7 Tips for Taking Preschoolers to the Art Museum

Ever take your children to the art museum?  A couple weeks ago my friend and I brought our 3 preschool boys to our local art museum.  Can I admit something to you?  I was kinda  SUPER nervous about how it would go.  Three active boys walking around a building of beautiful, priceless, breakable artwork?  What could go wrong?  (Ha!)

Pre-mom years, I loved  visiting art museums with my husband.  But once I had Chuck... I put aside those visits because of my fears.  But oh, how I love looking at beautiful things.... and oh, how I love making art and crafts with my son.  Now that he's a bit older I figured it was time to give it a try.  So I asked for suggestions on FB... and we bravely visited the art museum with our 3 very active and curious kids.

Guess what?

It went pretty well!  We had fun and the art stayed unharmed!  Huzzah!  So here's a post detailing 7 things that we did to make our art museum experience more enjoyable (and educational) for the kiddos.

7 Tips for Taking Preschoolers to the Art Museum

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(Hey! Who's that boy in the photo?  Not Chuck. It's one of our friends!)

Two ways to Make Confetti (And Celebrate Fiesta!)

Have you ever made confetti before?  I've seen bags of it in the stores, but never made my own.  Recently my son and I walked with our church in our town's parade.  It was a really fun Children's parade celebrating our town's Mexican, Spanish, American Indian, and early history.

I really wanted Chuck to have something to throw in the parade.  (Because let's face it, allowing a preschooler to throw colorful things at people = SUPER kid fun.)  So the night before the parade, my husband and I made two HUMONGOUS BAGS of confetti for kids to throw.  And guess what?  We made it in less than half an hour.  That's right.  We became confetti-making machines!  Here's how we did it!

Let's Make Confetti!

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Let's Make Some Confetti Bookmarks!

Ready for the start of the school year?  Today I'm over at DIY Candy sharing how I made these super fun confetti bookmarks to help kids celebrate their love of reading and the new school year!

Gorgeous Fluttering Paper Plate Butterflies

Last week I shared these beautiful hyper colorful painted paper plate flowers. Since y'all seemed to enjoy them so much, today I'm continuing with the paper plate craft theme and sharing these lovely paper plate butterflies as well!

Gorgeous Fluttering Paper Plate Butterflies!

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Hyper Colorful Painted Paper Plate Flowers!

Lately I've been enamored with paper plate crafts.  We always have a ton of cheap, white paper plates lying around and they're the perfect canvas.  A couple of days ago my son was sick and we stayed home all day.  Fortunately, we kept ourselves busy with Lego, lots of book reading, and two paper plate crafts.  We had such fun painting, I thought I'd share our crafts here.  Here's our first paper plate craft-

Hyper Colorful Painted Paper Plate Flowers

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So what do you think?  I'm in LOVE with how these flowers turned out.  Really, really, gorgeous.  And, (even better), they're really easy to make and paint too!  

Let's Make Easy Wire Wrapped Nature Pendants!

How has your summer been going so far?  We've been spending a ton of time outdoors, running around, playing in the water, and digging in the sand.  For what?  Treasures!  So far we've found lovely bits of blue and green sea glass, shells, and funny shaped rocks.  We've placed some of our treasures on display at home and turned others into these easy-to-make, wire wrapped nature pendants. 

Let's Make Wire Wrapped Nature Pendants!

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Aren't they lovely?  We love doing nature crafts, like making melted crayon friendship rocks, weaving with flowers, building birds nests, and constructing play dough and rock houses.  Today's wire wrapped pendants are a too difficult for the preschool crowd, but adults and older children can easily wrap pendants for younger ones!  

Make Tricycle Circle Artwork with Kids!

When I set up today's preschool art activity, my husband thought I was crazy.   Really.  He thought I finally inhaled too many craft paint fumes, fell off my rocker, and floated away to la-la land.

To be fair to him, it really WAS a giant art activity.  But I was still surprised by his reaction because he's already seen me do messy activities  (like making jello brains), slimey activities, and fairly large scale art activities (like this GIANT DIY scratch board).... so really, in the grand scheme of things, what's the big deal with making....

GIANT TRICYCLE ARTWORK!

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Make Colorful Watercolor Peg Doll and Beaded Necklaces

I recently purchased a box of Liquid Watercolors (affiliate link) to try out.  I'd seen so many beautiful projects by other fellow Rockin' Art Moms  that we just had to try them out too.

And guess what?  These paints totally lived up to the hype.

