Cheerful Stick Stars

Autumn is such a lovely time for a ramble in the woods. Come late November, our nature table tends to overflow with found treasures such as stones, colorful leaves, and sticks. Short sticks. Long sticks. Smooth sticks. Rough sticks. Straight sticks. Crooked sticks. Sticks. Sticks. Sticks.

Sometimes I wonder if it is a boy thing or if little girls gather them as well. When I try to return the sticks to the woods or remove them at all, I am met with an impassioned plea from our five year old, "No! That stick is special! Don't throw it out!" Keeping in mind my desire to pick my battles carefully, we keep the sticks and they gather throughout our home with little piles on the porch, in the garage, on the nature table, and several in the boys' room.

Can I just let them sit there? Nooooo. I managed to convince the boys that while the sticks indeed make good swords, dirks, and magic wands, they could also be used to make craftsy things with the sticks. Here is our first go at stick craft.

Cheerful Stick Star Ornaments



Begin by drawing a star shape on a piece of construction or kite paper.
Break the sticks to the size of the drawn lines keeping in mind the intersections,
put glue on the lines and have your child put the sticks on the drawn lines.
Unless you draw a perfect star, figuring out which stick fits on which line will be like a puzzle.

Let the glue fully dry.
(See how the sticks fit together but do not overlap?)

Cut around the star and use a needle to thread string through a point
in the star and hang it in a  window.  It really is cheerful and the
boys are proud to see it hanging for all to see.

 

We are going to make several using kite paper to decorate our Christmas tree and surely the grandparents need some as well.

 

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Transforming Works of Art

"Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it" - Danny Kaye

Have your chldren been painting a lot this past winter? It is such a fun and creative way to add color to cold dreary days. I look forward to using Painting witht Children, to enhance our experience of painting throughout the spring.

I delight in watching the boys as they paint with wotercolors, wondering what they are thinking/feeling as the colors blend together, as well as the paintings themselves. We hang them on the walls and they brighten our days, but we only need so many paintings throughout the house, so as they accumulate, I transform them into gifts and decorations.

In a couple of weeks, my sons will receive a watercolor card set in their Easter baskets. The 6 year old will receive number cards and they 3 year old will receive letter cards. They are bright and cheery and fun to make from solod color paintings.


Start with several sheets of watercolor painted pages, using 140 lb watercolor paper, painted front and back.



Cut the paper in 3"x4" cards. Then using colored pencil write capital letters on one side and lower case on the other. These are great for younger children learning to spell. (You can make 12 cards per page.)

I also used the cards to make math cards, drawing plants or animals to correspond to the number.

The numbers include:
1 sun
2 mushrooms
3 trees
4 fish
5 trees
6 dragonflies
7 shamrocks
8 birds
9 stars

Another fun way to use watercolor paintings is to make a birthday countdown chain. It works especially well with paintings using several colors.

To make it, cut ten 1"x9" strips and a 4"x3" card.

Loop the strips through eachother to make a chain, looping the top chain through the card.




Beginning 10 days before the birthday, cut a strip each day until the big day comes :)


Other ideas for transforming works of art include:

Tree of Thanksgiving
name place cards for dinner parties
love notes scattered around the house for family to find
bookmarks
birthday / thankyou cards

More Valentine Crafts

While my boys were not too interested in decorating for Valentine's Day this past weekend, I was. (Of course, if Star Wars legos had been thrown in the mix, I am sure they would have been more involved, but I have my lego limits.) However, I managed to get them to help with a few crafts for our home and to send to loved ones.

First up is a fun way to use up all of those broken crayons that collect throughout the months. These translucent hearts add a cheery dash of color during these blanched February days.

Begin by making 1/8 cup of wax crayon  shavings using a handheld pencil sharpener.

Second, fold a 12x12 inch sheet of wax paper in half, pour on the shavings, making sure they are evenly distributed, and crimp the 3 open sides closed so the wax does not melt out the edges.

Put craft paper under the wax paper and craft paper on top of the wax paper, iron lightly using the medium heat setting. After the paper cools, draw, or trace using cookie cutters, hearts on to the paper.

Cut out the hearts and string them up on a window where the sun shines in and Enjoy.

Our next craft was to make heart decorations using beeswax and candle molds.

