Book Talk Tuesday - Shadow

When walking through the library the other day, we saw this book and it helped me remember doing an exercise once when I was a young girl in school.

The book is full of illustrations and you make up the story.  On one side of the book is an illustration of what this little girl is doing, and on the other is a wonderful shadow world. 

Eventually that shadow world ends up leaking into her real world and she even changes places to go play in the made up world.

I thought it would be fun to make our own shadow world things.

First we needed a blank piece of paper folded length wise.

Then we wrote our name on the fold (if you do it in cursive it is even more fun...but my baby only knows how to print so we did printing) and traced an outline around our letters.

Then cut out along that outline and open your shape up.

Inside you draw a creature of some sort.  Be creative.

After you are done, admire your creativity and go play with your shadow creatures.

I love how fun this was and how perfectly it went along with the shadow book.

Cheers

Summer Camp - Summer Fun Chart

To kick off this series of Summer Camp ideas, I thought I would start with something my boys love.  I really hope that you are all like me.  I hope that when summer comes, you try to find things to keep your kids occupied because they need to have something to do each day!

My boys love looking forward to summer though because that means that I make up our summer fun chart. 

For the past few years I have been printing out a list of activities, putting it in a cheap frame (think dollar store) and each time they do one, they cross it off with dry erase markers.  The beauty of having it in a frame is that I can just wipe it off.  Easy Peasy.

This year I thought I would get fancy and make all of you (who want one) a printable list as well.  Just click the photo for a larger one to print out.

Coming up these next few weeks, I have some wonderful guest posts.  These ladies have some really cool ideas for you to try out.  I will be posting summer camp ideas every Monday and Thursday.   Come check them out, and...

Enjoy summer!

Some of these things are just links to a photo, or an idea on Etsy and I figured I could totally do it (without buying them) I hope you will also find them useful.

Make a Catch a Ball             Learn How to Embroider (this is a link for 100 Stitches)
Learn How to Quill            Make a Tin Can Mug
Fishing Tackle Bracelets (for a more "manly" version leave off the beads)
Yarn Dolls                        Salad Spinner Art
Yarn Book Worm               Play Tent (with a hula hoop) and here is another one
Family Dolls (Nesting)          Monster Pillows
Take Close Up Photos (then make a simple book out of them)
Monster Page Corner Bookmarks
Marshmallow Popper           Monster Dolls
Baked Marbles                    Province/State String Art
Bag of Toy Soldiers             Make a Fork Ring
Make Tie Tacks/Earrings out of the end of a spent bullet casing
Make a Giant Flower            Make a Flower Press
Make Rock Candy                Make Rubber band Guns
Tiny Bubbles with straws        Bath Boats with Ice Cubes
Catapult with Popsicle Sticks  Frozen Treasure Dig
Water Hose Gun                   PVC Sprinkler
Flour Tag                            Glitter Balloons
Clay                                   Sumo Wrestle with Cushions
Drums out of Cans                   Fabric Bowls
PVC Periscope                     Superhero Masks
Jellybean Bracelets               Make a Jellyfish in a Bottle
Lip Straws                           Redneck Waterbed
Tape Ball                             Laser Tag with Balloons
Shaving Cream War               Popcorn War
Bubble Wrap Hopscotch         Pudding Painting

Cheers

Floral Foam Carving

The other day for a field trip we travelled to a school art exhibit that happens here each year.  There were some amazingly talented young artists pieces displayed.

One thing that we really loved was the sculptures.

One of the kinds of sculptures that we saw were made out of floral foam.

I thought you might like to do them with your kiddies.  Mine loved it!

First you need some floral foam blocks.  I got mine in a pack of 6 from Michaels for only $5.  You could even make that cheaper by using your coupon. 

We experimented with a few different ways of carving.  Butter knives were great for cutting off large chunks.

I had an iTunes card that made a great tool for the finer details.

Their first sculptures took them about an hour and a half.  Their second was a bit longer as now they took care.  They knew what to expect with their carving tools and had a better idea of how to do it.

We will be doing this again.  They loved it.

Super cheap and easy.

Cheers

Book Talk Tuesday - Painting Cards

I didn't know what to call these, so now they are "painting cards"!  I went to an Usborn party knowing I still had a good chunk of my funding for this year. We haven't done a lot of art type study yet so I was specifically looking for something a little arty.

I was a bit worried because sometimes Usborne has some goofy drawing thing to represent the historical or educational thing that the book is about so I bought these a little wary.

