I-See-You Seeds

We had some left-over seeds after planting the garden, so we decided to plant them in clear containers to teach us how seeds turn into plants.  We did a version of this in elementary school, and I still to this day remember how exciting it was when they started sprouting!  So, here is how we did it:

I cut the top off some plastic 16oz soda bottles.  This made a perfect see-thru container so we could catch some root action.  I filled some with wet balled-up newspaper and others with wet paper towels (it was a little easier to see what was going on in the bottles with paper towels).  Then, we stuck seeds down about an inch along the sides of the container.  Since we don't have much direct sunlight in our house, we found a home for them on the back porch (if you have a bright window, that would be a perfect place).

Our seeds started changing after just two days!  I seemed just as surprised by the quick turn-around as my kids did. 

After a few more days, the roots were growing down and the plant was headed up. Before long, the plants had broken thru the top of the container!

Once we were done viewing them, we carefully removed them from the bottle and planted them in the garden, paper towel (or newspaper) and all.  You can see the one in the picture above that we removed from the bottle.  They are super-easy to get out!.  We learned so much from this project and can't wait to continue watching our plants in the garden!  

Oh yea, these are great for show and tell, too!  My son took his in and was excited to explain to his class what was going on..

Painted Soup Can Flower Pots

I can't believe that the end of the school year is here.  It makes me sad knowing today was the last day my boy will be in preschool.  He is growing up too too fast!  He had the best teachers ever and he wanted to make them each some thank-you gifts.  These are a perfect end-of-the year teacher gift (or would be great for Mother's Day as well).   

Being the outdoor kinda kid that my boy is, he wanted to give them plants.  He decided to grow them some assorted herbs.  And during a trip to the nursery, my girly girl decided to buy flowers for hers.

To make it a more personal gift, we decided to make the "pots" to put them in.  As you know if you read my blog, I like projects that:

 1. Use items I already have (especially ones from my recycling bin)
2.  Are easy enough that my young children can do them by themselves
3.  Are quick enough to hold the attention span of a 2 year old

This met all my requirements.

So for the pots, we dug out some soup cans and painted them.  I decided to spray paint them white to make the colors show better and to prime the metal.  My son decorated with paint and my daughter with permanent markers.

I think they turned out cute, and I'm sure the teachers will appreciate the thought that the kids put into the gifts.

Spooookkkkyyyyyyy Luminaries

This is a great way to reuse your glass spaghetti and pickle and mayo jars and make them into something fun for Halloween.

So simple...  Have your little one paint the inside of the jar a solid color, depending on which creature they are making. 

There are a few different ways to do the face.  For my 2 year old, I took a permanent marker and drew the face on the front of the jar.  For another of hers, I cut out face pieces, and she put them on the jar.  For my 4 year old, I drew face pieces on black construction paper.  Then, I gave him scissors, let him cut out the pieces, and using a glue stick, he put the pieces on the jar.  And obviously, we had to grab the googly eyes for one.

Add a candle and there ya go.  Such a fun use for old jars!

No Paint, No Problem

Its safe to say my kids paint at least 3 times a week, so we go through some paint!  We run out quite often, and I will not buy it unless its on super clearance.  So what do we do when its time to paint and we can't find the colors we want??  I open the cabinets and start searching.  I've talked before about how we paint with pudding and spaghetti, but we also use other fun foods and supplies.

We paint with shaving cream with food coloring.  Sometimes we add a handful of sand from the sandbox to the shaving cream or finger paint to change the texture. 

You can use your leftover Jello out of the refridgerator and put it on paper, cover with plastic wrap and squish the Jello all around.  When finished, remove the plastic wrap, shake the extra off, and the paper is left with some nice designs.

Our new favorite way to paint:  take some glue and either squirt or paint it onto the paper (I learned to make glue and put it into an empty glue bottle for the little one since she likes to eat this project).  Take cake sprinkles and colored decorating sugar and sprinkle it onto the glue.  This time, we also used some purple Kool-Aid and some pink lemonade.  Once it sets for a day, the colors will spread and its BEAUTIFUL!  The colors come out soooo vibrant.

We did glue/sugar/sprinkle painting last week during our craft-a-day, and the kids entered their pictures in the fair.  They both won ribbons :)

Happy Painting!!

Lets Make Some Bracelets

What little kid wouldn't love to make some jewelry??  This project is easy and f-r-e-e!!

