The Chocolate Muffin Tree

Colorful Mud Paintings for Our Mud Bakery

2012-05-31T19:12:00.000-04:00

We created Colorful Mud Paintings for our New Mud Bakery and Cafe. All Cafes need a little art on the wall or in the trees. (since we have no walls) C thought it was a great idea....it didn't take much to convince this sometimes stubborn almost 6 year old to make some mud paintings again. Keep reading to find out how we created our paintings.

For Colorful Mud Paintings you'll need:

Mud

Water

Food colors

brushes

paper, cardboard, or Scrap Matte Board

Containers

To create our mud paint (this is not an exact recipe) we put some mud, water, and food color in plastic cups and mixed it all up.

Then, we began painting....my daughter loved this. If I brought out regular paint she wouldn't have been as interested, but when you change things up a bit.....success!

Splatter Painting.

Cat Painting.

Colors.

Are whole array of Colorful Mud Paintings for our Mud Bakery.

I even made some mud paintings in my sketchbook for TInkerlab's DPS Challenge. Find out more about the challenge here.

Another sketchbook mud painting.

You can check out more Mud Painting here from last year.

Our Mud Bakery and Cafe Reinvented

2012-05-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

We had a lot of fun with our Mud Bakery from last year so we decided to create a "newer" version complete with "mud painted" signs for 2012. Keep reading to find out what else we added to the set-up.

We added part of a plastic shelving system to create the preparation area for "new" mud treats. Water buckets underneath for our water source and a big pile of mud to the left (not visible) complete with shovels for easy access.

Our new version includes a Cafe with our Bakery.

It also includes more bakers to help.

New treats such as our daisy petal mud cake, mud cup daisies, birthday mud cups, and sandy mud cakes.

And more: Mud Drizzled Pie.

And our Colorful Mud Birthday Cake with powdered sand.

Looking forward to creating more Mud Bakery treats. Stay tuned for our next post to find out what else we included in our "New" Mud Bakery.

What else do you think we should add to the Mud Bakery?

Wet Chalk Fun: Making Hand and Foot Prints

2012-05-24T23:04:00.000-04:00

Have you ever used chalk and water together? Just dip some chalk in water and it makes the colors so vibrant and smooth. My daughter spent a whole hour or so playing with this idea. Then we realized you could make hand and foot prints too. Keep reading to find out how.

To create Chalk hand and foot prints:

First draw a huge rainbow chalk picture and add some water.

Then add some water and put your hands in....

Now print your hands.

Next put your feet in...

Then print those...

Add more colored chalk and water. Have fun coloring, drawing, and making prints with chalk.

Then have fun washing it all away with the hose!

What kinds of fun have you had with chalk?

More chalk Fun:

DIY Crushed Chalk Paint

Outdoor Nature Collages

2012-05-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

This was my daughter's idea. I gave her some scrap matte board and white glue and she went to town! Busy for about 1/2 hour. Lately it has been difficult to get C into making things and this definitely sparked her interest. If it is "her idea" she is more likely to create...maybe it is just those 5 1/2 year olds? Be sure to check out all the beautiful nature collages below.

C easily gathered lots of nature around our yard to get her started. The great thing about making a making an outdoor nature collage is that the supplies are endless...

C hard at work...

Here are all the lovely collages:

A dandelion sun and a leaf for a cloud.

This one is mine.

So simplistic, but Lovely.

Trees with green leaf clouds.

The outdoor show.

I love how simple the collages are. We even attempted a stick sculpture in the lower left corner. I loved making these too and I'm sure your children will love it because as you can see we had a blast!

What have you been creating with your kids outdoors?

This post is shared with: It's Playtime

Family Recipe: Houska Braid Bread

2012-05-21T21:15:00.001-04:00

I was so proud of myself for making this Houska Braid Bread for the first time ever. This is one of those handed down recipes from my "Baba" (or Grandma) that she would make for Easter and Christmas each year. I actually made it as a gift for my Dad for his birthday which was at the end of April and he loved it! Apparently after researching on the internet I found this out to be a traditional Bohemian Bread. My Baba was Bohemian which made perfect sense to me.

