Preschool Art - Shiny Foil Christmas Collages

 
I’m always surprised at how inspiration can strike simply by going through what we already have. 

I mentioned in an earlier post that we’ve been cleaning out and organizing some of our space in the past month or so, and part of this included my craft storage area.  As we went through a huge bin of paper products, I found some pretty Christmas cards that I had saved, in the hopes that I’d come up with something to do with them.

Most of the cards had some sort of foil or glitter or something sparkly on them.  I cut out the pretty parts, and teamed them up with some glitter snowflake stickers, and sequins, and cut some glitter Christmas shapes from foam (stockings, candy canes, triangle “trees”, circle “ornaments”, stars). 

And what shines better than aluminum foil?  So I set everything out for M one morning.  I included some window markers too and glue of course:

This was definitely one of the biggest hits we’ve had lately.  M loved this little art project, and it was so much fun I even got in on the action a bit. :)  The white window marker shows up so nicely on foil and made the perfect snow:

Eventually we realized that our window markers are in pretty bad shape and drying out.  So I brought out the window crayons (which I normally loathe, because they are such a mess to clean off of windows).  The window crayons were perfect for this (permanent markers work well on foil too) and, while you do have to be careful at first since they will smear onto anything that touches them, they do dry and are then perfectly ok.  They went onto the foil so smoothly and have such bright colors, that I think these will be our “aluminum foil crayons” and window crayons no longer. No clean up for mom that way. ;)

Finished collages:
  

This was such a blast (for me too)!  If you are looking for a quick art project without so much prep, just peel off some aluminum foil, get out those window markers and crayons, and let the kids go to work! :)

Have a beautiful day! :)

Christmas Art Project at The Homeschool Classroom

Please take a moment to read my latest post at The Homeschool Classroom, about one of our favorite Christmas art projects.  It was so much fun to make and we really love the results!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Art (and craft, sorta) Time – Homemade Gift Wrap

We had SO much fun with this little art project!  I can’t wait to wrap up Christmas gifts with this very special gift wrap. :) 

We’ve never done this before, but it’s an idea I’ve had for quite a while now.  I have an abundance of white tissue paper, and from time to time I try to think of something to do with all of it.  Well, this was a huge hit, and I think it may just become an annual tradition!

I had quite a variety of materials set up for us, but M was so eager to get started that I wasn’t able to get very good photos.  I’ll try to list all the things we used; you can make this as messy or neat as you want, depending on your supplies.  We went for messy, mainly because of the glitter.

I set out several Christmas-themed stamps – “real” stamps and some that were sponges cut into shapes (you can see the star one in the photo below).  We used red, green, and gold paint with the stamps instead of regular stamp pads (although that would be a great option!), so to keep the stamps from getting “globby” with the paint, I poured the paint directly onto scraps of felt.  I dampened the felt first, although I’m not sure that’s necessary.  The paint soaks nicely into the felt and makes a great stamp pad with clear stamp results.  I added a bit of glitter into the paint, hoping that would satisfy the glitter-obsessed boy.

I also set out a mini paint roller, and some porcupine balls.  We used the porcupine balls like stamps, and the prints looked a bit like snowflakes or stars.

I also set out the following (sorry no good pics!):

• red and green dot painters
• red and green roll-on painters
• red and green markers
• red, green, gold, and silver crayons, bundled together with rubber bands (this was fun!)
• a saucer full of school glue with glitter mixed into it. 
• glitter foam snowflakes and Christmas trees

The school glue dries clear, and I used several different colors of glitter in it.  When you paint it onto tissue paper, you get this result:It’s very shiny and sparkly!  The photo really doesn’t do it justice.

M used every last art supply I had set out and had a ton of fun making gift wrap!   

I joined in and made some myself and we had a wonderful afternoon of fun.  We ran out of room for all the pieces to dry, but thankfully it doesn’t take long for tissue paper to dry, so I simply taped pieces to the cabinets once we ran out of counter space. :)

Eventually I gave in to the request for sprinkling on glitter and after that everything was glitterized. :)

Here’s what we made… again, the photos don’t really do these justice.  If you are lucky enough to receive a gift from us wrapped up in one of these you’ll see just how pretty they really are…

I think we’ll wrap presents with brown craft paper first, so the gift isn’t visible, then finish with a layer of our homemade gift wrap.  I can’t wait to put on some pretty Christmas music and wrap some pretty presents!

Have a beautiful day! :)

Book Review – Smart Martha’s Catholic Guide for Busy Moms, by Tami Kiser

Tami Kiser is a mom of nine children.  She knows what it means to be busy! 

The biblical story of Martha and Mary is one that resonates with a lot of Christian moms – how do we get all the Martha jobs done, and still have the heart of Mary?

This book was written to give mothers practical advice, ideas, and tips on how to be a “smart Martha” – a mother who, while taking care of her home and family, remembers that the best thing she can do for her family is to treat each child (and her husband) the same way Mary treated Jesus in the biblical account.  Mary sat with Jesus; she spent time focused on Him, listening to Him with her heart, not running around “worried and anxious about many things” as was Martha.

