Make and Take: Stamped Orchard Landscapes

I recently facilitated a “make and take” craft at a local orchard.  When looking for an idea I start with the theme of the event and look for something that would have a high success rate with a range of ages (in this case: preschoolers through elementary school and maybe a few middle schoolers) .  I also prioritize how messy the craft will be.  I prefer something that they can walk away from the table with.  Something that will go directly into their car and the interior won’t end up smeared with wet paint or glue.  So that limits me some, but the simplicity is really important to how successful the craft is and how the parents will remember it. 
                So this weekend I was at an apple festival.  The most obvious craft: apple printing…but paint is messy, maybe we could use some sort of stamp pad?  But also most kids have done apple printing in preschool or kindergarten.  So I moved on.  Many of the crafts I came across would require collecting massive amounts of soda bottles or cardboard tubes.  Another requirement for my craft is minimal preparation.  If I don’t have to spend hours searching for supplies or cutting out things all the better!  After all for this event I’m planning for 150 kids.

                I had access to crayons and markers (both washable and met my less mess requirement.)  I am going to be on a working farm with 300 acres of orchard trees and veggies growing.  This particular Saturday there will be hay rides, face painting and the corn maze will be open.  Most kids get excited about tractors.  I had a tractor stamp from a birthday party I did for my kids a handful of years ago.  That’s when it came to me: stamped orchard landscapes. 
                When I went to the craft store to buy paper I checked out their stamps and on an end cap I found some Halloween themed rubber stamps.  There was one with a gnarled tree silhouette.  Without leaves it was a spooky tree you’d see in the front lawn of a haunted house but I could imagine adding leaves and apples with crayons and markers and it became a friendly little apple tree.  Sweet!
                

As the kids arrived I had them either stamp a bunch of trees and then add the ground or start with the horizon line and then stamp a row of trees across it.  Then most kids added the tractor or two.  Some drew hay wagons behind the tractor, one was a double decker wagon and the kids on the top could reach out and pick apples during the ride.  Some of the littlest kids went stamp happy, some landscapes turned into patterns resembling wall paper designs.  No two pictures came out exactly alike.  That’s also something I enjoy about doing art with kids, there may be a few starting points but the kids add their creative take on it, I prefer if there is some wiggle room and the project is not completely planned out.
                The craft was successful.  I had 135 kids to test it.  They came in waves of about 16 at the most.  I had two long folding tables with markers and crayons spread on each.  If possible I would recommend having a tree and tractor stamp on each table.  But we managed pretty well by sharing the stamp back and forth between the tables.  It was a great day at the orchard and I may volunteer to take it to my son’s fall classroom party next month.  Hope this gives you some tips for your next classroom party make and take craft. 

Materials:
                            White construction paper (1 per child)

                Washable Markers

                Crayons

                Tree rubber stamp

                Tractor rubber stamp

                Washable stamp pads (I used black, red and green)

                Wet wipes (for cleaning hands and rubber stamps)

Flower Pounding: celebrate springtime with a bang!

My preschooler was thrilled that today is the first day of spring!  The weather was actually more summer-like, but we’re not complaining!  My guy has been picking me “wild flowers” out of the lawn a lot during the past week.  When I suggested that we make a card to cheer up a friend he thought we should pick flowers and attach them to the card.  I explained that the flowers probably wouldn’t hold up well in the mail, but it reminded me of the perfect spring art project!

Flower pounding is the process of layering colorful petals and leaves on paper and then pounding them to release their pigments onto the paper.  We started by exploring our yard for blooms.  We picked some flowers, clover, and blades of grass (being careful to pick plants that are not poisonous).  Then we found a sturdy surface to work on.  Next, we placed some single blooms or petals onto a sheet of heavy paper like cardstock or watercolor paper and covered them with a sheet of paper towel or waxed paper.  (The paper towel or waxed paper  keeps the petals from sticking to your hammer or mallet.)  Carefully, we pounded the flowers to release their color onto the paper.  Watch those fingers!  If the waxed paper slides around a lot you can secure it with scotch tape (or painters tape which would be easier to peel off).  After filling the paper with pigment I gave him a pen and some butterfly stamps that he used to embellish his picture.  When he wants to stamp with multiple colors we use this trick: quickly color the rubber stamp with washable marker and then stamp immediately before it has a chance to dry.  You can get colorful images without turning all your stamp pads into mud!

Flower Pounding was a huge success at our house.  My son loved the process!  I hope you give it a try with your little creative hearts as a way to celebrate the beginning of this new season! 