Here is the recipe:

Houska Braid Bread

(makes 2 loaves)

1 cup milk scalded

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup cream

4 eggs (beaten)

2 pkg. yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm milk

2 tsp. lemon rind

1/2 tsp. mace

8-9 cups flour

1 cup yellow raisins

1 cup chopped blanched raisins

Scald milk and add butter, sugar, cream, and eggs. Add to the yeast mixture. Mix in lemon rind, mace, and then add flour, raisins, and almonds. Knead until smooth. Place in greased bowl and let rise until doubled. Punch down and divide in half. Divide each into 3 parts and braid. (great tutorial on braiding bread here.) Bake at 350 degree for 40 to 45 minutes. I brushed the top of the bread with an egg wash too. Enjoy!

What are your favorite handed down family recipes?

How to Draw a Penguin: by C

2012-05-20T23:02:00.002-04:00

Here is yet another drawing lesson from my daughter C. Yes, it is almost summer here and I have no idea of her interest in drawing penguins? This is one of her finished penguins. I love it!

Get your pencils. markers, crayons,and paper ready....

Take it away C:

First draw the head like a half circle with an eye and beak.

Then, add and oval body.

Next, add the smaller belly and wings.

Now add the feet.

You can add what ever you like in the background.

Here is C adding even more detail and textures.

Finished Penguin. Fabulous!

Here is my finished penguin after C's instruction.

I think these drawing lessons from C have been really building her confidence. She is drawing everyday. She is such an inspiration!

How to Draw a Bunny by C.

How to Make a Sailboat by C.

What have you let your children teach you?

Paintings on Newspaper

2012-05-18T00:00:00.000-04:00

Whenever we paint I lay down newspaper to protect the table and guess what?....my daughter always loves painting on the newspaper more than the project at hand. So I figured why not do some actual paintings on newspaper? It actually went over really well.

All you need for this project is:

Newspaper/Phonebooks/Magazine pages

Any Kind of paint (we used tempera)

brushes

Here is a gorgeous flower painting with a dark cloud above:

Simple line painting like Artist Franz Kline

Circle Painting

Another Circle Painting

Many famous artists have made paintings/drawings/collages on newspaper....including:

Franz Kline:

Untitled II

Juan Gris:

Bottle of Rum and Newspaper (1914)

Jasper Johns:

Detail of Flag (1954-55)

Kids always have the best ideas. Listen to what your children want to make and you may actually make some discoveries.

Have your children come up with ideas for projects?

This post is linked to: Kids Get Arty. Playtime

Marbling With India Ink

2012-05-16T05:00:00.000-04:00

I was thumbing through one of my all time favorite books that I loved as a child: Making Things by Ann Sayre Wiseman and found a project that was titled Smoke Painting....it seemed intriguing so we decided to give it a try. It basically turned out to be Marbling with India Ink. I loved the effect of it and each time we tried it there were interesting results.

To create a "Smoke Painting" you'll need:

India Ink

a shallow tray or pan

water

sticks

combs

white paper/envelopes

To begin, fill your pan about halfway with water.

Then drip in the india ink in the water.

Next, take your stick and swirl the ink around to make a marbled effect.

When my daughter swirled the ink it had a whole different effect.

After the swirling, lay a white paper or the front of an envelope on the ink swirls. Tap it gently. Then lift up and place on newspaper to dry.

Here are some of our very different results:

Kind of like Jupiter?

Reminds me of a print I made in Printmaking Class in college.

Mysterious?

Eeeerie....

Maybe we'll save some of these for Halloween. They have a very dark feel to them.

Let me know what you think...

This post shared with: It's Playtime

Super Easy Envelope Puppets

2012-05-14T00:06:00.000-04:00

This is such a great project and so simple, using supplies that everyone has at home or at school. I got this idea from my list of 18 Creative Ideas For Making Puppets post and after looking at it again realized that I need to try more of these ideas. My daughter has had an obsession with envelopes (putting all her notes and drawings in them) for the past two years, so I knew this idea would be a winner with her. Here is a bunny and spider envelope puppet made by C.

