Make your own Tupperware Spin Art (Method 2)

Today is the last day in our toddler painting series.  Boo hoo.  Sob sob.  There, there, no need to cry.  I'm leaving you with my favorite painting technique of the week.  Now you can make spin art with Tupperware and coins!

Materials:
- Tupperware
- Tempera Paint
- Paper cut to fit inside of plastic container
- Masking Tape
- Clear Tape
- Coins (We used quarters and pennies) 

Directions:
1.   Use clear tape to attach your coins to the bottom of the Tupperware.  (We used quarters first, but then found that we had a nicer result when we added some smaller coins like pennies to the bottom of the pile.)

2.  Tape your paper inside the Tupperware container.
3.  Add drops of paint.
4.  Cover your container and spin it around and around.

That's it! Open up your container and admire your lovely spin art.

(For those of you braver folks with older children, you could also try leaving the lid off.  Then, you could try to drip paint into the container as it spins.  I'm not sure if this would work... but it would be fun to try.  Just make sure to cover your work area to keep everything clean!)

And so ends our Toddler Paint Series.  In case you missed the beginning of the series, you can find other cheap and easy ways to paint with toddlers by clicking the links below:

• "Shake and roll" painting (aka ball painting)
• Painting with toys
• Tupperware Spin Art (Method 1) 

Have a great weekend!

Make Spin Art using Tupperware (Method 1)

One of my clearest childhood memories was attending a birthday party and getting to make spin art t-shirts.  I remember carefully dripping beads of paint onto my shirt and then watching my artwork spin around and around.  Once the spinning stopped, voila!  All my beads of paint spread out and made a lovely sun burst design.

It was magical.

For some reason this particular memory popped into my head this past weekend  I felt inspired to try making our own spin art with Chuck too.

But how would we do it?  We didn't have a spin art machine, or a salad spinner, or a lazy susan. 
I was stumped.  Luckily, clever hubby came up with two ideas to make spin art using materials that we already had at home.   

Materials:
- Tempera paint
- Tupperware
- Paper cut to fit the bottom of your Tupperware
- Yarn
- Packing tape
- Masking tape (optional)

Directions:
1.  Cut a piece of yarn.  Tie it together to make a loop.

2.  Use packing tape to attach the loop to your Tupperware.  Congratulations! You now have a human powered spin art machine.

3.  Place drops of paint into your Tupperware.  (Optional:  You could also tape your piece of paper down into the Tupperware first and then place your drops of paint inside.)

4.  Close the lid and spin your Tupperware around and around. 

 5.  Open your Tupperware to reveal your spin art design.  (We placed a piece of paper over the design to capture the paint.  Alternatively, you could have also just put the paper inside first and then add the paint.)

Really, really easy, right?  The only problem was that our design wasn't really sunburst looking. So clever hubby got to thinking and came up with another solution....

which you'll have to read about tomorrow!
(Can you guess what it is?)

Happy toddler crafting!

Toddler painting with toys

Ok, the title of the post pretty much says it all.

1.  Get some toys.
2.  Dip them in paint.
3.  Watch your kid go to town.
4.  Remind your child to not paint the floor... or wall... or you... or...
5.  Pat yourself on the back for entertaining your child. 
6.  Wash toys and child in bathtub.
7.  Watch your kid go to town cleaning the toys.
8.  Pat yourself on the back for keeping the fun going.

What can I say?  Entertained child = happy child = happy mama

Happy toddler crafting!

Toddler Tupperware and Ball painting

This past weekend, Hubby, Chuck, and I spent a lot of time in the apartment.  To help pass the time, we read lots of books, played lots of games, watched lots of movies, and did a lot of painting. 

This week I thought I'd share four different ways that we painted with Chuck

(Who knows?  Maybe these posts will come in handy if you're ever stuck at home with a toddler too...)

Today we'll start off with method 1:  Tupperware and ball painting 

Materials:
- Tupperware
- Piece of paper cut to fit inside the Tupperware
- Masking tape
- Tempera paint
- Small ball 

Directions:
1.  Tape your piece of paper onto the bottom of the Tupperware
2.  Drip drops of paint inside of your container
3.  Add a ball into the container
4.  Close the lid
5.  Shake your container!