Simply melt the beeswax, lay in the string to hang the ornament and pour in the melted beeswax half way up to the top. If you make it too thick, the sun light will not shine through the beeswax.

Your home will smell lovely as the wax melts and the sweet smell will linger on the ornament for weeks to come.

Using the soap molds once again, I made scented soap hearts with a hidden treasure inside. Most of them hold shells from our summer trip to the shore, but two special ones for the boys hold a lego man. (It will be many baths before those lego men can come out of the soap, so I am guarenteed to have very cleen children for several weeks. tee hee)

I thought of the last craft when I was pondering how to use my youngest son's watercolor paintings (During these colder days, when long hours of outside play is not always possible, painting keeps little hands busy.)

First, have your little one paint both sides of heavy paper. We use watercolors on 140 lb watercolor paper. When both sides are dry, cut it into 1 inch wide strips.

Fold the two ends in and staple the first strip to itself, forming a heart.

Linking the next strip inside the one before, fold it inward, forming a heart, and staple it. Repeat again and agian to make a heart chain that can decorate a mantle, cupboards or hang from a door.

Have fun crafting!

Valentine Crafts

Looking to do some crafting this weekend? Here is the link to Last Year's Valentine Crafts.

Needle Felted Tomten and the Fox

On a recent trip to the library, we found two books that are wonderful for the winter season: The Tomten and The Tomten and the Fox by Astrid Lindgren of Sweden, and also the author of the popular Pipi Longstocking. The Tomten books are delightfully illustrated and tell of the Tomten, a spirit-being in the folklore of Sweden, adding a new wonder and delight to our seasonal reading.

Unlike the Gnomes of England who live in the forest, Tomten live on farms in barns or cellars. In these books, the farmer's children leave food for the Tomten each night. As the moon rises, he walks silently, never seen by people, in the snow to make his rounds checking on the farm animals and even giving a mischievous hungry fox some of his tasty porridge. When they wake, the children see the Tomten's footprints in the snow. (The tile below has set in our home for years. Little did we know we had a Tomten in our midst.)

Last night, I made a peg Tomten and needle felted a fox who now stand on our ever-played with nature table.

Our home is surrounded by Amish and Mennonite farms, so barns, cows, chickens and crops are a common sight. Surely Tomten are there. Perhaps after the next snowfall we will go on a search for little Tomten footprints.

Handmade Holiday - given & received

This Christmas, I was determined to make some of the gifts I would give to family memebers. To my delight I received some handmade gifts as well.

I found several easy gifts to make for stocking stuffers and included the boys in the fun.

I collected some yummy scented soaps and set out to make felted soap using the tutorial found at Rhythm of the Home.



I never thought I would actually use the old washboard my mother gave me.



Next, Aidan and I made little felt star ornaments for teachers and friends.

It is easy for little hands if you use a cookie cutter to hold the shape.



Peppermint Lip Balm. It smells so good that I even put it in my own stocking.

The recipe is from Soulemama.



We also made beeswax votive candles to give to teachers at church and school. The boys had fun rolling the beeswax around the wick and pushing on beeswax stars. Teachers also got yummy peppermint/chocolate pretzels: Mix 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon of Crisco over low heat. Once melted, dip in pretzel rods then roll in crushed candy canes.

I also made the boys growth charts. Here is a sneak peak. You will be able to read more about making making in the spring edition of Rhythm of the Home, set to be released in early March.



Have I mentioned that I come from a talented family who makes lovely handmade gifts?

My older sister made herself, me, and our younger sister matching pillows remeniscient of gifts she gave me from Middle Sister Wines.




My niece, an artist at heart, made me a lovely felt broach for my birthday.


She also made the boys fun felt food. Quite an accomplishment considering she has 2 young boys of her own.


My younger sister is so creative and makes lovely one-of-a-kind cards.



My husband, who never gives himself enough credit for his artistic talent, has a woodwork in progress for me. Hanging in our home, it will be a lovely reminder of our love.

Tell a story, mama! (Story Dice)

Today at work I sat in on web-based training, facilitated by the American Association of State and Local History, about storytelling. Although it was directed to those of us who work in historic places, it made me think of my efforts to begin a tradition of storytelling, both fiction and nonfiction, in my own family.

