St. Patrick's Day Fun

Hello Friends!

I came across this amazingly delish looking rainbow fruit platter on Gluesticks and simply had to share it.  It's a great activity for you to do with your ankle biters for a St. Patty's day party (or just to enjoy at home).  What kid wouldn't want to help make this?  I want to make this!  Check out the other projects that Brandy (of Gluesticks) has on that link as well.  Rainbow painting, pots of gold and leprechauns are a must for St. Patrick's Day crafts.  I dropped the ball on getting together some crafty ideas in time for this luck-filled holiday, so I'm resorting to sharing Brandy's with you instead.  There is a lot going on in my world right now...busy busy...  Enjoy!

Have fun & get messy!
:-)
Miss Jenna

Kid Talk

Do you need to laugh today, giggle or at least crack a smile?  Well my friends, do I have a treat for you! Today, I was looking through my huge scrapbook from my pre-school teaching days and I found the book (yes...book) that my Director (Miss Janet) printed out for me of all the wonderfully silly kid quotes that she and I collected and compiled throughout the years.  If you've ever been around pre-school aged children, you know that they can be funnier than the best professional comedians.  I mean...seriously...the way they butcher the English language is genius!  Whenever one of my little lovelies spouted a linguistic gem, I would write it down immediately...and I mean verbatim...specifically writing out the mis-spellings and marking inflection.  My little bits of paper gold would be placed in their special place on Janet's desk and a day or two later I'd hear her howl with laughter as she read through them all.  This was absolutely one of my favorite things about that job.  So without further ado, allow me to present the first batch of Kid Talk...

REPORTING INFORMATION:

"I have a tadoo!" (tattoo)

"May name broke down."

"I cut it with sidders."

"I saw a apple-puss!" (octopus)

"Siesta is how you say New York in French." (huh?)

"Jimbo's are elephants!" (Dumbo's...I think)

"This is Farari Week." (safari week)

"Thank you very welcome!" (gotta love good maners!)

"He called me a BIG FAT!!!"

"A critter is a jumphopper."

"Turkeys go 'boggle-boggle'." (or...gobble-gobble?)

"I've been learning about Overhand Lincoln."

"Guys, your noise is giving me a fever!" (I feel your pain little one)

"I LOVE to do arting!" (art table)

"I stabbed my toe!"

"It's NOT a concept!" (contest)

"I can whistle backwards!"

"A bull shark even has HORNS!"

"Eskimos live in an Egg-Loo."

"A critter is a bug that crits around and crawls on legs."

"Do you know what color hair I have?  I'm blind!" (blonde)

"Oh, did I say I love you when it's Valence Day?"

"Lizards are echos."

"I've got my hand-shoes on!" (gloves on hands in the "shoe store" dramatic play area)

(talking about milking cows) "They squeeze the gutters!"

"I have pretty good taste bugs." (or buds)

"There was a REALLY mean wiggard!" (wizard)

"It was a big hungry nap...you know...REALLY big and hungry!" (???)

"Can I be the Pazoose?" (caboose)

(in a sing-song to eeny, meeny, miney, mo) "Catch a tiger by the mo."

"You be the monkey, okay?  Then you can be the monkey's uncle!" (yes, really. They were playing in the "pet hospital" dramatic play area)

"Chickens are very instershing...they go back and forth to find food...and when they come back with the food sometimes the make a friend! Sometimes it's a duck, they're not like chickens anymore!"

....aaand, your welcome.  :-)  I hope you all have a beautiful day and don't forget to have fun and get messy!

~ Miss Jenna ~

Recycled Bottle Cap Glue Project

In my first blog post for Ankle Biter Art, I wrote about Process vs. Product in children's art.  To try to make it short and sweet, the process a child goes through in working with their hands and creating a piece of art (for example: getting tactilely involved with the supplies, experimenting and getting messy, working independently from start to finish) is SO much more important than the visual outcome of the artwork or 'product'.  It may not be a magnificent "fridge worthy" masterpiece or be anything recognizable to us adults with expectations.  It might be a downright glue puddle mess or have a hole worn through from too much paint....but these things don't matter, because in this creative freedom, a lot of learning happens.

