Potato Aliens (and a Tissue-Box Rocket Ship)

 

After last week's potato penguins, Nora had the great idea to make potato aliens. The process was the same: we just painted raw potatoes green and then decorated them. Some fun potato-alien accessories:

--sequins
--green Easter grass hair
--googly eyes of various sizes
--Q-tips (made great antennae)
--pipe cleaners (ditto)
--Sharpie for drawing mouths
--craft pasta wheels for Princess Leia-like buns (not shown, just an idea)
--Rice Krispies made great teeth

We used an old, washed egg carton to stand the potatoes up in while they were drying. Nora wanted to make them a rocket ship out of a Kleenex box. I know that one could make a really awesome, realistic-looking one (you could cover it with white paper, and write something like "Earth or Bust!" on the door, or -- whatever! But this was Nora's project, so I stayed out of it). She doodled on the box with a Sharpie, stuck on some sequins, and asked me to make a simple door out of a rectangle of white paper. She spent all morning putting her potato aliens in the box, flying them around, and collecting green foods from the play kitchen to "feed" them.

 

 

This one's my favorite

 

Princess Castle

 

What princess wouldn't love making such a pretty castle? We made it entirely for free the other morning with stuff we had around the house. And it was so quick, my early riser Nora and I had it finished before her sleepyhead brother even woke up at 7:30! I found this craft on a delightful post called "What Can You Make from Cardboard Tubes?" on The Crafty Crow. Check out this link, too, if you want to see how a young knight made his castle. As for us, we went all girly.

One gal's toilet paper roll is another gal's treasure. To make this castle you'll need:
two paper towel rolls
three toilet paper rolls
a pipe cleaner
paper
paint and glue and scissors

 

Step One: Cut the paper towel roll into three pieces: two pieces that are just slightly longer than the toilet paper rolls; and one short piece (about 2" high) for the door. (You'll see what I mean if you look at the top picture.) Cut the tops of the two long pieces to resemble turrets.

Two: Paint the cardboard tubes, if desired. (Or leave gray for a stone-castle-type look.)
Before the paint is dry, dip the edges of the tubes in glitter. Let dry.

 

Three: When tubes are dry, set them up the way you want them, and then glue along the points that touch. They'll be delicate until dry, but as long as they are touching while the glue is drying, they should hold up well when finished. Nora kept getting so excited to play with her castle that she'd pull it apart before it was fully dry, so we had to glue it a couple of times!

Four: Cut a small piece of construction paper into a half-oval for the door. We didn't have black paper, so we just colored a half-circle of white paper black with a pen. Allow your child to put the door on where she likes. Cut another piece of paper into a flag shape, and help your child affix it to the pipe cleaner (I folded it along the back and we taped it closed around the pipe cleaner). We used stamps to put Nora's name on the flag, but you can write whatever your child likes!

 

Five: Set up your castle and play. Nora played with her My Little Ponies all around it. It's still on our counter, looking good!

Painted Stick Gardens, again

I love hearing that someone has tried one of our crafts!! Nancy at Kibbles 'N Knits shared this adorable picture of her son planting painted sticks in his garden:

So cool! It inspired us to move our sticks into our veggie garden. Here's Nora back in the spring when we made our stick garden. She looks so much smaller! Those jeans are like skintight capris on her now. Thanks for indulging my trip down memory lane, all via a stick garden.

They Came from the Produce Section

Here's a weird little craft we can claim completely as our own. Can you tell?:

 

While grocery shopping the other evening, just the two of us (the boys were at home), I mused to Nora, "Wouldn't it be fun to paint potatoes to look like penguins?" Nora sighed, rolled her eyes heavenward slightly as if to say, Do you see what I have to live with?, and then said, "Sure, Mommy." So we picked up a couple of potatoes and made these little guys. Nora decided to make each member of our family: Daddy, Mommy, baby Soren, and herself. She is the one with three eyes, "because I want to look funny," she explained. This craft was a blast and she had fun playing with her potato penguins for days, until they (sans googly-eyes) went into the compost bin. (The new red potatoes were starting to ooze slightly. Their time had come.)

Want to make your own little family of penguins?

You'll need:
a couple of potatoes (as many as you want penguins) -- we used 2 russets and 2 new red potatoes
white and black non-toxic, washable paint
paint brushes
glue or glue stick
googly eyes
a piece of orange construction paper

Step One: Paint your penguins. I painted the white "bibs" first, and when these dried, taped over them so that Nora could paint the black part without stressing out about accidentally covering over the white. She enjoyed painting them once, and then I confess that I gave them another coat that evening after she went to bed, because I am a neurotic perfectionist when it comes to things like hand-painted root vegetables.

 

We used an empty egg carton to stand the potatoes in while they dried.

 

Step Two: Decorate. When the paint has dried, add googly eyes and a small triangle of orange construction paper for a beak.

