Monthly Archives: July 2012

Tin Can Howler

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Kaleb learned how to make this Tin Can Howler last year in school.  He loves to tinker and build things.  His projects often start with something from the recycling cupboard.  He remembered the sound project and couldn’t wait to show us his howling creation.  I love when kids are excited about what they are learning.

To make your own Tin Can Howler, you will need:

  • Tin can (opened on one end with a clean edge can opener not one that will leave sharp edges.)
  • String (about 2 feet long)
  • Hammer
  • Nail
  • Water and a rag to wet the string.
Use a nail to puncture a hole in the bottom of the tin can.  The hole only needs to be wide enough for the string to fit through.
Thread the string through the hole, and tie a large knot on the outside of the tin can.  It would be interested to see if other materials could be used instead of string…wire or twine…to see if they make a different sound.  Kaleb decided to cover his tin can howler with brown paper.  You cold use wrapping paper, a drawn picture or your kids art work.
Wet with string by rubbing a wet rag up and down the sting.  You can experiment with how wet the string is to see what different noises it creates.  We found that the wetter the sting, the louder the howl.

 Now that your sting is wet; hold the tin can in one hand and pinch the string in the other.  Pull the string tight and pull your hand down the string to make interesting sounds! Try pulling and pinching the string in different ways to make unique noises.  Try rubbing the string with your thumb or thumbnail.


Have fun and enjoy your new tin can howler toy.

Here is a link to a fun list of great experiments that my kids love.

10 Fun Summer Olympic Activities

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The summer Olympic games are officially underway.   My kids loved watching the opening ceremonies and can’t wait for the events to begin.  If you are like our family, and looking for great Olympic activities to enjoy with your family, then keep on reading!

10 Olympic Activities for kids

Olympic Party

Check out this adorable Olympic themed birthday party.  A summer Olympic party would not be complete without cute shirts, fun games, festive food and themed decorations.

Olympic Activities for kids

Olympic Party at A Small Snippet

Olympic Ring Paper Chain

I love simple decorations and what is more classic than the simple paper chain to get in the Olympic spirit .

Olympic Activities for kids

Olympic Ring Paper Chain found at Activity Village

Felt Flags of the World

I adore this simple felt garland.  What a great tactile way to teach kids about the flags of the world.

Olympic Activities for kids

Felt flag Garland found at Silly Eagle Books

 Salt Dough Olympic Medals

Each adorable medal has a cute number imprinted on it so you are ready to celebrate the Olympics.

Olympic Activities for kids

Salt Dough Olympic Medals from the Imagination Tree

Olympic Ring Craft

Nothing says Olympics like the iconic rings. These simple Olympic rings are so easy to make and would make fun party decorations.

Olympic Ring Craft

Olympic Ring Craft from Housing A Forest

 Olympic Medal Cookies and Simple Torch

Let the games begin with these simple Olympic torches made out of tissue paper, paper plate and toilet paper tube.  Then have a fun medal ceremony.  These cute medals actually contain a cookie.  How cute is that!

Olympic Activities for kids

Olympic torch and medal found at Alphamom

Felt Olympic Medals

Check out these adorable medals.  I love that they have a special little pocket to slip in little notes of encouragement.

Olympic Activities for kids

Felt Medals found at Collage Collage

Homemade Olympic Wreath

In the ancient Olympic games, if an Olympic athlete won an event  a wreath woven out of olive branches —symbolizing peace in ancient Greece—was placed upon his head. Pay homage to the ancient tradition with a modern-day version of this wearable wreath.

Olympic Activities for kids

Homemade Olympic Wreath found at education.com

Swimming Self Portraits

I love these gorgeous swimming self portraits.  They have an underwater feel and the bubble border is a fun finishing touch.

Olympic Activities for kids

Swimming Self Portraiture found at Use Your Coloured Pencils

Olympic Painting

Only a few moments to create art with the kids, no problem.  Check out this simple ring inspired artwork.  Perfect for creating with little fingers.

Olympic Painting

Olympic Painting from Housing A Forest

Olympic Painting

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Tomorrow is the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics, and we can’t wait.  I was inspired by these beautiful pictures of the unveiling of Official Olympic and Paralympic Posters For London 2012 Olympic Games.  I fell in love the painting done by artist Rachel Whiteread, and it is something that my kids can totally do.  We gathered a few circles from around the house and got to work on our own Olympic Painting.

