Monthly Archives: July 2011

Mirror Symmetry Drawing

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My kiddos love finding new ways to draw, especially when it involves a “trick.”  While we were in the car on our road trip, I remembered playing with mirrors in elementary math class.  It is a simple trick, but it is a great way to teach your kiddos about symmetry.  All you need is a small mirror, paper and a marker.  Perfect for playing in the tight quarters of your car.

Draw a line down the center of the paper, this will become your line of symmetry.  Draw a simple image on one half of the paper.  If your kiddo is right handed draw the image on the left hand side of the line.  If they are left handed, draw on the right hand side of the line.

Have your kiddo complete the symmetrical drawing.  Place the mirror on the line with the mirror side facing the image.  This is where the “trick” happens.  Look down the mirror and the image will magically appear on the clean side of the paper.  Simply trace the reflection onto the paper.  The kiddos LOVED this trick.

I love the results, so simple and fun.  We had a pile of these fun pictures before the kiddos tired and moved onto something new.

There are also a number of websites that offer free worksheets to teach symmetry.  These are ready made and all set for your kiddo to draw the mirror image.

If you are looking for more road trip ideas, follow the link to a fun list of things we like to do.

I will be linking to these parties.

Slinky Eyes

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I’m not sure what your car looks like on a road trip, but I’m sure that you are beginning to guess that we do a lot of creating while we are traveling.  20 hours in the car provides lots of opportunity to unleash your creative side.  This is what can be done with a couple of slinkies, paper and lots of tape.  I love it!

If you are looking for more road trip ideas, follow the link to a fun list of things we like to do.

Recycled Animal Houses

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When packing for a long trip, the kiddos always bring at least one special stuffed animal with them.  As you know, the kiddos love projects.  So why not make a recycled animal house for their stuffed animals to sleep in while in the car.

To make your own recycled animal house, you will need:

  • A clean yogurt container with a lid
  • String – any kind should work
  • Lots of colorful tape – we used colorful electrical tape from the dollar store.

The kiddos used colorful tape to decorate the outside of the yogurt container.  Tape is a great option for decorating in the car since it is mess free plus kids love it.

I used an exacto knife to cut a window into the lid of the container.  Then I punched a few holes in the container to tie the string to hang the house from.

These little cuties swung from the hooks, above each kid.  The kiddos loved that their special recycled animal houses.  Each of the stuffed animals had a colorful home to sleep in, which made the kids happy.  I loved that the kiddos always knew where their stuffed animals were.  No more searching for lost animals while we were driving!

They also made little blankets, pillows and clothing for their animals from felt.  Felt is a great material for kids to work with.  It is easy to cut, it does not fray and it comes in a variety of wonderful colors.  So fun!

If you are looking for more road trip ideas, follow the link to a fun list of things we like to do.

Travel Timeline

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We are loving summer and loading the car for our next family adventure.  Since we go on long trips with the kids often, I have learned that an organized car and a few extra tricks are key to the trip going smooth.  Here is one of my favorite tricks for helping my kids visualize our road trip. All it is, is a simple Travel Timeline.  Kids love to be a part of whats going on and this simple visualization tool gives them just that.  A simple way to make a connection to how much further before we reach the next landmark.  Visual references or maps help kids understand where they are and keeps the “how much further” question to a minimal.  That a win in my book!

Travel Timeline All you will need to pack in the car to make your own time line need is a little string, a hole punch, paper squares, makers and a few paper clips.  Nothing crazy, and basically mess free.

Before we leave on our trip, I have Chuck install the string clothes line.  Having it ready to go makes the craft even that much easier.  Make sure to hang the clothes line in an area that is out of the way.  We strung ours between the hooks on the ceiling, which works great for us since the kids only use one of the vans sliding doors on trips.

You could make all the visuals at home, but I like to have the kids make them as we are driving.  That way it helps pass some more time in the car.  We punched a hole in the top of the paper and hung it on the string with a paper clip.  Super simple and easy.

The kiddos drew pictures of things that we would be driving past on our trip.  Since this is a route we take often, the kids were able to remember some of the things from past trips.  We also added all the states and provinces that we would be driving through.

The kids drew our car, and yes we were all smiling the whole trip;)  Ha!  As we passed one of the markers, the kids would move our van along the time line.

I love how it turned out.  They looked so cute swaying in the window and the kiddos loved seeing the car move along the time line as we got closer to our destination.  So fun!

If you are looking for more road trip ideas, follow the link to a fun list of things we like to do.

Flower Suncatchers

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Sticky wall flower suncatcher

Suncatchers are always a hit and they are so easy to make.  The kids made nature sun catchers in the minivan on our road trip to Canada.  They turned out super cute, and brightened our windows for a short period.  Love it!

This craft did not take much organization before hand.  All you will need to pack in the car is contact paper, tape and a pair of scissors.  We were able to pick the flowers out of a friends garden where we spent the night.  Thanks Vince and Erin!  I placed them in a bag until we were ready to use them.

The girls were really excited about making their windows pretty.  I cut a sheet of contact paper and peeled the backing off and used masking tape to stick it to the window.  The kids arranged the flowers on the sticky paper pressing gently.  Once they made their design I gave them another sheet of contact paper slightly larger then the first one.  Sandwich the flowers between the two layers of contact paper and press firmly.  Since the last piece of contact paper was slightly larger, the kids were able to stick them right onto their window (we removed the masking tape since it was no longer needed).

The kids loved this project.  Normally you would press and dry the flowers before you begin, but we were on the road and no time for that.  So we used fresh picked flowers.  They were beautiful for a few days, but as they sat in the sun the kids started noticing moisture inside the contact paper layers.  This brought about a quick lesson in how nature decomposes.  This was a great project for the car.  Totally mess free (well minus a few stray flower petals) and so easy for the kids to do.

If you are looking for more road trip ideas, follow the link to a fun list of things we like to do.