Creativity on the Move: Yoga Flash Cards for Kids

My father introduced me to yoga when I was a first grader.  Starting full day school was stressful for me and falling asleep on school nights did not come easily.  So my dad taught me some tried and true yoga poses and relaxation exercises that we practiced each evening.  I continued to do yoga and twenty years later I found yoga to be a tremendous help during my pregnancies.  Shiva Rea’s Prenatal Yoga DVD made its way onto our living room TV almost every day, right up until each of my boy’s births. 



Mommy takes a moment in this restful pose
while getting a, suprisingly nice, toy car massage



Now as a mom of two busy little boys I struggle to find time and space to practice yoga.  As a morning person, I would love to start my day with a salute to the sun as it peaks over the horizon.  Unfortunately, sleepless nights with a hungry newborn or teething toddler have prevented me from waking up before I absolutely have to.  On the rare occasion that I do wake up before the boys, our squeaky staircase nearly always gives me away, waking my guys up and keeping me from sneaking down to the living room to catch a half hour of uninterrupted quiet.  Evenings are tough too.  Between the boy’s bedtime routines, doing the dishes and catching up on anything else that I want to get done while the kids are asleep, I have used up the last scraps of the day.  A yoga teacher (and mother of four) suggested that I had to figure out a way to include the kids to fit my practice in.  Riiiiiight.  She must know what she’s talking about, she has two times as many children as I do, but including them seemed impossible!  If my youngest wasn’t driving toy cars and trucks along my spine while I was curled into child’s pose, my preschooler was literally burrowing under my mat or using my block as a drum set. 

Balancing in tree pose

Then I took a mommy and me yoga class, taught by a friend of mine.  The class incorporated an element of storytelling.  How creative and cool is that?!  After considering this concept I came up with a project idea for my kids and me that combined visual art, storytelling and movement.  We made a deck of flashcards with illustrations of animals, places, people, and miscellaneous things on one side and a written explanation and stick figure diagram on the opposite side.  Many yoga poses mimic things from the natural world and various exercises from other physical practices like aerobics and pilates can remind you of verbs and nouns that can be used in storytelling. 

Making the cards stretched my kid’s imaginations.  Drawing and coloring strengthens fine motor skills and muscles used for writing.  We labeled the pictures which gave my preschooler some practice writing.  Then we spread the finished cards out on the floor, pick out pictures and place them in a long line in the order we wanted the story to go.  During our time of storytelling we are building vocabulary and communication skills.  We exercise our bodies by acting out the story.  It may not be the yoga practice I used to have or one I was striving for, but it got us moving and stretching.

  The nature of the flashcards helps us to make up a new story each time we use them which keeps it fun and helps us to flex our imaginations to!  Try making your own set of yoga storytelling flashcards.  Get creative and get moving with your little ones!

Supplies:

·         Index Cards

·         Favorite Art Supplies: markers, crayons, letter stamps & ink pads, magazines, scissors, glue, pencils,

·         a rubber band or manila envelope (to hold the deck of flash cards all together)

Directions:

1. Make the cards illustrating the poses and exercises. 

·         draw the picture and have your child color it in

·         search for free coloring pages online and print them to fit your index cards or print them on cardstock that can be cut to size and have your child color them in

·         cut out pictures from magazines and glue them on with a glue stick

2. Label the picture: if your child is able and in the mood, verbally tell him or her what letters to write. 
If not, try one of these alternative options:

·         write the word on a scrap paper or type them on a computer screen and have your child copy the letters

·         write the letters lightly in pencil and have your child trace them with brightly colored markers

·         write the letters with dashed lines to create a dot-to-dot type image that your child can connect with markers

·         type the labels in an easy to read font, print them out and have your child glue them to the card

·         use letter stamps and help your child find each letter and stamp it on the card (even though they aren’t practicing their writing skills this helps with letter recognition and strengthens their fine motor skills)

3. Draw the stick figure demonstrating the exercise on the opposite side of the card and write a brief description of what to do.

Here are a few examples of yoga poses and aerobic exercises you can use to get started:

1.       Tree pose: balance on one leg with the sole of your other foot resting at your knee

2.       Mountain pose: stand with your feet a comfortable distance apart (under your hips) put your palms together in front of your chest

3.       Volcano: start in mountain pose and move your hands upward and then as they stretch towards the ceiling open your arms, rotate your palms outward and sweep them down to your sides and then back to the starting position. All while making volcanic noises of course!

4.       Lion: start seated in a cross legged position lean forward onto hands and knees and roar while sticking out your tongue.

