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!

Make a hockey stick hobby horse and dragon

Did I make a hobby horse from a hockey stick?

Yup.

And why stop there?  Why not make a hobby dragon too?

Rawr.

Tin can stilts

What do you do if you're stuck at home all weekend?

That's the question we were faced with this weekend since we were all under the weather.  Blech.

With a couple of empty cans, duct tape, scissors, and string, we made ourselves some tin can stilts.  (I removed the labels and then washed and dried the empty cans.  Then, hubby drilled two holes on each side of the can to fit the string through.  I covered the bottoms and the holes with duct tape just to make sure that Chuck's fingers wouldn't get hurt on any scratchy edges.  Then, we poked the strings through and tied them tight.)

The tiny tuna fish cans were for Chuck to try out.  He still doesn't quite have the coordination to actually move the stilts by himself, but he seemed to enjoy trying and copying mama.

Tin can stilts one day.... real stilts the next?  Maybe Chuck will be a circus performer when he grows up.....


Happy crapting!

What's up Chuck?

You know that line from Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times?"

Well, this past week kind of felt like that.

We worked to fight computer failure.  But it's now official, the computer is dead.

We battled illness.  (Chuck had a cold.  Then I caught his cold... and then I caught some sort of tummy bug.  Ick. I'll spare you the details.)

And throughout the week Chuck and I engaged in some pretty epic battles of wills.  (His new favorite word is "No.")

But amidst all these tough spots, we've also shared some wonderfully sweet moments.  As Chuck gets older, he's also becoming more aware of the things and people around him.   One of his favorite things to do is copy others.   

He copies the older kids at the sprinklers

He noticed that I wore a ring, so he wanted to wear one too

He and daddy wore matching outfits to church

He saw some kangaroos on tv and wanted to have a baby kangaroo in his own "pouch" too

Pretending to be a kangaroo from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.


Life is tough, but there are also such beautifully sweet moments sprinkled throughout. 

Have a good weekend, friends.  Stay cool and we'll see you next week!

6 things to do with gummy bears

I thought you might need a giggle, so here's a list of six things you can do with gummy bears (besides eat them).

6 Ways to Play with Gummy Bears