This really struck a chord with me, and has been something I’ve been thinking about for the past couple of years or so.  A group of mothers from my church get together every Monday morning to pray and spend time talking (bringing along our children to play), and we are called the “Mary and Martha” group. 

It’s a balancing act really, this being both Mary and Martha, and a mother must have her priorities clearly set before her in order to be at all successful in accomplishing what needs to be done while still listening to her family with her heart.

I was excited to have the opportunity to read this book!  Tami Kiser has a lot of practical tips to share, and she writes in a friendly, familiar way, with some great humor thrown in occasionally.

Many of her tips about organizing toys, and general housekeeping were either unrealistic for me or things I already do, but they were written well and I do think would benefit many mothers.  The author’s idea of how many toys are “a few” toys for each child was “a lot” of toys in my opinion; perhaps I was looking for a more simplify-and-minimize approach than she uses in her home.  This is fine, and I understand that each family must do what works for them; but this along with her feelings about children and video games and the use of other electronic media just aren’t my feelings and thus I didn’t get much out of these sections of the book.

I also hoped for more wisdom and guidance about balancing activities that provide spiritual nourishment with all the down-to-earth responsibilities.  I found that, while this was discussed a couple of times, the book was mostly about being as organized as possible to allow for more time, the idea being that this freed up time will allow one to be more of a Mary to her family.  This is fine, but personally I know that if I don’t have clear priorities laid out for me, extra time will simply be spent doing more “Martha” activities.
Overall I enjoyed the book.  I appreciated the writing style, which kept me engaged and interested, and I did learn quite a few useful things that I hope to implement into our routines and home life.

Thank you to The Catholic Company, for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.  The opinion stated is fully my own.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Smart Martha's Catholic Guide for Busy Moms . They are also a great source for first communion gifts and baptism gifts.

Christmas Books

We checked out several really good Christmas books from our library last week. 

M’s favorite of the week has been Gingerbread Mouse, by Katy Bratun. It’s a pretty simple story about a little mouse living in a gingerbread house until Santa comes along with a beautiful new (and unlikely to be eaten) house for her to live in.  The illustrations are wonderful.  We even made a gingerbread house this week, which fit in perfectly with the story.
M also has really enjoyed Elliot’s Christmas Surprise, by Andrea Beck. The story does a good job of reminding us to be thankful for what we have, especially our friendships.  It also does a great job of showing the fun that can be had with a large empty box. ;)

The Bear’s Christmas, by Jan and Stan Berenstainis hilarious (if you are a 4 year old boy).  Poor Papa Bear tries to relive his youth with Brother Bear’s Christmas gifts.  He gets rolled into a huge snowball, and this is, apparently, the absolute funniest part. :)

We also checked out The Night Before Christmas, by Clement C. Moore.   This is the famous poem many know, but in our version the illustrations are done by Bruce Whatley (his name is familiar to me – any ideas what else he’s illustrated?), and they are amazing. Normally I like classic picture books to have the original illustrations, but this is definitely an exception.  Whatley knows how to bring the story to life, and this may be my favorite version ever.

There was one book that was so sweet (but not too sugary, if you know what I mean), it touched all of us – The Donkey’s Christmas Song, by Nancy Tafuri.I normally love all of Tafuri’s books, but she outdid herself with this one.  It is a very simple and beautiful story about the baby Jesus and the songs of the animals in the stable.  I don’t want to give too much of the story away; I’m hoping you’ll be able to find this one yourself and read it with your children.  I think even babies, as well as older children, will enjoy this one, the text is simple and short, and the illustrations are perfect.  I may have to put this one on our list to buy.

For more reviews of children’s books, check out Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns and Feed Me Books Friday.

Have a beautiful day! :)

 

Learning by Heart, Christmas Style (week 10)

 

“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom”
– Henry Ward Beecher

Our very first ever gingerbread house; making it was a lot of fun
and very messy. :) 

{ M is 4 years old }

Again this week we are taking it easy peasy, focusing on simple fun while preparing our hearts and home for Christmas.  I’m combining activities from last week with what I’m setting out for this week.  Do not feel overwhelmed by the number of activities – they are not all from one week!  

I picked up a lot of easy, pre-packaged crafts from Target and Michael’s.  These are just for fun.  I haven’t done this before because I’m not a big fan of pre-packaged crafts; if I weren’t sure that M has a ton of opportunities to create open-ended art (and if you know us, you know he does!), I probably would’ve passed these up.  However, they have come in soooo handy when I need a little time to finish up my own projects.