6.  That's it!  Open your container and reveal your toddler's Jackson Pollock-esque work of art.

I definitely give this activity a thumbs up.  It wasn't very messy (hooray!) and Chuck enjoyed squeezing the paint and shaking the container.  (Personally, I found shaking the container to be very therapeutic.)

Happy toddler crafting!

What's up, Chuck?

How was your weekend?  Ours flew by way too quickly. A college friend came up from Maryland to visit us.  We hung out at home on Friday and Sunday, but on Saturday I put on my non-mommy clothes and explored Manhattan with her.

Ooh la la.  I felt like I was in college again.  It was so nice having her around....
 and I miss her a whole bunch already. 

Here are some photos from our weekend:

Chuck and I attended a friend's birthday party.  As you can see, he kept the party going as we walked home.

My friend's a pretty good storyteller....

and artistic to boot.  (Can you believe that she doodled this shirt freehand with fabric markers? Whoa.)

We tried Xi'an Famous Foods' hand-pulled noodles... Yummy oxtail...

and watched a Broadway show...

 and toured Soho (which, by the way, is really just way too glamorous for me....)

I also found out that Topshop teamed up with Project CANVAS to raise funds for art programs in the city.  If you're interested in supporting art programs (and getting a pair of one-of-a-kind kicks), visit Topshop's Soho store.  Local artists will personally decorate your purchased shoes until 8/8.

Happy Monday!

Contact paper and cellophane stained glass windows

Our weekly baby and toddler music class has now morphed into a music and craft class.  The kids are getting more mobile now, so we figured it was good to give them something to make and do with their hands.  (Otherwise, they go straight to grabbing the lovely books on the shelves or pushing the furniture around.  Cute, but slightly disruptive to the library.)

But what kinds of activities could the kids do?  Well, the activity had to be
- Suitable for children from 1-3
- Easy to prep
- Easy to set up
- Super easy and quick to clean up
- Made from cheap materials
- Fun!!! (Of course.)

Because of my love for stained glass, I wanted to try a simple stained glass activity with the kids.  Instead of using glue (too messy for the younger kids), we used contact paper to attach our colored cellophane.

Materials:

• Two identical rectangles of contact paper (I just bought a small roll from the Dollar store instead of buying the expensive large roll from the department store)
• Masking tape and clear tape
• Frame cut out from a cereal box (Note:  Make the opening of the frame smaller than your contact paper rectangles)
• Different colored pieces of cellophane cut into small rectangles

 
Directions:
1.  Carefully remove the backing from one contact paper rectangle and use masking tape to tape the sheet sticky side up to your table. 

2.  Let your child stick the cellophane rectangles onto the contact paper. (Chuck loved this part.)

3.  Remove a portion of the backing from another sheet of contact paper.  Then, slowly stick the second sheet of contact paper on top of the first (sticky side down), smoothing it, and removing the rest of the backing as you go.  (This was the toughest part. When we got bumps or bubbles, we just lifted up the top sheet of contact paper and tried again.)

 4.  Tape your contact paper rectangle onto your frame.   Decorate the frame however you want.


Results:

Here are some of the mommy and children's actual work (My sample item is in the one on top in the middle.)

Review:
They were fun to make and came out super colorful and cute.

We struggled a bit with the contact paper, but I didn't care because some of the 2 year olds actually sat still for a couple of minutes and stuck the colored cellophane onto the contact paper.  What?  A couple minutes of concentrated effort?  Awesome.  I'll take it!

One very pregnant mommy even said that this was the longest time that her almost-2 year old sat still.   She didn't want to leave because he was behaving so nicely.

Ahh, music to my ears.  Her comment just made my day.

I love seeing moms and children engaged in an activity and enjoying time together.

Happy crafting!

Painted Mosaic Styrofoam Tile Picture Frame

June is the month of Father's day and birthdays.  Chuck and I wanted to make gifts for hubby and my parents, so we made these mosaic picture frames out of painted Styrofoam plates and cardboard.

I'm so glad with how they turned out.  They're happy and colorful and made out of stuff that we had right at home.