The whole package is beautifully done.  The front of the card has the painting discussed, and the card on the back has all the information.  Things like the name of the painting, who painted it, what years they were active, some fun facts and tidbits, etc.

There are some of the trademark cartoon-y type things, but they are all on the back so it is not a big deal.

I loved how professional they were.  They are on a nice thick card stock and very well done.

I also checked through both stacks to make sure that there are no repeats (because some "Famous Paintings" are "Impressionist") but there are no doubles which pleased me greatly.

I also love Usborne because they are English and all the words are spelled the same as us Canadians.  I love that my boys can see how English is spelled in their own tongue!  If you are in the States, be aware that Usborne is from England and some of the spelling is a bit different than yours.  (we add "U"'s where you don't.) 

I think that it would work all the way up to high school but the box says up to Grade 4.  I am using them for Grades 7, 5 and 1.  They seem to work for all of mine.

Overall I was pleased and thought that it might make a nice addition if you are studying some of the historically significant paintings.  For just over $5 each I think they are a great resource.

Cheers

Field Trip - Quilt Exhibit

Last week we went and toured a quilt exhibit.  It was pretty interesting to see. 

There were two artists and a heritage quilt section.  Here are a couple highlights:

In the Heritage section there was this one "crazy quilt" for lack of a better name.  It had all kinds of amazing things on it

There were different fun fabrics and lots of cool hand stitching, and look at these little ribbons:
(this one is from an opening of the "Finley bridge" a bridge that is over 100 years old now)

This one is from the stampede where the prizes were donated to the POW's!

Such a cool glimpse into history.

One lady had made some amazing quilts that were all pictures.  There were so cool to see how she did it all with textile elements.  They looked like watercolors or oils from far away.

There were even neat little things like this on them: (a cow tag and some barbed wire details)

In the next room I was in heaven.  We all know I love buttons.  (if you don't, well, I need to talk more often about them then!)

There were button details on everything...

In the middle of the floor there were these triangle pieces of wood painted in bright colors.  You were welcome to add to the shapes that were already there to make your own addition to the artwork.  We spent quite a while there adding on to them.

Cheers

Field Trip: Alta Glass - Travelling Exhibit

Oooops...I forgot to announce the winner of the tea.  Sorry.

Abby, Random.org picked lucky #2 and that is you!  I will get this off right away to you.  In a couple more weeks I have another giveaway so stay tuned...

On to our field trip:  More history. 

I love to take my boys to the museum.  We have been to many and seem to enjoy them one and all.

This exhibit was all about Altaglass which operated in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  I am not sure if it is still in operation, I should check that out.  They sold to North America and had an extensive array of things they offered. 

Something that I was loving, they had glass buttons!  (have you seen my collection of buttons?!) Who knew?! 

Here are a couple of the photos I snuck in.  I am not sure if we were allowed to take pictures so if these are against the rules, well...I took them anyway

Altaglass was most well known for it's blown glass swans.  They are now collectors items.  Because of the success of the swans, the logo was of a swan.

Some of the many items they made.
Here is a case of tools that they used to make glass items.  I have watched a glass blower and it is truly amazing what they can do with these simple looking items!

Later they started incorporating metal into their designs.  My second son was particularly excited that they offered dragons!

There was an interesting video that we got to watch all about different types of glass and how it is made.  We sat there for a while watching it.  When dh came home the boys explained it all to him! 

Now to find a glass blower in Southern Alberta who still practices this...and will let us come watch...

Cheers

Field Trip: Artist, Michael Campbell

I am going to do a Field Trip series (hopefully on thursdays as long as I have something to post!).  I have a few posts planned, have done a few field trips, and have a few more that are on our "to do" list.  I know that some of them will not work for you, but I hope that with the few links I provide on our trips that you can either view the art (like this one) or find things in your city that are similar.  We do have to travel for some of the trips that we take, and I do understand that you may not be in that position to do so, but hope that you can find some inspiration to try something new.  (or see some place new)

We had the opportunity to view an artist named Michael Campbell.  His work was pretty fun.  (especially for boys). 

The link above will take you to his page of works.

I took a few photos on the sly to show you some of his work too.  All of them sort of resembled ships.  Space ships, boats for the lake, giant "colonies", and many others.  All made from found items.  (Junk)  We loved looking at some of the details he included as well.

This anchor is on the ship below.  It had a chain that wrapped around and looked as if it could be raised and lowered!