To create an envelope puppet you need:

envelope

scissors

markers

glue/tape

scraps of paper (if desired)

First cut off the end of one side of an envelope hat has been sealed shut.

Now turn it over and design your puppet....it is that simple. You can just use markers/crayons and be done or add scarps of paper for ears/horns/legs.

Here are our wonderful puppets: a queen, monsters, a spider, a bunny, and a cat.

We even made scenery for our puppets for a play.

What is your favorite envelope puppet that we made?

This post shared with: It's Playtime

Salt Dough Heart Necklaces

2012-05-10T00:00:00.000-04:00

Salt dough is always fun and the materials for it are readily available. We created some heart necklaces from salt dough which will be given for Mother's Day to C's Grandmas and one for me of course! We made extras for some Mom friends that we know too. These hearts would also make great Valentine's Day gifts, Holiday ornaments, or even for no reason at all. Just to say "I Love You"!

To create salt dough you need:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1/4 cup water

Mix flour and salt well and add water. Add more flour if too sticky or more water if too dry. Then form shapes on a foil lined cookie sheet. Use a straw to form holes on top so you can make them a necklace. Bake between 275 F and 300 F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Here we painted the hearts with red acrylic paint first then used q-tips (cotton buds) for the dots.

Here we used q-tips like a paint brush to create beautiful pictures on our hearts. After painting we added Mod Podge for a glossy look.

These smaller hearts we are using as pins by gluing a pin back on the back.

On these we added thin ribbon for necklaces.

Would you like receiving these as a gift?

DIY Chalk Paint Revisited

2012-05-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

We continue our tradition, once again, of making our own chalk paint. We made some with the neighbor kids and they had a blast.

If you didn't catch my post from last year check it out here: DIY Chalk Paint. It is terribly simple to make. Basically you put some chalk in a plastic bag and crush it with a hammer until it is in tiny pieces. You could also use a large stone to crush the chalk too. Add some water, stir and you have chalk paint. Grab some paint brushes and you are a good to go.

Here is C and some neighborhood friends chalk painting away.

C has gotten quite good at this chalk painting! (4 years straight)

A painting of C and a ladybug.

I'm sure we'll be doing more chalk painting....the neighborhood kids have asked me to bring it out countless times. This all puts a smile on my face.

Super Easy Paper Baskets

2012-05-07T00:00:00.000-04:00

What would you put in these cute little baskets? We made these paper baskets with some construction paper, liquid starch, and pipe cleaners. They could be May Baskets, Mother's Day, Teacher gifts or for Easter.

For these baskets you'll need:

Square paper of any size (we used 6"x6" and 9"x9")

Liquid Starch

Paint Brushes

Tin Cans

Rubber bands or Elastics

Pipe Cleaners

Lay the square paper on some newspaper and brush the liquid starch over the paper. Turn the paper over and do the other side too.

Now put the wet starchy paper over a can. I used a large stewed tomato can, but you could use some thing like a coffee can too. Place a rubber band around the paper like this. Let the starch dry.

Then when the basket is dry, you can punch holes on the sides and twist pipe cleaners together to form the handle. Pretty simple!

Then place whatever you want in your basket. Maybe natural items, trinkets, or coffee filter flowers like we did below. To find out how we made the coffee filter flowers click here.

Our Coffee FIlter Flowers:

What kind of baskets have you made?

Colorful Bird Nest Creation

2012-05-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

We created a bird nest last week with mud, sticks, flower petals, pine needles, grass, leaves, and water.
Our bird nest creation was a real hit so we decided to create a nest in a different way. This time we made a more colorful artsy bird nest as pictured below.

To create our colorful artsy bird nest we gathered:

shredded colorful paper

feathers

yarn

tissue paper

glitter

poly-fil stuffing

white glue

I made up a mixture of 2 parts white glue and 1 part water and put all the materials above into it. The materials should be covered.

