The Artful Parent

I'm heading to BlissDom!

2012-02-23T07:32:00-05:00

I'm driving to Nashville, Tennessee, today for the BlissDom blog conference. I have the car packed with music, audio books, and snacks and I can hardly believe have the next five hours to myself in the car! Usually car drives involve mediating the needs of four different people, including two small but very vocal beings. Needless to say, this peace- and quiet-loving mama will thoroughly enjoy the solo road trip.

But as thrilled as I am about having a little time to myself on the ride, I'm even more excited about the actual blog conference which will most definitely not be about peace and quiet, but rather connecting with other bloggers and learning all kinds of good bloggy stuff. I can't wait!

And guess who I'm sharing a room with? Rachelle from TinkerLab—one of my favorite bloggers! We have e-mailed and talked, but live across the country from each other (she's in California), so we haven't met in person yet. Her flight gets in very late, so we'll probably be meeting in our pajamas tomorrow morning. I told her it was a good way to meet someone I felt I already knew.

Rachelle said something about sharing exclusive, behind-the-scenes, and possibly embarrassing photos of the conference... I'll bring my camera but can't promise embarrassing. You may want to follow Rachelle for that, although I'm planning to make her pinky swear to run photos by me before posting them. :)

I haven't been away from my family in almost three years (since before Daphne was born) and I'm a little nervous about how they'll do. Or mostly how Daphne will do. I'm sure Maia will be fine.

I had fun putting together little notes and gifts for them to open each day that I'm gone (as I've done in the past when Maia was younger). And, of course, I will talk to them on the phone. But It will be strange to be away from home.

However...

I'm still super excited!

The Tooth Fairy

2012-02-22T22:41:28-05:00

Maia lost her first tooth last weekend! She was very excited about her wiggly tooth and kept talking about the tooth fairy—sharing all the interesting facts that she knew about tooth fairies (and surely learned from the other 6 year olds at school). And, of course, she knew the whole routine about putting the tooth under your pillow.

But she lost her tooth in the middle of the night! It was simply missing when she woke up. We searched her bed and bedroom and finally decided that she must have swallowed it during the night.

Maia was very concerned that she didn't have her tooth to put under her pillow so she wrote the tooth fairy a note to explain what happened. Luckily the tooth fairy was understanding. Maia was so thrilled with her dollar coin (she thought it was gold) that she put together a gift for the tooth fairy with half the coins from her piggy bank and and a few more written notes! Lucky tooth fairy.

And now Maia has a new smile!

I'm curious. What does the tooth fairy leave for the kiddos in your house?

39 Ways to Play and Learn with Playdough

2012-02-20T07:30:00-05:00

After posting about cooked versus no cook playdough recipes the other day, I thought I'd follow with a round up of ways for kids to use and play with the playdough. I began with links to my many playdough posts, but then went a little crazy and added all kinds of other playdough fun found around the web. Enjoy!

Use playdough to explore art concepts

Make mosaic art with the playdough (from Putti Prapancha)
Explore color mixing with playdough (from At the Butterfly Ball)
Playdough dress up (from Inspiration Surrounds... Creativity Abounds)
Make a playdough maze (from Squashed Tomatoes)
Roll the playdough into balls, snakes, and snails (plus a kool-aid playdough recipe, from The Chocolate Muffin Tree)
Make your own natural dyes for the playdough (from Mini Eco)

Poke things in the playdough

Poke in spaghetti (from Having Fun at Home)
Make spaghetti towers by stringing on pasta and cheerios (from Pre-School Play)
Make sand playdough and add seashells (from The Imagination Tree)
Use googly eyes and feathers to create playdough monsters
Stick candles in for birthday cakes
Poke in toothpicks to make porcupines and other prickly creatures
Stick in popsicle sticks (from Sixty Second Parent)
Add beads and pipecleaners for playdough robots (from Counting Coconuts)

Make prints in playdough

Use sculpey nature prints to make flower and leaf prints in the playdough
Make leaf prints from real leaves (from Nurture Store)
Make lace prints in playdough (from Mommy Labs)
Roll textured rolling pins in the playdough

