Play Time: Farm In Our Playroom

When the girls were stuck inside

with the swine flu a few weeks ago,

we had to get creative and come up with some

new quiet games to play.

With cold weather and long afternoons ahead,

I thought this might be fun for some of your households as well.

We decided to build a farm.

First we collected all of our barns,

barnyard critters, fences, and trucks/tractors

from the playroom menagerie.

I put a big piece of green felt from my art studio

on the floor and added some smaller squares of brown and tan.

We cut a duck pond out of some blue felt

and lined it with pebbles

from one of our sensory boxes.

We planted some acorns

and plastic greenery as our crops.

The Frog Princess helped her Polly Pocket

deliver this baby sheep.

I'm hoping to make some wooden pumpkins soon

(and perhaps a few hay bails) to add to our crops.

The girls and I played for hours (for several afternoons) with the farm.

I packed up all of the supplies in one box

so we can set it up again easily.

Daisy the cat guarding our farm.

Bubble Wrap Printmaking: Ocean Scene

The Frog Princess got the idea for this project

while we were making our

bubble wrap corn prints.

She asked for some blue and purple paint,

and printed some bubble wrap onto white paper.

Then, she wanted to add fish to her ocean scene,

and asked if we have any fish stamps.

Then I said, "no, but we can make some!"

I folded scraps of cardboard

from our recycling bin

into rectangles and we added

stick-on craft foam fish

I folded the cardboard back

to make handles

and stapled the card board.

I love this picture,

I think she did a great job on it.

Check out the

coral and sea snails

she added with my skinny brushes!

If I was still teaching art,

I would do this as a printmaking lesson

with some Eric Carle books

in a heart beat.

Bubble Wrap Printmaking: Thanksgiving Corn

The girls and I decided to get crafty

and make some decorations for the

upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

We dove into our "invention box"

(recycling that can't be recycled)

and snagged some bubble wrap.

and yes, we washed it and will be re-using

it for our next craft adventure.

I set out plates of washable paint

in red, orange, and yellow.

The girls had fun painting the bubble wrap

and printing the bubbly textures on

fall colored construction paper.

It was a very Eric Carle inspired process!

Note: I keep baby wipes (or damp rag/washcloths)

in arms reach at all times while we are doing

crafts like this with paint or glue for sticky, messy hands.

After the texture papers dried overnight,

(and the girls had a long soak in the bath!)

we practiced "cutting" and cut out some corn shapes.

I also traced Mini-Saurus' feet for some of our corn.

(Little square toes just like her mama,

I'm part platypus!)

She helped me tear strips of green and brown paper

to add to our corn.

Our finished corn-tastic project...

pardon the corny joke.

One more little goodie we made with our "corn feet"

Home-made cards for long-distance relatives

to send thankful greetings.

These would be fun place cards

if you're hosting thanksgiving dinner!

I cut out the feet but Mini-Saurus was able to tear

the paper strips for me.

The Frog Princess had the great idea

of printing with some real corn.

I didn't have a fresh ear of corn

(which works beautifully by the way)

so we used our pitiful little dried up ear of corn

from our garden...

It didn't work very well.

We pretty much just made a huge painted mess

but it was fun to try out.

Happy Printmaking!

Texture Plate Fall Leaf Rubbings

Instead of making traditional leaf rubbings

(which we do plenty of this time of year)...

We decided to try an old-school art favorite

and did some texture rubbing.

We used my set of texture plates,

place them bumpy-side up under your drawing paper

or printed out coloring sheet,

peel a crayon or use a

home-made crayon

and start rubbing.

Here's the link for the printable leaf coloring sheets we used.

You can get texture plates from teacher supply catalogs,

art supply catalogs,

and if you scrapbook they sell plenty of these

in the crafting/scrap-booking aisle of your local craft store.

If you don't have texture plates at home,

have no fear you can also go on a texture hunt

around the house!

Materials to gather or look for:

Mesh (from produce or tangerines) works wonderfully,

bubble wrap,

brick (our fireplace hearth and patio),

wood or tile (floors, deck, boards in the shed, shower walls),

rough concrete sidewalks,

tree bark (in the backyard)

the possibilities are endless!

After you make the rubbing with crayon

you can go over it with colored markers

(we used our scented set -- nummy)

or watercolors for a resist effect!

This would be a great kid's table activity

at Thanksgiving dinner...

so would this great leafy project over at

Filth Wizardry or these cute leaf rubbing fairies

(you could make leaf turkeys)!

If you don't have leaves to rub you can

always hop over the the Let's Explore blog and shop

and order a set of her wonderful leaf rubbing plates!

Happy Coloring.

Playroom Alphabet Border

I have been wanting to paint an alphabet

on our playroom wall for the past 2 years.

Alas, I didn't want to actually stand on a ladder

and do it so...

I procrastinated.

Sometimes my procrastination pays off...

when I saw this genius solution

(this beautiful alphabet over at the Snail's Trail)

I knew I'd met a woman after my own heart.

I must say, I've been coveting this scrapbooking

paper set for sometime at our local Walmart

(in the scrapbooking aisle)

but needed a good reason to buy it.

Then, I saw her post and realized that she used

the exact same paper set

(woo-hoo) !!

It was my arts and crafts destiny.

I was supposed to buy it and use it in our playroom

(or at least that's what I told my husband

when he came home and saw what I did!)

And yes, if you were curious...

I put it up on the wall

with my CM tape runner.

Before I added this lovely alphabet,

I hung our Eric Carle alphabet flash cards

from this curtain wire I purchased at IKEA.

It's a less permanent solution if

you're not down with the tape runner

on the wall idea.

I also use the wire to display kid's art work

and seasonal decor.

(those are just little curtain clips that I clip the art with)

Preschool At Home: Marbles and Golf Tee Game

I saw this great lesson at A Bit of This, A Bit of That blog.

So perfect (and simple!) for our

preschool at home Montessori shelves.

Both girls love it.

I gathered up the supplies:

(bet you have them in your garage!)

Golf Tees

Marbles

Foam Block

Set it all up on a tray with two bowls...

Showed the girls how to do it once and they were off!

Great for tiny fingers and fine motor skills.

Have fun!

Preschool (First Grade) At Home: Paint Chip Word Family Game

Okay, so this is more like "First Grade At Home" than

"Preschool At Home" but both of my girls like to play with it.

The Frog Princess is getting the most benefit

(as the newest reader in the house)

but the Mini-Saurus is learning her alphabet

and wants to be included in whatever her big sister is doing!

I saw this idea over at the Snail's Trail blog

and it was too perfect for words!

You can get her great lists of phonograms,

consonants, word blends, diagraphs, and word families.

An educational game with letters

and rainbow colors?

I'm in and so are my girls.

I used my square (CM) scrapbooking punch,

my trusty sharpie,

and some lovely paint samples from Sears.

Oh...word families, how I love thee.

I may need to make one for her first grade classroom.

Do you think her teacher would like one for Christmas?