Melting Ice on Tissue Paper

Materials

Water Color Paper

Bleeding Tissue

Ice Cubes

Cup of Water

Paint Brush

Cookie Sheet

Choose a few sheets of bleeding tissue paper.  I am working with a cool theme, so I picked blues, greens and off white.  Your little one can help rip the tissue into pieces.  Any shape or size will work.  For some kiddos this might be enough fun for one sitting.  If so, you can store the ripped pieces for later.  If not, you can go right to the main event!

Place a piece of watercolor paper on a rimmed cookie sheet.  Set out a bowl of ice cubes, a bowl of warm water and a paintbrush.  Encourage your little one to place pieces of tissue on the watercolor paper.  Layered, separate, smooth, crumpled, it’s all good! 

Now see what your little decides to do!  My guy positioned the ice cubes, then started brushing them with the warm water.  The water helps them melt a bit faster, adds an interesting tactile temperature shift and creates puddles of color quicker than if only ice cubes are used.

Once he had his fill of brushing and melting, he picked off the pieces of soggy tissue.  This left a bit of color on his hands that washed off by evening.  Waiting till the tissue is dry before removing it will minimize the color on hands, though this project can get a little messy no matter what! 

Chalk and Oil Pastel Drawing

Materials

White Chalk

White Oil Pastel

Dark paper (blue or black)

Snowy landscapes inspired this simple exploration of texture and contrast.  Place a white piece of chalk, a white oil pastel and a few pieces of dark construction paper out.   Watch your little one draw a wintry mix, enjoying the combination or powdery chalk lines and smooth oil pastel smudges.

Gluing Buttons

Materials
Buttons

Glue

Paper

Set out glue, buttons and paper. I opted to put out glue sticks for ease of application and immediate tackiness.   I had a bunch of white buttons (think snowflakes) to use, but any flat buttons would work just fine.   

You may want to work alongside your kiddo, sweeping glue onto your page, setting buttons down, moving them around, experiencing the thick gooey texture of the glue and the slight pull of the buttons as you reposition them on your page.  

New Year, New Plan!

I have been trying to do a creative experience everyday with my kids for a while now.  Simple, open ended explorations that are process focused.  Our house if full of wild action, so having a sensory activity ready to go can shift the mood, calm the kiddos and give me a moment to breath.

This year I am trying to brainstorm activities around themes.  The themes aren’t lessons or things I am hoping the kiddos will take from the projects.  This month we are starting with snow and ice, but I am not suggesting to them that we are making or doing something about snow and ice particularly.  The themes are 100% for me.  They challenge me to think out of the box, inspiring me to set out different material and try out new processes with them.

So here we go!  Two weeks of creating inspired by snow and ice  (despite having no sign of snow this winter in NYC)!

Around the World in 12 Dishes: Sweden

When I came across the Around the World in 12 Dishes project and knew it was for us!  Each month the hosts are picking a country to explore with the little ones through food and crafts.  Fun fun!  This month the spotlight is on Sweden.  We were just hosting family from Sweden, so this should be extra enjoyable for my guy! 

We had a hard time narrowing down our food options, but we ended up going with Swedish rye cookies.  Rye cookies are often made around Christmas in Sweden.  They can be hung on the Christmas tree or served as a treat.  

We followed an updated recipe at 101 Cookbooks that substitutes whole-wheat pastry flour for white and included cream cheese for a little extra something.  The dough is nice and heavy, perfect for a 2 year old wielding a cookie cutter.  Taste wise I like a more decadent cookie, but they were a huge hit with my little one.  They aren’t too sweet and would make a good base for a snack bar. 

For our art project we did Swedish flag inspired sponge painting.  I cut two sponges, one blue and one yellow, to make the respective shapes of the flag.  We got out the yellow and blue paint and headed to the art table.  

 I had thought we would end up with lots deconstructed flags, but instead it turned into a game—I would make a flag and he wanted me to say “I ONLY want a yellow and blue flag on my page, NO GREEN ALLOWED.” Then he would quickly squish and squiggle his hands through the flag mixing the colors to make green, laughing hysterically the whole time.  We did this about 30 times!

We are looking forward to having our passports stamped again next month!

First Art

Favorite quote from MaryAnn F. Kohl's, First Art: Art Experience for Toddlers and Twos: "Whatever the the resulting artwork--whether it is a bright, sticky glob or a gallery-worthy masterpiece--to a toddler or two-year-old, it is only the result of 'doing art', not the reason for doing art."  

Painting Egg Carton Ice Cubes

Every other month Rachelle at Tinkerlab challenges her readers to incorporate a new item into their art making. We can always use a little inspiration, so I am jumping onboard!  This month's challenge: the egg carton.

I never know what is going to strike my little guy at a given moment, but an ice/paint combo seemed like a great place to start.    We pretty regularly paint with ice cubes, but I thought it might be a fun to paint on ice cubes.   Our egg cartons are plastic so I filled one with water and stuck it in the freezer.  I taped a piece of white fabric down to the table, thinking he might like seeing the water patterns form as the ice cubes melted.  And, I put out a plate of paints.  

He came to the table and we popped out some of the ice cubes.  He spent a long time painting the cubes on the table and those still in the carton (and, of course, painting himself!). We noted the thinner coats of paint freezing on the ice and then turning into swirly puddles as the cubes melted. There was a lot of moving the cubes around and pretending they were ice rinks.  There was stacking and dropping.  He ended by putting all the cubes back in the carton.  He handed them to me saying they were cupcakes for Mother Elephant to take to a party.   A fantastic first challenge!  Thanks for a great art time, Tinkerlab!

Easter

We had a festive and delicious Easter!  The bunny always brings a new bolga basket with treats inside for the little ones.  The baskets have made great toy storage.  This year our guy got a magnifying glass, a wooden kazoo, a set of tropical colored markers, a few chocolate treats and And Then It's Spring by Julie Fogliano.  In the Little Miss’ basket was an extra large wooden egg, two floating fish for the bath and Plip-Plop Pond by Kaaren Pixton. Everyone was pleased!

We hosted a few friends for brunch.  We served a goat cheese quiche with a hash-brown crust (thank you Martha Stewart!), roasted asparagus, arugula salad and crusty bread.    This year’s lamb cake was the tastiest yet.  It was a devil’s food cake covered in a thin coat of chocolate frosting, topped with butter cream.  Yum.

Easter Treats

Cookies for Easter!

Bunny Action Poem

Once there was a bunny

 (make fist with bunny with ears)

And a green, green cabbage head.
(make fist with other hand)

"I think I'll have some breakfast," the little bunny said. 
 
(Move bunny toward cabbage)

 
So he nibbled and he nibbled
 (wiggle bunny ears)

Then he turned around to say, 

(turn bunny forward) 

 " I am so full of cabbage now, I'll be hopping on my way!" 

 
(Make hopping movements with bunny)