Use playdough in the kitchen

Open a playdough bakery (from Frugal Family Fun Blog)
Be a playdough short order cook
Make playdough pizza (plus lots of other playdough ideas, from Childhood 101)
Make edible peanut butter playdough (from Make and Takes)

Make playdough gifts

Playdough Valentine's are sweet! (from Simple as That)
Playdough gift with cookie cutter and recipe (from eighteen25)
Rainbow playdough (from igoYOUgo)
Here's Candy Cane Playdough
And Playdough Snowmen in Snow Globes
Simple glittery playdough with googly eyes (from Sew Liberated)

Playdough science

Playdough makes a good volcano
Use playdough to make a tabletop forest ecosystem
Make glow in the dark playdough (from Sun Hats & Wellie Boots)
Create a playdough Earth (from Meet the Dubiens)
Make galaxy playdough (from Fairy Dust Teaching)

Playdough for literacy

Write messages in playdough
Stamp letters in playdough (from KindergartenWorks)
Practice letters (from KinderGals)

More playdough fun

Make a playdough train table! (from Filth Wizardry)
Use the playdough for a fun sensory experience (from The Magic Onions)
Cut playdough snakes—a great first cutting activity for toddlers (from OT Mom)

Do you have any great playdough links to add—either your own or ideas you've seen elsewhere? If so, please include them in the comments!

No Cook Versus Cooked Playdough

2012-02-18T07:18:41-05:00

You know how much we love the cooked playdough recipe we've been making forever. It's the play clay from MaryAnn Kohl's First Art, and I've posted about it here and here as well as probably about 20 other times. It's awesome. The texture is smooth and playdough rubbery, the batch makes a more than generous amount to play with, and it lasts just about forever.

How does no cook playdough compare?

We've made five different no cook playdough recipes so far. Some use cold water, some use boiling hot water. Most of the other ingredients are the same but vary slightly in amounts. The recipes with the cold water are grainier and a bit drier in general. Here's the recipe for the no cook playdough I like the very best, using the hot water method.

No Cook Playdough Recipe

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 Tbsp cream of tartar
2 Tbsp oil
Liquid watercolors (or food coloring)
2 cups boiling water

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

Make a well in the center and add oil and coloring.

Pour in boiling water and mix.

It will look like a goopy mess and you're going to be sure that you're going to have to add a lot of flour to make it work. Just let it sit for a few minutes. It will firm up and work perfectly.

Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it a bit to form a ball.

Play!

P.S. Here's the same version, on Sun Hats & Wellie Boots, using beets and blueberries to dye the dough naturally. I think I'll try that next...

These photos actually show my second favorite no cook playdough recipe. Like the recipe above, it was soft and pliable, allowing Maia and Daphne to use it to make pretend food and other fun things. Here they are cooking crepes and eggs over their makeshift stove.

And Maia used the playdough to "write" us a sweet message.

After giving no cook playdough several trial runs, I have come to the conclusion that cooked playdough is better, but that no cook playdough has it's place, too.

Why is cooked playdough better?

Shelf life: The cooked playdough recipe we make lasts for months. The no cook playdough batches lasted a couple of weeks. By then they were a little too dried out and, in some cases, a little too smelly to keep using.

It's forgiving: Cooked playdough can be left out, uncovered, for hours, with little or no lasting effect. No cook playdough starts getting a dry and crumbly coating if left out for any length of time.

Better texture: The cooked playdough has a lovely, rubbery, squishy playdough texture and it holds together better. Most of the no cook playdoughs are soft, but pull apart quickly and you end up with more crumbs and bits of playdough all over.

However, as much as I love cooked playdough, I grant that there are definitely times and reasons to consider making no cook playdough as well.

Why make no cook playdough?

More kid-friendly to make: If you want your kids (or students) to be more involved in all steps of making the playdough, then no cook is the way to go since there is no hot stove to deal with. If making the kind with boiling water, an adult can boil and pour the water, but children can help with the rest.

