Look what WE did with a leaf!

 

We checked out this fun book from the library and had a great time getting creative with leaves! Look What I Did With a Leaf  by Morteza E. Sohi is an excellent book that teaches about the different types of leaves and the do's and don'ts of creating art with leaves. It even has a field guide to help identify the leaves you collect!

First, we read the book together. Then we went on a walk around our neighborhood and collected all kinds of leaves of different shapes, colors and sizes. We made sure to take the book with us so we would not forget the types of leaves we needed for the animals we really wanted to make. When we got back home we cleaned the leaves that were dirty. Then we got busy! The boys each made the cute little turtles and then they helped me make the butterfly and elephant. All we used were leaves and Elmer's glue.

The book has so many pictures and ideas of other animals you can make. It was a perfect fall activity.

 

 

Popsicle Paints

Here is a fun twist on paints. Perfect for hot summer days! Use popsicle molds to freeze colored water. I used three drops of food coloring for each "popsicle." Make sure to have real popsicles on hand for your little ones when you do this activity. You don't want them to be disappointed since these popsicles are not meant to be eaten.

 

Little Pintesters:Foil Painting

This activity can be found here.

http://picklebums.com/2011/08/30/easy-art-for-kids-painting-on-foil/

It's been a while since we've done a "Little Pintesters" post. These are special posts where we will test activities we have pinned on Pinterest. Today we painted on foil! It was actually fun for both my 2 year old and 5 year old. I give it a score of 10. It's not much different than regular painting but for some reason painting on foil gives it an added element of fun!

Score: 10 out of 10

Bird houses

 

We took advantage of a great deal at JoAnn craft store and bought these cute little wooden birdhouses for only $1 each! We just used the paint we already had at home. Now the boys are excited to hang them out on the trees as soon as the storms pass.  

Tin Foil Christmas Ornaments

 You will need:

A recycled cereal box

foil

cookie cutters or stencils

tape

glitter glue

hole punch

ribbon

1. Trace Christmas shapes using your cookie cutters.

2. Cut them out and cover with foil and secure with a piece of tape on the back.

 3. Have your little ones decorate the ornaments using glitter glue.
4. Punch a hole at the top or your ornament and put a ribbon through the hole and tie it.

5. Hang your new creations on the Christmas tree!

Little Pintesters: Acorn painting

 This fun activity was found here as I was browsing Pinterest. 

You will need:

An empty oatmeal canister

construction paper

acorns

paint

 Line the oatmeal canister with your paper and add some dollops of paint to the inside or the canister also. Toss a few acorns inside. Close the lid and shake it up. That's the really fun part!

 I loved that this was a mess free painting activity. I also liked that my 1 and a half year old and my four year old could both do it. I often try to find activities that they can both do so neither of them feels left out. This was PERFECT! It's definitely a do over. My four year old especially liked it. For some reason he is really into collecting acorns and playing with them. Fun, fun, fun, fall activity! This can also be done for other occasions using marbles, similar to this activity we did a while back. 

Score: a big 10! 

Halloween Glass Jar Lanterns

This a less sleek and less perfect looking "kid" version of the jar lanterns found on one of my favorite websites here. 

What you will need:

empty glass jar

mod podge

brush

tissue paper

black construction paper

tea light

 Instead of cutting in strips like the original post we decided we would rip our tissue paper apart into little pieces. Then we "mod podged" it onto our glass jar trying to cover every empty space. We then we cut out eyes and mouths out of construction paper and also adhered them with mod podge. 

We let the mod podge dry and then put a battery powered tea light inside to make it more safe for kids. Spooky, don't you think!

Little Pintesters: Homemade Finger Paint

 Back for another Little Pintesters post where our little ones test out pins we find on Pinterest. 

This recipe was found here. 

Ingredients:

3 T. Sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. cornstarch

2 c. water

food coloring

Combine ingredients in a small sauce pan. Mix and warm until mixture reaches desired consistency. Let cool. Pour into containers. Add food coloring to make desired colors.

The verdict: this was easy to make. I like that you can adjust the consistency to make it thicker like finger paint, or less thick for painting with brushes. The blogger of the original post suggests doing so if desired. It came out pretty thick. Next time I'll add a little more water if they will be using sponge brushes. 

