Magnetic Marble Tubes

From Teach Preschool

• Cut each tube into a variety of lengths
• Paint each tube with tempera paint (optional)
• Cover the tubes with clear packing tape (optional)
• Hot glue two magnets to one side of each tube
• 

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Salty Squiggles

This art technique will produce an interesting texture—along with rainbows of color! Have a child squirt a glue design onto a piece of card stock. Then pour salt onto the glue to completely cover it. Shake off the excess salt; then repeat the pouring and shaking. Next, have the child carefully touch a small paintbrush dipped in watercolor to the salt-glue design. Watch as the color is immediately absorbed! Repeat the painting with other colors as desired. Then let the project dry overnight and shake off any remaining salt. As a variation, have a child run the glue over the traced letters of his name, a shape, or a number.

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Painting with Cars!

M is for Mud painting!

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A Tasty Tree

Seems like a fun and yummy idea in time for the holiday season!

Ingredients:
pointed sugar cone
vanilla frosting tinted green
M&M’s Minis (ornaments)
yellow sugar crystals/sprinkles

Directions:

1. Turn the cone pointed side up.
2. Spread frosting to cover the entire cone.
3. Decorate with M&M’s Minis and sugar crystals (or sprinkles).

Print in color

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How to make salt dough Christmas tree decorations

(By Anna Ranson from Parent Dish)

You will need: 

1 cup plain flour
1 cup salt
(up to) 1 cup of water

What to do:

1. Simply mix together the dry ingredients then pour in the water, bit by bit until it mixes together to form a dough like consistency. If it’s too sticky add some more flour. It should be workable and just dry enough that none should come off on your fingers.

2. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and choose some cookie cutters to cut some shapes from it.

3. Stars, Christmas trees, robins, hearts, bells and angels all look perfect hanging on the tree.

4. Stick a straw near the top of each shape so that a ribbon can later be threaded through the hole.

5. Lay the shapes on a baking sheet and cook at 100 degrees C for 2-3 hours, turning half way through if the shapes are thick.

6. When dry, they can be painted and decorated using ordinary paints or metallic acrylics, which look stunning! Use a little PVA glue when the paint has dried to add glitter, sequins, beads and other embellishments. Thread with raffia or thin ribbon and hang!

 

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Fall Leaf Art: Masking Tape Trees + Leaf Prints

(From The Artful Parent blog)

First, we used colored masking tape to create our trees.

After we each finished our trees, we walked around the yard collecting small leaves. And I got out the stamp pads.

Sage leaves make very satisfactory small leaf prints.

We also glued on some of our little pressed leaves.

Here’s a detail of a finished tree with leaf prints and collaged leaves.

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Coffee Filter Stained Glass Pumpkins

This is from the I Can Teach My Child blog.

Here’s what you’ll need:  coffee filters, markers, scissors, a glue stick, a spray bottle with water, and either a laminator or contact paper.  

 Get your orange markers ready…we used regular markers, fine tip markers, and do a dot markers.

 

Start coloring directly on the coffee filters!  Big Brother chose to use the regular markers and I wanted to do a polka-dotted pumpkin…

 

(You’ll also need to use one coffee filter for green and brown (for the stem and leaves) as well.)

Get your spray bottle ready and gently spray the coffee filters.  Keep in mind that a little water goes a long way!  If you spray it until it’s soaking all the colors will seep out onto the plate in the water instead of absorbing into the coffee filter.

 

Let the coffee filters dry.  Depending on how wet they are, this could take anywhere from 1-6 hours.

Once they’re dry, cut the green section in the shape of the vines and the brown section into the shape of the stems.

 

Use a glue stick to secure them into place.

 

You have two choices for “sealing” the pumpkins.  You can either sandwich the pumpkins between two layers of contact paper (sticky sides together) or you can use a laminator.  I have this laminator and use it all the time.  I buy the generic laminating pouches from Sam’s because they are MUCH cheaper than the Scotch brand!  I opted to use the laminator since the final product looks nicer and tends to stay protected better…plus, I’m planning to keep these for next year too.

Secure on your window with a little clear tape and you’ve got a lovely fall decoration!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rainbow Rice Sensory Play

  

Rainbow rice. Like sand but less messy. Geniusly fun!  From:  http://shareandremember.blogspot.com/2011/06/rainbow-rice-garden-sensory-play.html

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X is for X-ray

X is for X-ray (a great mix of alphabet learning and Halloween inspiration from “I Can Teach My Child” blog): http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2010/10/x-is-for-x-ray/

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Just in time for Halloween: Crazy Glowing Water

Materials Needed For Kids Crazy Glowing Water:

Clear Cups for each child or one large bowl

One black Light

Highlighter pens

Wrench (Optional)

Water

Sharpie marker

We allow the kids to label their cups with their names. You can have them make the solution in one large bowl or individually in each cup (this requires individual pens for each child). A worthy donation if this works out!  You can break open the pens to expose the filter or simply have the children sit the pens in a small cup of water. This is a more kid friendly approach and it gives them a day to watch the pens transform the water.  The children love turning of the lights and having the black light shine on their creation. H-mmmmmm? Perhaps we are off setting the cost of the highlighters with all the electricity we are saving?

Read More: http://intellokids.blogspot.com/2011/03/making-kids-crazy-glowing-water.html

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