It's quicker and easier: No cook playdough is a bit quicker and easier to make. Mostly just dump and mix.

Expendable: If you plan to use it for a specific purpose, such as a baking soda volcano or a kitchen table forest, then by all means whip up a quick batch of no cook playdough.

Your turn to weigh in! What do you think about no cook versus cooked playdough? Do you have a preference? Or would you rather just buy yours ready made?

Share the Love with Interactive Heart Mandalas

2012-02-15T11:48:16-05:00

Maia and I have been making interactive mandalas for a couple of months now, taking turns drawing each successive layer. Lately we've been making them into heart mandalas, mostly because Maia loves hearts, but also because of Valentine's day. And yesterday, as a family Valentine's celebration activity, we made a huge heart mandala together.

The interactive mandala idea is from a FamilyFun clipping that a friend passed on to me a couple of months ago. According to the blurb, each person takes turns adding a layer to the mandala until you decide it's complete. Maia loves art games that she can do with me or a friend, so this has been popular in our house.

Here are a couple small mandalas we've made together with 8x10 paper and markers. We've made circular ones, like these, as well as heart mandalas (with each successive layer a heart, rather than a circle).

For Valentine's Day, I thought we'd make a huge one together. I taped down a sheet of butcher paper to the kitchen table and got out the oil pastels. Maia drew the first teeny tiny heart in red, I added a pink heart around hers, and she drew another red heart adding the words, "I love you." While I tried to get Daphne to join us, she was more interested in playing. (She later came and adding some of her drawings around the outer edge.)

I loved the symbolism (your heart wrapped in my heart enclosed in your heart...), but Maia mostly just enjoyed it as an interactive drawing activity.

Once the heart mandala was as big as we could possibly make it...

...we got out the liquid watercolor paints in red, pink and tangerine and painted our family valentine.

Once dry, we cut out our heart mandala and hung it on our living room wall. I LOVED this as a family Valentine activity! But since Valentine's Day is over, perhaps you could try the regular interactive mandala with your kiddos. It makes a fun kids art game!

Heart Applique T-Shirts for Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T08:52:11-05:00

I made these heart applique shirts yesterday as Valentine's gifts for Maia and Daphne. While they were last minute in execution (and luckily very quick), I have intended to make them for quite a while now.

The appliques are simply floral knits from old baby shirts that Daphne has outgrown. I cut hearts from the material and sewed them to the T-shirts, skipping the Wonder Under I often use. I added some pink rick rack trim along the edge for extra girly decoration.

That's it! Just a quick show and tell today! Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm off to the mac store to drool over ipads....

Valentine Suncatcher Craft with Colored Notebook Dividers

2012-02-13T06:27:00-05:00

Do you remember how impressed I was with the Kiwi Crate we received last December—especially the suncatcher activity in it? I've been meaning to buy some colored film ever since, but haven't, partly because I don't know where to find it (anyone?) and partly out of sheer laziness. However! When I came across this post about learning with light at Still Parenting (via Pinterest of course), I was thrilled at the colored shapes she made for her light table from cheap notebook dividers. Thrilled because one of these days I will surely make us our own light table (I've only been saying that for the last three years). And thrilled because the solution to my colored film search was presented to me on a platter.

Colorful, yet sheer, notebook dividers!

Arianne (from Still Parenting) says she bought hers at Kmart; I found mine at the dollar store. They both cost 2 bucks per packet.

We took our scissors to our dividers, cutting them into small pieces for our suncatchers.

I cut long skinny strips for Daphne to work with (easier for her to cut into pieces).

And Maia put herself in charge of cutting out all the hearts.

We taped down our transparent contact paper and stuck our lovely bits of colored film to it.

After we finished and attached the second sheet of contact paper, I gave the suncatchers masking tape frames and hung them in the window.

I love them! And I love that I now know about a cheap, local source for colored film!

On Vacation This Week

2012-02-06T06:21:00-05:00

I am just checking in briefly to say thank you for celebrating alongside me last month both with the amazing giveaways and with all the great guest posts! What a fun month! As much as I enjoyed the excitement, though, I have to admit that I am really looking forward to getting back to blogging as usual. I've missed it!

