Patched Pants

My son had a pair of pants that were torn almost as badly as this (yet to be repaired) pair.

I had been ignoring the holes in the knees for several weeks as they steadily worsened, but it really had gotten to the point where sending him to school in them was embarrassing. I remembered a pin on pinterest that led to a page with an adorable monster patch for a child's pair of pants.

At the bright shiny beginning of the project I enthusiastically searched through my scrap bin of too-small kids clothing for just the right things to cut up for scraps. I spent an hour cutting out the background for the mouth (from an old corduroy button down shirt of Michael's), teeth (from an old swaddling blanket), and the eyes (from an old onesie). I fray checked all the edges of the monster components, cut a huge hole out of the knee around the hole/tear/worn material, and carefully pinned everything in place.

I sat down excitedly at my sewing machine to sew the new patch in place thinking I'd be able to hand Michael his "new" upcycled pants in 20 minutes and realized I had overlooked something rather important. I couldn't fit the leg of his teeny tiny jeans over my sewing machine - much less turn the material around in the ways necessary to do the applique. (!*!!!$@#) However, I was not going to be defeated. A little hunting online led me to the conclusion that I was going to have to rip out a huge section of the inseam on that leg so I could lay it out flat.

So that took... a long time. And then they are fleece lined jeans so I had to rip open the lining too. Then I spent 20-30 minutes sewing on the monster pieces with Michael at my side asking when I would be done. He wanted to know if he could wear them right away. It was so adorable. I needed his enthusiasm at that point to keep me motivated.

Finally I was done with the patch itself. I was thinking I was home free. Only two straight lines left. One to repair the inseam of the lining and another to repair the inseam of the jeans. Because I am brilliant and naturally crafty, I only then realized that just as I couldn't fit the jeans on my sewing machine to sew on the patch, I couldn't fit the darned things on to repair the inseam either. I sent more than a few uncharitable thoughts towards the jeans, my sewing machine, and the entirety of the so-close but not finished project. I scrunched up the ankle and managed to sew up four inches of the inseam that way. Then I just pinched the darned thing closed and sewed it from the outside. It's not like anyone is going to be staring at his inner thigh anyway.

And tada!

The boy is so excited. He couldn't wait to wear them to school today. As for me, well... It may have taken three hours, but I'm pretty pleased. I didn't have to throw out one of Michael's favorite pairs of pants and he sees it as a significant upgrade so I'm calling it a win and a learning experience. Now I just have to take on about two other pairs of jeans with similar knees...

Not as planned

Have you ever noticed that some projects just never go as quickly as you anticipated? Then, four hours later, you give up - less than half done - brimming over with irritation at the wasted time.

In my mind's eye, I had an hour-long project in mind. I'd do the project (getting something I needed to get done for the children at school) and then I'd write a nice blog post about how well it went. The project? Making 5 holiday cards for each child to send to a local nursing home.

I had recently gotten an email from Cricut about buying holiday card templates for $0.99. The plan was:

1. Purchase template instantly online.
2. Print 10 cards.
3. Print 10 liners.
4. Print 10 envelopes.
5. Assemble cards.
6. Have children draw picture and write names in cards.
7. Finish project. Take pictures. Write lovely blog post about project.

Reality:

1. Realize the cricut machine is not actually plugged in and spend 45 minutes digging behind desk for unattached cords.
2. Spend 30 minutes testing a free template before deciding it won't work.
3. Forget password and spend 15 minutes changing password so that I can log in and buy template.
4. Spend an hour printing (very nice) cards.
   
   
5. Spend 10 minutes designing liners. Print first one. Realize that the center of the "e" and "a" will have to be glued in to every single card.
   
   
6. Spend a half hour trying to fix that problem. Decide it can't be done and that you don't care if the center of the "e" and "a" are missing on the final cards.
7. Print two liners and decide to assemble those two cards for some positive reinforcement. The cards look great. Feel slightly better.
   
   
8. Vow that you will finish this project if it takes you until midnight.
9. Run out of glue.
   
   
10. Quit with only 2/10 cards done and no envelopes done.
11. Simmer in resentment that you will have to return to this project another day.
12. Write a slightly whiny and venty blog post about the frustrating experience.