Make Sidewalk paint out of cornstarch and food coloring

Looking back through the archives, I noticed that Chuck and I have quite a history making homemade paint.  

• It all started back in January when we made our own cornstarch toddler paint.  
• Then, we tried our hand at marbling paper with shaving cream and paint.
• And most recently we made our very own homemade water color paints (and then actually used them to decorate a wedding card!)

Well, now I've got another homemade paint experience to add to the archives.  Yesterday we played in the park with several friends, so I brought some homemade sidewalk paint for the kids to try:

Want the exact recipe I used?  Errmm... let's just say that I took a pretty intuitive approach.  (There are lots of lovely tutorials out there sharing exact measurements and ingredients, so you can just google those.)   

I took the lazy way out and simply mixed cornstarch and water together until I had a whitish liquid that had "paint-like consistency." Then I added about 10 drops of food coloring to make each of my three colors.

The payoff for my relatively little amount of work was pretty awesome.  The kids had a blast painting the pavement.  (In all honsty, I was pretty surprised that the activity went as well as it did.)  The colors were quite bright when they first touched the pavement, but they became a pale pastel when the paint dried

Wet paint shown on left

.    

Pastel paint when dried

The little guys sat still for at least 5-10 minutes  and painted away. (Whoa!  That's like years in toddler time) There was some serious street artwork going on there. 

Oh yeah- if you try this activity out with your kids, try to keep their hands out of the paint.  It stains.  Somebody's hand got into the blue paint.... and well... let's just say that even after several washings, it's still slightly blue.  Eeek!  Smurf baby.

With all the lovely warm weather rolling in, I'm looking for some fun and cheap activities that are easy for toddlers to do. Got any ideas?  I'd love to hear them.

Using cooking oil to blur oil pastels

I had no idea that plain old cooking oil could be used to blur oil pastels.  But once I found out, I had to try it for myself.  One afternoon I doodled away on some computer paper while Chuck napped.

Then, I used Q-tips and swabbed my pictures in canola oil.

The colors and lines blurred together.  The images also became translucent.  Here's how a picture looked before:

And here's how it looked after:

But what to do with my oily pictures?  After drying up the excess cooking oil, I traced and cut out some circles.

Then I taped my circles to the window and made some lovely sun catchers.

Hrmm... I wonder what kind of art Chuck would make....

(On a more serious note- Given the terrible tragedy that happened in Boston, I debated whether to put this post up.  Is writing about crafts too frivolous?  *Sigh*  It's just so sad that people could do something so horrible to others.  *Sigh*  In the end, I've decided to upload this post.  I can't do anything to directly help those affected.  However, I can keep praying and writing posts that hopefully bring a bit of cheer to anyone who reads them...)

Make glow in the dark paint (using glow sticks)

Have you ever had one of those "I wonder if..." moments?  A couple of nights ago hubby and I opened a canister of glow sticks to play around with them and take photos.

In the midst of playing, I found myself wondering if I could use their lovely glowing innards to make glow in the dark paint.  Now, the label on the glow stick canister clearly said that we shouldn't "puncture" the tubes... but it also said that the glow sticks were nontoxic.  So... I figured that as long as we didn't let the paint touch our skin, eyes, or clothes we should be ok.   Here's what my glow in the dark painting looked like:

Update 5/29/13-  Several concerned readers brought up valuable points regarding possibly dangerous chemicals and glass inside the tubes.  Be sure to read the comments below and think twice before attempting this activity...

Materials:
- Scissors
- Disposable container (to hold paint)
- Paint brush
- Paper towel
- Newspaper
- Gloves
- Corn starch

Directions:
1.  Cover your area with newspaper and wear gloves  (I didn't do this... but looking back I think it would be a good idea since you are working with chemicals.)

2.  Crack your glow stick so that the entire stick glows

3.  Open up your glow stick.  To do this, I held the glow stick vertically over my disposable container.  I cut the top bottom end of the glow stick.  The liquid inside didn't flow out very quickly.  So, I turned the glow stick upside down (so that the cut end was now on top and the uncut end was on the bottom).  Then, I cut the bottom uncut end.  (We cut it this way so that the tip wouldn't go flying in the air.  Plus, the liquid flowed much quicker if both ends were cut.)

