Box of Popcorn Costume

Every Halloween my Mom would help us make great Halloween costumes. We were in the girl scouts and other activities so we always had fun things going on at our house when I was growing up. Here's a really fantastic idea for a costume made by Jody Larmour. 

Materials needed:
-box large enough to fit around child
-white & red duct tape
-popped popcorn
-hot glue
-construction paper 

Directions:
Cut out a head hole and slide box over child. Make arm hole marks. Remove box from child and cut out arm holes. Place white & red duct tape in vertical stripes around the entire box, working around the head & arm holes. Use the construction paper to make a "Popcorn" sign for the front. Hot glue popped corn (do not use fresh popcorn) over the top of the box. Viola! Check out Halloween Costumes on DLTK they have some wonderful ideas.

Halloween books:

Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuvler
"A simple word text by Margery Cuvler is wonderfully illustrated by S. D. Schindler making Skeleton Hiccups a highly recommendable and spooky picture book for young readers just learning to sound out their first words. The playful theme of a skeleton plagued with hiccups and the ingenious cure his ghost friend discovers make for a thoroughly delightful tale that is especially in keeping with the Halloween season"~reviewed on amazon 
To Purchase

Halloween Night by Arden Druce
"Halloween Night is a Who Done It, for little ones. Each page has a poem, and the answer is found on the following page; however, if you look closely, clues to the answers are painted into the scenes. Halloween Night has a playful rhythm that flows, and the watercolor illustrations are bright, and colorful! Arden Druce, the author, doesn't overreach, and she is wonderfully descriptive, "...who can spin shimmering webs with a swirl and a twist?" For a short, 24-page book, this work carries quite an impact. Altogether, there are only 20 sentences, which takes less than 2-minutes to read, but the combination of good writing, and beautifully rendered artwork makes for a fabulous book. Adults will like this book, because it's fun to read aloud without being scary, or violent."
To Purchase

Frankenstein Candy DIsh

This Halloween project is more for the older child but ther eis nothing saying with adult supervision that anyone cannot do this craft.

Here is what you are going to need--

• 2 - 5 or 6 inch clay pots
• paint
• brushes
• wiggly eyes
• ice cream sticks
• hot glue and glue gun

Directions:

First glue pots together.
Paint pot like Frankenstein. Use the picture to go by to paint or use your imagination. Be sure to paint inside of top clay pot to put candy in. Glue on wiggly eyes.
Paint ice cream sticks to match body, let dry. When dry glue to sides of pots.
It usually takes about an hour to complete.
Credit:Sandy from Bluff City, TN.

Books related to topic:

The Bride of Frankenstein Doesn't Bake Cookies
"I really loved this book, it was great for young children beggining to read! I've read every book by these artists before amd have loved all of them! Abunch of adolescent chidren going on many interesting adventures is wonderful" ~Reviewed on Amazon
PURCHASING INFORMATION

Frankenstein
"I've seen the movie and the many spoofs so I thought I knew the plot, but when I finally sat down to read the Mary Shelley classic, I was taken back by the intellectual undertones and concept by which the plot of the book plays out. Yes there is a scientist who creates a being and brings it to life. And yes there is a central "monster" that creates havoc. However, it is more than just a scary story. The commentary on the potential risks to society caused by technology can be taken into account today. You also learn that the "monster" is not some mindless being, but there is a back story. I'm only disappointed in the fact that it took me so long to pick up this book to read"~Reviewed on Amazon

A,B,C for our younger crafters

Here's a great project for our crafters under age 4. Everyone learns the ABC's but here's a fun way to learn them. I have made up ABC's that you can print. Once you print them out put them into plastic sleeves and either put them into a ringed binder or a plastic folder so that they don't get messy.

Materials Needed:
A printer
Heavy Card Stock
A Hole Puncher




Click the link and the booklet will open in a new window.

MY ABC BOOKLET

Instructions:
This project can be as hard or as simple as you want it! The idea is to create your own alphabet book. Each page will feature a different letter of the alphabet. You can use the entire alphabet or use select letters, such as the letters in your name.
 
Print out all or some of the templates onto heavy paper or card stock. Once you have all of your letters  put the pages of the book in the proper order bind them together. You can staple the edge of the pages together or punch holes down the side and tie the pages together with pretty ribbon or put them into plastic sleeves and into a 1" binder like I did.

This is a sample page from the booklet.

Books related to our topic--

"My son has visually known his ABC's since he was one year old and I credit that, among other things, with the fact that he loves books and gravitated toward books like this one. It is a simple yet colorful and fun little book that I would definitely recommend!"~reviewed by Lori  

FOR PURCHASING INFO

FOR PURCHASING INFORMATION

Rub a dub dub, Barbie's Is In The Tub!

Some of my best memories are watching my sister's kids and my daughter playing in the tub. We had this really neat Sesame Street toy that was applied to the side of the tub with suction cups. The kids would slide their little GI Joe's or Lego people down the slide.