Slightly Crafty Birthday Party Favors: Felt Crayon Carriers

I am not the birthday theme sort. We choose a nice venue and invite friends for company. We have a cake and candles. We sing happy birthday and open our presents at home. (I've found that asking a crowd of 3-5 year olds to sit and watch someone else open presents for 15-20 minutes while they'd rather be playing is just painful.)

I do like the relatively new tradition of having small gifts/party favors for the guests - particularly when those guests are very young children. This year I, rather ambitiously, decided to make something. I didn't want to do the party favor aisle stuff this year. I know from experience most parents end up throwing that stuff out. I also liked the idea that I could make something more unique that the kids and parents would like out of materials I already had lying around from my busy book days (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

I'm making little felt crayon rolls in a variety of colors. I'm going to include a small piece of paper that says "Thank you for coming to Michael's party!" with cute clip art. I'll attach balloons to each one and use them to decorate the table. Then each child can choose one they like and take the crayon roll and balloon home. The crayons in each roll will coordinate with the color of the felt.

I took 9x12 pieces of craft felt and cut 1.5 inches off length-wise. Then I cut the remaining piece in half. Fold that piece over by about 2/3. Also cut a 18 inch long piece of ribbon or cord of some kind, fold it in half and stick in in-between the fold on one side. Sew a U shape around one side, the bottom, and other side making sure to securely attach the string/ribbon. Then just make four evenly spaced lines from the bottom to the top of the pouch to form the pockets for the five crayons. Insert crayons, roll-up, and tie. Repeat 14 more times. (I didn't get very many RSVP's from Michael's classmates so I want extras just in case.) Done.

Well, then make the thank-you for coming notes on the computer, print out 15 of those, cut them out and insert them in the rolls. Then remember to actually bring the favors to the party and attach balloons to them and place them on the table. But then you're done.

Ok, fine. Then you have to set up the cake, loosely supervise children and chat with parents, orchestrate the gathering of children and singing of Happy Birthday, cut and serve the cake, take pictures, pay the venue, gather all of your things, and get out of there before the next party. Then you're really done.

Hmm... well, I can actually think of a few more things, but I think you get the idea. :-)

(Inspiration found here.)

Salt Art Revisited - Briefly

A little less than a year ago I did a post on an art project using salt, glue, and liquid watercolors that I did with the children. Great fun was had all around and the end results were rather pretty.

I needed some quick activity to occupy the children because, quite honestly, they were driving me a little crazy so I whipped out some salt, glue, liquid watercolors, and eyedroppers. This time I grabbed some cardboard I'd saved from all the pencil bags I bought for the busy bags. The kids had a blast. The end results were rather striking on a black background. I also used kosher salt this time. The coarser salt looked nice too. The children were trying for much more sophisticated drawings too.

Michael's giraffe and tree and lake with fish in it were my favorites of his.

Ava experimented with color and then created a piece she called the "penny trail".

Of course, this kind of art is the take a picture of it and then throw it away type, because even with the glue under the salt, once the pictures were vertical, colored salt and glue went everywhere. Still, fun was had by the littles and mama retained her sanity so all was good.

Liquid Watercolor Activity: Rubber Cement Resist

Take a piece of watercolor paper and let the children drizzle all over it with rubber cement. (If you have never used rubber cement, be warned - absolutely do not try to clean spills up with water. Seriously, take my traumatized word for it. Just let it dry and then rub it off.) Having completed the project I'll say this. Lay the rubber cement on thick. It'll be easier to rub off. The color bleeds through the resist and the rubber cement is harder to rub off where it is thin. It is still a pretty effect, just not as dramatic and harder to work with.

Once dry, let children paint over the rubber cement with watercolors and let it dry again. Optional: Give the children rice to sprinkle onto the wet watercolors and let it dry with the rice in place for an interesting extra effect. Once dry, shake off the rice (if you did that) and show them how to remove the dry rubber cement by rubbing it off with their fingers.

