WWW: I Flit, I Float, I Flitty Flee, I Fly

September 17, 2011 by




Once again our schedule has gone haywire and our arts and crafts day was held on Friday instead.  The toddlers had been begging to paint for weeks now so we all trooped to the bookstore last Thursday to buy some paint and a couple of new paintbrushes. Oh, wait! That was the reason we moved our Wonderful World of Wednesday to Friday. We had no paint!

Armed with fresh paint and new brushes, we were all set to create our own garden animals from bits and pieces of materials scattered in the house.

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First on our insect collection were Handprint Butterflies which we had already done a few weeks ago.  Since, this is the second time we did the activity, the toddlers were already familiar with the procedure. Jakei didn’t make much of a fuss this time and patiently waited for his handprints to be cut out.

Next on our list were Ladybugs made from plastic bowls.  We used the following materials for our ladybugs:

  • Plastic party bowls (left over from their birthday party a few months ago)
  • Board paper or any cardboard
  • Sandpaper
  • Red tempera paint
  • Foam tape (double adhesive)
  • Black markers

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The toddlers painted the outside of the bowls with red paint and we set these aside to dry.  In the meantime, we cut out circles from an old red folder and glued the legs of the ladybugs on them.  We cut out L-shapes from sandpaper and used them for the legs.  We then used foam tape to stick the circle cutouts on top of the bowls.  When the paint was dry, we drew faces and black circles on them to complete the details of our ladybugs.

Last on our insect collection was the caterpillar.  By this time, paint had lost its allure on Jakei and the little boy just kept running around the room.  Thus, only one caterpillar adorns our wall now.  To make our caterpillar, we used:

  • Empty egg tray (washed with soap and dried thoroughly)
  • Green and yellow tempera paint
  • Fuzzy wires (we got red and white stripes)
  • Fasteners (you can get colorful ones from Hallmark Scrapbooking stations)
  • Cardboard
  • Foam tape
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Due to my poor skills in photography, this caterpillar looks blue in the picture. It really is green, really!

I cut the bottom part of the egg tray into four sections and  attached each one on cardboard pieces using foam tape.  The toddlers painted the egg tray with green and yellow paint.  I then inserted fuzzy wires for the caterpillar’s antenna and fasteners for the eyes. Ta-da! We had a caterpillar!

Surprisingly, we didn’t make too much of a mess! This is also our first time to use tempera paint and it certainly won’t be the last.  The paint washed off easily from the toddlers hands and did not stain their clothes.  I guess this means we can have more painting activities from now on.

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Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: ,

Toddler Crafts for Our Nature Tripping Week

August 26, 2011 by

We has an unscheduled trip to the pediatrician last Wednesday so our Wonderrful World of Wednesday session was postponed.  We had our art activities this morning and as always, we made quite a mess.

Our arts and crafts activities followed this week’s theme which was all about plants.  We started with leaf imprints, puncher-art, and a make-a-garden craft using recycled materials.

We have previously done leaf imprinting so the toddlers already knew what to do. Jakei’s leaf imprints this morning were much more better than those he did before.

Our second art activity which I call puncher-art was too tedious a task for the toddlers so we ended up making more of a mess than art.  For this activity, I used a puncher to make tiny circles from colored papers. I then asked the toddlers to stick the circles onto a printed template.  Jade did try to finish a couple of leaves but soon got bored and started playing with the circles and sprinkling them all over the table. Which was exactly what Jakei was doing right at the beginning.  This kind of activity I would have to postpone until the toddlers are A LOT older.

Our last activity involved materials I scavenged around the house.  The toddlers colored some paper flowers which we attached to plastic stirrers and placed in an inverted bowl.  I’ll make a post with more detailed instructions on how we made our own garden this weekend.




Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Miscellaneous, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: , ,

WWW: Finger Painting

July 6, 2011 by

My mom was also a stay-at-home mom so we grew up with all sorts of activities she’d prepared to keep us from being bored and making a mess of the entire house. I still remember our origami sessions, art workshops, crafts day, spelling bees, and even Spanish lessons. One of the things I still fondly recall is finger painting with blue paint on white paper.

I asked my mom how she made the blue paint so Jade and Jakei can have some finger painting fun too. The paint turned out quite easy to make. All I needed to do was boil water and cornstarch together until the right consistency is reached. After which, a few drops of food coloring is added and the mixture is allowed to cool.

