Rainbow Jars and art project

 

I participate in a "mommy n' me" type preschool where I teach two days a week once a month (does that make sense?) This morning I was teaching the kids about water and rainbows and the amazing things that water can do.  These are the arts and crafts projects we made to go along with the lesson. 

I used six glass bowls and poured 1/2 t. vinegar into each one. Then I added 4-5 drops of food coloring to each one along with 1/2 c. rice and stirred it well.  After each bowl was mixed, I separated it into two sets of muffin tins )I didn't want it too deep so that the bottom wouldn't dry/cook. Then I baked the rice at 200 degrees F. for 45 minutes.

I found the basis for the idea HERE but didn't want to have the kids just glue the rice to the paper, so- I pulled out yet another bunch of old baby food jars.  We layered the rice in the jars and hot glued the lids shut. The kids spooned the rice in themselves and were so proud!  I think they turned out kinda cool!  

We also taped the crayons together to create a rainbow that they could easily draw on a large piece of butcher paper and then they glued cotton balls to the base of each side of the rainbow.

Spooky Halloween Wreath

Last year I saw an all black Halloween wreath on a blog somewhere and immediately loved the idea.  So, this year --when I finally got around to making it!-- I picked up all the supplies I needed at Dollar Tree (except the spray paint) and came up with this!

Supplies needed:

The spiders just stuck to the spider webbing in the back and didn’t even need to be glued.

I bought the darkest colored berry branches I could find- which were these deep red colored ones.  When I sprayed them with black spray paint, though, the paint made them shrivel up.  At first I was frustrated, but after looking at it a little longer, on second glance, I decided that it just added to the creepy-factor.

 

I put the whole thing together using primarily, hot glue.  The frame needed some thin wire to secure it to the wreath.  The raven came with wire attached to the bottom of the feet so that made it easy to secure as well. 

 I had an old plastic silver mirror (not pictured) I had picked up at Dollar Tree for a different project, but when I was putting together this wreath, I decided that it would be perfect to balance out the center of the wreath.  I sprayed it black, of course, and purposefully splattered some paint in the middle of the mirror to give it that old look.  {ooh! And I almost forgot- I had some leftover black turkey feathers from a previous project that helped fill in the edges of the wreath as well.  I attached them with some hot glue, too.}

Happy Halloween!



Kid Friendly Meals

In an effort to get the kids a little more excited about dinner and to change things up a bit around here, we  had some little 'critters' for dinner.

My daughter, Natalie, received a kids' cook book as a birthday present from her grandparents.  We made a list last week of a few meals she wanted to try and used two of her recipes tonight. 

The first 'critter' was just made using a simple buttermilk pancake batter- and shaped into faces in the pan.  Then we used nutella (to make the faces stick) and frozen berries for the eyes, nose, and mouth.  

To make the second little critters (the hash brown faces), we used almost a full bag of frozen, shredded potatoes-slightly thawed, and mixed them with 2 eggs, 3/4 stick of butter, and some salt.  Wearing gloves, we rolled the mixture into balls, flattened onto greased baking sheets, and baked at 425 F until golden on the underside.  Then we flipped them over and baked until both sides were golden brown.  The faces were made with red peppers, radishes, and ketchup.

Our two boys were THRILLED to eat their dinner tonight and want Natalie to cook a lot more often.  I am much more encouraged to let them help a lot more in the kitchen-- especially after Natalie kept telling me that this was one of the best days of her entire life! It was truly quality one-on-one time in the kitchen.