Click Beetle Craft… and he flips!

There are about 1000 awesome bug crafts that I’ve come across online in the past few weeks, and of course M has decided to go on another craft strike.   Oh, that kid.  He said to me, “I like to do art, but only when I can do my own thing!” 

He is throwing my own philosophy of art (for small children) back in my face, isn’t he?  Apparently, he doesn’t understand that crafts are cute and if Mama wants to do one, philosophy can fly out the window.  ;)

Ah well, of the many buggy crafts I was hoping to do, only two of them were interesting enough for him to agree to.  The first is this click beetle that I’ve seen around quite a bit, but think I first found at Prekinders.

You will need:Fun foam or cardstock, glue, a spring-type clothespin, googley eyes, a pom pom, dot stickers, a marker, and scissors.

I drew two wings on the fun foam and M cut them out:


Next, he decorated them with the dot stickers.  If you use cardstock instead, you could use dot painters for this part; I’m not sure how the painters would work on the foam.

Glue the upper corners of the wings onto the clothespin, like this, kind of:

Glue on the pom pom head, then add the eyes onto the pom pom.

Finished!  And isn’t the little guy cute?  The best part is this – after the glue has dried, press down on his tail (the end of the clothespin), let go, and he will flip or jump for you, making a satisfying “click” sound at the same time. :)

Note: if we do this again, I’d use cardstock instead of the fun foam.  The wings have to overlap a bit and when we used regular white glue the top wing didn’t stay put very well.  I ended up hot gluing it on.

Have a beautiful day! :)

The Art Box – June 7, 2010

I’ve been doing some major reorganizing around our home lately (more posts on this soon!), and, while rearranging my craft stash, I set up two drawers of one cart for Art Box items. 

 

Now, once a week, M and I go down to our exercise / hobby room and I let him choose items from those two drawers to put in his Art Box for the week.  This has really renewed his interest and enthusiasm for his Art Box!

 

I keep the basics – glue, scissors, paint brushes, etc.  out for him, and he adds in the *fun* stuff – tubes, yarn, buttons, eyes, scrap paper, pipe cleaners, etc.  He really has fun choosing things and has ended up making some very interesting and 3-dimensional art…

 

A  collage made from a cork, pipe cleaners, tissue paper and a peanut butter lid: 

 

A collage for Grandpa (who was absolutely delighted to receive it) made from stamps, glitter, another peanut butter lid (lol), and some scrap felt pieces that M said looked like raviolis:

  

And yet another collage made with paint, scrapbook paper, another lid, a craft stick, pom poms, and buttons.  Whew.

 

A painting made with the roller, which is always a hit:

 

A finger painting, the first one he’s done in ages:

 

And, finally, a colored pasta and pipe cleaner collage:

 

Creativity has been running rampant around here lately, which makes for a very happy mama!

 

Have some kids’ artwork you’d like to share?  Link up below!  Make sure to link back here  somewhere in your post

 

Have a beautiful day! :)