So, Process vs. Product....and this project absolutely falls under 'process'.  It's not a "pretty" art project, but it's still a good one for several reasons.  One of them being that bottle caps are actually surprisingly difficult to recycle.  I had heard that before, so I did some quick research and found this helpful article that explains why.  I also incorporated sorting as part of the steps in accomplishing this project.  Simple sorting is an important component of early childhood science and math and a lot of pre-schools incorporate sorting activities into their curriculum.  "Simple sorting and classification are fundamental concepts that help children to organize their thinking about the real world."

SUPPLIES:

• A variety of bottle caps in different sizes - I collected my caps for a month or two and stashed them in the closet until I had enough.
• Full strength white glue
• Glue brushes
• A really sturdy base - I used the stiff cardboard backing from a pad of Bristol board that I had, but you could also save your Styrofoam produce or meat trays (washed & dried).  They work really well and you get to do some more recycling!
• Glitter (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.) Have the children sort the bottle caps by size

2.) Glue the caps to the base.  {TIP} The bottle caps adhere best if they are glued with the flat side down.  I recommend showing the children an example of this, otherwise you'll end up with bottle caps popping off very easily.  Whether or not they they follow the example is another story and if not, no biggie.  This is one of those freedom ("open ended" as we called it when I taught pre-school) projects.  Remember...PROCESS!  :-)

Sam did some nesting and built up while Molly kept her caps flat and singular.  I love to observe the difference in process between these two...age and personality play a big part, but I find it interesting.

3.) Glitter (optional) and let dry.  This project can sometimes take a LONG time to dry depending on how much love your ankle biter had for glue puddles, so keep them out of reach until they are completely dry, otherwise you might have a sad friend when it all falls apart. 

....and there you have it!  Have fun & get messy!

:-)

Miss Jenna

Spring Time Collage

This week all of the birds in my city started singing their feathers off...a friend said he felt like Julie Andrews walking out of his house to all of the chirping.  "The hilllllls are alive...."  The weather has also warmed up quite a bit here in Florida (to my great disappointment) and the other day my husband saw two cats gettin' busy in the middle of the street...wink wink, nudge nudge, know what I mean?  HELLO SPRING!

I was able to get together with my little Ankle Biter Art helpers today and I thought it only fitting to do Spring inspired collages.  We had a little conversation about Spring and had a brief lesson in collages....making a whole picture out of separate elements.

col*lage (noun)

a form of art in which various materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric are arranged and stuck to a backing.

A few posts ago, I shared a few collage crafting tips, one of which was saving and cutting up empty tissue boxes.  These little bits of paper treasure were our principle paper sources for our collages.

SUPPLIES:

• Variety of collage papers - like magazine clippings, cut up tissue boxes, decorative scrapbook paper, wall paper scraps, paint swatches, etc...
• Card stock weight paper
• Glue sticks
• Colored pencils

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.)  Adhere paper scraps to the card stock with the glue stick.

2.)  When the artist is satisfied with their composition, they can further decorate their picture with some colored pencils.

The End.  Easy peezy lemon squeezy.

Have fun, get messy and enjoy Spring!

:-)  

Miss Jenna

Valentine's Day Activity

Hi Friends!  I came across this cute and delicious Valentine version of Bingo on Tip Junkie and wanted to share it with you.  Kids would LOVE this game and I also think it would make a fun classroom holiday activity...if they were allowed to have the candy.  All you need is the printed out Conversation Bingo sheet (you'll find the link below) and those colorful and disgusting delicious Valentine hearts with the love sayings!

Click HERE to download the FREE printable and get instructions from The Party Animal!

Have fun & get messy!

:-) 

Miss Jenna

Valentine's Day embroidery hoop wall art hangings

I've been busy visiting family this past week, so my crafting time has been preoccupied with the beach, cocktails and other fun.  Also...today is Superbowl Sunday, so clearly I won't be picking up my glue gun.  Instead my husband and I will be cheering on the Steelers along with our good friends Jeff & Amy (but they are Packer fans, so I'll also be busy wiping their tears) ;-)

BUT...since the love fest holiday is fast approaching, I didn't want to go any longer without sharing another Valentine's Day gift idea for you to do with your ankle biters.  I came across these cute wall hangings on Mod Podge Rocks!  I thought they looked fun to make and relatively easy for young ones (perhaps with a bit of help).  If you end up trying this craft out, let me know how it turned out.  OH!  Post photos of your project on Ankle Biter Art's Facebook wall :-)

Click HERE for supplies & instructions.

