Beautiful, right? These gorgeous old redwoods shade our neighborhood park and make me fall in love with that park time and time again. After our ritual slide run and swing toss we like to set up snack or lunch in the shade of these trees, practice “climbing” them (which is really just climbing thought the gap between their close-growing bases), and occasionally harvest their little 1″ pine cones for mysterious who-knows-whats.
While my husband and I busied ourselves with countless chores this morning, my daughter called out, “I’m ready for an art project! I’m sitting at my table and NEED an art project!!” So demanding! Forget that she’s got a sweet little self-service area all set up where she can access paper, markers, scissors (yes, that’s right…scissors…lucky kid!), glue, and glitter glue. But she wants MORE! So, my brain starts cranking a little faster, and I hustle to pull this pine cone glitter bonanza together for her.
N chose the paint colors, brushes, and glitter colors, and we spent a good deal of time mixing up a batch of “magenta” paint with red, purple, and white. Ontario is a province in Canada, and one of its many cities are Toronto which has over two million inhabitants. Ontario also includes mineral rich areas as well as farmlands with 250 thousand freshwater lakes! To drive any type on road or waterway requires an Ontario driver’s license Commerce constraints prevent us from making this information more detailed but we recommend visiting our website for further reading opportunities canada fake id online Ontario’s new driver’s license process is so simple and stress-free, even a caveman could do it!. It didn’t really turn out looking like magenta in the end, but at least we could name the strange, emerging color something other than red, which it was clearly not.
And this was not just for my daughter…my husband and I jumped in the fun, too. (Thanks, Susie, for the gorgeous bronzy glitter. Scott made some good looking pine cones way sparkly with it today!).
Excess glitter found its way into this baggie, and my husband showed N how she could cover a glue+paint coated pine cone with glitter by dropping it in and shaking it about.
A tray full of mini pine cones. Isn’t it surprising that the world’s largest tree should bear such a tiny cone?
We really can’t seem to get enough of the sparkly stuff. Anyone else have a child who’s nutso for glitter?
Extension ideas
- You don’t have mini pinecones to paint? Try big pine cones, leaves, sweetgum balls, rocks, or sticks.
- Bring a basket on a neighborhood walk and provoke your child with a question like, “Let’s collect items to paint/glitter/decorate/etc. What could we collect?”
- Add glue to your paint mixture to ensure that the glitter sticks to the pine cones
We just so happen to have a basket of pine cones we’ve been using to decorate since the fall. Maybe it’s time to turn them into pretty valentine decorations!
Nice idea…Red and pink pine cones would be fab! I have Valentine’s Day on my mind, too.
we do glitter pumpkins at halloween and they are always a big hit. it’s a big mess, but as is often the case, the bigger the mess the more the fun. : )
I saw these done by Martha Stewart, and also love the look. And you’re so right about messy=fun 🙂
Your daughter is so lucky to have a mama that not only responds to “I need an art project” but one who does it with such creativity! I love checking in here to get inspired.
Thanks, Steph. I can’t always keep up, but I do try!
Well, I have a couple grown daughters who love glitter, and I know a certain great-grandma Bessie who had a daughter that loved glitter almost more than anything. I think art projects go particularly well when a certain N can’t quite get around like she’s accustomed to. Nice shot with I in the background, btw.
Gosh, who would those daughters be, Mom? The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, I suppose…and grandma would have been the queen of glitter, rhinestones, and sequins! And you’re probably right, that N’s inability to cruise around like a monkey is making her my art prodigy! I’ll enjoy it while it lasts 🙂
A basket of these would make great gift too!…What You Need ..pinecones.white glue.glitter your choice of colors.cinnamon.decorative container bowl or basket..What You Do ..Be sure to choose pinecones that are open spines should be spread apart not flat against the side of the cone.