Inspiring Intelligence
Posts tagged crafts
Fun with Glue
Oct 4th
If you were able to catch any of the great sales on glue, we recently did a glue themed art unit with some fun glue crafts. (If you missed the sales, you can make your own glue by mixing flour and water. Yep, that is it. Just add water to flour until you have a smooth paste.)
I am going to share some of the projects we did with glue, but I would like to encourage you to be creative and not feel like you must adhere to what we did.
that being said, some of the projects we did included:
Glue Animals
Materials
- Glue
- Wax Paper
- Eye balls or other decorations
Directions
- Pour out glue to make shapes on wax paper
- Decorate animal/shapes.
- Once glue is dry, peel off (May take all day).
Instead of Glitter…
Explore different textures when gluing
Materials
- Glue
- Paper
- Froot Loops
- For other projects, they can explore with beans, rice, cereal, dry pasta noodles, etc.
Directions
- Optional: If using Froot Loops, pour into a bag and bang/smash cereal until it resembles glitter. (A favorite activity of ours!)
- Optional: If using rice, it can be colored by adding alcohol and food coloring. Mix and spread to dry.)
- Make designs with the glue
- Sprinkle materials (smashed or whole cereal, beans, rice, etc.) all over paper
- Shake off excess and let dry.
3D Art
Great way to incorporate dimension into art.
Materials
- Paper
- Paper towels or other colored paper (such as tissue paper)
- Glue
Directions
- Twist paper towels (this works well if you color with markers on the paper towels, then let the colors bleed by painting with water on top of the markers for a tie dye effect.) Then twist paper towels and manipulate into shapes
- Shred tissue paper into scraps and crumble up
- Glue it to the paper to create shapes
Salty Watercolors
Materials
- Glue
- Paper
- Salt
- Paint and paintbrushes
Directions
- Make designs with glue
- Sprinkle page with salt and shake off excess
- Paint and watch the colors spread!
Have fun with glue.
We would love to hear where your projects lead you….
And, what other projects do you use with glue?
Exploration Activities (ages 12 months and up)
Aug 24th
The following are great exploration activities that will be great opportunities for their development and will be fun!
These are great things to do with children beginning at 12 months, although one or two will require a little more supervision than others. (Bird seed is one that can be replaced with other things for the children who like to stick things in their mouth.) Most things are safe to eat and while there may be some messes, there will also be a lot of learning!
Edible Play-doh
Materials
8 oz cream cheese
½ c. dry milk
1 T. honey
Instructions
Mix and play
Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated
Froot Loop Sand
Materials
Ziploc bag
Froot loops (or cheerios or crackers)
Tools to smash/bang/roll (such as rolling pin, bottles, toy hammer, etc)
Optional: glue and paper
Instructions
Place froot loops in Ziploc bag and allow children to smash/roll/bang until crushed
Allow them to play with sand as you see fit.
Optional: Can be used much like glitter if you glue shapes on paper and allow them to pour it on the paper. Then shake the excess off to see how it sticks to the paper.
Paint with Ice
Materials
Ice cube tray
Water
Food Coloring
Paper
Instructions
Mix food coloring in water and place in ice cube trays. After frozen, allow the children to use the ice cubes to paint on paper. It will be cold, but the cold and melting should also be part of the exploration and are a great opportunity for learning.
Lava Bottles
Materials
Equal parts water
To equal parts oil (baby oil, etc.)
Food coloring
Bottle (water/soda/etc.)
Instructions
Pour water into bottle and mix with food coloring. Then add oil and seal the bottle.
Allow the children to shake and explore the “lava”
Bird Feeder
Materials
Toilet paper roll
Peanut Butter
Bird Seed
Hole Punch
String
Instructions
Punch holes in toilet paper roll. Spread peanut butter on roll. Pour bird seed in a tray and let the children roll the peanut butter in the seeds. Tie the strings through the hole and place outside. Watch the birds eat the seeds.
Straw Painting
Materials
Straw (Turkey baster or bulb syringe also works)
Thin paint
Thick paper
Instructions
Pour paint onto paper. Allow the children to blow (or practice blowing) into the straw to spread the paint around on the page.
Paint with Water
Materials
Marker
Paper Towel
Paint Brush
Water
Instructions
Draw shapes on paper towels with markers. Let the children “paint” the water on the paper towels to watch the colors bleed around the paper towel.
Sponge Printing
Materials
Sponges
Chalk
Water
Paper
Instructions
Soak sponges in water (can be cut into shapes). Squeeze out excess water and color the wet sponge with chalk. Allow the children to press the chalk sponge onto paper to make a print.
