paint cut paste

one of novi’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!

the solar system on a string!

novi 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. novi 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

we have comcast cable in our home, and usually novi watches little bear on the nick jr. on demand channel each day after her nap. for some odd reason, they aren’t offering the amaaaaazing winter solstice episode this week. (can you tell i’m also a huge fan of this earthy, sweet show?) instead, the new one for the week includes an episode called “little bear scares everyone.” right up novi’s alley! little bear scares everyone by collecting fallen leaves and creating a mask out of them.

screenshot from "little bear scares everyone"

naturally, novi wanted to do the same as her furry hero. today we went for a stroll in the park, hung out with some mallards, and collected pretty leaves. novi said she wanted to make herself a scary mask with them. now i realize that i could press the leaves or even wax the leaves, but with toddlers, sometimes it’s all about instant gratification, right?

when we got home, we gathered some materials we had around the house. i probably should have used mod podge or some other glue, but i’ve been on a hot glueing rampage since making pine cone ornaments, so i figured it was strong enough to hold the leaves and dries quickly enough. problem is that it’s NOT kid-friendly, so she couldn’t do the glue part of the project.

we cut a shape to fit her face and eyes. we punched holes in the side of the mask, and threaded ribbon through them while the glue was heating up. novi arranged the leaves on the mask (and is a fan of symmetry, not surprisingly.)

then i hot glued the leaves down quickly while novi practiced writing her alphabet on the scrap paper. the glue did dry quickly, and then… novi bear scares everyone!

after doing this, i found a much more elegant way to make a leaf mask online at one of my most favorite blogs, five orange potatoes.

a few months before our upcoming loooong flight across the country with our toddler, i saw a great idea in cookie magazine, dog-eared it, and executed when the time came to whip out a fun mid-flight snack… a crunchy, tasty version of the candy necklace — a froot loop necklace!

all ya need are dental floss and froot loops (or any cereal with a hole in the middle, but froot loops are nice and colorful. uh, admittedly not the healthiest choice.)

morningtime materials

just string the cereal on the floss and tie it around your little one’s neck. the smaller the kid, the bigger i’d make the loop for ease of use and snacking.

on the second leg of our flight, i brought out the rainbow treat and she crunched away, smiling at the novelty of eating a necklace!

flying high on a rainbow of froot flavors

[one of my fav mom-blogger friends, pink and green mama, also did this project recently in her rainbow camp.]

if you know kids, you know that they are at their best (and often most creative) when they are freely exploring outside in nature. i, however, have to find some sort of diversion when i am outdoors in order to make me forget the oppressive humidity and pesky mosquitos where i currently live. so, i turn to one of my greatest loves: accessorizing! my daughter, who was born to play dress-up, loves to work this into her outdoor play, too.

so we’ve been making adornments from nature. hey, the boho chic look is in – earthy and fabulous! i’ve been making clover necklaces, bracelets, and headbands in the backyard since i was novi’s age, so the other day i asked her to collect all of the white clover flowers she could find and to pull the long stems with them (hey, free weeding!) and bring them to me. i knotted them together to make a headband that can rival any of those in the spring line at free people.

clover headband

we also made a groovy nature bracelet in our backyard recently. i saw this idea on makingfriends.com, and thought it was simple and stylie enough for my little one to enjoy. all you have to do is put 1 inch masking tape around your child’s arm with the sticky side out. then go hunting for tiny leaves, flowers, berries, seeds, feathers, etc. to stick onto the bracelet.

ooh la la!

another cute idea i saw on a great blog called chasing cheerios (that jives with the magnolia trees growing all around us) is to make a crown fit for tiny royals. novi loved to pretend she was the tree princess in her majestic magnolia leaf crown all afternoon long. just collect medium to large leaves. leaves that are more rigid, like magnolias, work especially well. then cut poster board or cardboard to fit the circumference of your child’s head, and staple or tape it together. then staple the leaves to the paper, and hark! all hail the nature queens and kings of the land! (novi’s little monkey friend even became a prince with a golden magnolia crown today on their parade around the neighborhood!)

the prince and queen on a wagon parade!

what are your favorite homemade natural adornments?