3.  I added a bit of corn starch to the glowing liquid to thicken up the paint.

4. Use your paint to paint pieces of paper towel placed over newspapers.

Now, I'm sure you already could guess this... but sadly the images don't glow forever.  So enjoy their beauty while they last.

Oh yeah- here are some other photos of our glow stick play:

 

DIY Eggshell Sidewalk Chalk

Yes. You read the title correctly.  Last week I tried making sidewalk chalk out of eggshells... and it worked!  Here's the proof:

DIY Eggshell Sidewalk Chalk

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support! 

Make marbled paper with shaving cream

Look at what Baby Chuck and I made the other day: 

No, it's not a Rorschach test.  It's a piece of marbled paper.  And guess what?  We made the marbled effect using shaving cream and acrylic paint.  Pretty right?  I think we'll use it to make some Chinese New Year envelopes... or hubby's valentine.  I'm not sure yet  Hmm..

If you'd like to make your own marbled paper, keep reading:  (Original recipe found here)

Materials:
- baking tray
- heavier weight paper (we used watercolor paper, but I think card stock would be good too)
- craft paint (or maybe food coloring would work too?)
- shaving cream (white foam kind)
- old towel
- ruler/ unused credit card

Directions:
1.  Prep your area and child.  Decide where you want to do the activity.  Set up the materials beforehand.  Cover your work area with something to protect it.  Decide where you want to place the papers to dry.  Place a towel near you so that you can easily wipe your hands. Place your ruler / unused credit card near you for easy access.  (This is a pretty messy activity, so I recommend you plan things out first.)

2.  Make sure your piece of paper is smaller than the baking  tray.

3.  Spray your shaving cream into the baking tray.  Use your hands to smooth it around so that you have a nice even layer.

4.  Add in random lines of craft paint.  (We chose reds and yellow, but you could do all sorts of colors if you want.)

5.  Use your fingers to swirl the paint around.  (Note- You don't want a big blob of color.  It looks prettier with swirls).

6.   Place your paper into the tray so that it comes in contact with the shaving cream/ paint mixture.  Lift the paper up.  Wipe the excess shaving cream off the sheet with your ruler/ unused credit card.  Don't let the shaving cream sit too long on the paper, otherwise your paper may get soaked and rip.

(Isn't it neat?  Any parts of the paper that came in contact with the shaving cream will remain white while the parts that came in contact with the paint will get colored.)

7.  Let your beautiful sheets dry.  (Added bonus:  They'll smell shaving cream sweet.)

(Sorry I didn't take any photos of the process.  Chuck and I had fun doing the activity, but I had to keep a close eye on him so that he wouldn't eat the shaving cream.... or wipe it on himself or our couch.)


Update:   I ended up making Chinese New Year envelopes out of the paper.  They're unexpected, thrifty, and lovely.

Mess free toddler paint (using Ziploc bags)

Now that Baby Chuck and I've already tried one finger paint recipe, I figured we'd give another a try.  We found a nice and easy recipe for finger paints from Easie Peasie and then we learned of a great mess free trick from Housing a forest   Here's what we did:

Ingredients:
- 3 T sugar
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/2 C cornstarch
- 2 C water

Materials:
- saucepan
- fork
- measuring cups and spoons
- Ziploc bags
- masking tape


Directions:
1.  Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan.  Warm until you get a thick goop.

 2.  Once thickened, remove saucepan from the heat and let it cool.  Then, pour your sticky goo into different containers.  Add food coloring into each container and stir until you get your desired color.  (Don't taste the goo.  It's gross.  Just thought I'd put that out there...)

 3.  Pour your paint into the Ziploc bags.  Squeeze out the air from the bags and seal them shut with masking tape.  Then, let your child squish to his heart's delight!

 Disclaimer:  Baby Chuck enjoyed squishing the paint around for a couple of minutes... and then he moved onto something else.  But not to worry, Hubby and I then had a go at the bags.  It was quite relaxing to squish the colors around.

Have a great weekend!