Here's why liquid watercolor rock- The colors are beautiful and vibrant.  These watercolor paints are also SO MUCH EASIER to use than the typical pan watercolors.  My preschooler doesn't typically enjoy painting with me because he struggles with getting enough color on his paint brush.  I think he really enjoyed today's project because it was easy and the colors came out looking fabulous!

So here's our first liquid watercolor project- Tada!  We used our liquid watercolors to dye some wooden beads and peg dolls to make these lovely, family necklaces!

Let's Make Colorful Watercolor-Dyed Peg Doll Necklaces!

 

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Easy Kirigami Fish Craft

Howdy! For those of you living above the equator-- how's summer so far?  I'm slowly recovering from illness (hooray!)  Our days are packed with swim classes, trips to the library, play dates, and night time walks.  Is it just me, or is summer just as busy as the rest of the school year?

Lately, I honestly haven't had the time (or energy) to craft.  (Do you ever feel that way too?)  Well, in case you wanted a quick, summer craft to do with the kids, I'm sharing this easy kirigami fish craft today!  I've always enjoyed paper cutting and folding crafts, so I thought this was a really great way for young children to get creative with scissors and paper too!

Let's make some Kirigami Fish!

Make GIANT DIY Greeting Cards for Family and Friends

I don't know about you, but there's something cute and fun about seeing super tiny or super big things.  Today  I'm over at DIY Candy sharing how I made these Giant DIY Greeting Cards!

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy making, friends!

Make a Water Xylophone and start exploring Sound with kids!

Today we're doing another super easy Preschool STEAM activity!  Chuck and I recently explored sound by making our very own......

DIY Water Xylophone!

Make Super Graphic and Colorful Shark Sun Catchers with Kids

Did you know that it's Shark Week?  We don't have cable, so I had no idea until someone else informed me.  While I'm not quite sure what Shark Week entails.... we do love learning about sharks and doing easy shark crafts..... like this

Super Easy Shark Sun Catcher Craft!      

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Let's make Patriotic Paper Plate Purses!

(Whoa! Just realized that the title had way too many Ps in it.) 4th of July is THIS Saturday!  And if you're looking for a super easy 4th of July craft to do with the kids, tada!  Make some Patriotic Paper Plates with them!

Patriotic Paper Plate Purses!

Visit Handmade Charlotte to the get the full Paper Plate purse Tutorial today!

 

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy making, friends!

DIY Easy, Breezy Cardboard Rainbow Mobile (Template included)

Rainbows have been on my mind a lot lately. Maybe it has to do with landmark Supreme court ruling?  Or maybe it's just because I've been kinda sick and they make me feel happy.  Hrmm... probably a bit of both reasons, I suspect.  Here on the blog, I've shared a full spectrum of rainbow crafts.  They're colorful, fun, and always put a smile on people's faces.  Today I'm sharing this easy, breezy cardboard rainbow mobile that I whipped up a couple of nights ago.

I really love how it moves in the air.

Cardboard Rainbow Mobile    

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Make Your Own "Exploding" Chocolate Candy

I'm not a candy eater.  But for today's post... I made an exception.  Today is Friday, which means that it's a  Kids STEAM Activity day!  In honor of the fourth of July, we made some chocolate candy that explodes and pops in your mouth!

Yup. You read that right.  While eating these exploding chocolate treats, you'll definitely feel tiny fourth of July fireworks popping in your mouth.  Curious?  Read on!

How to Make "Exploding" Chocolate Candy!

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Hello Summer! Let's have a Tie Dye Party!

This post is sponsored by  I Love To Create and Blueprint Social.  However, all opinions are my own!

Ah, summer, sweet summer.  Nothing screams summer to me more than sunny weather, grill outs, fresh watermelon, and tie dye!   I recently received a free box of tie dye curtesy of  I Love to Create's Tie Dye Your Summer campaign... and I couldn't wait to try it out!

DIY Super Cute Cat Bookmarks

Colorful. Cat. Bookmarks.  Well, if that doesn't lure you in, I'm not sure what will!  Today I'm over at DIYCandy sharing how I made these cute cat bookmarks from paint chips.  So come stop on by!  

Ha!  Look at all these cats! I feel like a cat-lady....

(And I apologize for the silence over here lately.  Unfortunately, I'm still not feeling well.  So I'm slowing down on crafting for a bit until I feel better.  I'll try to post 1-2 times a week... but we'll see how that goes!)

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy making, friends!

