Friday, September 30, 2011

Color Explosion!

Materials Needed:
Wide Mouthed Jar (we used a pickle jar)
Oil
water
food coloring
tooth pick or skewer

Directions:
1. Fill the jar with water around 1/2 to 3/4 of the way
2. Pour a thin layer of oil on top about a 1/2 inch thick
3. Take food coloring and squeeze a few little droplets on top of the oil
4. Take your toothpick or skewer and push the food coloring through the oil as soon as it breaks through the oil layer it will explode into the water
5. Make sure you use standard food coloring (it is water soluble) you do not want to use a lipid (fat) based dye (cake dyes) they will dissolve in the oil which defeats the purpose of this fun experiment.



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Secret Message Paintings

Materials needed:
White Paper
white crayons
water colors

Directions:
1. Draw a message or picture with white crayon on your paper
2. Paint the paper with water colors and see the message or picture appear.


Crayon Rubbings

Materials Needed:
Crayons
Paper
material for crayon rubbing i.e. leaves, templates etc.
** make your own template**

Directions:
1. Find material you would like to create the rubbings of it can be a found object like leaves, flowers, bark or something premade like stencils or templates
2. Place the leaf or template under the paper and take the crayon and rub across until the rubbing shows through
3. I have found that paper like construction paper or cardstock works better than thin paper like office paper.





**Make your Own Template**
Use a glue gun to create an image or pattern on cardboard or cardstock
you can then place a paper on top and use it as a crayon rubbing


You can make any image you want to go with any theme you like

Even Names or alphabet letters

Layering works great use one board and then use another with another color.

Super Hero Day

The Kids made Super Hero capes! We set out a blue tarp and made clouds so they could fly through the sky.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Crayon Melt...Take Two

So here are some other ideas for Crayon Melt art

Melted Crayon on Foil

Materials Needed:
Electric griddle or hot plate
Crayons (peeled)
Aluminum Foil
Sponge
wood block (optional)

Directions:
1. Heat Griddle to 380 degrees until hot. Then turn down to 275 degrees to keep warm
2. Have your crayons peeled and ready to use
3. Have foil pre-cut and ready
4. Place the foil on the griddle and the children draw freely onto the foil. If the crayon does not melt easily, turn the griddle up a bit.
5. Provide a thick sponge so the the child can hold down the foil
6. You can have the child write their name on the foil or you can do it for them.

Variations:
We did everything above but then took a piece of construction paper and pressed it onto the paper with a wood block pressing firmly and rubbing over the whole picture and then we lifted the construction paper to reveal our picture transfer.

Melted Crayon Painting
Materials Needed:
Electric griddle or hot plate
Muffin Tin
Crayons (peeled)
Paper
Q-tips

Directions:
1. Place muffin tins onto the electric griddle or hot plate. Put crayons into the muffin tim (one color in each cup) let them melt. After they have melted, keep the temperature low but high enough so that the crayons will not solidify.
2. Use Q-tips as a paint brush. (toss when there is to much build up and start with a new one)
3. Be creative and paint freely on your paper with the Q-tips
4. You may need to add more crayon once you have used colors

Variations: Add white to some tins to lighten colors or add other colors to an existing color to change colors slightly.


Shaved Melted Crayon Art

Materials Needed:
Electric griddle or hot plate
Waxed Paper, Coffee Filter, construction paper
Crayons (peeled)
Pencil Sharpener
Cheese grater
Aluminum Foil
Paper Towel
Wood Block

Directions:
1. Heat Griddle to 380 degrees until hot. Then turn down to 275 degrees to keep warm cover with aluminum foil
2. Have your crayons peeled and ready to use
3. Have Wax Paper pre-cut and ready
4. Grate the desired amount of crayons place them on waxed paper
5. Place wax paper on griddle or hot plate that is ALREADY COVERED with aluminum foil
6. Place paper towel on top of wax paper and press with wood block



Variation:
Instead of using a hot plate on this one you can use an iron on low. Place on a heat safe space or put a towel underneath. Have iron set to low and press another piece of waxed paper onto your design (paper with crayon shavings on it)(like a sandwich wax paper, shaved crayons, wax paper). Go over the paper slowly. Instead of rubbing go straight down and then lift to go to another area.

Helpful Hints:
Use colors that blend well together
Use paper, coffee filter, wax paper as a base
Use glitter crayons or even sprinkle glitter onto the crayons

Friday, September 16, 2011

Museum- Imaginary Play

• Some bones, fossils etc
• Plastic bugs
• Sea shells
• Plastic Dinosaurs
• Magnifying glasses
• Kaleidoscopes

You will need to Create, Collect, or get donations for the following:

• We need some chicken bones preferably leg bones use hydrogen peroxide to bleach the bones.

