Tee shirt craft using freezer paper; Weekly Kids Co-op

I have had this MASSIVE role of freezer paper on the shelf of my art studio for probably more than a year...untouched, and waiting, waiting, waiting to be used. (Note: you can find freezer paper in big supermarkets alongside the wax paper, parchment paper, etc. - this is what it looks like in case you don't know and are curious).

I have wanted to explore freezer paper stenciling on a tee shirt ever since reading about it in Deb Soule's book, The Creative Family. The Creative Family is by far one of my favorite family activity books, and I highly recommend it to anybody who loves to craft with their children. Also be sure to check out Deb's inspirational blog, Soule Mama, which is full of beautiful photography as well as project ideas. 

Anyway, being that it was the 4th of July yesterday, and my son didn't have any festive tees to wear representing the day, I decided it was the perfect time to bust out the freezer paper and give this craft a whirl.

Using photoshop, I created the above star design for the shirt.

I then printed it out and laid the sheet over a piece of freezer paper cut to the same size. I placed these both on a cutting mat board and started cutting through both layers with my X-acto knife. *Note: the waxy side is the side that will eventually be ironed down onto the tee shirt. You want this to be facing down when cutting the design out, in general. Obviously for my star template it didn't matter which side was up or down.

After the stars are all cut out, I ironed down the paper (wax side down) onto a tee shirt. I made sure that the paper was completely adhered to the fabric before moving on to the next step.

Using a stencil brush, my son tapped (or "stippled") blue and red acrylic paint onto the cut-out shapes.

He worked meticulously on filling each star.

When all the stars were covered thoroughly with paint, we peeled the paper off. It was quite easy! I was sooo impressed with how easy this paper was to use, AND I ended up loving the result!

We were careful to not fold the shirt and lay it flat until the paint was dry.

How do you like it? My son was proud that he had a hand in its creation, and I think he looked perfect for the part of a 4th of July Festival goer!

Thanks for coming by and checking this out. Remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page if you want to stay informed of more kid craft ideas I post or find around the blogosphere! Have a wonderful day.

And now for our weekly linky party! I am linking up this freezer paper post, and my fireworks painting post. Enjoy!

Make a 4th of July Fireworks Painting - using a Fly swatter!

The other day my son and I made a trip to the Dollar Store. Being that the 4th of July was right around the corner, I was keeping my eyes open for craft materials for a fireworks painting. I am happy to say that I hit the jackpot!

Materials used for fireworks painting

I found these unusual fly swatters with flowers affixed to one side of them, a "can strainer", and also inexpensive black poster board, and voila! An idea was born for the Fireworks painting.


Full list of materials we used: 

• Black Poster Board (to represent the sky) (50 cents - Dollar Store)
• 2 Fly swatters with ornamental plastic flowers on them ($1 each- Dollar Store)
• Can Strainer ($1 Dollar Store)
• Tempera Paint (Colorations, from Discount School Supply)
• Bronze "Activity" Paint (Colorations, from Discount School Supply)
• Meat packing trays to hold paint
• stencil brush
• glitter
• sequins stars

I spread blue and red paint onto trays. My son pressed the fly swatter (flower-side down) into the paint and proceeded to swat away onto the black paper. WOW! I was impressed with how the splattered paint looked a lot like fireworks!

Soon he mastered double-fisted swat action! He was having fun!

Originally, I had just planned on him using 2 colors, but he insisted on me adding more (which, I must admit, made for a much more exciting picture in the end)! He then added green fireworks...

 
...and yellow fireworks to the painting. It all came together looking like the an explosion of color against a night sky.

After he was done using the fly swatters, I had him use the can strainer as a stencil to paint a different looking firework to the mix. With a stencil brush, he "stippled", or tapped bronze paint through the holes and onto the paper.

This was the result.

He placed the new fireworks all over the page where he saw fit. 

And then — to add even more pizazz — he sprinkled on glitter...

...and metallic stars to make it glow. 

I love how the painting looks abstract...

...but yet still looks like the beautiful lit-up sky of a 4th of July night.



Thanks for coming by and checking this out. Remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page if you want to stay informed of more kid craft ideas I post or find around the blogosphere! Have a fun holiday! Stay safe!

Sea Horse Craft

This week is Eric Carle's birthday, the beloved author and illustrator of many modern classics, including, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?", "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", and "Papa, Please get the Moon for me".

