Treasure Chest--Under the Sea (part 9)

Since these next crafts are accessories, you will see the completed chest when it is in the final stage of mounting.  The kids in this last week have endured since February 23 on this project. I commend them for lasting so long.  As you will see, only a few kids are now participating in the finishing details. Here, two boys are working on the treasure chest.

There's no pulling teeth for painting anything. All hands on deck are staining the ship.

This was a no fuss project; remember it's all in the details!

Supplies:

1. paint stirrers (free at your Home Depot, or paint store)

2. newspaper

3. brown paint

4. bowls

5. paint brushes

6. hot glue gun

7. small craft sticks (design on outside of chest)

Directions:

1. lay out newspaper on table

2. pour brown paint into small bowls

3. cover paint stirrers with brown paint

4. let dry

5. construct chest with hot glue

Duration:

This was a two day project: a day for drying, day two for designing and hot gluing chest together)

Prickly Urchins--Under the Water (part 5)

This is our version.

This is Anthropologie's version.

We are still wading our way through the various projects to make this massive mural.  Hope we are still peaking your interest and inspiring you along the way.

We had two tables: one painted orange toothpicks, the other table painted purple hue toothpicks.

We dumped the painted toothpicks out to dry.  Did you know that all those toothpicks had to be separated.  Yeah, you find things out after the fact.  The next morning I separated the majority of them with tweezers.  I managed to break only one toothpick.

We managed to get eight cups of toothpicks. It's the truth. I know you only see four cups, but the rest of the toothpicks were being pulled apart.

Another test for the little ones. They were to use plastic knives to cut the styrofoam balls in half. The trick--they had to use a sawing action, in place of using brute force to break the balls in half. Oh, well..they're learning.

We had a purple and orange table again. The tricky part was not impaling fingers with toothpicks.

Now you get to see the results.

The orange ones are on the sparse side. Hmm. What to do about that?

These guys are waiting for the big reveal.

Supplies:

1. toothpicks

2. paint (your choice)

3. Styrofoam balls (size: your choice, we used medium)

4. paintbrushes

5. newspaper

6. plastic knives

7. paper bowls

Directions:

1. lay out newspaper

2. divide toothpicks into paper bowls

3. pour paint atop toothpicks

4. mix them around with the paintbrush

5. lay out painted toothpicks on newspaper to dry

6. cut Styrofoam balls in half with serrated knife (we used plastic knives)

Duration:

This was two days because of drying time

Clothespin Flake

It must be that time of year and everyone has the same idea to make snowflakes from the same material; or wooden clothespins have a seasonal life.  I went to four different stores and there were no clothespins to be found. Perhaps held for summer months where we can hang clothes outdoors on the line.

The most gorgeous snowflakes not cut out of paper that had an old world charm was on this site: http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2013/11/easy-holiday-ornament-ideas.html.  Who knew that snowflakes could not so-o-o beautiful!

In preparation for this craft, we read about Snowflake Bentley, a farmer/scientist who had had an interest in snow storms and snowflakes all his life.  After the reading, we began to construct our snowflakes.

Children love taking things apart, so this was actually fun!  We bagged those metal pieces because I found out that one can make jewelry from them.

        

This young man is putting his name on his snowflake.

What a beautiful collection just as is!  They could have been stained for an old-fashion flare.

Since we learned how to mix colors a month or so back, the children wanted to paint their snowflakes a cool color.

The last item was to sprinkle the snowflake with glitter.  And there you go--glitter goes with everything!

Supplies:
1. wooden clothespins
2. wood glue
3. hot glue gun
4. paint
5. glitter
6. sealer

Directions:
1.  take clothespins apart separating them from metal connector (use 8 clothespins for one snowflake)
2.  glue the backs of the clothespins together (equals eight pairs)
3.  hot glue angled heads of clothespins together forming a cross, or north, south, east, west design
4.  insert the other four pairs in between the formed angles
5. sprinkle glitter
6. spray on sealer (regardless, glitter gets on EVERYTHING!!)

Black and White Study

I looked and looked in  my bookmarks, but I just can't find the source for this project.  If you have seen this project, please notify me so that I can credit the source.  Originally, I had seen this project on Pinterest, and I couldn't find it on the site either :(

With the polar vortex blowing havoc in the U.S., it reminded me of this project we had done in April. Sorry, you don't get to see the process, but the result could be breath-taking.  When we do this project next time, I would like to add perhaps the moon and/or animals.  Looking back on this project, we could have added more depth to the pictures.  At the time, I just wanted them to make fences to see the variation that would come out.