But first, a little vacation... I will be away from the blog this week. Also away from facebook and e-mail and twitter. This one will be a true digital sabbatical. One week, and then I'll be back. Until then!

A Round-Up of Artful Resources

2012-02-04T07:32:25-05:00

Wow! What a fun blogiversary celebration that was and what a wonderful series of giveaways! I wanted to thank everyone who participated, both those who offered the lovely giveaways and those of you who left hundreds and hundreds of comments!

Thank you!!

In case you didn't win something that you were really interested in, I'm including links to each of the giveaway posts here as a reminder of some of the artful resources we have available to us (you can click on the images or the links below...).

Stubby Pencil Studio

Artterro Eco Art Kits

Action Pack kids e-magazine

MaryAnn F. Kohl's books

Jude Stuecker's changepurses

Discount School Supply list of art supplies

Earth Grown Crayons

Bare Books blank books, games & puzzles

SouvenarteBooks

Bella Casa's Animal Art Cards

Barefoot Books

Apple n Amos Wood Scoop Toy

Japanese Brush Painting set

Guest Post: Make Your Own Zen Tray for Sand Drawing

2012-02-03T06:47:00-05:00

I am excited to share a series of guest posts with you by other Artful Parents and teachers while I step back from the blog a bit this month! I hope you enjoy the new perspectives, different ideas, and fresh energy that each brings to this space. And I encourage you to leave a comment to continue the discussion, add your own viewpoint, or simply say thanks!

Guest Post by Jena

I remember, when Little J was just a baby, we lived in Royalston, a very rural town in the central, northern part of Massachusetts. It was a very lonely time for me. I had no local friends because I always worked an hour away before having my baby. I had no roots in my town.

Little J and I would take a daily walk through the woods to the post office in the center of town. The post office was next to a small avant garde private school, whose mission was based in nature and the outdoors. I would watch as teachers took their class outside to the sandbox, where they would practice their writing and math skills by drawing numbers and letters with sticks in the sand.

This is what this project reminds me of.

Little K finds a bottle of sand art in the treasure house of our recycle center. I come very close to telling him, "no, don't take that, we don't need it." He has a plan and I'm glad I acquiesced because it turned into quite a nice little project for us.

I set out 2 cookie trays, lined with a light colored construction paper, "to better see with my dear."

I empty half of the art sand on each cookie sheet and invite the boys to play.

The rainbow colors create a very inviting provocation.

The boys' fingers don't hesitate over the trays of sand.

They begin with small marks: circles and little peck marks.

Much like a etch-a-sketch, we can shake the tray to erase marks and start fresh.

And in no time, the boys have the trays on the floor. It seems easier for them to draw in the sand in this position.

Quickly follows, the shedding of socks and feet in the sand as well...

...where they leave toe marks. Little J and I write the word "foot" in the sand.

You can make your own colored sand art media with sand or salt and food coloring:

1. Pour half a cup of salt or sand into a Ziploc bag and add several drops of food coloring.

2. Close the bag tightly, making sure that most of the air is out. (You can add more food coloring to get more vibrant colors of "sand.")

3. Use your fingers (on the outside of the bag) to mix the color into the salt.

4. Pour the salt or sand in a thin layer on the newspaper and let it dry.

5. Repeat this for each color, giving each its own piece of newspaper.

6. When all colors are dry, pick up the papers one at a time and pour the salt back into Ziploc bags to store.

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Jena from HappyLittleMesses here. Wife of hubby, Big K, momma to Little J and Little K. Stay at home mom, former Atelierista, aka, Studio teacher at an early childhood education center. Love to be creative, love to use art materials of all sorts (professional to the up-cycled), love to be in the woods, splashing in rivers, digging in the dirt... these things pull at me all day. My favorite thing to do is share this love of the creative process and the love of open ended play with my boys. My greatest wish is to teach them this artistic language, so they have yet another way to express themselves.