Then I covered the bottom of a plastic bowl with plastic wrap and set it on a plate so any glue dripping would land there.

Then we just started spreading the mixture over the plastic wrap covered bowl. Cover the bowl the best you can and press down and shape the materials around the bowl.

Once covered we let it all dry out in the sun or somewhere warm (like near a heater). It took a couple days to dry. You may want to put plastic wrap over the plate so that the nest won't stick to the paper plate!

Finished empty nest. I love the glitter added in for a sparkly touch!

Nest from the bottom.

I think it turned out fantastic. We are very happy with our Artsy Colorful Bird Nest!

What would you put in our Bird Nest?

Other bird nest posts that we have done:

Our Bird Nest Creation

Lots of Birds in a Nest collage and painting

32 Ways To Play With Water Beads

2012-05-02T00:00:00.000-04:00

There are so many ways that you can play and explore with Water Beads! I collected 32 ideas, but there are so many more if you keep searching. Water Beads are definitely a sensory experience, but I wanted to group the play activities into "6 categories of ideas" that seemed to be the most popular: (1)Exploring With Light, (2)Creative Sensory Bins, (3)Painting, (4)Shaving Cream, (5)Science, and (6)Plastic Eggs. So here are all 32 Ideas. Have Fun!

Exploring Water Beads and Light

Water Bead Exploration 0n a Light Table (photo above) TinkerLab

Exploring Color and Light with Water Beads Growing A Jeweled Rose

Glowing Water Beads Growing A Jeweled Rose

Water Beads in the Dark Preschool Projects

Exploring the Light Table in Preschool Teach Preschool

Water Beads and Light Play At Home Mom

Water Beads/Gems on the Light Table Child Central Station

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Creative Sensory Bins with Water Beads

Water Bead Seaside Sensory Tub (photo above) The Imagination Tree

The Planet Earth Water Bead Sensory Bin Small Potatoes

Water Beads, Light and Feet Familylicious

Creep Crawly Water Beads Messy Kids

Space Play with Water Beads NurtureStore

Monster Sensory Tub I Can Teach My Child

Hidden Diamonds Sensory Bin Play Create Explore

Colour Sorting With Water Beads Rainy Day Mum

Bubblegum Scented Water Bead Play Cachey Mama's Classroom

Water Beads and Slime The Chocolate Muffin Tree

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Painting With Water Beads

Water Bead Painting (photo above) Growing A Jeweled Rose

No Mess Finger Painting with Water Beads Our Feminist {Play School}

Creative Painting-Water Beads Reclaimed Rubbish

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Water Beads and Shaving Cream

Water Beads and Shaving Cream (photo above) Dirt and Boogers

Water Beads ~ and Shaving Cream 3G=Growing Godly Girlz

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Water Bead Science

Understanding Growth -a toddler Science experiment (photo above) Rainy day Mum

Sensory Play- Rainbow Water Beads Puddles and Gumboots

Water Bead Science NurtureStore

Experiment: Growing and Shrinking Water Beads The Chocolate Muffin Tree

Dehydration of Water Beads Fit Kids Clubhouse

Preschool Science: Water Beads Raising Lifelong Learners

Water Bead Goop A Little Learning For Two

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Water Beads and Plastic Eggs

Water Bead Eggs (photo above) Modern Parents Messy Kids

Green Eggs and Ham Water Bead Activity Reading Confetti

Easter Egg Water Bead Discovery Dabbler Mom

This post is shared with: It's Playtime, Fit Kids Clubhouse

Experiment: Growing And Shrinking Water Beads

2012-05-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

Water Beads are truly Amazing! We've played with them and used them for sensory experiences, but this time we really observed up close the most amazing part of water beads: how they start so small and grow so big in just 4 hours! Here is our documentation:

Observing Growing Water Beads:

Starting out very tiny.

Then growing right before our very eyes.....within minutes.

Look at how lumpy they look as they are growing or (absorbing water).

More growth.

Here you can see the so tiny to full size water beads!

