paint cut paste

one of N’s little friends is totally into all things outer space. she adores planets and rocket ships, so this was the theme for her third birthday party. we decided to make her a gift that would be outta this world!

solar system on a string

N and i started by making beads with sculpey modeling clay of different spherical sizes to represent each planet. (i added a ring to saturn.) we poked holes in them with a paper clip.

then we baked the sculpey in the oven while opening all of the windows. (as i read the box afterwards, i realized that this stuff is kinda toxic while baking and probably isn’t the greatest material for younger kids. N colored by a window across the house while it baked.)

once the beads were hardened, we painted the planets all different colors, (and realized that at their most basic hue, many the planets almost follow ROY G BIV!) also, we opted to include pluto in the line-up for old times sake…

carefully painting the beads

after the beads were dry, we strung them onto a soft black cord (like outer space!) and made it into a very cool birthday necklace!

in a ring around the sun

one day last month, N and i were playing with salt dough and cookie cutters. she ended up cutting out lots of heart shapes.

when she was finished playing, i baked the hearts she had made, in anticipation of valentine’s day.

heart warming

i wasn’t sure if we’d send them out as valentine ornaments for her friends or make a mobile or garland. regardless, i knew they’d be fun to decorate with paint, so she painted away.

once the backgrounds were dry, N decorated them with polka dots and other designs.

then we strung them together on a red ribbon, knotting each one along the strand. they ended up making a really cute valentine garland for our house! a shorter strand would be cute on the hearth.

happy heart season!

the other day, N was in the mood for modeling, but our cans of store-bought play-doh were ka-put… so we whipped up a batch of our own play dough from ingredients we had in our kitchen. i consulted my trusty mudworks book to make sure i had the measurements correct for the recipe.

• 4 cups flour
• 1 cup iodized salt
• 1.75 cups warm water
• mix in a bowl, knead 10 minutes, play!

we got to work creating the dough. N helped every step of the way.

after we kneaded the dough for 10 minutes, it was a ball of potential energy waiting to become kinetic. (science nerdddd!)

anything is possible

and it did! N had lots of fun with cookie cutters and clay tools all afternoon!

(as earthy and homemade as we try to be, the longest stint in her play was when the little bear clay dude was “talking on his iphone to duck.” sheesh.)

little bear talking on his iphone, which clearly needs an earpiece so he can avoid brain tumors

we decided to bake a few of the cut shapes to make (what else?!) ornaments! (this really was not what we set out to do, but it just sort of happened. again. hey, it’s december…) i brushed each one with mayonnaise prior to baking at 300 for one hour. before putting them in the oven, don’t forget to poke a hole in the ones you intend to hang – straws work well for this.

the next day N painted the ornaments (and her fingers) with some sparkly acrylic paint.

once dry, we strung them with pretty ribbons and beads, and hung them on our tree. (well, a few were packaged in the mail to be delivered to the trees of friends and family… guess what you’re all getting this year…)

crayola’s model magic is magic, and today we were magicians turning plain white putty into adorable animals! i love that model magic is mess-free and so easily malliable for little magicians.

N had a great time squishing and smooshing the model magic for a long while before we made any “thing.” this sort of art-making time is what it’s all about — it’s the process, not the product. in those moments, she is having a sensory experience, and she is fully engrossed in imaginal play, telling stories and making up dialog and voices. i live to listen to these activities, and it seems like sculpting supplies really brings my daughter into that inventive space. (of course, paint does, too. i love art.)

her first creation today was a sphere that got smooshed, and then she gave it a face. she’s getting good at figure representation.

first face sculpture

then i remembered that i saw this clay owl on the 4 crazy kings blog, and i knew i had to make some! N and i both adore owls (they’re one of my totem animals,) as do many of my friends, so these will make festive autumn gifts, or perhaps holiday ornaments. we followed the simple instructions from the blog, and made an entire owl family. N was able to help me make the balls, smoosh them, and also to indent the feathers and eyes with the end of a marker.

magical owl family

then we got model magic happy and made some cats, fish, and turtles, too! this goop comes in tons of colors, but i like to get it in white because it’s easy and fun to paint and/or color with markers.

colorized

we brought these animals to life with paint after they had hardened 24 hours after making them. such fun!

creatures with features

as many of you know, my family is in limbo until september (en)during a cross-country move, where all of our art supplies are neatly packed into a box on a huge moving truck zooming down a highway somewhere at the moment. so yeah, admittedly i did absolutely NOTHING to personally initiate this creative idea… but i thought it was a welcome touch of genius (on someone else’s part) and wanted to share.

tonight i took N, her little friend, and his momma out to dinner at a pizza parlor. much to the kids’ (and mommas!) enjoyment, the server brought over a ball of raw pizza dough for each of them to play with while we waited for our meals. how simple is that?

with the addition of "friends" brought from home, she could have done this for hours

N's friend makes animal tracks in the dough

pizza dough is super-clean to play with, and has much more staying power than four primary-colored crayons and a menu! so, you restauranteurs out there who are kid-friendly, consider passing out the dough!

we most often attribute the experience of making art to the sense of sight, but many of the most absorbing and pleasurable projects for young children engage two or more senses. making cinnamon dough is one such activity – it has the potential to engage all five senses, if you allow your kiddo a little taste, that is. today N and i made cinnamon dough together. she had such fun helping me to mix it, knead it, and then play with it.

mixing dough

kneading

the recipe:

you’ll need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 – 1 cup warm water
• bowl
• cookies sheets
• bread board
• plastic wrap

process:

1. mix flour, salt, and cinnamon in bowl
2. make a well in the center and pour water in well
3. mix with your hands until dough forms a ball (add water or flour as needed so that dough isn’t crumbly or sticky)
4. knead on floured board until smooth and satiny (about 5 min)
5. wrap in plastic and refrigerate 20 minutes before using
6. play!

you can use this as you would any play dough, and store it in an airtight container for future use. this dough resembles sand a lot, so we found it fun to make impressions of shells, and N pretended her tiny toy figurines were playing on the beach for quite a while.

playtime

shell impression

it is also fun to roll and cut this dough with cookie cutters. then bake it at 350 for one hour or until hard. you can sandpaper it, paint it, and varnish it when cool. these would make yummy smelling autumnal decorations, party favors, or holiday ornaments! (way to get a jump on that in the summer, eh?) here’s what we baked, soon to be painted for the season (way!) ahead.

ornaments or decorations

i am a big fan of mary ann kohl‘s art books for kids. this idea came from her book, mudworks, but my inspiration for making it came from my amazing art therapist friend and colleague. she works with terminally ill children in their homes through the hospice of metro denver. she is so creative in how she comes up with projects for these children that indulge their senses. i knew i had to try this project with my daughter my friend described bringing this clay over to the home of her client, a sweet little boy, and how he lit up just kneading the dough, feeling it squish in his hands, and smelling it repeatedly. it is these sorts of sensory experiences – tactile and olfactory – that make the most vivid imprint on our memories.