Chicka boom hat

So easy! Just cut big leaves out of construction paper have a large construction paper band to wrap around head and add alphabet stickers. If you don't have stickers just write the letters on it.

Cat door hanger

Paper plate door hanging cat craft was an easy project for a large group of preschoolers! You need two paper plates and construction paper or cardstock. I used cardstock. The picture is pretty self explanatory but never hesitate to ask me questions for any of my post.

Jellyfish

Jellyfishing! All you need is a small paper bowl, yarn , something to color with,  and I added translucent wrapping also.

Big robot

 Easy robot made of scrap construction paper.

Shark hat

 Shark hat for shark week! Easy sneezy! Just cut out a rounded triangle for the shark face. Draw the mouth with lots of sharp teeth and color. Cut out and tape big eyes onto the back of shark face but sticking out some. Add a wrap around band and fit to each child's head.

Busted eyeshadow turned into nail polish.

So I had couple of busted up containers of eyeshadow, one a pretty blue and the other a cream color. You're probably thinking, who would want busted up eyeshadow, aren't ya? Well as soon as I saw them I knew what to do. Make fingernail polish out if it. 

That's right, you read correctly, fingernail polish. This is how I did it.

• First I bought two the cheapest clear polishes I could find.
• Next I dumped the busted eyeshadow onto a paper and chopped it into a fine powder with a knife. (Honestly, I felt a bit shady like I was a drug dealer.)
• Then I poured the eyeshadow powder in the clear polish and shook it up good. 
• You have to shake the polish good every time you use it or it may be gritty but it works like a charm.

If you have two of the same eyeshadows may I suggest turning one into nail polish the your nails and eyes will match perfectly!

Dr kit

Have the kids make their own Dr's kit. Simple to do!

•  Use construction paper or if you want to get fancy like I did here, use a large sheet of craft foam.
•  Double it over and punch holes with a hole puncher up the sides. 
• Thread yarn through holes and tie off.
• Run a pipe cleaner through both top holes and twist together making a handle.
• Inside you can put anything you can think of that a dr may have. We used a latex glove, large Popsicle stick for a tongue depressor, Q-tips, band-aides of various sizes, stickers, cotton balls, a sucker, tattoos, and a red stripped straw we called our thermometer.
• You can also have the kids decorate a giant band-aide. 

OH! I almost forgot! A good, messy but fun, activity you can do is have a helper rub lotion on their hands but not rub it all the way in and dip their hand in green glitter. Then go around touching things like the light switch, wall, table and chairs, even shake a few brave kids hands. Every where they touch will leave glitter showing how germs are spread. We also always show how to have good manners when we sneeze by having the kids practice sneezing into their elbows. Also, let the kids practice blowing their nose on a tissue and then taking the tissue to the trash and explain how it is important that they throw away their own tissues instead of giving it to their grown up.

Being the naughty ladies we are at GCL, we also have a sneezing puppet. It is an old fireman puppet and we have cut a hole in his mouth. We stick a small spray bottle filled with water in with our hand and have him sneeze on the kids. The kids love this and it is a great way to illustrate how germs spread because the kids can see the mist as it floats away.   

Read Felicity Floo visits the Zoo by E.S. Redmond, and Germs are not for sharing by Elizabeth Verdick (I prefer the board book version). I know there are many other good germ ones but I can't think of them right now and the library's website is down right now :(

Stay Well!

lil_jill

Elephant n piggie

Read your favorite Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems then have the kids make Elephant and Pigge mask or puppets. Here we have a string on them so you can just wear them around your neck while acting out the stories. Tiffany and Katie had so much fun dancing like Elephant and Piggie wearing these.

If you read, and you should, Should I Share My Ice Cream? You should most definitely have an ice cream snack afterwards!

Over-N-out

lil_jill

Humpty dumpty

 Easy sneezy Humpty Dumpty.

• Just cut out a large egg shape on paper for the body. I used butcher paper so it could be bigger than construction paper.
• Cut out two long strips for legs and two shorter strips for arms. 
• According style fold both arms and legs and attach to egg body.
• Cut out two mitten shapes and attach to end of arms for hands.
• Cut out two ovals and attach as feet.
• Add a hat or bow or whatever else you can think of.
• Draw a face and maybe even some cracks.
• Add wiggle eyes for fun!

As always, thanks for looking!

lil_jill

Melted Crayon as Pointillism Art

Melted crayon Pointillism art. I took Georges Pierre Seurat's pointillism style to a Van Gogh's picture.
I first free hand drew a sketch of Van Gogh's "Bulb Fields" aka "Flowers In Holland" on a blank canvas and labeled what color each section needed to be. Next I pulled the crayon colors I would need and peeled the paper off them. (NOTE: The color of the crayon you use IS what color you will get. I know it sounds weird to say that but I was thinking "hey maybe it'll dry a lighter shade than it looks :-/ yeah, it don't haha.)
Then I lit my tea light candle and began at the left hand side of my picture.

• Hold the pointed end of the crayon with your fingers and touch the flat bottom of the crayon to the flame. Immediately dot the crayon wax on your canvas, it dries fast!
• Repeat until you have that color section covered in crayon wax dots.
•  Move on to the next section and repeat until you have your masterpiece completed!

(NOTE: The flame may blacken the crayon some and this WILL show on your artwork. This is especially bothersome when using white. The only way I found to not have black mixed in with the color you are using is to use a lighter or aim and flame with a continuous flame and hold the crayon directly above where you want it to drip onto the canvas. This, however, is tiring on your fingers and uses a lot of the fluid in your lighter/aim and flame.)

I did figure out if you want a white-ish color, if your tea candle is white, you can just dip your crayon in the candles melted wax and dot on your picture. This came in very handy when I ran out of white crayons and when I wanted to 'lighten' the pink, blue or whatever color. I just added a few white or wax dots to it and there you have it.

I will warn you, it takes a L-O-N-G time to do a big picture. I did this over the course of a couple of days. When I do this with your teens at the library they will be half this size because I will only have two hours to do it in. Dason's did not take as long since he didn't do every part of the canvas like I did.

For Dason's artwork I drew him a simple picture with pencil on his canvas. Then I gave him the crayons and lit a candle for him and let him at it. He got tired after a little while and colored part of the house and also had Travis help with the tree a little bit but didn't he do a great job? I love the color of the house even though it makes it look like the house is on fire.

I hope you enjoy doing this style of art for it is so much fun! Thanks for stopping by!

lil_jill