String Prints

I'm not sure where I saw the idea for this project.  I didn't pin it... shocking I know!

You will need:  a block for each person (square works best), string, paint and paper.

Cut a piece of string or yarn.  Wrap the string around the block, trying not to overlap it too many times.  (FYI, learn from my mistake, wrap it tight!)  Give each person one color of paint and a piece of paper

Dip the block into the paint string-side down.  (one of my boys learned that one the hard way). You may want to test out the print on a separate piece of paper to see if the strings are tight enough.

When you have it working they way you want, start in the top corner of the paper.  Each type you press you should then turn the block for the next one.  Of course you don't have to do that pattern, as you look at ours they are all different.  Let the kids experiement with arrangment, direction and placement.

Elephant Toothpaste

I love Pinterest, who doesn't?  I love that I can find fun things to do with the boys.  When I saw the pin for Elephant Toothpaste I knew I had to do it with them.  I checked out the blog post and thought, hey I have all that stuff at home.  Later I realized I didn't really, but it still worked, I'll get to that later.

You need an empty pastic bottle and a pan to catch the mess.

In a separate bowl put 2 Tbsp warm water and 1 tsp yeast.

In the water bottle put 1/2 cup Hydrogen peroxide.  The original post suggest using one that is 6%, but I used the one you buy at the grocery store that is only 3%.  Add to that 4-5 drops of food coloring and dish soap.  I used a funnel so that the boys could pour it in easier.

Now put the yeast mixture into the water bottle.  And watch it grow...

And grow...

The "toothpaste" in the original post was a lot fluffier, but that was caused by the stronger Hydrogen peroxide.  As you can see, the boys still had fun.  They decided to dump out the solution and try to drive and burry the cars in the foam.

 Oh and Preschool Powol Packets gives the scienctific reason for the reaction if you want to read that make sure you check it out too.

Layered paint project

I love seeing something on a design show, yep I love to watch HGTV, and then morphing it into something I can do with the boys.  A few weeks ago I was watching the High Low Project (I can't find the exact episode... sorry!), and Sabrina Soto took an expensive piece of art and recreated it herself.  Well I took the Sabrina Soto project and recreated it with the boys.

The first step of the project is to paint light colors onto your canvas, or in our case your paper.  We decided to use yellow, peach, white and blue.  I gave each of the boys a plate with these colors on it so they could mix and mash as much as they want.  The middle picture is Blake's painting and the last one is mine.

 


Next you need to let that dry.  I decided to give it a day, actually two since the next day we were busy.

The next step you need to paint over the whole painting with a dark color the will cover the color you already painted.  Therefore the lighter you do your first layer the lighter you can do your second.  We decided to do either black or mix in a bit of white and do charcoal.

Right after you cover the whole thing you need to start removing the paint.  I had paint scrapers for the boys to use.  Sabrina Soto used a knotched trowel.  You could use anything that would take the paint right off the paper: cut knotched into heavy cardboard, use silverware handles, use your imagination.

The boys had a blast doing this project.  It turned out to be more of a process project than a product project, but that didn't stop me from framing their work.  

End of the year gift

Before I became a Mommy of two, I was a kindergarten teacher.  One thing I always hated to get was "teacher gifts".  Ok hate is a strong word, but how many mugs, teacher oraments, "worlds greatest teacher" stuff do you really think a teacher can use... nevermind wants?

Now that my boys are in school, I try to do something different for the teacher that they can either use in the classroom or just use.

At meet the teacher they each brought their teacher(s) a small tote with chocolates and fun teacher things (stickers, book marks, pencils)

For teacher apprecation they each did a movie theme for their teacher(s)

Blake's had 2 boxes of popcorn, 3 kinds of movie candy and a gift card to the local movie theater.

Colby gave each of his teachers a gift card to the movies and a package of popcorn.

For the last day of school:

Colby brought ice tea jugs with two packages of single serve ice tea mixes in side

Blake gave his teacher an ice cream basket:  hot fudge, cherries, sprinkles, an ice cream scoop, popsicle makers and a gift card to the local "FroYo" shop all in a big plastic bowl.

Here is a link to the post I did this last year when Blake was in preK "End of the Year Gift"

Next time you have to get your child's teacher something... think about what you would want to get.  Gift cards, cash and fun things for the classroom and home.  And skip the "World's greatest teacher" unless it is on a card written by your child.

Composition Red Yellow Blue, kid style

I am always searching for fun and different art projects to do with the boys. While searching Pinterest, you know this site... right?, I saw a link to Mondrian for Kids Art Project.  I thought this would be a fun, educational and easy art project for the boys.  I showed them the site above as well as more Mondrian images.

I gave each of the boys a white piece of paper, a black marker and a ruler and a square from their tool sets.  I told them to make as many lines on their paper as they would like in as many directions as they'd like.  (Interesting side trip they took.  Both began writing the length of the line on their papers.  You can see the numerals on Blake's finish product.  I think Colby painted over all his measurements.)

I then gave them red, blue and yellow paint.  We talked about the fact that Mondrain did not fill in all the spaces, but left many of them white.  I then let them decide which spaces to fill in and which to leave white.

When the pictures dried I cut them down to size and put them in the frames I have on my credenza.  I try to rotate out their art work every few months.

How's Your Garden Grow?

When I was growing up in Massachusetts, we had a huge garden in our backyard.  We grew tons of vegetables every year.  This is one of the reasons my brother and I like vegetables.  They taste sooo much better fresh off the plant.

Last year I decided I wanted to grow some vegetables so our boys could see how plants grow and be able to pick the vegetables themselves.  I sort of was hoping it would spur them into eating more vegetables too!  I initially bought two kits at Lowes that came with everything you need to grow a garden.  Colby picked a garden salad garden and Blake picked a salsa garden.  These were really cool.  They had the child plant the garden from seed and there was a computer link to track the progress and tell you what steps to do next.  Once we outgrew the initial containers that we planted the gardens in (and weeded out the vegetables that weren't growing well) Richard and I decided to build a raised garden.

We decided on a raised garden for a few reasons.  One the soil, um dirt, um sand, um clay  here is not conducive to growing good vegetables.  Two we have conservation land behind us and in it lives lots of wild life, so we wanted to be able to prevent them from getting our plants (they ate a pineapple we were growing before).  Three we wanted it contained and raised for easier access for those working with the plants.
Richard and I collaborated on the design, size and got to work.

What to do with all those balls?

Being parents of very active and athletic boys we seem to have sport equipment everywhere.  You should see the trunk of my car!  It seemed like we were tripping over balls on the back porch.  Richard had be searching the web for a "ball holder"/ sports equipment holder and hadn't found one that would work for our family.  On a trip to Toys R Us, he noticed that they had a cage that was made with bungee cords to hold the playground ball they were selling.  This spurred on his idea for the equipment holder for us.  The two of us worked together to tweak the plans and this is the finished product!