Start out by taking an empty toilet paper roll and cut it into 1 to 2 inch wide circles, and then slit each circle open.

Next, give it to your child and let them go crazy decorating.  They can use markers, paint, glue, whatever they want.  My son decided to take some shells he found while we were at the creek and glue them to his bracelet that he had painted blue.  The shells made his a little heavy, so I glued a little piece of velcro to it to help keep it closed.  My daughter finger painted hers.  My niece painted hers with glue, and then rolled it in glitter.  And of coarse, I had to make one :)  I painted mine white & blue and then dotted some glitter in the glue. 

So fun, so easy, so cheap, so entertaining!!



The Story of the Story Book

This project all started because I decided to actually sort through junk that has been accumlating in my house.  As I'm trying to throw away all my outdated magazines,  my son started flipping out.  He wanted to know why was getting rid of such cool pictures.  He had a good point.  So, to keep him from melting down we decided to do a fun little project.  He and I created a book from all his favorite magazine pictures, and he narrated the pages for me.  It turned out to be such a great experience for both of us!  Here is what we did:

We grabbed the scissors and started cutting out all the pictures he liked (good thing we bought new safety scissors this week).  We took the pictures, arranged them on the table, grabbed a glue stick, and he went to work sticking them to blank paper.  Then came my favorite part!  One-by-one we went through the pages and Russ told me what was going on each page while I wrote it down.  He created some cute little stories.

Then we decided to professionally bind the book.....  Ok, not really.  Instead, to make the front and back cover, I took two pieces of cardboard, covered them with white paper, and duct taped around the sides (yes I know, there I go with the duct tape again).  I put the pages we created into the covered cardboard, punched holes, and tied it together with ribbon.  He named the book, I wrote it on the cover, he did some final artwork, and we were finished. 

I can't tell you how excited my little one was when we got in bed last night, and he was able to read his own little book.  This is definately a project I recommend everyone try.  It is sooo good for the imagination!

Breathe New Life into Unwanted Clothes

Living in a town with no fabric stores has taught me to get creative when looking for material.  I don't always feel like driving 35 minutes to get to a fabric store, so I found a new way to find what I need:  thrift stores and yardsales. 

Yes, I know they don't typically sell material, or do they?  As I walk thru the store looking up and down the racks, I switch my brain over from thinking "Wow thats an ugly dress" to "Wow thats some nice material in that dress".  Its amazing how different things look when you look at it thru different eyes.

Example:  I was at a yardsale this summer and the clothing was fill-a-bag for $1.  The clothes were pretty old or just not my size or style.  However, they had some great prints in them.  So, I filled a bag with a bunch of stuff, and in the end, I paid about $.10 per piece.   Here is the first adult sized (not my size) skirt I bought:

I cut it into pieces and added hems.  The top piece I cut and sewed to where the zipper could still be used.  The second, I just added elastic to the top for a waistband.

Here is the second skirt I came home with:

This skirt had an awesome waistband that I thought would work perfect for a dress top.  So, I measured the length & top, marked it, cut, and sewed a seam down the side.  I used the left-over bottom piece to make two straps and attached them to the top.  Here is how it turned out:

Next time you're at a yardsale and nothing is your size, flip your brain to fabric mode, and take another look around!! 

Because I Had to Use the Leftover Paint Swatch Pieces.....

After we made the Paint Swatch Monster Valentines, we had a bunch of little pieces of paper paint swatches left (these were the little pieces that we cut off after the cards were glued together that contained the names of the paint colors).  My son looked at them and said, "Now what are we going to make with these?"  I'm thinking he's been around me too long.  He kept arranging the tiny pieces next to each other, making pictures, and I realized that they looked like little mosaic pieces.  I dug thru the closet where I keep all the just-in-case-I-need-it stuff and found a clay flower pot!

Sooooooo..... Here is what we did!  I poured a bowl of decoupage glue, gave my son a paint brush, and let him glue the pieces to the pot.  I showed him how to take the smaller pieces and fill in the empty spots, and he did awesome!  After he was finished, we painted a coat of decoupage sealer over the entire pot to waterproof it and give it a glossy finish.......   LOVE IT!

Paint Swatch Valentine Card Monsters....

Happy Valentine's Day!!  Today we made Valentine's for my son's preschool class, and I have to say, I think they turned out super cute.  I wanted bright, fun cards, and I think we accomplished that.