 

Nora loved arranging the penguins and making them "talk." She also loved to lay them down in their "snow" (white sugar) and "sunbathe."

 

 

 

Nora even set the penguins by the window so that they could look out.

And when a neighbor dropped by, they both played with the penguins. Our neighbor was quite intrigued by what we'd been up to....

What, her mommy wasn't home, painting faces on the rutabagas?

Handmade Shakers

Since Nancy tried out our Stick Garden craft, I felt inspired to try her homemade shakers craft. She has the great, step-by-step tutorial on her crafting blog.
All you need are toilet paper rolls, paint, some construction paper, tape, and something rattly to put in your shaker. It's good fun!

 

 

 

 

Mommy, how did my hand get dirty??

 

Soren got really into the filling-the-shaker part. He loved grabbing handfuls of pasta and dropping them into the tube.

And when your shakers are done -- DANCE!!

 

Handprint Octopus

 

This was a fun, quick little craft for a rainy morning. I thought it would be the perfect level for both kids, but Soren (17 mos.) just wanted to eat paint that day. So I distracted him with cars while Nora finished her handprint octopus.

Basically, all you have to do is paint one of your child's hands orange -- except for the thumb. (Hark! Paint not the thumb!) Have her make a handprint on paper; then re-paint the hand and press another handprint right on top of the first, at a slight angle. There you have it -- an 8-legged octopus!

Nora painted a background sheet of blue paper with her famous glitter-water-glue concoction, and we learned that blops of glue, which dry clear, look awesomely like bubbles. That could come in handy for a future art project....

Two Great Art Books for Kids

I love books about art for children. Reading and thinking about art outside of craft time helps kids put creativity in a larger context. It's fun for them to realize that other people love to draw and paint, too -- even some grownups! In "Drawing Lessons from a Bear," David McPhail adopts the persona of a (now grown-up) bear to essentially tell the story of how he became an artist. His bear character recalls how, as just a young cub, he loved to draw on the floor of his den; he'd wake up during hibernation to draw; in the summer, he'd draw all day long. Eventually, the bear grows up to become a professional artist. He is offered awards like houses and cars, but, being a bear, has no need for such things. All he wants to do, even as a grown-up, is draw. The message is that drawing makes him happy and he uses it to make others happy.

 

The drawings are warm and engaging, and I like the message that you can tell what you really have a passion for if it's what you want to do all day long! But my favorite part of the book is at the end, when the bear asks his child readers if they love to draw, too. And, if so, they can become artists. All they have to do is shout, "I AM AN ARTIST!": "There. Now you are an artist. Forever and always."

"Lucy's Picture," by Nicola Moon, is a great introduction to the genre of collages (one of our personal favorites). When Lucy's teacher sets up the paints for her students during art time, Lucy asks if she can make a collage instead. She gathers materials like feathers, sand, and other items to assemble a beautiful collage. At the end of the story, it is revealed that she's made the collage for her grandfather, who is blind, and he can "see" the picture by feeling it. It's a great way to explain the idea behind a collage: a picture you can feel!

 

I found both of these at our local library.

Story Craft: 'Owl Babies'

 

Owl Babies is such a sweet and simple book. Three baby owls -- Sarah, Percy, and Bill -- wait anxiously for their mother to come home from a trip to fetch them food. When she does, it affirms their knowledge that Mommy will never leave them!

Your child can make her own little owlet just like the ones in the story. (Nora wanted me to know that this one was "Bill.")

All you need is: A pinecone; a small stip of polyester fiberfill (like for filling stuffed animals); two googly eyes; and a scrap of yellow, orange, black, or brown construction paper. Also, glue or a glue stick.

First, have your child wrap the poly-fill around the pinecone. You don't even need glue for this part. Just help her tuck the poly-fill into the pinecone all snug and nice, so the brown part of the pinecone is covered.

 

Have your child glue on the googly eyes. Then, cut a teensy diamond shape from your piece of construction paper and fold it to make a beak. Put on a tiny dab of glue and have your child affix the beak.

 

There! An owlet to read the story with you! Of course his mommy would come back for such a cute little thing!

Story Craft: 'It Looked Like Spilt Milk'

 

The childrens' book It Looks Like Spilt Milk lets kids find all kinds of fun shapes in the clouds. What shapes can come about accidentally when kids make their own paint "clouds?"

This is a simple craft. Pour some white kid-safe paint into a paper or plastic cup. Add enough water, gradually, so that the paint is thin enough to dribble off the spoon, but still opaque.

Give your child a sheet of blue construction paper. Let her dribble and dab the paint wherever she wants. (This craft is more about the process than the result -- as all kids' crafts should be. Nora got really into dabbing and dribbling the paint -- she wanted to do three of these. I'll admit, I tried it myself and there was something fun about it.)

 

When your child has dribbled and dropped to her heart's content, fold the paper in half and have her rub the sides together, then unfold. Does she see any shapes in her "clouds?"

 

Nora saw "a dribbly dog."