A whole bunch of them had mossy stuff growing on them.  We wondered if they misted the moss so it would grow?

I love to check out the artists that have things like this, and don't concentrate so much on the nudes. 

This was a great exhibit to check out.

Cheers

Wikki Stix

We found a really fun toy educational tool the other day.

I am probably behind the times, but I had never seen these before.  We have had such fun with them.

They are wax covered little bendy strings.  (think really thin candle's that you have dipped)  You can shape them into any shape and then you can reuse them over and over.  We really have used them over and over!  They stick to themselves, each other and any surface.  They do leave a bit of a residue behind, but it is just a little waxy and cleans easily with soap and water.

I didn't buy them to play with them, but there have been many a lolly made with them!  :)  Great fun.  We have made people, snails, little volcano's that erupt blue lava, ducks, dogs and many other really awesome things.

I bought them primarily for kindergarten letter practice...

...but the other stuff is also really hard to resist!  :)

HERE is the web site.  There are lots of cool things to make, or places that sell them, or you can just pick up some from there.  (I am really tempted by the resturant packs)

Want a little sample pack to call your own?

I am willing to send it anywhere....

Just leave a comment.  (with a way to contact you if your email is NOT linked to your profile, I don't have all of your addresses :D) 

I will pick three lucky winners at the end of the week  (well, random.org will) so I will keep the giveaway open until 8pm Thursday night.  I will post the winners on Friday morning.

Good luck  (and really here, your chances of winning are pretty good!  :D)
Cheers

Ps...as always, this is a product I have bought on my own...I do not receive them for free, nor do I get anything to say stuff on here...I just want to pass on a little fun to you.

Creativity

Instilling creativity in my boys is really important to me.

I also don't want to stifle their natural curiosity, or creativity, or put them in a "box" artistically.

But struggling against my opinion is hard. 

Until I remember a story I heard a long time ago (paraphrasing here):

A teacher told her class to draw a picture of a cow.  A young girl wanted to color hers purple.  The teacher told her cows were not purple, they were brown.  This went on for a year or two.  When this little girl went into a new class, with a new teacher, she asked them all to draw an elephant.  When the little girl didn't draw one, the teacher asked her what was wrong.  The little girl replied, "I am waiting for you to tell me what it looks like."

I have always feared repressing that natural desire to create.

Which leads me to watercolor class:

I asked my little man what color he would be painting his horse.  He replied that it would be green.  It took all of my super awesome Mom powers to resist telling him that horses were not green.  Green is his favorite color and everything is green right now.  I think it turned out pretty nice, even with the fact it is green!

And who knew that bunnies were pink?!

Cheers

The Star

For Christmas there are many decorations out there that people love.  Personally I love the star.  I have so many nativity type decorations, but my ultimate favorite is the star. 

Here is a really simple decoration I am taking to my VT sisters this month.

Very simple.  Here are a couple steps you can follow.  (sorry for the lack of pictures, to be honest I didn't think about it.)  I know I got the idea somewhere, maybe familyfun?  Sorry I can't remember what source it came from.

1.  Find a cookie cutter the same shape you want your stars (or other shape) to be.
2.  Wrap thicker jewelry wire around a few times (we did about 4) to get the shape of your cookie cutter.
3.  Carefully remove and wrap around the shape to re-enforce it.  (the edges, if you click on the pictures you can see it in the detail that there is a wrap to make all the layers stay together)
4.  Using thinner wire (I use florist wire) start randomly wrapping around your star.  I placed a few beads on some, used gold wire on some as detail, and left some plain.  I like them all so choose what you like best.
5.  If you are hanging them, add a hanger.

My kids made the ones on the floor picture.  They loved it.  I could make 2 to their one, but they were easy enough that almost any age could do it. 

I love Christmas.  I am hoping to post quite a few different Christmas themed things this year, just a mish mash like always. 

What are your favorite things about Christmas? 

Cheers

Worlds

In science this month we are studying "Waste and our World".  So the other day we made paper mache "worlds" out of recycled newspaper.  We painted them to look like our earth and it was a grand wrap-up to our unit. 

Paper mache paste is super easy if you want to try it...just mix some flour with water until it is a glue like consistency.  Use like glue on your chosen paper. (newspaper, newsprint, construction paper, tissue paper, etc)  Wrap around your balloon or other container.  Let dry...we hang ours...

...and voila, shapes that are nice and hard.  Make sure that you have lots of layers if you want to have a really strong shape.

Cheers