Materials

• Thick paper
• Circular sponges
• Paint
• Craft tray

We always find a smock helpful too!

Directions

• Don your smock.

• Squirt some of your paint into your tray and dip your sponges into the paint.  Alternatively you can squirt the paint onto the sponge and then disperse it with your finger.  (Which was our son’s preferred method!)

• Apply your sponges to your paper.

• Allow your work to dry and hang it up to enjoy!

• We also loved this other kitchen sponge- a dish wand!

•  Have you painted with things from the kitchen supply area?  If so, which ones?

Purpose

• Experimenting with various items to paint with.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.

Materials

• Bubble solution
• Non-toxic black ink or paint
• Thick paper (e.g., cardstock etc.)
• Bubble wands
• Plastic container
• Safety goggles (our son wears glasses so he was protected by those!)

We always find a smock helpful too!

Directions

• Don your smock.

• Mix your paint or ink into your bubble solution.  We went a mix of approximately 2/3 bubble solution and 1/3 black ink, stirring it with our bubble wand.

• Place your paper into your craft tray and blow your bubbles onto your page!

• Allow to dry overnight and the fold your card in half, writing a message to your friend, neighbour, teacher etc.

This activity works with any colour of paint, as you can see from our friends at:

http://www.hellowonderful.co/post/DIY-ABSTRACT-BUBBLE-PAINTING-WITH-KIDS

Purpose

• Creating meaningful opportunities for writing.
• Exploring different painting techniques.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.

Materials

• Plastic bugs
• Nail, hammer, block of wood, safety googles
• Twine, cord etc.
• Scissors
• Napkins

Directions

• Set your bug onto a wooden block.

• Position your nail where you would like your hole.  (You will need one on each side of the bug.)  Carefully hammer your nail making a hole and repeat on the other side of the bug, making sure you wear your safety glasses and work with an adult.

• Cut your cord to a manageable length and thread it through the hole that you made.  (If you are finding this tricky, thread it through a needle first and then go through the hole.)

• Tie a knot at the back of the bug and trim off any excess.

• Repeat with the other side of the bug.

• Once your bug has ties on either side wrap it around your napkin (so the bug is at the front) and then tie a bow with the pieces at the back.  Cut off an excess.

• Repeat for as many napkins as you like and then add them to your table for a bit of Halloween fun!

Want some more buggy fun?  Check out this idea!

http://make-it-your-own.com/halloween-spooky-necklace/

Purpose

• Creating handmade items to celebrate holidays.
• Developing motor skills.

Safety Notes

• Use scissors and a hammer and nails with care and adult supervision.  Be sure you wear your safety googles when working with tools.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.

Materials

• Playdough
• Fabric
• Elastic
• Ribbon, cord, twine
• Beads (Optional)
• Nature collection (Branches with leaves, grasses etc.)
• Plastic wrap
• Scissors

Directions

• Go on a nature walk with an adult, collecting branches with leaves, grasses etc.

• Cut your fabric into square and then layer a square of plastic wrap on top.

• Roll your playdough into a ball, place it onto your plastic wrap.  Insert your treasures into your ball of playdough.

• Pull up your plastic wrap, wrapping your ball.

• Fold in the edges of your square of fabric.  Then pull them together to wrap around your little bundle.  Secure with an elastic and then tie with ribbon, cord etc.  You can add beads to your ribbon if your like or go with a simple bow. You may need a bit of assistance with this step.

• And you are done!  Wouldn’t this be a lovely kid-made touch to your Thanksgiving table!?

Purpose

• Getting out into nature.
• Celebrating the seasons.

Safety Notes

• Use scissors with care and adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn, ribbon etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Beads, if you use them, can be a choking hazard therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.
• Plastic wrap should be used with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.

Materials

• Leaves
• Wax crayons
• Watercolour paper
• Liquid watercolour paints (we diluted ours)
• Paint brush (the kids wanted to try this sponge brush from Grandma, but many types work)
• Cardboard
• Plate
• Bowl
• Scissors
• Felt
• Glue gun OR fabric glue/craft glue

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Go on a nature walk with an adult, collecting leaves.

• Don your smock.

• Choose a leaf and place it under your paper upside sown, with the mid-rib and veins facing upwards.  Rub your crayon over the spot where the leaf is- and watch an image your leaf emerge!  Repeat all over your page, doing several pages.  You could go with a single leaf or a variety- whatever you like!

• Paint over your leaves with diluted liquid watercolour paints.  Allow to dry overnight.

• Cut out your leaves, leaving a bit of a border to show the painted edges and glue them to your felt.  Cut your leaves out again, leaving a border as shown.

• Trace around your plate and then around your bowl in the inside on your cardboard to form your wreath base.

• Cut out your wreath base.  You may need some help from an adult as cutting cardboard can be tricky.

• Glue your leaves onto your wreath.

• Enjoy!

Purpose

• Getting out into nature.
• Celebrating seasonal changes.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors and a glue gun with care and adult supervision.  You may want to use the option of fabric and craft glue depending on your child(ren)’s age and abilities.