Olympic Painting ~ simple process art using household objects

I love that she took all five of the Olympic ring colors and combined them in an abstract way to create this really cool print!

Olympic Rings painting ~ simple process art using household objects We raided our recycle bin and toy cupboard in search of circles.  Rachel used all the same size circles to create her original print, but we used varying sizes to create ours.   I poured blue, black, red, yellow and green paint onto a tray so the kids could stamp their own abstract Olympic ring prints.

Olympic Rings painting ~ simple process art using household objects

I love how they turned out, and they had lots of fun stamping the circles.

Olympic Rings painting ~ simple process art using household objects

 Looking for more Olympic Activities?  Check out our:

Olympic Rings 

Olympic Paper Chain Countdown with PDF

Olympic Ring Bottle Cap Sort

10 Fun Summer Olympic Activities 

Olympic Rings

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Simple Olympic Art for Kids

I can hardly wait for the Olympics!  In preparation for the opening ceremonies on Friday, we made these super simple Olympic Rings.  Nothing says Olympics like the iconic rings.  I love that they were really easy to create and they look so great hanging on my wall!

Olympic rings ~ Simple art for kids

To create the Olympic Rings, you will need

  • Red, Black, Blue, Green and Yellow Chalk Pastels (Oil pastels will work with similar results, but chalk pastels are much easier to work with)
  • 5 circles for each kid, cut from heavy weight paper.
  • White paper
I pulled up a picture of the Olympic rings on my computer for the kids to look at while they were creating.  That way they knew which order to place each of the colored rings.
Olympic rings ~ Simple art for kids
Color the edge of each circle heavily with the chalk pastel.
Olympic rings ~ Simple art for kids
Rub the chalk  pastel off the circle into your paper.  This will create wonderful rays of color.  My kids just held their circles in place with their opposite hand while they were rubbing.  However, if you are working with younger children, it might be helpful to use a bit of masking tape on the back of the circles to help keep them from moving while they are rubbing.
Olympic rings ~ Simple art for kids
Overlap your circles slightly.  Also, the black proved to be a bit challenging since it is such a strong color.  The colors will start to look muddy when they are smudged into the black, especially the yellow.
We used a similar technique to create this beautiful Light Ray Cross, only we used oil pastels instead of the chalk.  Chalk Pastels are so much more manageable for this technique and they smudge so much easier.

Olympic rings ~ Simple art for kids

Since these piece are created with chalk, they will continue to smudge.  If you want to keep them smudge free, spray your art work with hair spray.  It works as a great fixative and is super cheap.  Any hair spray works, and honestly the cheaper the better in my opinion.

The Minneapolis Color Run

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We just attended the Minneapolis Color Run, “the happiest 5K on the planet.”  I love everything colorful, and this was an event to remember.  There is an amazing color party at the finish line.

 The color cloud is made from a special blend of colored cornstarch that is safe and natural.  They hand out a packet of color to each racer, and then there are more bags of color available for purchase.  They are designed to be exploded into the air, but my kiddos enjoyed throwing the color at each other, and basically having all all out color fight.  It was a blast!

Kaleb made a colorful water bottle popper, by adding some of the powdered paint to the bottle.  Another fun way to make a colorful explosion.  Follow the link for instructions on how to make one.

 

 

This is my current favorite family photo.  I love how colorful we are!

 

A few tips if you plan on attending a Color Run:

  • Wear white shirts!  Be prepared for the color to get everywhere.
  • Sunglasses are a must!  They will help protect your eyes!
  • Bring old sheets or towels to cover the seats for the car ride home.  It worked great for us, and minus a bit of color on the seat belts our car is color free.
  • Use a zip-lock bag to try to keep your camera clean and dust free.  The color dust will get everywhere, so just be prepared.
  • Sign up early!  Spots fill up really fast.  However, the event is free and totally family friendly.  Even if you are not a runner, this event is for you.  The color party is open to everyone.
They had a guy that was blowing everyone off as they left.  The kids decided that they did not want to get blown off since they still wanted to be colorful.  Ha!  I tried to explain that it would just remove the loose color, but nope they wanted to keep all their color.  They were not ready to give any of it up!  I love those kids!

 

This is a great family event!  My kids LOVED it.  I’m sure this will be something that they will be talking about for a really long time.