Contact Paper Collages

This is a favourite activity of mine with the littler kids, because it eliminates the messiness of glue, but still allows for the creativity of a collage.  Since my littlest is only 2, this works really well for him.  And the big girl was able to do it too, just more neatly :)

We were learning about the letter A, so first we got out some magazines, grocery flyers and other junk mail and cut out things starting with the letter A.  The big girl also cut out words that started with A, which was good because we had a few "what does this mean, Mum" conversations.  It's always good to build your vocabulary!  In all honestly I did most of the cutting for the little man, he did try, but his patience didn't last long.

Then I printed out a blank letter A and had them colour it, and we cut it out too.  I also printed out some clipart of things that started with A, because I was disappointed with how few things we'd found in the magazines etc.

I happened to have white contact paper, I'm not sure why since I usually by the clear stuff, but it worked for this purpose. Clear would work too.  I cut out a big rectangle of contact paper, peeled off the back and left the sticky side up. We had a little lesson on the letter A, and all the things we were sticking on etc, before we actually began sticking.

It was fun, because not only do you not need glue (you just stick directly onto the contact paper), but it's also removeable.  So the kids were able to get things exactly where they wanted them, even if it meant moving stuff around.  The only limiting factor is that you can't stick something where there's already a picture because the stickiness of the contact paper is covered.

Here are our finished "A" collages.  But the possibilities are endless - you can stick any pictures, but also feathers, pompoms, easter grass, googly eyes etc.  It's a fun, easy way to make collages with little kids!

I'm linking up to

4th of July Activities

The 4th of July is just around the corner now and I've been trying to think of some fun arts & crafts activities for the kids to do.  I really do struggle finding things to fit their vastly different interests & abilities.  BUT both kids LOVE to paint - so we decided to paint our own American flags.  First we had to look up how many stars & stripes there are (50 and 13, lol) on the flag, but after that it was all easy peasy messy fun :)

First we taped off the white paper, so that we would have our nice white stripes.  Then we painted the stripes red, and the square in the corner blue.  My 5yr old was meticulous, my 2yr old ended up with a rather purple flag.  While the flags were drying they painted some more, as usual they ended up getting more paint on themselves than entirely necessary!

Once the paint dried we pulled off the tape, to reveal our lovely straight white stripes. 

And we added our star stickers to the blue square.  Again, the 5yr old painstakingly counted all 50 stars, while the 2yr old went in an entirely different, decidedly "army" direction.  In the end I think they both look great!!

The little guy's flag:

The big girl's flag:

Shape Stabiles

What is a stabile??  Well, it's very much like a mobile, except that it doesn't hang from the ceiling, it stands by itself.   I had no idea of this until I read THIS post over at TeachKidsArt.  I loved this idea, and knew I could make it work for the different abilities of my two kids. 

The idea is this:  Cut some shapes out of coloured paper (they need to be folded double so you can stick the pipe cleaner in the middle), stick the pipe cleaner into the middle and then stick the pipe cleaner in some syrofoam or florists foam to create a sculpture.

I elected to use white paper and have the kids colour it, instead of using coloured paper.  I wanted to add a step that the little guy would be able to do.  With him I cut out the shape, he named it, and then he coloured it (woohoo, an impromptu lesson on shapes).  My big girl was able to do the cutting & colouring unassisted, and was able to be more creative with what shapes she made. 

My little guy loved the gluing - but we had a hard time getting only to stick what he was supposed to be sticking, lol.  It was good practice though, and he enjoyed it.

After the the pipe cleaners were glued to the paper shapes we had some pretty "flowers" which were carefully arranged in the styrofoam (which I had cut & put in an old apple sauce tub).  Again, the little one needed more help (mostly with getting it to balance), but my big girl used her imagination to twist & twirl the pipe cleaners to make the arrangement pretty and balanced.

And then we had some beautiful stabile sculptures, the little guy insisted they were "pretty flowers" and kept smelling them - very sweet! 