When my daughter came along I used to make boats and rafts for her Polly Pockets and Barbie dolls. Too bad I didn't anything I made.

There is so many thing you can make with odds and ends that you find laying around the house or things that are going into the trash. Here is a perect example. Here is a simple catamaran that I found on Family Fun. This is a very simple ccrafts that is easy to make and it will give the kids hours of fun.** Adult Supervision and help is required.

Materials needed:
2 Plastic bottles

Rubber bands

Colored plastic tape

Craft knife

Directions

• Remove the labels from the plastic bottles
• Clamp the bottles together temporarily with the rubber bands, then wrap them with colored tape, as shown.
• Remove the rubber bands, then, with a craft knife (a parent's job), cut the oval seat openings.
• Sail away with a crew of fashion dolls, action figures, or waterproof plush toys.

Books related to our subject:

"Wonderful book! Perfect to read to a younger child. Illustrations are beautiful. Purchased for my grandson. His mother is a teacher and she loves the book! I would choose this book over others that are similar"

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"Our creative young hero has made a boat from a can, a cork, a pencil, and a piece of cloth. He and his beloved boat are inseparable. He sails it on the lake, holding on to it by a string. The boat sometimes wonders what it would be like to be free. One stormy day, the boat gets loose and encounters a series of menacing large boats, each of which seems to tell it to "Move along!" The toy boat is almost sinking, and missing the boy, drifting alone and frightened through the night. In the morning, however, circled by a small fishing boat, the little boat's sail catches the wind. To their mutual delight, boat and boy are reunited on the shore in this simple story's happy ending. Long uses acrylic paints to create uncluttered naturalistic double-page scenes. The loving relationship of boy and boat is established on the book's cover. Inside, the personified sequence of "real" boats is filled with their aggressive tendencies as they menace the toy. Emotions are stirred by scenes of the tiny boat all alone on the vast, moonlit sea, and of the happy reunion. The endpapers show the items the boy uses to build his boat, perhaps to encourage other builders" Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

 

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Absorbing Art Work

Here a way to use regular table salt and paint to make a beautiful piece of art work. Kids of any age can do this type of art work. Just have fun and be creative!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Materials

• Card stock
• Rimmed baking sheet
• White glue

• Salt
• Colored water (see tip below)

• Eyedropper

Instructions

1. Set the card stock on the baking sheet and have your child use the glue to draw a design on the paper.
2. Sprinkle the wet glue with salt until it's completely covered, then tap off any excess.
3. Have your child use the eyedropper to drip colored water, one drop at a time, onto the salt. As the salt absorbs the liquid, the water will move along the glue lines, resulting in a wonderful web of color. Be sure to watch what happens when the color reaches intersecting lines.

Tips:

We used 5 drops of neon food coloring per tablespoon of water to create our vibrant hues.

Books On Our Subject:

"Salt. Who would have thought something so simple, so seemingly common (to Americans) could control the world? Can it? Does it? Mark Kurlansky and S.D. Schindler reveal the significant and necessary role of salt in man's history in The Story of Salt, a condensed version of Salt: A World History, Kurlansky's best-seller for adults.

Speaking of canning, the duo show the discovery of canning with airtight, heated jars (p. 38). Just as with the discovery of salt as a preservative, then the next step in salt's progress was canning and frozen foods.

But back to the beginning. That is what the book does: It shows textually and pictorially how seeking sources of salt became essential to the growth of civilizations. As wanderers, men could eat the flesh of animals and get a necessary amount of salt. However, once people formed settlements, they had to go out to find salt sources. In nearly all cases, by-products were discovered: natural gas, secondary foods (cheese, sauerkraut, bacon), international trade, soy sauce, mummies, transporting without spoilage, salt fish, exploration, trade organizations, meatpacking, roads, new industries, independence, and oil drilling. This is a significant list. Each item is featured, illustrated, explained in a delightful manner from one block to a two-page spread of artwork and text.

For example, in Hallein, a Celtic settlement whose name means "saltwork," Celts used salt to preserve the thigh of hog to create ham. A block on the next page (23) shows a preserved Celt (known by their colorful clothing), who had been trapped in a collapsed salt mine around 400 B.C.

Other examples are the trade organizations formed by seacoast countries with cod fishing and inland countries with salt mines, e.g. the English and the Portuguese, the Germans and Italians. Prior to the War for Independence, the colonists traded their Virginia hams for Liverpool's salt. The war forced colonists to find their own salt source, which they did to became independent in more ways than one.