I think that the best would have been to add more branches to fill out the picture.  Do you also think so?

 Next time, I DEFINITELY will have a background to help the foreground pop more.

Supplies:
1. black construction paper
2. twigs
3. Popsicle sticks
4. white paint
5. wood glue

Directions:
1. pass out Popsicle sticks and branches; paint white
2. let dry
3. have kids design the layout of the fence and the placement of the twigs
4. glue the sticks and twigs in the design kids

Duration:
This craft takes one day.

Sunburst Mirror

I have fallen in love with do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, especially the ones for the home.  When I came upon http://decoratingcents.blogspot.com/2012/05/sunburst-in-dining-room.html, I wanted to make three variations for my apartment.  Then I thought wouldn't this be such a knock-out project for the kids to do, and one that would impress their parents.  Those paint sticks are free, but try asking for a quantity of stirrers for 23 kids.  You're right.  I had to do some traveling to different paint stores and hit Home Depot and Lowe's on several occasions.  BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!!

 

It is amazing to me how much little people are capable of doing if we just give the opportunities and have the trust and confidence that they can contribute much.  These children are kindergartners and they are handling the hot gun on their own for the first time.  In the past, I have accidentally burned myself and them on a number of projects, but it is inspiring to me that they don't encapsulate the fear associated with being hurt.  I LOVE them!

These mirrors were modified.  As you can note, the sunburst does not have as many spokes as in Decorating Cents.  Before the kids began, I asked them to consider the color scheme in their bedroom, or whatever room they wanted to mirror to be hung in.

Believe me, the parents were absolutely surprised.  They had accomplished a BIG work, an adult work. :)

And the kids were proud of their work!

Supplies:

1. paint stirrers
2, mirrors
3. hot glue gun
4. picture hanger
5. wire cutters

Directions:
1. paint stirrers (16)
2. cut rounded part of paint stirrers off with wire cutters (8)
3. stain sticks (we used water colors)
4. let dry overnight
5. mark back of mirror in quarters so kids have north, south,east, west directions
6. hot glue 4 stirrers with rounded handles in clock fashion
7. hot glue another 4 stirrers with rounded handles in between
8. hot glue the 8 cut paint stirrers in between the long paint stirrers
9. screw picture hanger onto back

Duration:
This project takes two days for the kids to complete.  You need to add extra day for the cutting of the paint stirrers.

Home Sweet Home

This is probably the only craft on this blog not borrowed.  Jo-Ann had a sell on birdhouses for $1.00 each. And I just couldn't pass up such a deal.  There is a saying that "home is where the heart is". Home is where one can close the door to the world and retreat to enjoy family and intimate friends. One can only speculate what type of person(s) live in a particular home by how it is outwardly decorated and maintained; but most likely, that speculation would be way off base.

With this project, I allowed the kids to decide how they wanted to decorate their house. Whether it was with paint, glitter or marker, I wanted to see where their creativity would take them.  At this time of season, a walk in the neighborhood shows the exteriors of homes already decorated with lights adding a festive anticipation to the days ahead.

For this craft, paint seem to be the medium all the kids wanted to utilize. Several, especially the girls used glitter; and others used sequin-type shapes. Definitely, their originality shone forth.  Do these "home" bring a joy to your heart?  Well, perhaps the birds would think so :)

Supplies:
1. unfinished birdhouses/houses
2. paint
3. markers
4. sequins
5. glitter

Directions:
1. paint houses the color of your choosing
2. embellish with sequins, glitter, markers

Capped Snowman Blocks

The holidays are fast approaching.  Hey, did someone turn up the speed dial.  The year has FLOWN by! Didn't I just turn 60!!!  The kids will be on a winter break soon, so I thought this project from http://www.kerryspapercrafts.com/?p=1709 was really cute.  We didn't use chocolate bars, though.  I thought we could rid the class of an abundance of building blocks by dressing them up for the winter.

Image quality is not good in these pictures, but you see the idea.  This is a two day project.

Supplies:

1. wooden blocks

2. white paint

3. felt squares (various colors)

4. small pompoms

5. markers

6. sewing machine

7. scissors

8. string

9. hot glue gun

Directions:

1. have kids paint wooden blocks white

2. ask kids what color felt square they want

3. sew long side of felt together to make a seam

4. have kids slip felt over block making a rolled cuff

5. tie string around felt with placement on near top of block

6. have kids cut fringe around felt cap (do not cut down the seam)

7. hot glue small pompom to front of cap

8. draw a face on front of block with markers

9. tie a small strip of felt in a different color to make a belt (optional)