You should be left with a beautiful abstract painting that demonstrates a resist technique very well.

Notes from the trenches:

• Again, it cannot be stated too many times, do not attempt to clean up rubber cement spills, drips, or paintbrushes with water.
• Do use watercolor paper. I forgot and used cardstock by accident. The paper didn't hold up well and we got some tears when trying to remove the rubber cement.
  
  
  
  
• Do not offer salt as an additional technique for adding effect. The salt will stick to your rubber cement and make it much, much more difficult to remove the rubber cement from your painting.

(This activity was inspired by this post.)

Other Liquid Watercolor Activities

• Painting a Polar Bear Landscape with Preschoolers
• Salt Art
• Contact Paper Resist (Nameplate)
• Painting a Wooden Mosaic
• Paint Prep and Organization

Liquid Watercolor Activity: Contact Paper Resist

This time, I'll admit it. I was focused on product rather than process. I wanted the children to be really impressed with their creations and I knew ahead of time that if they turned out well I was going to display them. So, I did all the preparation ahead of time.

I used my cricut machine to cut the contact paper (if you do it that way, remember to R-L reverse the letters otherwise they'll be backwards when you go to stick them on). You could cut out letters and simple shapes by hand too.

I taped the watercolor paper down in some art trays to minimize mess and to try to prevent the buckling of the watercolor paper when the children got it soaking wet. Then I applied the contact paper designs and pressed them down well.

We used a wet-on-wet technique to paint (that just means get your watercolor paper wet before painting it with your liquid watercolors). So I started out by spraying the watercolor paper with a squirt bottle of water. I let them choose three related colors. I made one too so all three of us were painting at the same time.

They turned out beautifully and the children can't wait to hang their new nameplates in their rooms.

(This activity was inspired by this post.)

Liquid Watercolor Activity: Painting a Wooden Mosaic

One of the first projects we did with our new liquid watercolors was to paint a wooden mosaic. I prepared the mosaic ahead of time. I wanted the focus to be on the painting and so I streamlined a bit by having the mosaics ready. I made one for Michael and another for Ava.

I let each child choose three colors. Ava chose red, purple, and blue. Michael chose red, yellow, and orange. I opened those containers on their paint trays, gave them a paintbrush and water to clean it between colors, and let them paint.

Ava preferred a free-spirited approach to the project. She would saturate one piece and put dots on another. Then she did one long stripe across the entire page. She went back and added a second color to some of the wooden pieces she had already painted. And suddenly, she was done. It didn't bother her in the slightest that only half of her mosaic was painted.

Michael took a much more organized approach. He painted one column at a time and was never tempted to vary from that set pattern. He painted each wooden piece once and moved on. When the last piece was painted he was finished. He could not be persuaded to go back and try combining colors or adding dots.

I think I'll pull the mosaics out another day and see if they are interested in working on them again. My goal was for them to realize that the liquid watercolors are good for more than simply painting paper, and that goal was certainly achieved.

Paint Prep and Organization

The children are finally understanding the concept of needing to keep their paint colors separate in order to not end up with everything a muddy shade of brown. They are trying to clean their brush in between colors. I decided to celebrate by finally splurging on a wider variety of paint colors and not depending on mixing our own every time. It's pretty easy to get a decent green/orange/purple that way, but other colors are harder.

I ordered enough of these paint trays so that we could have a full set of 12 colors for each of us (mom, Ava, and Michael) of both washable liquid tempera paints and washable liquid watercolor paints. Then I stocked up on 12 colors of each. Now that I can save the paint in between uses in the paint trays, I should have enough paint for the next decade.

When everything arrived I dispensed the liquid tempera into the trays. Isn't it pretty? We have three trays like this.

Then it was time for the liquid watercolors. (Tip: Instead of peeling off the entire plastic seal that keeps it from spilling during shipping, just stick a pin through the hole in the lid to puncture the seal. So much less mess.) I quickly realized that the children were going to have a lot of trouble figuring out which colors are which with the liquid watercolors (kind of like food coloring, the color of the liquid in the bottle doesn't always match the color when used). My husband helped out and painted strips of watercolor paper with each color. When they dried we cut them in triangles and used mod podge to glue them beside each pot of paint. Hopefully the picture will make it clear. Now the kids will be able to tell which color is which.