Once we were done with the creation I talked to the kids a bit about Alexander Calder, the creator of the mobile & stabile.  We looked up some of his other creations, and watched a clip of possibly his most famous work Le Cirque Calder on Youtube.  We love learning about Art & Artists, so this was a nice addition to our list of artists we've been inspired by.

Finally, it's the first day of the SUMMER holidays!!  It seems like everyone I know has kids who've been out for a while, but my big girl only finished yesterday.  She's officially done with Kindergarten, and will be a First Grader in the fall.  I'm not sure how that happened so quickly!!  The school year just flew by.  In fact she's growning up entirely too quickly.  It seems like just a blink ago she was a bitty baby, all sweet & snuggly (ok, she's still sweet & snuggly, lol) and now she's a grown girl - reading, writing, reasoning & doing double digit addition!!  It's all happening entirely too fast. 

But I am so happy to have the long lazy summer ahead to spend with her (and her little brother ofcourse).  I am  not the world's most organised person, so I don't have my long list of "Summer fun, learning, activities, field trips, arts & crafts, playdates, cleaning, cooking, entertainment etc" all sorted just yet.  I need to do that soon, before the "I'm Bored's" take over and the kids turn on each other!

Today we staved off the boredeom by running errands, doing some arts & crafts, some worksheets (she's all fired up about the summer packet her Kindergarten teacher sent them all home with) and ofcourse some time at the pool.  What would a summer day in San Diego be without a trip to the pool!?  The kids are divided on how they feel about this.  My girl LOVES the water, and begs to go.  She had an awesome time!!

The little guy on the other hand is rather apprehensive and prefers to watch from the sidelines.  I hope he gets over this soon, because he's going to be spending hours at the pool & beach this summer!

Shrinky done :) Challenge Day 14

I know, I know, I haven't been posting every day.  I've failed the challenge from over at Peanuts Are Evil :(  It's sad, but somehow life has got in the way of posting the last few days.  I'll keep trying though. 

I just recently finished 2 of my shrinky dink projects.  And I'm happy with how they turned out.  I made this cool keychain with shrinky versions of the kids handprints for the man, for Father's Day.  I think he'll like it.

And I made this shrinky bookmark for my aunt, whose birthday is in 3 days (and there is no way mail will get from here to the UK in 3days, so it will be late I'm afraid).  I think I like it even more than the keychain!

Lists - Challenge Day 10

I inherited a list making gene from my Mum - she has made lists since I can remember and now I do the same.  I make lists everywhere, on random scraps of paper, on neatly typed & printed pieces of paper, all over the place.  These lists are a great idea, but I've found that I have so many that I can't keep up.  I need a list to keep track of my lists!!  So here's a master list of the lists I have currently running:

- grocery list
- general "to do" - preschool registration, green card forms,
  call maintenance etc
- June gifts - things to gather, buy, make & mail this month
- summer activities, arts & crafts, learning ideas for the
  summer holidays
- free/cheap things happening in San Diego this summer
- projects I want to do "for fun" for me
- household "to do" - specific projects for specific rooms, ideas
  for decor etc
- cleaning "schedule"
- birthday wish list (yes, I'm like I kid - I keep a list of
  things I'd like to get for my birthday)

That's 9 different lists.  And I'm sure that I couldn't locate them all right now.  And I haven't actually ticked stuff off all of them either....  I guess I had better get working on that!!

30 days, 30 posts over at Peanuts Are Evil

Round 2 - Challenge Day 8

Well, round 2 of the bug that my big girl had last weekend has hit the little guy today.  He has had an icky tummy, and been very lethargic all day.  We've watched WAY too much TV today.  Hoping he'll be better tomorrow, I have a lot to do :) 

June begins "birthday season" for us - and it runs through Feb!!  This month I have my Aunt's 70th birthday, as well as my Uncle's 60th, not to mention another Aunt's birthday, and my Sister-in-Law's birthday too....  I have a lot of things to get together, make, pack and mail!! 

Challenge going on over at Peanuts Are Evil