Sparky Treats: A Frankenweenie Snack

It's summertime, and that means a laid-back classroom.  My summer session began with an older class of kids, ages 8-12.  One day, after watching "Frankenweenie" we decided to combine crafting with snacking (who wouldn't LOVE that idea?) and made Sparky treats.  

For this super easy edible craft, we used:

Pre-packaged Rice Krispie Treats
Mentos mints
Black Icing Gel

You could really get adventurous with this & utilize other candies for Sparky's nose, etc.  We used what I had on hand, plus what I could grab from the dollar store before heading to work, and the kids seemed happy with it. 

In our treat laboratory, we unwrapped our rice krispie treats, then used our index finger to push down the middle top to create ears for Sparky.  We then smashed down the bottom corners and rounded to make his face shape.  Next, we used the Mentos mints to create the whites of the eyes.  Some of the kids decided an additional mint could make a great nose, too.

Next, we used the black icing gel that comes in a handy dandy tube to draw on Sparky's eye brows, stitches, and color a nose. 

In the end, some of the kids had trouble bringing themselves to take a bite out of ol' Sparky while others couldn't seem to devour their works of art quickly enough!

 

An Unexpected Balloon Adventure

Some days, art finds you.  This little project grew out of a lazy summer day with my boys.  They've all taken a turn at being fascinated with balloons, but perhaps it's taken root a little more firmly, or more accurately, lasted longer with my youngest, Jesse, who was 6 years old at the time.  Finding some stray water balloons, he insisted that I blow them up the old fashioned way.  Soon, markers somehow "appeared" on the scene, the other two boys wandered in, and the creative juices started flowing...

First, we created a bumble bee, making the body of the bee large and yellow, two medium wings of another color (we had green), and the small head turned out to be purple and less black than it looked before we got started.  Once they were blown up, we tied the end pieces together.  Since these were not balloons made for creating balloon animal art, we just played around with some trial and error on getting them to twist together without popping.  Only the ends are flexible enough for this.  A touch of marker created body stripes, and Jesse proclaimed him ready to buzz around my bedroom.

Next came a request for a butterfly!  This one required 5 balloons.  Remember, if you're using basic balloons and not the kind made for this type of art, you can't bend or twist them or they'll pop!  We picked one color for the larger back wings, another for the front wings, and blue for the body and head.  He's drooping a little from the weight of those wings, but the boys didn't mind...

Jesse then pondered over some of the random balloons we had blown up, and suddenly an idea took shape in his mind.  He showed me the pattern, I got busy tying, and a rocket ship was born!  He was, naturally, very proud of it.  I am, naturally, very proud of him!

All of the boys gathered around as we found the perfect  way to bring the rocket to life!  My husband's box fan has a tilt option, allowing it to blow straight up into the air.  They discovered that they could release the rocket into the stream of air and it would fly around to delighted squeals and laughter.  Soon the butterfly and bee were able to secure flights on these updrafts, too. 

All in all, the afternoon was spent gathered together- inspired and silly, crafting and laughing, and memories were made.  It was an unexpected and delightful reminder to keep your eyes open for those spontaneous moments when opportunity sneaks up on you, ready to fill up those promising lazy days...

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream!

While exploring the letter I in my Froggie Friends classroom, we knew we had to celebrate ice cream!  I found this lovely idea on Pinterest, inspired by Teach Preschool, and we, of course, had to make it our own.   :) 

To prepare, I gathered some necessary supplies and some extra fun ones, too.  You'll need:

Paper- Card Stock Weight
Shaving Cream
Elmer's Glue
Different Colors of Paint
Mixing Cups (we used tossable punch cups)
Stir Sticks (popsicle sticks worked very nicely)
Brown Paper Grocery Sack
Scissors
Pencil
Ruler
Sprinkles

I created the cones ahead of time, drawing the cone shapes onto the brown paper sack, cutting them out, then using the ruler and pencil to draw the waffle lines on them.  I glued a cone to each piece of card stock, and lightly drew an ice cream shape on top for the children to use as a "target" once they got their hands dirty.