For the card, I gathered up a bunch of paper paint swatches that I had been collecting each time we repaint a room (because of coarse I didn't throw them away when I was done).  I took two cards and glued them together, pretty sides out.  I started using hot glue, but found that spray adhesive worked better.  It gave a smoother finish.  And since it drys slower than hot glue, it gave me a chance to move the cards around until the were lined up correctly.

After they dried, I put them on the cutting board and cut off the part of the card that told what color the swatch was. That left me with a double-sided color card with nothing on either side. I then took my permanent marker and wrote Valentine greetings on one side, signed my sons name, and left the other side for monster-making.

So, next I gathered up some sticky-backed googly eyes and stickers.  For the mouth, I found some sticky-backed red craft foam and cut mouths of all shapes and sizes.  I put all the different supplies in piles on the table and let my son go crazy decorating the cards.  He got soo into making these monsters!

Once he was finished, we cut some yarn and glued it to the monster heads.  And of coarse, we made some with mustaches.  To attach the yarn, I used a decoupage glue so that my son could put the yarn on without burning himself.

And there ya go!!



A Juicy Bird Feeder

With all the snow we've had lately, we've spent a lot of time staring out the living room window.  There have been soo many birds on our porch swing chains lately that my son decided we need to make a bird feeder.   After being snowed in for days on end, the craft supplies started running low (which is good because now I get to restock), so we hit up the recycling bin.... again.  We found an orange juice carton that was just perfect for our project. 

So, I started by drawing a square on each side of the carton where we would cut the holes for the birds to eat out of.  I started the hole, then gave my son the safety scissors and let him cut them open. 

Next, let your kid go paint crazy :)  Just a hint, paint the carton with a coat of white or other solid color and wait for it to dry before doing the other colors.  The words on the carton are hard to cover, especially if you let your little one use washable paint.

Once its dry, find a nice stick to use for a perch.  To attach it, put a hole just under the window on each side, and stick the stick straight thru.  Now, put two small holes in the top so you can run a string thru for hanging.

And now hang your bird feeder, and wait for the birds to come!  I really wanted to wait for a bird to land on it for the final picture, but I'm impatient; I'll just add that picture later :)

From Christmas Tin to Travel Bin

I was cleaning out a cabinet the other day, and I found this tin that someone gave me full of cookies at Christmas.  Well, you know I can't just throw something like this away, so I put it on the counter and decided to use it to hold all kinds of fun stuff for Russ to use while we are in the car. 

I decided that I would paint it (so it didn't look so Christmas-y), and immediately I thought of the left-over chalkboard paint hiding in the back of the closet.  So, I took some sandpaper and buffed it to make the paint stick better, and then I grabbed the chalkboard paint and  painted the lid while Russ used craft paint on the rest of it (I can't paint without him).  I used the chalkboard paint on the inside and the outside of the lid. 

 

After the lid was painted, I thought it looked like a road, so I painted some yellow lines on it.  Then, I went digging through Russ' room and found a few little plastic cars we won in the arcade.  I took a strip of magnet, cut small pieces, and stuck them to the bottom of the cars.  Now, I had a racetrack with cars that would stick to the tin so they wouldn't fall off and get lost.

The only thing left to do was fill the little travel kit with fun stuff (including chalk, fruit snacks, pad and paper, etc.) and put it in our car.

I'm really happy with what we ended up with, and my son has really enjoyed having something new to play with in the car!!

(Wanted to say he doesn't have his seatbelt on because this was a staged pic in my driveway.  Notice the open door.  hehe)

The Cozy Cone

My son is soooo into the Disney Cars movie;  I think we watch it at least 4 times every week.  Whenever we go out, we keep our eyes out for anything from the movie that he doesn't have yet.  So, today I was at Target looking through the dollar section, and I got excited when I saw a 6 pack of orange cones.  I immediately thought COZY CONE MOTEL. 

I bought the 6 pack of cones and went home and got to work.  Ok, I didn't do too much work, it was pretty simple.  But when Russ woke up and saw what I did, he was literally screaming with excitement!

I took the cones and cut an opening in the front measuring approximately an inch and half by an inch and half.  On some of them, I cut across the top of the opening so that there was a square door hole.  On others, I just cut up the two sides and then folded the flap up to form a porch.  Be sure to cut slowely and carefully or the plastic will crack (thats why there are 4 Cozy Cones instead of the 6 that came in the pack).