On average they grow to about the size of marbles as you can see,

Now Observing Shrinking Water Beads:

We placed the water beads on some layers of paper towels here so they could begin shrinking faster. They shrink much faster when you have them separated too. If you keep them in a bin together the shrinking process is much slower. Also, you might notice the "real marble" placed in the lower right corner. We used that as a comparison to see how much they were shrinking.

Some of the water beads we isolated along with a "real marble" to see how much faster they would shrink with less moisture from other water beads around.

One surprise we found along the way was a "tear drop shaped" water bead!!!! How cool is that????

We observed shrinking each day. This is after 2 days or so.

Here is showing comparison with a marble up close.

2 more days go by.

A little more shrinking 2 days later. It may depend on the temperature outside or in your house of how fast they shrink too.

A noticeable difference with 2 more days. Some of the water beads were back to their original size. The water beads isolated in separate containers shrank much faster.

A lot of readers will ask, "Do water beads shrink back to their original size?" As you can see, they do.
Much slower if they are stored together in a bag or container.

We enjoyed this week long experiment. Hope you have tried water beads and just maybe this post may spark your interest. Check out our other post on Water Beads: Water Bead Fun!

***Note: Water Beads Should Not Be Ingested!***

Have You Gotten On The Water Bead Bandwagon?

Please Share Your Ideas!

Where you can buy Water beads: WalMart, JoAnn Fabrics, and Amazon.com:

We Love Dandelions

2012-04-29T05:00:00.000-04:00

"To some the dandelion is a weed; but not to me, unless it takes its share of space, for I always miss these little earth stars when they are absent. They intensify the sunshine shimmering on the lawn, making one smile involuntarily when seeing them. Moreover, they awaken pleasant memories, for a child in which dandelions had no part is a defective experience." ~Excerpted from "The Home Acre," by E.P. Roe

We love dandelions here. C has been picking me little dandelion bouquets each day and marveling at these "earth stars"! The quote above is great..couldn't imagine a childhood without them. We even made a Dandelion Heart as part of our Land Art collection.

Now most of our dandelions are going to seed, but still they are so exciting to a child. Now we have dandelion "puff ball" bouquets!

What have you been creating with dandelions?

Picture of C last year enjoying the dandelions!

Twisted Paper Sculpture

2012-04-28T05:00:00.000-04:00

Today I am over at PreK + Sharing blog. Find out how we made these Twisted Paper Sculptures. Let me know what you think. So many great ideas on this collaborative blog.

Our Bird Nest Creation

2012-04-26T00:47:00.001-04:00

We made a bird nest. I have no idea where this came from....but it seemed like a good one. Even the neighborhood kids wanted to make one too. Really.

To create our bird nest we gathered:

dirt

pine needles

leaves

grass

flower petals

sticks

We also added:

yarn

poly fill stuffing

water

Then I thought we better add some plastic wrap (or use a bag) underneath everything so we could get the nest out when it dries.

We mixed up all the things and tried to mold them together a bit (truly experimental). Adding more water or dirt as needed.

Fortunately, we had some fairly warm days so we left the nest to dry and harden for a few days and this is our finished nest. What do you think?

What have you and your children made with natural materials?

Super Cool Kites to Make With Kids

2012-04-24T13:27:00.004-04:00

These are super cool kites. The great thing is that you don't even need any wind. All you need are some children that want to run (which are not difficult to find) and they stay up in the air! I found the tutorial for these great kites here at Maya Made. So go there to find out how to make them.

For the kites you need:

Printer paper

kebab sticks

tape

string/yarn

hole punch

plastic bag for a tail

markers and stickers to decorate

Back of kite

Front of Kite

C and a friend enjoying their kites. Running or letting the wind catch them. Fun Fun Fun!

Hope you enjoy these kites as much as we did!

What kinds of kites have you made?