I've been scouring the internet for projects using liquid watercolors and I'm planning to do liquid watercolor projects with the kids for the next few weeks. Consider that a warning - be prepared for lots of posts on liquid watercolor projects coming soon.

Pretty.

Nothing profound today. Just a pretty butterfly to brighten your morning (or afternoon, or evening).

Cut pretty design in contact paper (I used clear contact paper and my cricut) and stick design on construction paper, cardstock, or canvas. Then paint over your design. Let dry and then pull up the contact paper. It worked beautifully.

Color Mixing Lights and Darks

I wanted a quick and simple art project that introduced something new and practiced something old. We reviewed our tape resist technique using tape to make a skewed 3x3 grid. Then I showed the kids how to start with a primary color and mix in white to make a lighter version and black to make a darker version. We made light and dark red, blue, and yellow and filled in our grid with all nine colors. Then we talked about which ones we liked the best and what feelings might be associated with different sorts of colors. Fun was had by all and the entire project only took about 20-30 minutes.

DIY Tabletop Easels from a Cardboard Box

OTs are always raving about the benefits of writing on a slantboard or working on an easel. I'm not sure why but I think it has to do with hand (or finger or wrist) strength and fine motor skills. (Any OT's out there who would care to enlighten us in the comments?) I have a full size easel, but it takes up a ton of space and I never feel like dragging it out of its corner and setting it up. I've been wanting some tabletop easels for the kids, but I've never been willing to spend the money on them. They're crazy expensive.

Every week my husband breaks down cardboard boxes in preparation for recycling day and one day I was staring down at them and had a idea. I sat down yesterday and made these from one medium sized cardboard box in about 20 minutes.



I forgot to take pictures while I was making them, but essentially I cut all the tape and broke the rectangular box completely down flat and cut it in half. The long side of the box becomes the front of the easel and the short side of the box becomes the bottom of the easel. You have to cut triangles off the four remaining pieces to make the puzzle fit together. The right side of the easel is formed by a short half and long half of the top of the box and the left side of the easel is formed by a short half and long half of the bottom of the box. I know that's clear as mud when written out, but I promise it works. Then just tape the thing in place with some packing tape to hold the shape. I also made a tray for the front to catch drips from a piece I cut from a second box.

If someone is really interested in making these and can't figure it out, I'll try to make a picture tutorial another time.

Here's a back view (Sophie likes the easel too.):



Here's Michael working on his first creation with his easel: (something about a monster, a map, footprints, and a hiding hole)



I was absolutely amazed at Ava's picture. I asked her what it was and she told me it was her "kitty fairy". Because I'm that kind of mom I took a picture of it, slapped a caption on it, emailed it to all of our relatives, and put it on my blog. I really do think it is beautiful. I'm thinking of slapping the original in a frame and putting it in her room. What do you think?

Pinterest Strikes Again (and look where it got me this time)

I've been seeing... hmm... let's call them "giant squishy water bags" all over the kids and DIY boards on pinterest lately and honestly I thought it looked like a lot of fun. The following conversation with my husband went like this:

Me: "Let's buy some clear plastic sheeting, fold it in half, duct-tape the open edges together, fill it with water, and let the kids jump on it!"

Husband: "You're crazy. That'll never work."

Me: "But I saw it on Pinterest! It must work."

So, the next time we were at a home improvement store we bought some clear plastic sheeting and duct tape.



Then I folded it in half and taped the three open sides together leaving a 2-3 inch gap on one side and stuck a hose in it. Then I proceeded to re-tape the sides with about three more layers of duct tape to fix most of the leaking. If you decide to try it, I'd suggest slightly overlapping the plastic sheeting and just going with two layers of tape to begin with. I also had the kids stuff in some shapes made out of craft foam I had in my craft supplies stash. I propped the corner with the hole and hose up on a chair until the bag was about as full as I wanted it and then removed the hose and taped up the hole.

