.

Supplies needed:
paper
markers and crayons
crape paper
hole punch
yarn
stickers

Another Book Idea....

We use these bags every now and again to have scavenger hunts for small things. We used them for this fall craft and we used them again here. I made a pocket out of a clear plastic sheet protector on the front of the bag big enough for an index card to fit in to remind the kids what we were looking for. We were focusing on our colors. This is an activity that can take a couple of weeks if you choose to do one color each day. After the child has found things that are the color of the day, take a photo of all of it and make a book out of it! They are so proud of the things they have found.

Personalized Books For Kids

I made a counting Book for my son years ago, but I used white cardstock pages and laminated them with laminating sheets and then took it to my local office store to be spiral bound. That worked out really well and he still loves looking at it. When I saw these blank board books on the Oriental Trading Website, I had to order some and use them for my daughter's book.

I took pictures of things of hers that she loves and printed them off on sticker paper, stuck the sticker to the board book and then I put laminating sheets over those. I personalized the cover with a picture of her and SHE LOVES THIS BOOK! She has been taking it to bed with her to read over and over.

Supplies Needed

Blank Board book, found here

laminating sheets

camera

sticker sheets