We decided to work in groups of 3-4 so that I could give the children a little more attention.  Some of my groups were able to work more independently, while others needed a little more help.  It is important to stress to ALL of them that this is not real ice cream, then monitor their acceptance of that truth closely. After distributing the empty punch cups, I allowed each child a chance to try squirting the shaving cream into the cup.  Most of them struggled with this, so I stepped in to help.  I added Elmer's glue, guessing on an appropriate amount.  I read that this is flexible but a 1/2 and 1/2 ratio has been successful.  We just poured it on in and it worked out just fine. 

Each child selected a color to represent a "flavor" of ice cream.  We ended up with an assortment of French Vanilla, Bubble Gum, Grape, Chocolate, Lime Sherbert, Blueberry, & Mint.  We started small, adding in additional color if needed.  We wanted to keep it creamy looking. 

The children were able to mix the elements with the popsicle stick  Once thoroughly mixed, they were able to use their sticks to spoon the"ice cream" onto their papers.

They had different ideas from there about the best way to spread it around.  Some of them loved getting their hands dirty!  This mixture has a unique puffy texture that can be fun to squish between your fingers (if you're into that sort of thing!)

         

 Then, of course, a few of them thought that a combo-method was the way to go!

Any way you spread it, they loved it!  Then, as I begain to set the first sets off to dry, it occured to me that something was missing...  Sprinkles!  We had some on hand, and my Froggie Friends were very excited as they completed their cones!

In our case, we left them overnight to dry.  We found that this was the art project that keeps on giving as they discovered how soft and puffy the ice cream was to the touch after drying.  This was one project they were super-excited to take home!

I is for Insect

I've spent several days trying to decide where to start, and finally decided to just dive right in! 

The Froggie Friends (my class of preschoolers) are learning all about the letter I this week, so naturally we needed to make letter I insects!  Searching Pinterest, I found the basic idea here at The2Balqis and then took off with it..

I cut out the letters ahead of time. I thought orange would be a bright, fun, buggy color.   I used a die cut  machine for mine, though these would be very simple to draw and cut out with scissors.  My die cut didn't have the top and bottom bars for the letter I, so we made those with the scraps and allowed the children to glue them on.  This happy accident allowed them to practice manipulating and building the letter shape.  Bonus!

Once the letters were assembled, I helped them draw the insect body patterns with Elmer's glue.  We made some with lines and others with dots.  If you have more time and courage than we did, let the children draw their own patterns with the glue.  The top bar was kept bare to differentiate it as the insect head.

Next the glue designs were ready to be glitterflied. The kids loved shaking the glitter on. I like to place my art into something  like a shallow box or tub or (in this case) a lid to help catch the excess glitter.  This helps eliminate both extra mess and excess waste.  All of that awesome glitter can be added back into the shaker for the next project!

While allowing these glittery designs to set, I prepared other pieces.  I hot-glued small poms to the ends of  a short pipcleaner bent to form a V-shape.  These made adorable antennae!  Other pipecleaners were cut and bent to create  legs for our little insect.  Each bent pipecleaner is one SET of legs. 

I hot-glued these pipe cleaner legs and antennae to the letter I..Warning:  kids are fascinated with hot glue.  Maybe because we tell them it's for adults only.  Maybe because it comes out of a gun...  Whatever the reason, make sure they are out of the room or that it remains completely out of reach. 

Once the hot-glue has cooled and hardened, the kids can add the finishing touches by adding google eyes to the corners of the head segment, and.... tada!  Letter I Insects!

I confess- I am addicted to my creative outlets. If I'm not working on something, I'm thinking about what I wish I was doing, or clicking my way through Pinterest, happily pinning my life away.  Maybe you can relate, or maybe you are standing on the bank of this vast pool of what could be, just daring to dip your toe in and wondering if you really have what it takes to get crafty.  Trust me, all you need is the willingness to get a little messy, and give it a try!  I am hoping that this blog will provide a fun way to document our projects, offer a little inspiration to those looking for it, and give my fellow craftaholics one more place to indulge. 

I am a preschool teacher & a mom, so I hope to offer a good mix of classroom and family projects.  I will be sharing ideas that I've discovered (with source), and ones I've come up with, but if you see something here that you feel is under-documented, please let me know and I will happily provide additional source information.  Feel free to offer any comments or suggestions for this, but be gentle- this is my first foray into the blogging world!