I divided the cornstarch mixture into three pots and used three different colors for each pot – blue, red and green. I evenly spread one color mixture on oslo paper and instructed the toddlers to use their fingers to create pictures. We worked with one color at a time until the little girl insisted on using all three colors together to make her handprints.

Finding the paint too slimy, Jakei doodled only a few strokes on his sheet and refused to touch it again. Jade on the other hand enjoyed getting her hands all gooey. She actually dipped her entire hand in the jar which is why we have sheets with handprints on them. I wasn’t able to take pictures of the toddlers at work though as my hands were all gooey as well. We’re scheduled to do this activity again next month and hopefully, Jakei would be more willing to get his hands slimy and I would be able to take some nice pictures.

Click here for other art activities we’ve done for our Wonderful World of Wednesday.

Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Kids At Work, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: , , ,

Mini Art Exhibit and Workshop for our Mini-Me’s

July 2, 2011 by

My toddlers’ birthdays are only two weeks apart so we’ve opted to celebrate both at the same time.  Last year, they had a Jollibee-day with several of our relatives and friends to make the little boy’s 1st birthday special.  This year though, we decided to just invite their friends who live next door for some cake and sandwiches.

Since the year started, my toddlers have accumulated quite a number of artwork. I’ve been meaning to hold an art exhibit to showcase their work but have not found time to execute my plans.  With my husband’s and my sister’s help, we were able to display some of their best artwork on our wall in time for the toddlers’ birthday celebration.

there's no place for Picasso or Monet on this wall

I prepared only four activities for our mini-workshop.  We had sandpaper art, fish origami, leaf imprints and dog origami.  I didn’t include anything that entailed the use of paint or watercolor as I didn’t want them to become too dirty come snacktime. The toddlers’ friends requested a painting session so we’re scheduling another mini-art workshop this month.

For snack time, we only prepared baked macaroni, bologna mini-buns, cheese sticks, hotdogs, and cupcakes.  We were supposed to serve carrot sticks and celery sticks along with the cheese sticks but I wasn’t able to prepare them in time for the party.  We also had three different juice flavors to match the toddlers’ colorful artwork. We had purple grape juice, red strawberry juice, and orange juice.  The mini cupcakes were bought from Shoppersville Bakeshop whose sugar icing my sisters and I love to bits.

sugar-high with mini-cupcakes

After the mini-workshop and snack, we voted for the best work for each art activity and gave out tokens.  Instead of a candy-filled lootbag, our guests went home with an envelope full of art materials so they can hone their own creativity in their own homes too.

Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Events, Family Fun, Kids At Work, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: , ,

Art Fun with Old Medicine Droppers and Homemade Paint

July 1, 2011 by

For our Wonderful World of Wednesday activity a few weeks ago, we tried using old medicine droppers and food coloring to make colorful paintings. Again, it didn’t exactly turn out the way I envisioned it but the toddlers were able to create their own unique artwork. Aside from enhancing their creativity, this activity is also a great exercise for developing their fine-motor skills. Jade turned three years old this month and is already quite adept with her pinching skills. She was able to handle the medicine dropper quite well. Jakei needed more practice but was able to use the dropper with minor assistance.

If you would like to try this activity with your little ones, make sure that they are wearing frocks or old clothes and that their work table is covered with a thick stack of old newspapers. Prepare the following beforehand:

Used medicine droppers. We used the ones from their empty vitamin bottles. If your kids have long-said goodbye to medicine droppers, you may try using drinking straws.

Homemade paint (blue, red, yellow). I made ours by adding a few drops of food coloring to a mixture of water and vinegar. The vinegar makes the color more vivid. You may also add some cornstarch to make the paint thicker.

Oslo paper.

Old newspapers for covering the work table and cleaning up spills.

Once you’re all set, instruct the kids to use the dropper to drop paint on the paper and create whatever comes to mind. The paint I made was a little runny so we ended up smudging and slushing the paint around instead. We tried blowing on the small puddles of paint that Jade “accidentally” spilled on her paper but she still couldn’t blow hard enough. I think it might work for bigger kids though.

This was (again) a pretty messy activity but the toddlers had lots of fun the entire time. We also mixed the colors together and they had fun watching the colors change.

Artwork by Jade

Artwork by Jakei

Filed Under: Arts & Crafts, Kids At Work, PLAYhouse preSCHOOL Tagged With: , ,
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