April 2011

Outdoor Water Painting Experiments

My friend Diana sent me these amazing photos of her son (almost 2 1/2 at the time), experimenting with water painting. She offered him a couple containers of water and a paintbrush and gave him free reign to paint away. I love how he was able to take these simple materials and experiment with them [...]

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Flour Sifter

We have a make-shift sensory tub that often makes its way into the middle of our kitchen where we conduct experiments, make “cakes and pies,” and mess around with the feel of stuff. Some of the things we’ve filled it with are dry beans, oobleck, jello, vinegar and baking soda, and rice. I’m always on [...]

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Drawing Shadows

Today was an on-and-off sunny day, but in those brief moments of sunshine we squeezed in a quick little chalk drawing project that’s a great way to help children look at things from a new perspective, which is a key ingredient in creative thinking. I talked to N about a plan to draw our shadows earlier in [...]

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Creative Challenge #5: Plastic Bottles

Make something with Plastic Bottles In honor of Earth Day, I’d like to raise a little awareness toward the enormous amounts of plastic bottles used around the world, coupled with some thoughts on recycling and upcycling those bottles into creative products. My family is hooked on bubbly water, and while the number of bottles we [...]

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Simple Balloon Yo-Yo

News break  If you like TinkerLab, please click on over here and give us your vote. We won’t win anything, but the attention sure is nice! ++++++ This springy toy is fun to play with, easy to make, and can be created with things that you may already have in the cupboard. It can also teach children [...]

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Dry Erase on Windows

Why use paper and crayons when you can draw on windows with markers? My husband invited us to visit him during a class he’s teaching on the intersection of design and improvisation (oh how I wish I had time to take this class!).  He brought N a dry erase marker to keep her occupied. Can [...]

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Egg Dyeing Experiments

News break  If you like TinkerLab, please click on over here and give us your vote. We won’t win anything, but the attention sure is nice! +++++   I’m excited to share my first inter-blog collaborative project. Are you ready? Today I’m posting two Easter Egg projects in conjunction with Melissa of The Chocolate Muffin Tree. After [...]

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Rolled Wooden Eggs

This is part of a collaboration with my friend Melissa’s blog, The Chocolate Muffin Tree. Scroll to the bottom for a link to her Two for One: Rolled Eggs. Her colors are amazing! We started with some wooden eggs. Aren’t they pretty? What we used Wooden Eggs Acrylic Paint. Acrylics will stain clothes, walls, etc. Be sure to [...]

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Bird Feeder & Hop Circle

Today I’m sharing two outdoor activities for creative play… #1: Peanut Butter Bird Feeder Our house is shaded by an enormous pinecone-dropping machine, and these little beasts can be found in all corners of our mini-oasis. They are so begging to be turned into something, right? Peanut-butter coated pinecone bird feeders, here we come! (Apologies [...]

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