Have fun & get messy!

:-)

Miss Jenna

2-7-2011  Okay...so Jeff & Amy ended up having to wipe OUR tears during the Superbowl. Congratulations to The Packers! Our Steelers have plenty of Championship rings anyway ;-)

Valentine Magnet Gift Idea...

Hi Friends!  So, I thought I'd post a really simple crafty gift idea that you can do with your ankle-biters....handmade magnets.  I'll provide three variations on the idea that you can customize to whatever you want.

Holding up the photo strips of me and my awesome nephews are the magnets I made.  I'll list out the detailed instructions for the LOVE magnets...it's pretty much the same process for the others, so I'll just describe the different steps I did for those.  Ready? Okay!

SUPPLIES (for all):

• Clear glass flat back cabochons or "blanks" (large & small) - you can find these in most craft stores and even at some dollar stores.  Here's a web source
• Windex & paper towel
• A variety of Valentine themed paper
• White card-stock weight paper
• Clear alphabet stickers (found in the scrapbook section of craft stores) - this is optional...you could also just write out the letters with a sharpie.
• Regular all purpose white glue - just be sure it's a kind that dries clear
• Glue brush
• Mod Podge
• Fine glitter
• Colored pencils
• Scissors
• Craft magnets (in sizes that will fit and are smaller than the glass blanks you are using) - these can be found at your local craft stores also.
• Heavy industrial strength glue like E-6000 - you could also try a hot glue gun, but I'm not going to vouch for the longevity of staying power against the constant pull of magnets.

INSTRUCTIONS (for love) 

1.) Clean the backs of the glass blanks with the Windex to remove any dirt or oils.

2.) Trace the glass blanks onto a pretty paper.

3.) Add your letters (either via sticker or handwriting) to the middle of your circles.

4.) Cut them out and erase any pencil marks along the edges.

5.) Add a layer of the all-purpose white glue to the back of your glass blank.

6.) Place the glass blank onto the letter circle, pressing firmly to ensure that the whole circle is covered with glue and that you won't get air bubbles.

7.) Allow your glass letter to dry.  You may see an overlap of paper...not to worry.  On to step 8!

8.) With your scissors, cut the excess paper.  Cutting the paper on an angle is a good trick...sometimes the rounded glass can get in the way.

Glue your magnets to the backs of the glass blanks with your industrial strength glue.  

{{{NOTE}}}  This is stinky stuff and they recommend using it in a well ventilated area and NOT to be used by children.  Don't let the kids work with this nasty stuff...do this part yourself.

Let them dry for a few hours (or however long the instructions say) 

{{{VERY HELPFUL TIP - that I discovered the hard way}}}  Space these babies out by at least a couple of inches after you add the magnets.  I ended up having them flying at top speed and clumping together...then I got that toxic glue all over my hands trying to pull them apart.  I didn't think about how strong these bad-boy magnets are.

After your magnets are dry, check the fronts of the glass for any glue that may have gotten on there by mistake...this scratches off easily with your fingernail.  Package them up and gift them OR keep them for your very own fridge!

INSTRUCTIONS (for the large & small heart):

Really, the only difference here is using a designed paper.  The thing I will note that I did differently is adding a layer of white card-stock to the back of the heart designed paper.  The heart paper was really thin and you'd be able to see the color of the big black magnet through it.  ((You don't have to do this step if your decorative paper is on the think side.))  Otherwise, follow the same steps as the LOVE magnets.

INSTRUCTIONS (for the hand-drawn version):

These would look so cute with a kids illustration :-)  Here are the altered steps I did...

• Trace the glass blank onto the white card-stock and draw a design with the colored pencils.  {NOTE} The glass blanks magnify your image slightly, so try to avoid drawing pertinent details to the edge of your circle as they may not show (because of the distortion) when the glass is on.  If you keep the focus of your drawing in the center you should be good.
• Add a layer of Mod Podge to the drawing and sprinkle your fine glitter...let dry.
• As with the others, use the white glue to adhere the paper to the glass blank.

Oooo...I just had a thought.  You could also make these magnets with photos!  Just paint a layer of Mod Podge to the front & back of the photo to seal it, preventing the ink from smudging with the other glues...let dry and follow the same steps.

Have fun & get messy!  

:-)  Miss Jenna