5.       Cow: Kneel on all fours with your knees under your hips and hands under your shoulders.  Start with your spine flat like a table top as you exhale relax your spine stretching your tummy towards the floor gently and say, “moo” for sure!

6.       Cat: Kneel on all fours with your knees under your hips and hands under shoulders.  Inhale and tip the hip bones towards the ceiling while drawing the shoulders back and down away from your ears. Exhale and tuck the chin while pulling your belly towards your spine. Round the back and feel a stretch down your spine.  And don’t forget to meow!

7.       Cobra: lie on your stomach, gently lift your head and upper body and hiss

8.       Surfer (aka: warrior): stand on a yoga mat or towel and with your feet spread out wide point one foot toward the front of the mat (pretend it’s your surf board) hold your arms out straight and try to keep balance while to pretend to ride the waves!

9.       Bicycle: lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent.  Bring your knees up so your thighs are perpendicular to the floor and peddle your feet like you are on a bicycle.

10.   Swimming: lie on your stomach with legs straight and together.  Keeping your shoulders away from your ears as you stretch your arms straight overhead. Pull your abs in so you feel your belly button pull up away from the floor and while looking at the floor so as not to crease your neck, extend your arms and legs so they lift off the floor alternate right arm/left leg, then left arm/right leg, pumping them up and down in small pulses as if you are swimming.

Make a few at a time so it doesn’t become overwhelming.  This is an ongoing project; you can always add more cards to the deck!  It’s more about the process than the product! 

If you choose to do collage and are cutting and pasting elements of your cards (like magazine pictures and or printed words) keep them together in a big manila envelope so you can keep track of all the pieces between crafting sessions. 

Older children might benefit from talking about different parts of a story.  Talk about setting, characters, plot, conflict and resolution if you like.  You can even color code your cards to remind children which ones are nouns and which ones are verbs.

Remember this is a time to teach your child about how yoga helps your body be strong and calm, you can blow off steam and energy but also breathe and relax.  It’s also about paying attention to your body and how it feels.  Skip anything that doesn’t feel good. 

The Art of the Hand-written Thank You Note

In a world where texting, tweeting and status updates make up much of our communication I decided to teach my son the art of the hand- written thank you note.  None of our family members need or even expect a thank you note, but after emerging from the sea of wrapping paper it’s nice to sit and reflect on what my son received this holiday season and remember who gave it to him.  The process of expressing gratitude through a written note is something that is good for him on multiple levels.  He gets to feel gratitude towards his family and translate that into words.  We talked about how to write a thank you note, starting with stating what the gift was and then including a nice detail about how he will use it or his favorite thing about the gift.  Since he is only four years old, I will have him dictate what he wants to say and write it for him.  He’ll have a chance to practice his writing skills too, he can write the person’s name at the top of the card and his own at the end.  

To keep his interest I like to set out some art supplies to choose from and let him be creative with how he puts the cards together.  If we are going to make a dozen cards he will get bored if each one is exactly the same.  We also work on these a little at a time over several days or a week.  I want him to have fun and not be overwhelmed with the project.  He is really interested in cutting, gluing and stamping these days so we took a trip to the craft store and picked out his favorite “Thank You” stamp from the store’s scrapbooking supply section.  I collected some supplies from around the house including:

·         card stock (8 ½” x 11” sheets cut in half and folded so you make two cards from each sheet)

·         envelopes (invitation sized 4 ¾” x 6 ½” (#6)

·         colored construction paper or scraps

·         markers & crayons

·         glue stick

·         stamps & stamp pads

·         glitter

·         white craft glue

·         qtips or glue brush

·         shoe box or Chinese takeout boxes

·         stickers (we decide on a limit for each card, maybe 3 or 5 stickers –without a limit he will stick stickers until they are gone and every inch on the card is plastered.  This is a good time to practice counting!)

A Tip For Using Glitter:

If your child is into glitter (and what preschooler isn’t?!) try using a lidded box for applying glitter.  Glitter has a way of getting everywhere, but I have found this process to be helpful in keeping it mostly contained.  Have the child put glue where he or she wants the glitter, using a q-tip or a cheap brush dedicated to gluing projects.  Once the glue is in place, put the card in a lidded box.  The child can sprinkle glitter on it and then put the lid on and shake the box back and forth.  If it’s a small project you can also use a Chinese food take out container with a clear lid and watch the glitter shake around.  When you remove the paper shake the extra off into that same box. 

Have fun making each card unique!  Your family members will especially love getting a card with their name scrawled across the top in precious preschool handwriting!