We ended up with this:



The children loved it. It was so much fun. They ran around on it exhausting themselves for an hour. They jumped on and chased air bubbles. They tried to push the foam shapes around inside the bag. Ava enjoyed running and sliding. How she managed to avoid slamming herself into a deck rail I do not know.

Now, if I were completely sane, I would have stopped once the children had run off their initial excitement. It had been great exercise, and a good sensory experience for the children. Ava pre-OT would never have walked on that squishy bag. Ava pre-OT couldn't have handled the wet and slightly sandy surface of the bag. The activity had already been a huge success.

I didn't stop there though. I was thinking about how to stretch the sensory experience even further. So I decided to strip the kids down to their undies and toss some washable tempera paint on top of the bag and see what happened. (You should have seen the look on the neighbor's face when he briefly came out onto his deck and glanced over to see me in the middle of squirting a puddle of red paint onto the "giant squishy water bag" right in between my two mostly naked children. He went right back inside.)

It started like this:



Then looked like this:



I didn't get a picture of the end, but Michael and Ava were covered in paint from head to toe. I hosed them and the bag down and we headed straight for the tub. They had so much fun.

Another Twist on Baking Soda and Vinegar

We've used baking soda and colored vinegar on the light box using squeeze bottles.



We've used baking soda and vinegar to make our volcano model erupt with a bit of unintended realism.



This time I wanted them to work their fine motor skills more. Using eyedroppers is excellent for strengthening and reinforcing the pincer grasp which is a great pre-writing activity. It also has the side benefit of making your vinegar and baking soda last a lot longer. I sprinkled a shallow layer of baking soda in a glass baking pan and gave them small containers of vinegar and and eyedropper each.

I gave Ava red and blue vinegar so she could mix purple. I gave Michael red and yellow vinegar so he could mix orange. They had a lot of fun with the activity and I had to rinse and refill the baking pans three times for each child.



Then I ran out of baking soda. They poured the rest of the vinegar into the pans to watch the colors blend and use up the last of the fizz. Then we noticed some undissolved baking soda at the bottom of the pans. The children began to draw in the baking soda. Michael wrote his name. Ava helped me spell hers. Then after some shaking and swirling, the names disappeared and they could begin again. Michael drew a snowflake and Ava drew a smiley face with arms and legs. They continued to draw and shake away several more creations before wandering away.





It was an accidental discovery, but drawing in the leftover baking soda and vinegar was a perfect additional activity for my pre-writing goals. Next time, I would have them use the eyedroppers rather than spoons for the drawing activity. This would also be a great way to have children practice writing their letters.

You should also be able to recreate this activity by stirring salt or sugar into colored water. You just have to be sure to keep adding sugar or salt until no more can dissolve and you have a layer left in the bottom of the pan. It would be even more fun on a light box (see how we made some out of storage bins).

Who Does Stuff Like This Anymore Anyway?

Oh wait... that would be me.

It happened like this. I was ordering art supplies for the children and on a whim I threw in a set of simple wooden looms. I thought the children might be interested and we'd never done fabric/textile art of any kind.

I set it up and started demonstrating it for the children (who were indeed fascinated, but that isn't the point of this story). As I continued to weave I found it a calmly entertaining activity. I was pretty sure there was much more out there than under/over/under/over and I went online looking for some more patterns. Next thing I know I was using a shed stick and creating a shed space and even trying to jury rig a heddle. (Don't ask, just interpret as a ridiculous amount of OCD obsession over a tiny child's loom.)



Then I discovered pages on a continuous weaving technique and I fell in love with the Hazel Rose looms. They're just so exquisitely beautiful. I wanted them. I needed them about as much as a bump on the head, but I wanted them anyway. Then, (thank you in-laws) some birthday money came my way and I was 95% sure I was going to get those looms with them. I decided I'd better make some kind of prototype and make sure I actually enjoyed continuous weaving before spending my birthday money on those looms. So I made this:

And it was fun. And what a pretty square...