How to Create an Ink Monster

2012-04-23T02:00:00.000-04:00

Have you heard of the Daily Monster? Artist Stefan Bucher began a creative challenge in which he created a monster with ink and markers each day for 100 days. He still creates monsters long after the challenge and you can view mini video clips of him making his monsters at dailymonster.com website.
We were very inspired to create Monsters like Stefan after viewing the many monsters and video clips. Be sure to check out his website here.

To Create a Monster You'll Need:

India Ink

Watered Down Black Paint

Black Liquid Watercolor

Straws

brushes

markers

white paper

To begin, make sure to cover your workspace with newspaper. On white paper put some india ink or watered down tempera paint. We used black liquid watercolors too. Then take a straw and blow the paint all around. You can turn your paper as you are doing this. You can add more paint as you go along. After you do a bunch of these blown ink drawings/paintings let them dry.

After the paint/ink is dry you can start adding details with markers. We also added white paper circles with glue for the eyes. You can imagine how your ink blown painting will transform into a monster. C and I created quite a few of these monsters as you can see.

A dinosaur?

Scary Monster!

A bird Monster!

My flower creature.

My crazy spiral Monster!

Gosh, we had a lot of fun with this and hope you get a chance to make some!

Here is a mini video clip of one of Stefan Buchers' Monster Drawings:

Happy Earth Day and a Giveaway from Artterro Eco Art Kits

2012-04-20T00:09:00.000-04:00

Earth Day is coming soon and it is very appropriate that I am having a giveaway from Artterro. Artterro is a fabulous Eco Friendly company that creates wonderfully Gorgeous Art Kits. I am giving away a Wonderful Bookmaking Kit to one lucky reader to celebrate Earth Day or any kit of your choice. Check out my Review of their Wool Felt Bug Kit and of their Wire and Bead Kit here. I truly have loved all their kits because they are high quality and are designed to promote open ended art experiences.

The Bookmaking Kit is simply beautiful....gorgeous handmade paper and beads. All that is needed is glue and scissors to start creating.

I had my daughter select the papers for her book and I sewed them together to create a book of her own. She enjoyed cutting the handmade papers to collage inside her book.

Here are our finished books with so much more leftover supplies to create more books or fancy greeting cards.

Here is a collage page of C's book. I gave away the other two books for special keepsake Birthday gifts. Everyone really thought they were so beautiful.

Here is your chance to win the Bookmaking Kit from Artterro or any other kit of your choice!:

Visit Artterro.com and tell me what your favorite kit is in the comment section below.

Make sure to leave your email so I can contact you.

Winner will be selected at Random

Giveaway ends April 26, 2012 at 9pm EST

Open to US residents only

GOOD LUCK

One More thing.....

Artterro needs your help for funding. Go to Kickstarter to help this small, sustainable business in Madison, WI. Read more about how you can help this AMAZING company here. Check out this video about Artterro for an even better description. Thanks from Artterro!

23 Recycled Projects For Earth Day

2012-04-18T14:57:00.004-04:00

I went through all my archives and I sure do have a lot of upcycled/recycled projects and decided to compile a collection of 23 Recycled Projects For Earth Day. So here they are. So many ideas....it blows my mind! Click on the picture or caption to bring you to the idea. Happy Earth Day!

1. Cut Up Cardboard Box Sculpture

2. Styrofoam Monster Sculptures

3. Recycled Styrofoam Sculptures

4. Recycled Marble Run Fun!

5. Plastic Lid Sun Catcher

6. Tin Can Magnetic Robots

7. Pretend Potions

8. Recycled Bottle Flower Sun Catchers

9. Egg Carton Ants

10. So Easy Kaleidoscope

11. CD Hovercraft

12. Plastic Bottle Water Wall

13. Matboard Collage

14. Simple Sock Puppets

15. Painting In Bottles

16. Magazine Sculptures

17. Newspaper and Tissue Paper Ornaments

18. Egg Carton Paintings

19. Paper Tube Castle Sculpture

20. Paper Bag Self Portrait

21. Paper Bag Puffy Heart

22. Paper Bag Puppets Inspired By Fandango

23. Paper Bag Monster Masks

***Be sure to check out my 8 Recycled Projects for Earth Day from last year here.

One of my favorite resources for Earth Day Art from MaryAnn F. Kohl:

Liquid Watercolor Painting and Exploration

2012-04-16T00:00:00.000-04:00

Have you ever tried Liquid Watercolors? Lately we have been painting and exploring with liquid watercolors that Discount School Supply sent us. Liquid watercolors are one of my "must have supplies" and you should seriously try them if you never have before. They can be used straight from the bottle for the brightest colors or you can dilute them a bit with water. Regular watercolor paints can be frustrating to young children and liquid watercolors solve this problem by having water already added to the pigment.