• Lizard if anyone can catch a lizard I have a tank and everything we will need to keep it happy for a month. Go to a Pet store ask for a donation most large Pet stores like Petco and Petsmart have adoption animals especially reptiles so go and ask.

• Dinosaur Eggs and Geodes go here for instructions on how to make Dinosaur Eggs and Geodes


• Instead of doing plastic bins I thought we should make it more like a real museum with displays so make display trays [picture frame take out glass use back board cover in felt and put back in frame] for all the "exhibits" they are really cute and the kids can take the trays out play with them and easily put them back.

• Under the stairs we will have a planetarium use fabric to darken the area we need to figure out how we are going to hang it use a planet light that will cast stars and other fabric that will be in this area as well. Since the light thing will be casting the light I was thinking it would be fun if we also hung CD's from the ceiling area under the stairs the light will cast a rainbow effect which could be pretty cool.

• Fabric that will cover all the turned over furniture I am trying to think of more display area space because we may need it. So if you have any ideas that would be great.

You can see above how I covered the table with fabric so it looks like a nice display not an overturned table

• I have donated a tiered tower which we are now calling the Sensory Tower.

We will have Science Bottles

Feelie Gloves
Sound Jars
Smell Jars


Sensory Baggies

Rainbow Stew Baggies
and anything else super sensory oriented.

Click on any of the Sensory item pictures above or on their link titles for detailed instructions on how to make them and find some great ideas.

• For the OBJECTS for display trays that we made I was hoping to go for a nature theme. Use fossils, shells, arrowheads, rocks etc add any ideas and items you might have.

• EVERYONE BRING CULTURAL ARTIFACTS YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE KIDS TOUCHING AND PLAYING WITH

• We will have baskets on the bottom row which will have rocks, drift wood, dried flowers, silk flowers, and some different textured materials and some pinecones. GET DONATIONS FROM CRAFT STORES AND WALMART AND COLLECT WHAT YOU CAN

Silk flowers

Drift Wood

Pine Cones
• Use a framed mirror that lays flat and some Crystals and glass stones to put on it I would like to have flashlights near this so the kids can look through the crystals with some flashlights. I know we can find some at the 99 cent store but if you have any cheapy small flashlights [EVERYONE TRY AND BRING ONE] that would be great I was thinking if we could have four that would be more than enough.


• Try to catch a caterpillar and other real bugs maybe a plant (African violet) in a two liter bottle so you can see the roots growing you can throw some worms in there to. Set up life cycle.

• I have setup for tadpole ---FIND TADPOLE [Volunteer]

• I also thought it would be fun if was had a weekly science experiment going on on top of the shelves I was thinking we could do colored flowers. By taking 3 or 4 white carnations and putting them in water with food coloring they will change color we could even split the stem of one and stick it in two different colors to see how the flower will change. I was also thinking of making a dinosaur egg another week by sticking a hardboiled egg in vinegar (it turns all leathery). Those we can change out on Mondays. [ Monday people- volunteers]

• We also wanted to do a sensory box. Kind of like the Ned's Head game. Where we will have objects in a box the kids can stick their hands in and try and guess what the object is. CHECK SCHOOL FOR OBJECTS WE CAN USE IN SENSORY BOX. Sensory box empty laundry detergent (powder) sock contact paper. [ any volunteers]
You can see the Sensory box in the corner of this picture we covered a laundry detergent box with contact paper and decorated it. We also gathered items from around the room and put them in a basket next to it so the kids could easily play with it
• I donated a Pheasant (it was real once) put it on display [EVERYONE PLEASE BRING THINGS THAT YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH THE KIDS PLAYING WITH]


• Sensory tub filled with bones paint brushes and sand

• magnifying glass on each board

• Journal area- basket of paper and pencils/ crayons children can record their findings

* Sorting game bugs or buttons


• LOOK THROUGH CABINETS GET PICTURES OF EVERYTHING FOR LABELING

• Someone needs to take pics of objects on trays- print- and use sentence strips- someone with nice writing

• Small binoculars upstairs on loft attached with yarn or string. (99 cent store?)[ EVERYONE BRING A PAIR IF POSSIBLE]


• Plastic insects set up a terrarium or two for play exploration



Please “REPLY TO ALL” and keep me in the loop with all emails so I can stay up to date with your progress and ideas.


Include the Base Donations Letter along with the specific Donations Letter for the unit you are working on