Kids – Start Your Engines!

Painting with Cars

The kids had the day off school today! I love no school days, the perfect time to project with the kids. We had a bunch of cardboard left over from another project, so we started constructing a race track. After a few trial runs, the kids decided on what angle the cardboard should be at. I dropped the green flag and off the kids went! (OK there really was no green flag, but that would have been fun!)

I poured paint onto a flat tray so the kids could drive their cars through it covering the wheels in paint. I think that it might be better to use cars with larger wheels next time. We had a hard time getting the paint to keep tracking down the whole paper. We ended up flipping the paper around half way through. I have a large roll of newsprint that we use all the time. My mom buys it from a newspaper printing company. It is inexpensive and wonderful.

The kids loved the process. Art should be fun, and I love that not all painting has to happen at the table. The kids thought the best part was being able to play and paint at the same time. Love it!

When we were finished the cars went through a soapy car wash. Another fun step to the process. Kids love to make a mess, but cleaning can be just as much fun. A sink of soapy water can provide just as much entertainment.

This art work is a bit big to hang on the wall for to long, but how cute would it be as wrapping paper!

For more simple painting activities for kids, check out our:

Credit Card Painting

Compass Painting

Pour Painting with Watercolors

Painting on Wet Glue

Top 10 Ways to Learn with Paint

Bringing the Snow Inside.

Winter Sensory Bin ~ Indoor Snow Play

My kids LOVE to play in the snow. Although this time we added a twist, no bundling up! Often as I am setting up fun projects for the girls, I keep them guessing as to what we are going to do. I love their anticipation as I start pulling out spoons, eye droppers, muffin tins, measuring cups, and food coloring. The looks on their faces were so sweet when I brought in the tubs of fresh snow. It did not take long for them to dive in to the buckets.

Snow painting and color mixing

I filled only 6 on the muffin tins with colored water, and left 6 empty so the girls could mix their own colors. This is one of their favorite activities. They will spend hours mixing and creating new colors. Eye droppers work great for transferring color and working on fine motor skills.

They used their tea pots from our play kitchen to add water for the new colors. Eye droppers and syringes were used to move the color from the muffin tins to anywhere that needed brightening. I wish I would have started saving the eye droppers from infant medicine sooner, they come in handy for lots of fun projects.

They started out just mixing colors and adding them to the snow, but soon they were digging in the snow and creating snowmen. Their fingers did get a bit chilly, but they didn’t seem to mind.

I was curious how long the snow would last inside before it melted. We were pleasantly surprised that the girls were busy playing for a couple of hours and the snow had only shrunk in size. It was a little more of a slush consistency than the fluffy snow we first brought in, but it did not seem to deter the kids. This is a perfect project for those days that are either to cold to play outside.

Looking for more Snow Themed Activities? Check out our

How to Make Snow Ice Cream

Melting Art

Creating Colorful Icicles

Indoor Snow Painting

Polly Pocket Winter Sensory Bin

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to share how special the people around you are. Our kids really have got into it this year. Here are a few of the things that our family has done to make the day special.

I have 2 giant heart shaped cookie sheets. My kiddos love to help in the kitchen. This week we made 7 of these giant cookies to share with friends. The recipe is super simple, and without realizing it the kids are working on math facts while creating. Love it!

Last year I made the girls these adorable twirly skirts from the Polka Dot Chair (I love it when things can last a couple of seasons!). You need to check out her tutorial list, she is very talented! These skirts are so adorable, easy to sew and twirl beautifully. I have used a few of her patterns and they all turn out great.

The girls painted this adorable heart garland. It was so simple to make. I cut the hearts out in various sizes from paper grocery bags. I love it when I can recycle materials, and make something adorable. The kids painted the hearts with tempera paints, and after they dried I sewed them together. I actually ended up ironing on the unpainted side of the hearts to keep them from curling at the edges. This is one of my favorite garlands that we have created so far.

The kids school encourages the students to make their classmates homemade valentines. Kaleb’s robot valentines were so easy to make. My wonderful husband scanned Kaleb’s robot drawing, shrunk it to size, then printed multiple copies. This was a great way to make numerous Valentines super quick. Both Bree and Annika painted theirs using contact paper heart stencils. A little more time consuming, but they loved the process.

Welcome to Housing a Forest!

I am really excited to begin this new adventure with you. I love reading creative blogs especially ones that include tutorials. I am drawn to kid art. Extra long noses on snowmen, splashes of color and the sweet drawings that little fingers make. I love kids and encouraging them to be creative. I also get a thrill from being creative myself.

I would love to say that my house is always put together and meals were always on time, however that is not always a reality. Our home is a place where the dining room table is covered in the remnants of our last art project, the kitchen counter has paint brushes drying and there is a piece of furniture sitting in the corner waiting to be painted. I am excited to share what is being created in our home. Feel free to ask questions if something is not clear and leave comments.

Monthly Archives: February 2011