Father's Day Super Secret Message Card

Father's Day is right around the corner!  And surprise, surprise... Chuck and I have yet to make hubby a gift or a card.  (I've been pretty sick lately, so I've totally been off the ball with crafts. Ack.)  Last year we made these super cute Father's Day Cards.  This year... well... it might just be a chocolate bar and a doodle.  (Sorry hubby!)

But I still have a cute Father's Day card to share.  This super-secret spy card would be great for older kids to make for dad.  Kids create their own ciphers and codes.  Then, dad decodes the message on Father's Day.  Neat, right?  You even turn the dials to find out the code.  So.  Cool!

You can find a video for this Super Secret Father's Day Message Card on PBS today!
(And if you need more tips on how to make the cipher work, check out my comments down in the comment section!)

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy making, friends!

Make a Woven CD Dream Catcher

While I love paper craft projects, lately I've been trying to branch out with new materials and new techniques.  I've posted a couple of weaving crafts on this site before and was itching to try some more.   Today I'm going to share a fun cd weaving project.  It took a little while to weave each cd, but I think it was worth it because the results are just so beautiful.  (Plus, isn't everyone always trying to figure out new ways to get rid of cds?)

Woven CD Dream Catcher Craft

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Let's Make Easy and Colorful Magnetic Sculptures!

Magnets are such fun things to explore!  For me, there's nothing cooler than feeling that invisible magnetic force pull or push two items together.  Today we're exploring magnetism and the connection between art and science with this really easy Magnetic Sculpture Activity!  

Kids STEAM Activity:   Making Magnetic Sculptures!

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Make a Pirate Toilet Roll Craft With Your Mateys!

Toilet roll crafts, ah we've done so many toilet roll crafts over the years.  They're simple, fun, and there are oh so many options!  For last month's MollyMoo Contribution, I made these adorable cardboard roll mermaid and hula girls.  This month I'm mixing it up... with a cute Pirate and Parrot Toilet Roll Pair.  Arrrgh!  So head on over to MollyMoo's, me hearties, and you'll find the full tutorial there!

Toilet Roll Pirate and Parrot

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy making, friends!

Make Cute and Easy Mosaic Clay Treasure Pots

Have you ever tried using air dry clay (affiliate link) before?  As someone who really enjoys making paper crafts, it was really fun playing around with this new medium!  Last month Chuck and I used it to make some cute flower and star clay ring bowls.   I really liked how those bowls turned out, so for this month's Handmade Charlotte contribution, I made these Mosaic Clay Treasure Pots.    You can find the full tutorial over there!

Cute and Easy Clay Treasure Pots

Let's keep in Contact!

You can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy making, friends!

Make Fun and Colorful Number Chart Sticker Math Art

When I was a kid, I loved learning about patterns.  There was something super thrilling about being able to predict what came next.  Today I'm sharing a colorful STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) Activity that combines my love of patterns, color, and math!  We're making some groovy Number Chart Art!  This activity is the perfect way for kids to practice number recognition, pattern-making, multiplication, addition, and subtraction... while making some beautiful artwork too!

Let's make Number Chart Art! 

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No-Sew Cloth Super Hero dolls!

Lately, my preschooler has really gotten into super heroes.   I find this pretty funny because we never watch any super hero shows on tv... yet somehow he knows characters like Batman, Wolvarine, Super Man, and Spiderman!  (Weird, right?)  So today I wanted to share this really easy, no-sew cloth super hero doll tutorial.  This quick and simple craft doesn't need any special items and you can make your very own dolls within minutes!

And if your kid loves super heroes too.... be sure to check out my other Super Hero Crafts!

No-sew Cloth Super Hero Dolls!

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3 Totoro Crafts

Have you seen the movie Totoro?  We recently checked it out from the library and have already watched it a dozen times!  Totoro is a large, furry forest spirit who helps two sisters adjust to their new home.  My  preschool son loves it because there are no bad guys, the sisters have a really sweet relationship, and Totoro is extremely cute.  So today I'm  sharing 3 Totoro crafts in honor of this great Miyazaki anime!

3 Easy Totoro Kids Crafts  

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Squirt Squirt Ocean Art!

If there's anything in the world that will brighten up a preschooler's day.... it's water play.  Water is seriously magical.  Give a kid a bucket of water, a pool, a water gun, or a hose...  and bam!  Laughter and good times are bound to be in your future!

Today 4 other creative preschool bloggers and I are sharing some really easy and engaging water activities.  You can find the entire list at the bottom of this post!