Then I got these (aren't they beautiful?):



And made these:



Don't ask how much time I'm spending on weaving instead of doing something useful like creating more word lists for all of you.

Now, the pertinent question remains... What am I actually going to do with all these squares?

Craft Stick Catapult

Michael's eyes light up every time I pull out the tally sticks (craft sticks) as part of our math program. He'll play with them for 15 minutes after the end of a lesson and wanted to use them for art projects.

So when I saw a box of 1000 at the store I got it so I wouldn't need to ration the craft sticks any more.

As the amazingly creative person that I am, all I could think of to make with the craft sticks was this:

Let's just say the children were underwhelmed and leave it at that.

So I went searching the internet for something to wow the children with and I found directions for building a catapult out of craft sticks. Perfect! We spent a very happy two hours building and playing with the catapult. Since then, Michael has slept with it - twice.

After the initial fascination wears thin I think we'll do a few experiments with it. I'll gather a variety of items and we'll guess which will fly the farthest. We'll change out the rubber band for longer and shorter versions and see how that changes the performance of the catapult. We'll take measurements of our farthest shots. So many learning possibilities.

DIY Day: Homemade Bath Paints and Cardstock Mini-Shelf

Yesterday was a day of spontaneous do-it-yourself projects around here. As an afternoon project we tried making a cardstock mini-shelf per the tutorial on the Family Fun website.

Ava chose the pieces of cardstock she wanted to use and the configuration (a flower). I did all the cutting and gluing. She helped me tape the tubes together. She seemed delighted at the finished product and loved putting it up in her room.


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I also made some homemade bath paints using small squeeze bottles I keep around for various projects (colored glue, colored water on the light box, colored vinegar on the light box). I filled each bottle about 2/3 with liquid hand soap and added food coloring. Then I tossed in a tsp. or so of cornstarch and mixed it all up. Voila! Bath paints. The kids had so much fun with them.

Homemade Doctor Kit Accessories - Play Prescription Pad and Broken Bone X-Rays

Michael and Ava had their annual pediatrician checkups recently and subsequently started playing doctor. Michael was making bandages out of tape and paper, which was adorable, but I did decide to buy the doctor's kit I found at Walmart to give them some props to add more dimension to their play. Then I had some ideas for some things I could make at home to add to their kit: a play prescription pad and some pretend broken bone x-rays.

Making a Play Doctor Prescription Pad

Michael likes to pretend to write prescriptions. On a whim I decided to try to make a prescription pad. I made a template and printed 20 copies (I printed mine in b/w because I've run out of color ink.). Save to your computer by clicking to open the full size image then right clicking and choosing "save as". Print and then trim off the footer and cut the pages in half.

Grab some glue (I used Mod Podge - I can't guarantee something else will work), a paintbrush and some binder clips. Cut a piece of thin cardboard (like from a cereal box) to the same size as your stack of play prescription paper to use as the back of the pad. Use the binder clips to hold the top together tightly. I only had five binder clips, but if you have more, use as many as possible so you can hold the pages together tightly along the entire top. Remove one clip at a time, painting the edges of the paper together with the glue then replace the clip to hold them as they dry. Do this to the paper under each binder clip until the entire edge is coated. Let dry for 15 minutes and then repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Once you have a fairly thick coating that is thoroughly dry you're done. Show your kids how to use their new prescription pad and toss it in their doctor bag along with a pencil/marker/crayon.

Making Play Broken Bone X-Rays

I did a google image search for broken bone x-rays and chose ones with really obvious breaks in four different bones (collarbone, leg, arm, finger). I printed them on a single piece of paper. I wanted our x-rays to be fairly small so they would store inside their play doctor's bag. I printed them and then traced along the outline of the main bone and edges of the break with a pencil to be sure they would show up. I cut out each x-ray and cut a second piece of paper to place on top. In this way, I made it so that the x-ray would need to be held up to a light to be examined. Then I made a frame from black construction paper and a little label for each x-ray. I took the final product and covered it in contact paper for durability. They can examine the x-rays by holding them up against a bright window or by placing them on one of our homemade light boxes.