Colorful window art on contact paper

This activity was inspired in part by Teach Preschool's post here and my determination to do something with the leftover plastic report covers from my post on Shamrock Color Viewers.

This activity was a BLAST! It was VERY ENGAGING and FUN! (I happen to know,  because after watching my son be in complete bliss partaking in it, I just had to jump in on the action!) Believe me and Beware! It is a little addicting!). I think this activity is suitable from toddler-age kids all the way up to 10 years, or even older! It was lovely to see the daylight shine through from behind and enhance the color.

The best part (that is, for the parent or teacher, who doesn't participate. LOL!) is that it was super easy to set up AND there was hardly any clean up!

Materials needed:

• Colored transparent plastic sheets in different colors (I used plastic report covers that I found at the college bookstore in town)
• Clear contact paper
• Packing tape
• black electrical tape (optional)
• scissors

Preparation: Adult tapes sheet of contact paper onto window, and peels off backing so that the sticky side is facing out.  Also adults cut report covers into strips, or in different shapes - circles, stars, squares, squiggles, etc. - it is, of course, open ended...

Have child start sticking colored plastic onto sticky surface. Let him or her explore designs, and placement. I was pleased to observe my son sink into a semi-trance as he carefully considered the placement of each piece - placing one for a moment in a certain spot, and then lifting it up only to place it somewhere else.

 

After some time had past, interestingly, I noticed that Bode had consistently placed the strips either vertically or horizontally, which gave me the opportunity to talk about what those words mean (surprisingly enough to me, he knew already...go figure!).

As I observed him being very involved and noticing things on his own, like how the overlapping colors made a different color, I found myself taking a backseat to his own self-motivated learning process; like for instance, it was he who was telling me "LOOK Mom, Look what happens when I put this one over this one! (TRANSLATION: the red over this blue makes this super cool purple!).

The Artist's work is done! The furry onlooker is none-too-pleased though, I am sure, as the artwork didn't miraculously spout out any kitty treats its way!

I am very pleased with the new "artwork" decorating our home. I put a black border of electrical tape around it so that it has a more finished look to it. I think it will grace our house for awhile to come.

If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day!

Rainbow Collage

This week, the kids worked on a collage rainbow...

I love these kinds of community projects!

Every year I order lots of garden catalogs in the mail and they are just chock full of colorful pictures of flowers, vegetables, and fruits. I find these catalogs to be just perfect for this project. I had the kids either cut out or rip small samples of colors from the pages and glue them to the corresponding arch in the rainbow. All of the kids (2-5 year olds) were engaged and having fun. Even with all these little hands contributing to the project I was surprised to find that the project was pretty time-consuming — 2 days in a row of working on it and it still isn't complete! Anyway, it was a great project for reinforcing color labeling and working on fine motor skills. Plus it tied in the theme of St. Paddy's day and rainbows. I even participated, and this mama/teacher enjoyed it as well. :)

If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day!

CD Color Spinners: basic color theory explored

Today Bode and I made CD color spinners.  Since my last post "Shamrock Color Viewer: A craft and a tool in one" I have wanted to continue exploring basic color theory with him. 

I enjoyed this craft because it was almost entirely made up of recycled materials. Fortunately, the town I live in is home to MECCA, a non-profit store that "is dedicated to diverting scrap materials from the waste stream and into the creative endeavors of [the] community". It is here that I found the ping pong balls, CDs and bottle cap lids used for the spinners.  Also, I found inspiration for this craft from Maya who blogs for the center. Please check out her post here. 

In addition to this craft being super cool in an environmental way, the resulting activity was fun and educational as well. We made a total of 3 spinners — a blue and red one, a blue and yellow one, and a red and yellow one. When each of these were spun around, the 2 colors blurred together and appeared to create a single color — purple, green and orange, respectively. 

Here are the materials you will need:

• CDs
• paper and a pen (or a print-out of the template below)
• markers in red, blue, yellow (or alternate media - paints, crayons, colored pencils, will work too!)
• Scissors
• Elmer's glue or Tacky glue 
• plastic bottle caps
• Ping pongs balls (marbles work too!)
• Hot glue and hot glue gun

 

First off, I used a CD and drew a circle around it, then drew 6 "pie pieces" within it. You can do the same, or click on the above image, control click (MAC) or right click (Windows), save to your computer, and print out.

I then had Bode fill each "pie piece" with alternating colors in each pie. For example, one pie had red and blue alternating colors, one pie had red and yellow, and one pie had yellow and blue. I outlined each triangular pie piece with a specific color so he knew which color to fill each pie piece with. The beauty of this project is that the coloring doesn't have to be perfectly in the lines (which is kind of difficult for a 4-year-old).

After my son drew a total of 3 "pies" in each of the 3 possible combinations of 2 primary colors each, I then cut the circles out, and had him glue them to the CDs.