We love his books in our household. In celebration of Mr. Carle turning 83, I decided to read his book "Mister Seahorse" and do a colorful textured craft with my son reminiscent of the paintings in his book. "Mister Seahorse" is about a male seahorse who is going to have babies! Mrs. Seahorse deposited the eggs in his pouch and he goes about meeting other male sea animals who also care for their unborns in unusual ways. As he meets each creature, many are hidden at first, and it was fun to have my son try to spot them. When the pages were turned, the creatures became unobscured. This provided a good opportunity to discuss the word "camouflage" with him. This was a sweet book, and my son enjoyed it thoroughly.

Now onward to our craft!

First we gathered up the materials:

• 3 colors of tempera paint (I had my son choose his favorites, yellow, orange, blue)
• 3 textured materials to apply the paint: a sponge, bubble wrap, and an egg carton. 
• 3 containers/surfaces to hold paint that will accommodate size of textured materials (for sponge I used a simple little bowl, for bubble wrap I used a meat tray, and for egg carton I used a cafeteria food tray. 
• Paper cut out in shape of a sea horse (I used this image as a guide to hand-draw the outline)
• A googly eye

 

First my son used a sponge and stamped yellow paint over the entire surface of seahorse shape.

Then my son pressed the bubble wrap onto 2nd paint color (spread out on meat tray) and then stamped it on paper.

Then he pressed the egg carton into the 3rd color of paint and stamped it down onto the paper, covering the entire surface. 

As the last step he glued on the eye.

Voila! How do you like it?

Thanks for coming by and checking this out. Remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page if you want to stay informed of more kid craft ideas I post or find around the blogosphere! Have a wonderful day!

Dramatic Fireworks Display Craft: a Fourth of July Activity

Here is a super fun 4th of July craft to do with the kids. YES it requires the dreaded glitter, BUT the end-result is SO well worth it!

Materials needed:

• black construction paper
• glitter in all different colors
• Elmer’s glue thinned down with water and mixed well.
• container for thinned down glue
• water
• a spoon
• a straw
• a tray for paper
• optional: Folded piece of paper (for clean-up)

1. Take a spoonful of thinned-down glue and place blob on construction paper.

2. Have child blow air through the straw onto the glue. Encourage the child to blow the glue blob in all different directions. This part can be a little challenging. I had my son actually touch the straw to the glue to make it easier. Also tip the tray so that "gravity" helps the glue go in the direction you want it to go. Rotate the tray and the direction of the air being blown. I think a lazy susan would be helpful for this, but we didn't have one around.

3. Have child pour glitter (one color) onto the glue.

Adult job- For easy clean-up pour loose glitter onto folded paper and pour back into the container.

Repeat steps 1 to 3 with different colors of glitter. Don't worry about the new glue being blown onto the other glitter shapes. It ends up being interesting that way. 

 

Have a safe and enjoyable 4th of July!

Thanks for coming by and checking this out. Remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page if you want to stay informed of more kid craft ideas I post or find around the blogosphere! 

Have fun!

Make an Ocean in a Bottle & Kid's Co-op Link up Party

I personally love this craft! I made this with my son about 2 years ago, and thought that we would revisit it. The materials are easy to gather, and the bottle takes minutes to put together.

 First we gathered up the materials:

• Oil (I like to keep on hand the cheapest oil I can find at the store specifically for crafts like this, or playdough, etc)
• An empty plastic bottle with cap
• Blue Watercolor (ours is from Discount School Supply), food dye would work fine too
• Glitter
• Other objects that represent the ocean (sand, shells, a shark)
• Funnel
• Liquid measuring cup (only because it is easy to pour from, we didn't use it for measuring)

First, I had my son pour water into the bottle to about the half-way mark, and then I had him put in the watercolor.

 Then I had him add the glitter.

We squeezed the rubber floaty shark in, and then poured some oil in. Next time I will remember not to use ocean creatures that float, and use instead the solid plastic ones that sink to the bottom — that way the sea creatures stay in the ocean part.

Before the oil reached the top, we put the sand and the shells in. 

We then poured oil as high up as it could go to the top and capped it, turning it as tightly as I could. Last time I think I put special glue inside the cap to make sure it stayed sealed. I didn't do that this time, as I felt secure that I screwed the top tight enough that it wouldn't come loose.

Voila! My son had fun putting it up to the light and watching the waves tumble back and forth. Such a gratifying easy craft that I highly recommend!

Things Bode learned:

• Oil and water don't mix
• Oil is actually lighter in weight than water and floats to the top.
• The watercolor mixes with the water and not with the oil, because it is water-based.

Thanks for coming by and checking this out. Remember to "like" me on my Facebook Page if you want to stay informed of more kid craft ideas I post or find around the blogosphere! Now onto the Link-up Party! Have a wonderful day!