        SHELF ACTIVITIES: 

Christmas sensory bin – this has pretend snow (Cluster Stuff fiber fill – you can find this at Walmart), mini ornaments, a cinnamon candle, tinsel, “ice” (red, green, and clear gems that look like ice to me), pretty ribbons, jingle bells, glittery snowflake ornaments, pine cones, tongs, and a glass dish, and a tiny nativity set (really mini ornaments): I think this will be the final sensory bin for this boy.  He is getting too old for this type of thing to hold his interest.  He enjoys looking at all the items, but then wants them to have more of a purpose.  This turned into a very messy art attempt with items scattered all over the place, resulting in this little bundle of ornaments strung onto a ribbon:

Christmas shapes and push pins – M places one of the little pictures on the corkboard, then outlines it with push pins (great fine motor work!):

Make-a-snowman – I found these great little face stickers at Michael’s and cut out some snowmen for M to make:

A couple of the finished ones – aren’t they funny?:

Christmas play dough and cookie cutters: M has picked this activity a few times this week.  I think he is really enjoying it.  He made holes in some with a straw, and we are going to let them dry.  I think I’ll put the dried ones out for him next week along with some glitter glue to decorate.  These may end up going to a couple of lucky grandmas. ;)

Christmas arrangement – M loves doing this kind of thing!  I set out a variety of Christmassy things for M to poke into a block of florist’s foam, and a little star-shaped silver box to hold it:
Making his arrangement (sorry for the dark photo; I’m still trying to figure out this new camera):

Finished:

Snowflake matching game – these snowflakes are very detailed and a lot look similar, so it’s a great visual discrimination activity:

Number matching – I printed this from Making Learning Fun, then wrote in numbers 1 –12 on both the numeral and the tree, and M matched the circles up with numbered stickers (he thought this was not “intewesting” at all; so much for that, I guess):   

Ornament name spelling – I made these last year and M strung them onto a piece of string, which we then hung on the wall; this year I stuck magnets onto the back of them and he’s been spelling his name as well as “Mommy” and “Daddy” (cheat sheets are right there on the fridge for help):

 These ornaments are a free printable, but they
are simple to make on your own too!

Gingerbread Letter Match – we used these to match up mommy and baby letters: 

Christmas rubbing plates – I had these from last year and M loves them so I brought them out again. I simply used templates to draw shapes onto cardboard, then traced them with hot glue to give them raised lines.  Place paper over the top and rub with a crayon to see the shape appear.

Christmas race game (I bought this last year, possibly from Target) – we roll the die and add numbers to get from the start to the finish line, then we subtract to get back to the start line:

Christmas patterning – these are also from last year.  I made my own, and then Kylie came out with some of her own and shared them with everyone.  You can find her lovely printable here.

Jingle bell wreath activity – I set out some pretty gold jingle bells and a red pipecleaner so M could make a little jingle bell wreath for his room (or wherever in the house it ends up as the case may be, and is):Isn’t it pretty set out in this glass dish?  It was very appealing and the first thing M went for that morning.

Finished jingle bell wreath:  It sounds so pretty too!

Ornaments to color and lace – These are the kind that have black fuzzy lines, which made it easy for M to color without going outside the lines:

Christmas window clings – I like to put these out on M’s shelves as just “something fun to do”; we change them with every season:

I set up an activity to make a Christmas countdown paper chain:This was actually done on Nov. 30th, I’m just a bit late with posting it. M cut all 24 strips of paper and we chained them together with Christmas stickers. The finished chain:

Another “fun&busy” foam magnet craft:

EXTRA ACTIVITIES:

“Ice skating” on wax paper – this is so much fun, sometimes the entire family does it, hee hee.  Try it out if you are looking for a high-energy activity on days too cold to go outside!

A first attempt at making paper snowflakes:

Art – I’m no longer posting about M’s weekly art box and his creations, but I think I’ll post my favorite artwork each week as part of our school posts.  This was my favorite from this week…It’s M on a pogo stick, and was drawn with glow in the dark paint. :)  Honestly, I think he wants a pogo stick for Christmas, but since the kid can already out-bounce Tigger, I’m pretty sure I’m not ready for him to have one!

Marshmallow building:

We used big and small marshmallows and toothpicks to create a few things.  This was supposed to be a science activity of sorts… how can we create a bridge that will stay up, or one that can bear weight, and that kind of thing.  It turned into more of an art project than anything. :)  I thought M would enjoy the engineering aspect of this, but perhaps we’ll have to try it again at a later date.  For now we are a bit sick of marshmallows (they are hard to resist, you know!).

 

There’s been a lot of sledding with Daddy:

And a lot of shoveling: This is M shoveling out our backyard so it will be easier for the squirrels to find acorns, ha!  He loves those squirrels, rabbits, and birdies. :)  He’s made several bird feeders with bagels and peanut butter and we have had a lot of fun watching the squirrels fight over them!  It reminds me of when I was a child and loved all the little animals so much. :)

I’ve been in high gear cleaning and organizing mode lately.  We’ve been going around the house, stripping it bare of anything unessential. :)  I get like this sometimes and can’t stop myself.  M has been a huge help with sorting things into small containers and baggies, and being my “take this somewhere” and “go find me this” guy. :)  So, a lot of life school has been going on, and I am grateful to have a helper. :)  It feels good to purge before the influx of stuff!

This is the last of school for the year.  I’m hoping to post some fun Christmas arts and crafts projects, but no more school posts until some time in January!

I’m linking this post up to Preschool Corner, Friday Wrap Up,and Weekly Wrap-Up; be sure to check them out! 

Have a beautiful day! :)