Bull from Michael's

Today we decided to check out Michael's Passport to Imagination.  They were making a bull and it was surprisingly easy for my daughter to make. 

The body of the bull is a small terra cotta pot that cost .73 and was painted black.
The feet, ears, nose, and horns are foam pieces that were cut out. 
The head is a styrofoam ball painted black. 
Googly eyes.
There is a black piece of yarn used for a tail in the back of the bull that you can't see in the picture.

My daughter is so proud of her creation!  She can't wait to go back on Saturday to make the next craft!

Fingerpainting

My daughter loves doing arts and crafts!  We don't use fingerpaints that much anymore, but found some in the craft box and decided to use them up.  Here is her latest finger painting! 

Egg Yolk Paint

Since my daughter had a lot of fun with the cornstarch paint I made a few days ago, I decided to try out egg yolk paint.  This is a great paint that can be used in the bathtub.

materials needed:
egg
small bowl

water

spoon

fork

food coloring

1.  Crack the egg and put the yolk in the bowl.  Only the yolk.  Throw the egg white and egg shell away.
2.  Add about 8-10 drops of food coloring and a spoon full of water into the bowl. 
3.  Mix with a fork and add water until you achieve a paint-like consistency.
4.  Paint!

Using plastic bottles to make prints

OK, so I got this idea from Pinterest.  I tried to go back and find it again but couldn't.  I guess I must not of pinned it or liked it.  Anyways, we used some different paints to do this: the cornstarch paint I made a few days ago and some finger paints I had laying around.

Here is some red paint I put in the bowl (I had just added some blue paint to make purple).  We dipped the plastic bottle into the paint to make the flowers.  Alex used her finger to paint the middle of the flower because the middle part didn't show up for her.

We made quite a few and had a lot of fun doing it.  Hope you get some cute ideas to do from reading this.

Making Paint from Cornstarch

So, Alex used up her Crayola paint in the tub soap and wanted to keep the containers.  I have been thinking about what to do with them and decided to make some new paint out of cornstarch.

Materials needed:
White vinegar
Cornstarch
Water
Bowl
Spoon
Food coloring
Baby food jars or any other container that might work.

The first thing I did was put about 2 Tbs cornstarch, 2 Tbs white vinegar, and 2Tbs water and mixed them all together.  Then I divided up the mixture between the three little containers I was using.

Then I added in about 5-7 drops of food coloring into each jar and mixed it up.

Then I let my daughter come up with her own little creation.

Those dots all over the face.... those are freckles.  :)

Rock Buddies

As I have mentioned in a previous post, my daughter loves collecting rocks.   The last time we were out we decided to look for some smooth rocks.  When we got home we painted them, let them dry, then painted a face.  Then we glued on some cotton balls for hair.  To me the cotton balls make these guys look like old men, so I suppose you could paint the hair or use felt.  I would also suggest making the bug look like a rock.  My daughter loves playing with anything small, so now these little rock buddies are in the doll house with the pom pom spiders having a party.  :)

Fun with Air Dry Clay

My daughter received clay from Santa this past Christmas and we have been using it off an on these past couple months.  Air dry clay is awesome because it is so easy to use and my daughter loves it!  All that is required is that you wait a few days for the clay to dry before painting it, which can be hard because little ones don't always have too much patience.

The first picture is a flower that I made and the second picture is a little snail that my daughter made.  I have found that the smaller and thinner the sculpture is the faster it will dry.  If you do something a little larger and thicker it may take an extra day or two.  We have made so many things out of this clay, from little bowls to sculptures.

We also discovered that the clay can be used as a crayon.  My daughter made what was supposed to be a worm.  After experimenting a bit she discovered she can color with it.  What a great idea!

Air dry clay is really inexpensive art and can be used for a variety of art projects.  Click the link below to check out some Air-dry clay from Amazon.

Simply Painting

I love to encourage creativity.  I think one way to do this is to just give my daughter a blank sheet of paper instead of a coloring book.  This allows my daughter to do whatever she wants.  Here she decided to paint.  Other times she may use a pencil and draw animals, the family, her pet hamster, etc.