Rogers Fun

After setting up a play date with Desi, I decided I would bring our art project to her house. Emily and Mordecai would like to paint. So this week we did Plexiglas Smush Painting. Don't you like the technical terms?

You need Plexiglas
Drawing Paper
Paint
Paint Brushes
Willingness to paint

There are two ways to do this, thanks to Emily and Lucas we figured out which way was better.

You can apply the paint with a brush, and then lift it off with the paper, or put the paint directly on the plexiglas and smush it with the paper. Peel it off and there you go.

I took the finished products home so I could cut and laminate them and make magnets out of them. See this is how I get to go back to Desi's, to bring her the magnets! :)

After the paint fun we let the kids go wild in the back. Desi and I sat on some chairs and watched all of the fun. On the way home Lucas told me how happy he was to see Emily again, and how he likes her house better than ours. Haha.

Then I fought a hail/rain storm on the way home and went straight to the RS Visiting Teaching Conference.

After our dramatic start of the afternoon (see Lucas's head) it ended nicely with fun, friends, and popsicles. :)

Color Discovery

Today for Art day we learned about Primary and Secondary Colors. We watched the Blue's Clues Episode because I think the song is catchy. We then did Barrel Painting. We were supposed to do this with Chrystal, but I was sick of the barrels being in my kitchen so we did it today.

This is what we used...
2 barrels (one cheese ball, one animal cracker)
2 Hot Wheels Cars
2 Bobby Pins
2 Arthurs (the Arthur figurines seem to be in every experiment)
2 Pennies
2 Q-tips
2 Legos
Washable Paint (I got this at Sam's and it had 15 packs of 6 paints for 11 dollars!)
Sketch Paper (not thick like cardstock, but not thin like computer paper)
Tape
Spoon
Wipes

We taped the paper inside and talked about the colors we were going to make. Lucas of course wanted to make green. Bridget is really into "Or-nch." The kids had fun shaking, rolling and kicking the barrels. This is what round one looked like.

We then had to do it again of course, so we did purple and orange and yellow. It was so neat to see the different objects in the paint. We could spot - Arthur in the green ones, the penny in the red one, the car in the purple one, and in the orange one the Q-Tip. It was so cool. We peeked periodically to see the changes that were happening. The kids seemed so into it! :)

Then we let them dry and the kids had a rock party in the backyard. They love to dig!

After they were dry I cut them into strips and we made father's day cards and and framed the ones for our Art Wall. They turned out GREAT!
Once again, Lil' Scarlett just sat in her swing happy to watch the excitement. Poor thing...in about a month I will get her more involved. :)

I think we will be doing this again soon. If anyone wants to borrow the barrels let me know! :)

Play Dough

I had a great time at Chrystal's! So did the kids, but I especially had a great time.

First the kids made salt dough hand prints.

SUPER CUTE!

Then we "cooked" our own play dough to play with. Lucas picked gween, because green is his favorite color...why? Its the color of money of course. (Grandpa Horn should be proud)

Bridget picked yellow because "Buzz" was on the package. (Buzz Lightyear)

Oh then Chrystal pulled out the play dough mat. I had never seen one before. I thought it was so cool! :)

After that the kids played outside, then in the basement where I got to ooh and aah at her CRAZY COOL Craft room, I am not going to lie...I am Jealous! I wanted to take a picture just so I could show Nathan how I want mine! :)

After that it was time to go, I was sad to leave. The kids were fine. I then saw what I thought was a hairless baby squirrel but actually ended up being a dead bird according to Brandon the resident bird expert. :) I can't wait for our next craft day! :)

Recipe:
Traditional Play Dough
1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup salt
food coloring (or use a packet of Kool-Aid for scented dough)
Mix all ingredients, adding food coloring (or Kool-Aid) last. Stir over medium heat until smooth. Remove from pan and knead until blended smooth. Place in plastic bag or airtight container when cooled. Will last for a long time.

The best part of the whole thing according to Lucas "we get to take the play-dough home? that was so very nice" Thanks Cleverley's for another Awesome Art Day!

Simple

Since we all have been going a little stir crazy because we have been trapped in the house (Lucas broke his fever Monday night, but I wanted to be safe) Our Art Tuesday was something simple. Coloring. I bought this GIANT book during Christmas time. My sister and I really enjoyed it, probably more than they did but it was something different. I also took us to the gas station and let Lucas pick out a treat. He picked Necco wafers. I have NEVER tried them before! I let him pay and he was so excited. We colored about 45 minutes.

Afterwards Lucas said to me, coloring in the lines is not very fun, can I have an empty piece of paper? So he continued coloring for another 15 minutes. Bridget was mad I wouldn't let her color my walls. Its tough being a toddler I guess. :)

Chaaak!

I swear sometimes my kids have such a thick accent I can't even understand them! Today their accent was from Boston. "Chaaak!" Yes we are making chalk. "Oh Mommy I love Chaaak." Okay, lets get our towel aprons on and have at it.

They weren't as dark as I would have liked.

It was VERY messy but they turned out pretty good. I should have let them dry a little longer. We started this project after Nathan left at 6:45 am. We tried them out at 11:30am and they were still a little soft. I let the kids use them and then I pulled out the good ol' crayolas. I now have our extra chalk on reserves for things like the park or what ever else we decide to use them on. I also let them sit in the sun for a bit to really dry them out.
We spent most of the morning outside.

We had a great time coloring and playing outside again today!

I even managed to convince Lucas into letting me trace him! This was one of my favorite things to do when I played chalk outside as a kid.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Plaster of Paris
• 1/2 cup of water
• powdered tempera paint
• Something to use as a mold *

Directions:

Mix the water, Plaster of Paris and powdered tempera paint. The more tempera paint you add, the deeper the color of the chalk will be. Then pour the mixture into you mold.

Toilet Paper Roll: A toilet paper roll works as a mold. Just seal one end with duct tape and pour the mixture into the mold and let it dry. You can line the toilet paper roll with wax paper so that the chalk will easily slide out.

We used film canisters AND Mini M&M containers as well as the TP Rolls... this made the chalk skinner and easier to hold. Plus the plastic made it non-stick!

Another successful Art Tuesday...(Fist clenched and swinging up and down with knee in the air)...YES!

Stained Glass/Sun Catchers

Today I tried Art Group for real! With my kids it is just another day but we invited the Cleverley's over. Chrystal (the mom) is a friend of mine from the Singles Ward and just happens to live down the street from me! I did the project and she brought a snack. After the project they played in the toy room.

This project was fun, but it made me realize that I should do something with paint or glue that involves more things next time. Sticking tissue paper on contact paper wasn't enough to keep them occupied, but it was fun and they look cute.

We are definitely going to do this again, well not the project but have people over for our Tuesday Art Group! Even if Scarlett doesn't have anyone to "art" with...