Once the paper is glued down on each of CDs, I then hot-glued bottle caps to the center of the tops of each CD (this part is for the parent to do!). I applied the hot glue directly to the CD (eyeballing it), not the bottle cap, to avoid risk of burning myself.

And then I hot-glued a ping pong ball to the bottom (parent's job as well!). Again, I applied the hot glue directly to the CD and not to the ping pong ball.
Then we were set to go! Simple as that!

CD spinners completed

Spin away! Notice how the 2 colors "appear" to become one color when the movement blurs them! Yellow and red becomes orange. Red and blue becomes purple. Blue and yellow becomes green!  This was a great opportunity to talk about the terms "primary colors" (red, yellow, and blue) and "secondary colors" (purple, green and orange). The spinners proved to be very easy for little 4-year-old hands to handle and operate! Have fun!
If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day!

Shamrock Color Viewer: a craft and a tool in one

In celebration of Saint Patrick's Day I bring to you the Shamrock Color Viewer! What better holiday to teach children about color mixing (and hence tying in the popular St. Paddy's theme of the rainbow)? And what better way to do it than with a fun craft that takes the shape of the symbol of St. Paddy's Day itself — the shamrock?!

The pictures below illustrate the different color combinations that my son had fun coming up with. The viewer proved to be a very engaging and educational tool. My son is still learning what colors make up each of the secondary colors (orange, green and purple). I'm glad this proved to be motivational in his learning.

 Yellow plus blue makes green

Yellow plus red makes orange

Red plus blue makes purple

Tutorial:

Materials (written in order) needed:

• 2 pieces of green construction paper
• pencil
• scissors
• 3 plastic report covers; 1 each in yellow, blue and red. 
• dry erase marker (or sharpie)
• glue (Elmers, or Tacky) 
• paintbrush (to spread glue) optional
• hole punch
• brass paper fasteners

Step One: Folding paper (see above for reference)

1. Fold construction paper in half matching short sides.
2. Fold again matching short sides so it is quarter-sized.
3. Turn folded paper so the fold is at the top, and fold again matching short sides. Keep the paper positioned this way for the next step.

Step Two: Cut out heart

1. Draw an outline of half of a heart as shown. The mid-line of the heart is represented by the vertical fold. Make sure when drawing the outline that part of top arc of the heart is represented by the fold at the top. You want to keep this fold intact!
2. Cut out heart. Remember 2 folds should remain intact. The vertical fold on the left side of paper, and a small segment of the horizontal fold on the top.

Step Three: Cut out inner heart shape to make heart "window frame"

1. Draw a smaller half heart inside the cut-out shape. 
2. Cut out. SAVE AT LEAST ONE OF THE INNER HEART SHAPES!
3. Unfold the heart "window frames", and see what you've got! You should have 2 hearts that each open up at the top (see the picture above on the right). 
4. For this project, 3 hearts are needed, so use half of the other piece of construction paper and fold as needed to cut out the last heart.

 Step Four: Adding colored windows

1. Using the inner heart shape cut-out as a guide, draw a slightly bigger heart with a marker (dry erase or sharpie) around it onto a report cover (1st picture, above). Cut out. Repeat so that you end up with red, blue and yellow hearts.
2. Open up heart "window frame" (2nd picture, above) and dab glue on. I used a brush to spread the glue.
3. Press on heart shape made out of report cover, and close "window frame". Repeat for other colors. 

Step Five: Putting it all together

1. Stack all 3 finished hearts on top of each other (picture not shown). Punch a hole in the base of the hearts making sure they all line up (you may only be able to punch a hole through 2 of the hearts at one time).
2. Put a paper fastener through. Turn over and press down tabs.
3. DONE! 

My son had SO MUCH FUN experimenting with his color viewer!

• HE was able to manipulate it to find a butterfly shape!
• We played a game where I would ask him questions such as, "What 2 colors make green?" AND "What do the colors blue and red make?" It was so cool to see him move the color viewer to figure out the answer.
• I talked to him about the PRIMARY COLORS-red, yellow, and blue; and that combinations of these PRIMARY COLORS make SECONDARY COLORS-orange, green, and purple.
• He had fun looking through them and seeing the world in different colors
• We sung the song "The Colors of the Rainbow". It goes like this (to the tune of "3 Little Indians")

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple

These are the colors of the rainbow

The song is pretty simple, I know, and not technically correct, as technically the rainbow is made up of Indigo and violet, NOT Purple. Often when we sing this song, I state this correction.  I'm not too worried though. He is in preschool. I didn't know the colors of the rainbow until high school. Purple, or Indigo and Violet, the kid is way ahead of me, either way!

Have fun crafting! If you have any other activities or relevant links that tie in with this I would love to hear about them in the comment section below!

If you liked this post and you want to stay informed of more kid activity ideas I post or find around the blogosphere, remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page! Thank you! Have a wonderful day!