A highly informative text loaded with illustrations, this book could well serve teachers and librarians in web research projects: salt in the middle with all the peripheral products and events spoking outward, with each one assigned to a team or group to research further, then create a powerpoint or other software presentation. Think of the multiple intelligences generated, much as salt
generates other things. And certainly not common! " FOR MORE INFO

"It was about a boy named micheal almost gave up his dream of playing basketball.because he thouth he was to short to play. his mother told him if you put salt in your shoes he would get taller than he TO PRAY every day. he did not go back to the park for"
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Printing With Veggies

Vegetable Printing: You may be amazed to know that how various vegetables cut through root and dipped in tempera paints can be used to give some interesting patterns and pictures. Kids of all ages can enjoy this project. Parental supervision. 




Here is what you will need:

• Onion
• Potato
• Apple
• Orange
• Corn on the cob holders
• Paper
• Tempra paints
• Paper towels
• Crayons
• Sharp Knife

Directions: **Parents Must Cut

ONION--Cut the onion horizontally and vertically. Use it as a stamp to stamp the paper with different colours and create amazing patterns.

POTATO--Take a medium sized potato and cut into four pieces. Carve a design into the potato...ie:heart,flower etc...

Orange--Cut in half.

Apple--Cut in half and remove seeds.

To make it easier to hold use corn on the cob holders and stick them into the onion and potato.






Books related to our topic:

For Purchasing Information

For Purchasing Information

Tissue Paper Art

Yesterday I was rumaging through my art cabinet and found some canvas boards and some tissue paper. I wondered what I could make with the tissue and began playing around with it. My daughter wanted to play too (hers is parrot and mine is a fish.)

It's fun to just draw and do whatever comes to mind. We had so much fun doing this project. I plan to use mine for a gift.

Okay...here's what you will need:



Materials needed:

• Canvas Board
• Tissue Paper
• Paints and colored pencils
• Modpage Glue

                                         

Directions:

1. Figure out what your design will be. I chose something simple like a fish.
2. Draw it lightly onto the board.
3. Now begin tearing off little pieces of colored tissue paper and apply it with some modpodge glue. (I will give the recipe for homemade modpodge later in this post).
4. Give it 1-2 days for it to dry completely
5. Now apply your details and color.

This is my finished art work--The photo didn't turn out great but in person its very colorful and pretty.






Books related to post:

"Beside instructions and illustrations on how to do a collage, the book also contains 72 printed tissue papers to make finished pictures that look enough like Eric Carle's work to please any child. My five year old was delighted with her projects."
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"ISBN 1558580093 - It's a rare thing that I read a childrens' book knowing full well that there is an actual critical debate going on about it, but The Rainbow Fish is one of those. With that in mind, I'll begin with those parents. The message any child gets from a book that is read to them is more dependent upon you than the contents of the book. If you're going to be all freaked out by some wacky idea that this book teaches socialism, you're going to convey that to your child and you will do more harm than the book, all by itself, ever could - in that case, just pass up this book. No harm done to anyone. While I think you're crazy, I think you have the right to make that choice. If, on the other hand, you can manage two things: to actually read the book and get the message (which isn't socialism/fascism/communism and isn't really sharing, either) and to understand that you are not 4 years old and your 4 year old doesn't think the way you do, then this book is worth picking up."
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Sea shell Koalas

Every wonder what to do with all of the sea shells you collected at the beach this summer? Well...I found this adorable koala bear craft.
Koala How-To

1. Experiment with different combinations to come up with animal shapes before gluing everything into place. We chose small scallop and clam shells for the koalas, and long razor clams decorated with ring-top cowries for the tree.

2. Use small cushions of polymer clay, which is pliable and slightly sticky, to test out various arrangements. For assembly, a tacky, quick-drying glue works best. Build heads and bodies separately. Before joining larger parts, use a brush to glue on small parts (such as beads for eyes) and clay to support creatures while glue dries.

More crafts @ Martha Stewart

Books related to this project:

Koalas are one of the most beautiful, gentle and loving animals in the world. Sadly, the population is steadily declining due to the destruction of their natural habitats. This book is a wonderful way to learn about these very intelligent creatures. Full of darling pictures, everyone who picks up this book will instantly fall in love with koalas (who, by the way, are not bears)! Read about their habits, diet and social activities, and you will develop a new appreciation for these fuzzy friends!

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Review from Amazon--"This is about a Koala named Koala Lou who thinks her mother does not love her anymore. So Koala Lou goes gum-tree climbing in the Bush Olympics to get her mother's attention. This book taught me that no matter what you do, your mother will always love you!"

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**Credit for seashell crafts goes to: http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/

Button Bracelet

My Mom loved to sew and she used to have this basket filled with all kinds of buttons. There were big ones,shiny ones,tiny ones,and sparkling ones. They came in all sizes and shapes. Sometimes we would play store and use them as money. Other times we would make crafts using buttons. One time it was flowers and we used the buttons as the middle of the flowers. Another time it was a necklace or a bracelet.But...they were never as cute as this bracelet.


This is such a cute project for Vacation Bible school,or summer camp,or even just a project for home with the kids. Anyone can do make one. Keep it for yourself or give a present to your Mom.

Button Bracelet