Materials

• Yarn (Depending on the age of your child(ren)/student(s) you may want to pre-cut lengths)
• Contact paper (we went with black for the base and if you like you can overlay the top with clear.  You can buy this at hardware stores, dollar stores etc. often under “cupboard liner”)
• Scissors
• Tape

Directions

• Roll and cut your piece contact paper.  (You may need to roll it the opposite way as well so it lies flat.)

• Peel off the backing and tape it down to your workspace with the sticky side is up.  You may want to do this ahead of time as it can be a bit tricky.  This way you can set it up as an invitation to create.

• Our son then cut lengths of the yarn colours that he wanted to use and made a portrait.  Once you lay it down, gently compress the yarn with one finger pad to assure contact at all the spots.

• If you want to hang your drawing, put a sheet of clear contact paper over top of it, so that both sticky sides are together and then rub around the yarn to assure contact and squeeze out any bubbles.

Here are a few other creations that emerged:

(Map of the Island Grandma & Grandpa live on)

(Toddler Version)

Purpose

• Developing scissor skills.
• Estimating lengths needed.
• Manipulating the yarn as you lay it into place.

Safety Notes

• Use scissors with care and adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.

Materials

• Inspirational materials (whether it be a type of plant, fallen leaves, a piece of bark etc.)
• Watercolour paper
• Watercolour paints (we mixed the primary colours to create secondary colours of various shades)
• Different kinds of paintbrushes

We always find these items helpful too:

• Smock
• Craft tray

Directions

• Go our for a nature walk, observing the changes in season where you live.

• You can set up the invitation to create for your child or work together at it.   (For us this project turned out to be 3- fold.  Our son tried diluted paints one session, concentrated paints another and then a few days later our he re-visited his paintings, adding further details to create a fairy garden under the blooms- do your children or students come back to a project?)

• Don your smock.  If you are using primary colours, mix your colours to create your desired shades in a paint tray.

• Our son wanted to explore the actual shape of the bristles in creating flowers.  First he went with this fan-shaped brush.  He experimented with dipping the brush into one colour and then the tips into another to create blooms.

• We then added stems.

•  He also experimented with the brush shape and placement.

• Have you set up an invitation to create with outdoor materials?  We would love for you to share!

Purpose

• Using nature as inspiration.
• Experimenting with brush shapes and strokes.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.

http://make-it-your-own.com/halloween-centrepiece/

We also loved the clay leaves we saw on hello, Wonderful’s site here:

http://www.hellowonderful.co/post/WATERCOLOR-RAINBOW-SALT-DOUGH-LEAVES

thus… 

Materials

• Branches
• Vase or similar receptacle
• Beads
• Twine or cord

• Air dry clay (sorry the elastic bands obscure the package- we used the DAS brand)
• Clay board
• Old butter knife or similar clay tool
• BBQ (with the tip cut off by an adult) or thin dowel
• Rolling pin
• Craft tray
• Watercolour paints
• Acrylic gloss
• Paintbrushes
• Beads (*optional)

We always find a smock helpful too:

Directions

• Go on a nature walk with an adult, collecting small fallen branches.  Observe, collect and/or document fall leaves for inspiration, looking at their various shapes and colours.

• Don your smock.

• Knead and then roll out your clay.  We went with a thickness of about 1/4 an inch or a little less than a centimetre. We then used our pencil to draw out a leaf shape.

• Using your knife, go around the edges of your leaf, making clean cuts.

• Create a hole with your BBQ skewer.  (You can do this after you cut out the leaf too- just as long as you remember to do it!)

• Cut off your excess clay, revealing your leaves!  (Unfortunately this particular one accidentally got kneeled onto and smooshed, so we had to make another!)

• Create as many leaves as you would like for your tree.  As we went along we rolled out the clay into thin “snakes” between our hands and added details to some of the leaves such as creating mid-ribs and veins.

• Allow your leaves to dry according to the product directions and remember to flip them over so that the underside can dry as well!

• We then mixed our liquid watercolour to our gloss acrylic and painted the one side of the leaves.  Once they have dried overnight, flip them over and paint the other side.

• Lace ribbon, cord etc. through the holes and add them to your tree.  During the process we of lacing them we added a few beads too.  If you like, write with a permanent marker what you are thankful for or perhaps if this is a class project, then add each child’s name and the year.

• Insert your branches into your vase.

• Carefully hang your leaves on your branches and add your centrepiece to your Fall table! (Another use for your leaves following!)

• Or use your leaves to wrap a gift with a keepsake:

• As Thanksgiving approaches, we sincerely express our appreciation to you for taking the time to time to share in the fun!  Sincerely, The Scorer Family-

Purpose

• Getting out into nature.
• Developing one’s fine motor skills (kneading, rolling, cutting, threading) which are all helpful in the development of writing etc..
• Learning to create a likeness of object.

Safety Notes

• We suggest that you wear a smock and use a craft tray to protect your clothing and surfaces.
• Use scissors with care and adult supervision.
• Cord, yarn etc. can be a strangulation hazard, therefore be sure to use with direct supervision and for its intended purpose.
• Beads can be a choking hazard therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.