After that, I just took a permanent marker and drew on some room numbers and windows.

And there you have it, the COZY CONE MOTEL!!

An Eggcellent Snake Project

I finally got tired of seeing the basket of plastic Easter eggs sitting in the living room floor and decided we needed to do something with them or throw them away.  I was looking at them (thinking about tossing them in the trash) and noticed that each half of each egg had holes in the ends.  I assume these holes are there in case one gets stuck in your childs mouth.  So anyway, I grabbed some line and gave it to Russ to string the eggs onto. 

I was amazed at how much thought he put into stringing them together and how carefully he worked.  I wanted to help, but he enjoyed it too much and wouldn't let me!  So, as he was stringing the eggs, they started looking like a long, winding snake.  Our playtime had developed a into a snake project. 

Russ continued stringing the eggs until he had one left.  The very last egg was turned backwards to give it a "finished" look and the line was tied in a knot.

Then, since we decided it was a snake, I painted a face on it and glued on a piece of ribbon to make a mouth.  Our pointless project turned into a cute little toy.  My 8 month old daughter especially likes playing with it!!  And best of all, I didn't have to throw the eggs away.

Happy Earth Day

I was at my dad's last week, and he had the cutest little simple tool I'd ever seen.  You use it to turn strips of newspaper into little pots for starting seeds.  They are great little pots because once the seeds sprout, you can plant the entire newspaper pot into the ground.  

I wanted to make this little tool for myself, but that would require using the lathe, and well, I need all my fingers.  I came home and sat down next to the recycling bin and figured out how I could make the pots using stuff we had thrown out.  I finally got it to work and so, to celebrate Earth Day, we decided to make some of these newspaper pots and planted some wildflower seeds in them.

The only "tools" I used were a water bottle that we cut both ends off of and a laundry detergent cap.

To start, take your newspaper (after you've finished reading it) and cut strips all the way across that are about 6 inches tall and are the length of the paper.  

Take one strip and wrap it around the water bottle.  Let about 2 to 3 inches of the paper hang over the end of the bottle (the overhang will form the bottom of the pot).  The overhang should be over the cut end of the bottle.  You keep wrapping around and around until you reach the end of the paper.

Once the newspaper is around the bottle, push the overhanging paper up inside the cut-out hole in the bottle.  I used the laundry detergent lid to get it pushed all the way up in there.

Next, carefully pull the newspaper off the bottle.  Reach inside and twist the paper that was pushed inside.  It helps if you set the pot on the table while twisting the inside paper.  This will form a nice, solid bottom.

Now you can fill you pot with dirt and plant your seeds.  I placed all my pots in a tray that we got when we bought flowers.  If you don't have one, you can put them on a cookie sheet.  Put the tray in a nice sunny area, water daily, and when they sprout, you can plant the entire newspaper pot and all straight into the ground!

Happy Earth Day!

Crayon Iron-Ons

I know, I've already done crayons (probably will do them again).  But, they have soo many fun uses that I can't get enough.  This time we used our crayons and some sandpaper to make iron-ons.  The little ones (and big ones) will love creating their own clothing or accessory designs!  Its such a fun project for kids of all ages.

Take a piece of coarse sandpaper and color your design on the rough side.  I free-handed some hearts and flowers.  Since my son isn't old enough to really draw designs yet, I cut out some shapes and letters for him to color.  Remember:  When cutting out letters or when coloring words, you must make them backwards so when they are transfered, they face the right way.

Now for the adult portion!  Take your material (shirt, bag, whatever) and put it on your ironing board.  Be sure to put a piece of white paper or aluminum foil under the layer of fabric you are putting your iron-on on.  If you don't, the crayon will bleed through.  Place your picture on the fabric, crayon side down.  Now iron it on.  Be sure to move the iron very slowly and iron for 10-20 seconds (don't burn your shirt though). 

Now, carefully peel off the sandpaper while its still hot and ALL done!!

Wait until your child sees their masterpiece on a piece of clothing.  They'll love it!

BE SURE TO READ THIS:  While handwashing is best, you can wash your project in the machine on cold.  DO NOT DRY YOUR PROJECT IN THE DRYER!  Not only will the crayon melt all over your project, it will probably ruin all the clothes in the dryer.  I know this from experiences with crayons left in pockets.