For painting and exploring with Liquid Watercolors we used:

Colorations Liquid Watercolors

paint brushes

watercolor paper

80# White Drawing Paper

salt

bubble wrap

At first we just painted with liquid watercolors.

Finished person by C. Lovely.

For exploration we painted watercolor paper with many splotches of colors. We tried to keep it wet.

Then we sprinkled ordinary table salt which brought gorgeous results instantly. We also added pieces of bubble wrap to place on top of wet areas of the painting. The bubble wrap areas needed to dry a bit to show the impressions underneath.

Here you can see the speckled salt that melted into the painting and the bubble wrap impression on the blue paint on the left. Breathtaking.

Here is another fantastic painting with salt and bubble wrap. Experimenting is so fun!

What other ideas for experimenting with liquid watercolors could we try?

Don't miss the great products (and sales too) from Discount School Supply.

"Like DSS" on Facebook here.

Follow DSS on Twitter here.

Get a free catalog from DSS here.

Learning to Ride a Two Wheeler Within Seconds!

2012-04-13T09:47:00.003-04:00

How did you learn to ride a bike? I just recently learned this "no pedal method" of teaching someone to ride a bike and my daughter was so successful at it! She was riding her two wheeler within seconds after putting the pedals back on. I shared this on my facebook page and wanted to definitely share this with everyone on the blog too because it is so amazing!

The method is simple: Basically you remove the pedals off your child's bike and let them practice gliding on their bike like a scooter. Make sure to to lower the seat on the bike so that your child can touch the ground with their feet too. I let my daughter do this for about 3 days. She gained so much confidence mastering how to balance on her bike first. Then after the 3 days we put the pedals back on and within seconds she was riding!!! (Really) Here is a You Tube Video that explains this method:

Here is C riding with no training wheels and the pedals back on. The rest is history. No falling off the bike a million times and pushing behind her....amazing! I admit my daughter has fallen a few times as a new rider and we do practice stopping, but the actual balancing and pedaling came so easily to her with this method.

Interesting enough my Father told me that the first bicycles didn't even have pedals. So this method of learning to ride a bike makes perfect sense. The reason I share this on the blog is to show that there can always be a different way to do something that people may have been doing the same way for years. This illustrates creative thinking and that there are many solutions to reach a goal. Many people embrace this way and others just look at me like I have a third eye as if this method could never work! Here is a picture I found of the first bicycle (no pedals): source

Have you ever heard of this method of learning to ride a bike?

What other things have you (or your children) learned by doing it a different way?

A detailed article from Better Homes and Gardens about this same topic: How to Learn to Ride a Bike in 15 Minutes.

Paper Bag Mask Monsters Made From A Vintage Book

2012-04-12T05:00:00.000-04:00

I have a "way too big" collection of books about making things. Recently my daughter was looking through one of my vintage "making things"books and wanted to create these paper bag monsters. She actually really had a lot of fun making these (and so did I). It just goes to show you that even old books have some great ideas.

This is my daughter C's mask.

Here is my mask creation.

Here is the book that this idea came from. It is dated 1974. When I researched further it is said to be Volume 9 of Worldbook's Childcraft Encyclopedia of awesome things. I'm sure we'll be making more things from this book.

What some of your favorite books about making things?

(vintage or not)

Other Projects that we have made with Paper Bags:

Paper Bag Puppets Inspired by Fandango

Paper Bag Self Portraits

Paper Bag Puffy Heart