School-age

Winter Craft Collage Invitation

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How do you feel about holiday activities? I love it all…the tree trimming, wreath making, cookie decorating, Santa sighting, and latke cooking. Yes, it’s only December 7, and we’ve already done it all! But I’ve learned that I can only take it in small doses before I need to bury my head in a pillow. [...]

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Snowflake Collage Activity for Kids

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Are you looking for a meaningful process-oriented art project to do with the kids this winter? I have an answer for you with this snowflake collage activity for kids. Have you made snowflakes with your child? Once you get started, making snowflakes can be completely addicting. Last year, when my older daughter was three, we made PILES of snowflakes [...]

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Art Games: Draw with Art Dice

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I’m always happy to land on fun art games that entertain my children and help their brains develop. I originally blogged about these handmade art dice last Spring, and thought you might like to see how this popular tool is getting used by 2-year old daughter #2. I started with a set of blank wooden blocks. [...]

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Fall Luminary: Make a Lantern

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Today I’m joined by Arts Educator extraordinaire, Amanda Gross, who’s back to show us how to make a Fall Luminary from leaves and melted crayons. Not only are these beautiful, but the processes of collecting leaves, peeling crayons, and melting the wax with an iron are sure to capture a child’s attention. Make a Lantern! [...]

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Styrofoam Printmaking

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This project uses materials that you probably already have at home, or can easily find in your drug store. The only specialty item is a brayer, but without it you’d never expose your kids to the experience of true printmaking. Printing from styrofoam plates can help children learn that they can upcycle everyday materials into beautiful objects [...]

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A Scientific Experiment with Celery and Food Coloring

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The following post is from the archives. It originally appeared in April, 2011.   While I’m an art educator by trade, having small people pulling at my pants has turned me into a mini-alchemist who’s suddenly found herself reading books to her kids about Galileo (The Magic Schoolbus and the Science Fair Expedition) and brewing [...]

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Diet Coke Mentos Experiment

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My 4-year old and our neighbor enjoyed witnessing this explosive soda and Minty Mentos experiment. Have you tried it? It doen’t require a huge set-up, and the show is pretty awesome. I have to warn you that the explosion itself goes by quickly, so you might want to have an arsenal of soda containers on [...]

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Make Your Own Birthday Cake

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If you know a little bit about me and my parenting philosophy, you’ll know that I welcome opportunities to get my children into DIY mode. The only way they’re going to learn how to do something is by getting involved, so I may give them a few pointers and then I’ll step back and let them [...]

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Make a Terrarium

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Today I’m joined by my friend and colleague, Amanda E. Gross, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with at the San Francisco Children’s Creativity Museum. She has an incredible eye for all things related to creativity and kids, and today she’s here to share some tips on how to make a terrarium. I’ve wanted to make one [...]

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