Monday, October 31, 2011

Bring on the Magic of Fall with Whimsical Pumpkins

 
October and pumpkins go hand and hand. They are often used to add color and charm to front porches, fireplaces and home decorations.
Yet, not everyone loves to carve pumpkins, so why not break out some art supplies and create your own whimsical fall decorations.
   
How we transformed plastic milk bottles into pumpkins.

This project started by collecting recycled milk bottles, and these were used as the base of our pumpkins.
To make the pumpkins taller, attach paper towel rolls and cut them to the specific height desired by each child.

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To perk up the shape of each individual pumpkin, tape some crinkled newspaper around the bottle.
Use masking tape to hold it down.

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Wrapped the entire bottle with newspaper to create a smooth surface for painting. 
To secure the newspaper, tape around the rim of the bottle.
 
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Allow the children to decorate their pumpkins by using a variety of art materials.

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2011 Fall Whimsical Pumpkins


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Friday, October 14, 2011

Our Very Busy Spiders

Are you terrified of spiders? There’s a name for that fear, Arachnophobia.

 

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Most spiders are harmless to people. Spiders live in many different kinds of habitats; they live in cold climates as well as desert climates.

 

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We created an extraordinary spider habitat, the children decided to attach a bridge to help these insects cross from one end to the other.

 

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As you can see, our spiders have been very busy spinning webs.

 

 

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Meet “Crowie” the crow.

 

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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Bubble Wrap Prints

 

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Who can resist bubble wrap?

 

It is best to allow children to feel and play with the bubble wrap before they start lifting prints. It is a great way to introduce the concept of print making .

 

 

Materials:

Large trash bag

Bubble wrap

BioColor paints

Styrofoam

Faux leather material

 

 

Preparation:

Cover the entire light table with a garbage bag. I prefer  to tape the ends down with masking tape.

Cut some Styrofoam sheets to the desired size. Cover each of them with  faux leather. Tape faux leather with masking tape.

Cut a piece of bubble wrap and tape it on the covered light table. Bubbly side up. 

 

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Process

 

Allow the children to squirt some paint on the bubble wrap.

Give  them the responsibility and independence on deciding how much paint to squeeze and which color to choose.

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When the bubble wrap is covered with paint, encourage the child to press the Styrofoam onto the bubble wrap.

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A light pressure is best.

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Lift the Styrofoam from the bubble wrap and discover the colorful prints you’ve created.

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Be amazed at the multi- colored prints.

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When bubble wrap becomes dry or gray in color, simply squirt more paint and begin again.