In our home, we've really loved making Ocean Crafts and rainy day process art. So I thought it would be fun to combine the two with this fun Ocean Process Art Activity!  We got a chance to use a whole bunch of art materials (including water guns) to create some ocean-inspired artwork.

Squirt, Squirt Ocean Process Art!

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Make Lego Prints with Kids

I'm always looking for ways to encourage my preschooler to make art with me.  Lately he's been infatuated with Lego and Transformers.  One day, after building a good-guy hideout from Lego, I was struck by how pretty our design looked.  So we grabbed some paint and made some Lego prints to capture all the details of our lovely design!

Make Lego Prints with Kids!

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Fire Truck Number Hunt Game

Lately Chuck's been enjoying playing number games with me.   One of our favorite ways to learn math together is playing this Fire Truck Number Game. 

To find out how we play this game, check out PBS Adventures in Learning  today!

Easy Spin Art With Kids (No machine required!)

Looking for an art activity that's sure to entertain kids of all ages?  Then salad spinner spin art is just the activity for you!  My husband, son, and I spent hours having fun making some colorful psychedelic artwork!

Easy Salad Spinner Spin Art!

Easy, Giant DIY Scratchboard Art!

Have you ever tried making scratch art  (affiliate links)?   It's seriously addictive.  We recently bought a set of scratch art boards from our local toy store and had a BLAST doodling, tracing, and scratching.  So after we used up all our boards....I got thinking.  Why use tiny scratch boards...... when GIANT SCRATCH BOARDS could do?

(Muah Ha ha.  Insert crazy, crafter laughter here.)

Super Easy, Giant, Homemade Scratchboards!

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Make Origami Faces

This past weekend I spent a bit of time figuring out how to make some adorable origami faces.   After several failed attempts, I shortened the directions... and voila!  I love how they turned out! Sculptural and modern, they are so fun to make and uber cool to display!

Paper Sculptures- Making Origami Faces with Kids!  

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Pie Plate Solar System

We love space themed crafts!  Do you?  Today's Creative Preschool Collaborators theme is space.  This means that 4 other bloggers and I will share 5 super fun solar system crafts!  So be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this post to see everyone's ideas!

We've been studying how the earth revolves around the sun.  So we made this pie plate solar system game!

Pie Plate Solar System

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Calder-Inspired Sculptures (and our 20+ favorite art books!)

As a child I really loved Alexander Calder's sculptures.  Whimsical and colorful, they let me see that art can be fun too!  Today I'm sharing a really simple paper sculpture project inspired by Calder's large scale metal ones.  They take only minutes to whip up and certainly would also make for fun scissor practice with younger kids as well!

Kids Calder-Inspired Art Sculptures  

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How to Make Tissue Paper flowers

Are you looking to create gorgeous, realistic tissue paper flowers with the kids?  Then this is the tutorial for you!  These flowers are beautiful and super easy to make.  Just grab a bunch of tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and scissors and you're all set to make a colorful bouquet for someone special!

How to Make Tissue Paper Flowers

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Pizza Box Car Garage

The next time you get some take-out pizza, ask them for an extra clean pizza box.  Why?  So you and the kids can make a pizza box car garage, of course!

Recycled Pizza Box Car Garage

Slinky Rainbow Garland

Are you looking for an easy, fun, and colorful kids craft?  Well, then today's slinky rainbow garland is just up your alley.  I've been digging rainbow crafts lately.  They're just so fun and happy! And these rainbow garlands are totally rocking my world.  I was inspired by Minieco's folded rainbow paper garlands and decided to make some of my own!  Chuck loves playing them like an accordion and watching them wiggle around. (Ok, I kinda do too. They're mesmerizing!)

Slinky Rainbow Paper Garland

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Flower and Star Clay Ring Bowls

Have you ever worked with clay?  I'm a clay novice and I always get slightly nervous thinking that we need a kiln.  But I was totally wrong! There are lots of great, affordable air dry clay options out there.  Since my son loves play dough, working with clay has been a really great activity for us to do together.  With Mother's Day right around the corner, here are some super easy DIY flower and starry night clay ring bowls that you can whip up with your children!

DIY Flower and Starry Night Clay Ring Bowls

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Toilet Roll Mermaid and Hula Girl

We've done dozens of toilet paper roll crafts over here, but this one seriously takes the cake for cutest yet.  Tada!

Toilet Roll Mermaid and her best gal pal, Hula Girl

You can check out the full tutorial for these two super cute toilet roll crafts over at MollyMoo Crafts!

Let's Keep In Contact!

You can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)