This activity actually really entertained both my four-year-old and my 1 and a half year old. They were entertained for almost 45 minutes. Which is a long time for them!! So much fun.

Score: 10 out of 10 !!

That's all for now! Let us know if you try this activity and if it's successful for you :)

Box Shape Fun

Materials: cardboard box, box cutter, markers, stickers, balls

We made this game based on the idea found on this website. I thought it would be fun if the kids were involved in the decorating process. We colored it with markers and then stuck a bunch of stickers on it. Then I gathered all the balls and bean bags that would fit into the shapes and they put them through the shapes. With my four year old we also played a game where I would tell him "Put the ball in the...." and then would call out a shape. 

Scratch and Sniff Watercolors

Here's a great art activity you make with Kool Aid. So fun and it smells good too. I found the idea here.

Easy Drum

MATERIAL: empty container, construction paper, glue, foamy stickers, sticks for drumsticks

1.We glued construction paper to cover the container.

2. We put all kinds of stickers all around the drum.

3. We found some sticks to play our drum

4. We put on music and made some noise!

Marble Painting Apple

You will need:

construction paper

paint

cake pan

couple of marbles or glass beads

I cut out an apple for our fruit theme this week. I put it in a cake pan and squirted a little bit of yellow and green paint. I put the beads in and had my son just roll them around to paint his apple. Really easy and mess free painting!

Airplane In the Clouds

You will need:

2 large wooden sticks

1 small wooden stick

cotton balls

markers

glue

construction paper

Color and decorate the sticks. Glue them to make an airplane, then glue your airplane on to the construction paper. Take the cotton balls apart and glue them on your paper to make clouds.

Slippery Soap Poster

We talked about hygiene yesterday. This was our craft. You can print off the soap in black and white or color here. We put it together and glued it on a piece of scrapbook paper and colored around it with markers. We'll probably put it in the bathroom to remind him to wash his hands.

Macaroni Kid

We've started having themes for each week and mini themes of the day that go with that week. It's mostly to help me think of ideas in a way that it makes more sense for me. So this week is All About Me week. Yesterday we talked about My Body. We made this little Macaroni kid for our art of the day.

You will need:

Macaroni

construction paper

marker

two dry beans

glue

I drew a little guy with toes and fingers and everything. I had to help my son put the glue on the lines, he's still learning :) Then he put the macaroni to build a little macaroni kid, and we used two black beans for the eyes. We talked about his body parts and how many of each part he has.

Toilet Paper Roll Rocket

If you have an empty toilet paper roll just go here for a huge list of printable templates of cute things you can color and glue on your roll. We made a rocket!

Sword

You will need: hot glue, two large wooden sticks, two regular size popsicle sticks, paint, brush.

A parent can hot glue the two large sticks overlapping them about an inch or so. Then hot glue one of the smaller sticks on each side about four inches from the "handle" of the sword.

The child can paint the sword as desired.

Now have fun pretending to be He-man (like my son)!

Five Little Monkeys

I found these cute printable finger puppets here. You can print them out in black and white, color, and then have fun with the five little monkeys song.

Balero/ Cup-and-ball toy

You will need: plastic cup, mod podge, tissue paper,sponge brush, yarn, foil.

Make a small whole on the bottom of your cup using a razor blade. Rip tissue paper into small pieces. We used two different colors.

Brush mod podge all around your cup and stick the pieces of tissue paper to it. Layer it making sure that the pieces don't go past the bottom and top edges. Cover the whole surface of the cup. Brush another layer of mod podge to the top and let dry.

Cut a piece of yarn long enough to wrap around the cup twice. Make a ball out of foil and tie it with your yarn. Put the yarn through the whole on the cup and tie double knot at that end to secure it inside.

To play: hold the cup right side up with the ball hanging down. Swing the ball. Then, gently tug to try to make it land inside the cup. Have fun!

Fish Art

What you need: Glue, construction paper, scissors, markers, glitter glue

Cut "scales", a face, two fins, and a tail out of construction paper. Glue the face and the tail at either end of a piece of paper. Make an outline of a fish body as a guide for your child. Glue scales in a row right next to each other starting from the tail end. They can overlap a little to cover the whole body of the fish.

Decorate the tail and fins with markers and draw an eye and a mouth. Use glitter glue or any other thing you may have to decorate the scales.

I made the one below and my son made the one above.