My sons, and myself for that matter, are almost always ready to hear a good story and are thrilled with the adventures found at Sparkle Stories, which are great for long car rides. For shorter stories, we turn to Usborne's Farmyard Tales.

In a previous post, I wrote about using moving pictures as visual aids in tellng stories. This summer while sitting around a campfire, I found that my boys want to hear a story and help create the story itself. My oldest is learning that there is a beginning, middle, and end to each story and I am working on being more observant so I can add more "color" to my stories. Sometimes this just involves stopping to simply feel, hear and see my surroundings and take it all in so I can use it in a story that my children can get lost in.

To help them get involved in the storytelling, I make story dice. I begin the story, setting up the plot then the children roll the dice and I change the story according to what the roll brings, or they take over the story. Story dice are great inspiration when I find myself searching for direction on spontaneous stories.

Want to make your own story dice? It is a simple project that can encourage hours of storytelling fun.

First, find several wood blocks. (I found 5 to be a good number that is not overwelming for the storyteller.) If your child already has a wood block set, just use some of the small square ones or you can purchase them at a craft store. Since little hands will be playing with them, use sandpaper to smooth out rough edges or possible splinters.

Next, list one theme for each block and 6 subthemes to decorate your blocks:

Here are some ideas:

Weather: sun, rain, rainbow, clouds, moon, wind (a cloud blowing swirls)

Landscapes: mountain, cave, pond, rainbow, forest, flower field

Animals: bird, deer, dog, cat, bear, rabbit

People: boy, girl, adult man, adult woman, fairy, gnome

Fairy Tales: castle, prince, princess, unicorn, knight, dragon

Transportation: car, boat, train, hot air baloon, bicycle, horse

Structures: barn, highrise building, bridge, famous landmark, tent, house

There are several ways to put the image on the dice. I drew mine with colored pencils, but you can also use stamps, rub-on transfers, or stickers.

Now, off to spin a good story...

Sail Away, Forever and a Day... a boy and walnut shell boats

Have you ever watched your child marvel at a simple toy and turn that play time into a learning experience? I enjoyed one of those moments a few days ago after we made little walnut shell boats.

The two-year old was excited about making boats from the shells and involved in each step. (Dripping the wax, painting the sails, and pushing in the toothpick.)

Then came time to set sail, and oh his imagination took him to far away sea battles between miniature pirate ships. There were many "Arrrr. Your ship's goin' down, matey!" and sinister laughs in those few minutes.

Then he learned that if he blew on them, the ships moved - just like real sail ships! After a few accidental gails of blowing wind and sinking ships, he figured out how to blow ever-so-softly to make the ships move without sinking them. He was, and still is, delighted at his newly found skill and has returned to his walnut shell boats many times.



(As I write, it is raining. Perhaps tomorrow, we will take the ships outside and set sail in our back yard puddles... I mean, around the world.)

Down By the Bay

When I was down beside the sea

A wooden spade they gave to me

To dig the sandy shore.

My holes were empty like a cup,

In every hole the sea came up

Till it could come no more.

At the Seaside by Robert Louis Stevenson

One of the best parts about our trip to the Chesapeake Bay was the lazy days at the beach. Of course, as a parent "lazy" day at the beach meant fun times in the water and sand, not exactly leisurly afternoons of naps and a good beach read. The boys were happy to gather shells, watch the crabs scurry on the sand, build sand castles, and run into the waves, but we had a few other fun things planned as well...

A straight stick and some stones made a sundial. (Simply place stones or shells at the shadow's end every hour or so.)

Bubbles on the beach at dusk

It is easy to dye sand: Mix water with food dye keeping in mind that the sand will dye lighter than the water color, fill a glass/bucket up 3/4 of the way with sand pour on the dyed water to 1 inch above the sand. Stir it to make sure the all the sand gets wet. Let it set overnight. The next morning, spread the sand out flat in the sun to dry. After a few hours you can make sand art.

The absolute delight of the trip, was the buried treasure, complete with a secret treasure map thanks to my fun, uber creative sister, aka Grand Patti:

The secret map that leads from our cottage to the buried treasure.

The digging begins.

What have we here, matey?

Keeping an eye out for incoming vessels


That afternoon, their imaginations took flight! The crew of gentle pirates have claimed my boys and there is adventure at every turn.