Elementary Archives

Creative Ways to Spend a Sick Day

How do you get through sick days?

With Spring just around the corner, I thought that maybe maybe maybe we would be the lucky ones who made it through winter without getting sick. Wishful thinking! My oldest came down with a fever the other day and we’ve been holed up at home, gathering our energy and drinking lots of fluids.

I have an arsenal of indoor activity ideas, but to be stuck inside all day long…that’s another story. Lots of tea, patience, and cuddles are in top order.

There was a break in the day when we felt a little better. So we threw on our rainboots for some puddle stomping. Fresh air always helps, doesn’t it?

Bring Books to Life

The other day I fell in love with this article on Little Stories called How to Pretend.The idea that really stuck with me was about acting out books to bring them to life.

To pull this off, I found a big box of stuffed animals in our closet — little friends that we haven’t seen in ages. That alone was thrilling to my kids. And then we picked out a few favorite books with animal characters that we could bring to life with our toys and puppets.

I envisioned that I would lead a puppet show of sorts while reading the books, sort of like a librarian or preschool teacher telling a story through a felt board. But my 3 year old wanted to enact the roles while I read. I live for these moments that surprise.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (affiliate) was especially good for putting all of our toys to work. We don’t have a cat stuffed animal, but my kids were happy to substitute bunny. They really loved this and I’m sure we’ll do it again on our healthy days too.

It looks like we’re home for one more day, just to be safe.

I have a fun Saint Paddy’s Day photo booth invitation set up, but not too many more ideas.

What do you like to do with your kids on sick days? How do you keep them happily engaged indoors all day long?

More Sick Day Ideas

I was interviewed in this article, Screen-free Alternatives for Sick Days, at The Washington Post, where I share simple and engaging ideas (that don’t take tons of energy) such as playing with play dough, creating with stickers, making tape roads, and playing with a sensory bin. Click over for more ideas.

Celery Science Experiment

By Rachelle 32 Comments

While I’m an art educator by trade, having small people pull at my pants has turned me into a mini-alchemist who’s suddenly found herself reading books to her kids about Galileo and brewing all sorts of concoctions in our kitchen (vinegar and baking soda, anyone?). Preschoolers are simply curious and see no boundaries between art and science, making this celery experiment a wonderful early STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) activity for young children.

The celery science experiment is easy to achieve with basic kitchen materials and it’s embedded with all sorts of opportunities for introducing the scientific method (in short: asking scientific questions, making predictions, and conducting an experiment).

Supplies

Celery with leafy tops
Clear glasses
Water
Food coloring

The Celery Science Experiment

N poured water into three glasses. about 3/4 cup in each.

Then she added a few drops of food coloring — 5-8 drops, but who’s counting! — into the glasses and stirred with a piece of celery, which was left in the glass. And then we talked about what might happen if we left the celery in the colored water for a while.

We oohed and ahhed over the lava-lamp effect of the food coloring as it hit the water.

The Scientific Method: Make Predictions

We started off with red, yellow, and green, but N really wanted to mix colors and added blue and red to the green water (far right). We revisited our earlier discussion and made predictions about how the celery might change.

While waiting for something to happen, I chopped the celery heart off the bottom of the stalk and set up a printing activity.

N humored me by making a few prints and then asked if she could play with colored water. Totally!

While I only have one photo of this, it was probably the highlight of the afternoon.

When we checked the celery a couple hours later, this is what it looked like. I put a leafy top next to it so you can see how subtle the change is. Hmmm. While I could see the change, I wasn’t sure it would make a big impact on my daughter. And then I realized that I should have just put the leafy parts in the water for a more dramatic result. Done!

A few hours later the blue/green had the most pronounced shift, but the red and yellow were visibly different too.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the red and blue-green died celery tops, about 16 hours after the stalks had been sitting in the water. N seemed to appreciate the difference, but wasn’t nearly as impressed as her dad and I were.

Why does celery absorb food coloring?

In terms that preschoolers can understand…

Plants need water to survive and they draw water up from their roots through their capillaries. The capillaries are hollow and act a lot like a straw. Adding color to the water helps us visualize this usually invisible process.

Pom Pom Christmas Pinecone Ornament Craft

By Rachelle 6 Comments

The holiday season is upon us and the smells of the season are filling our home with cinnamon, fir, cloves, vanilla, and pine. It’s delightful!

Making Christmas crafts from pine cones is easy, seasonal, and inexpensive. This pom pom Christmas craft can be set up in just a few minutes, clean up is easy, and kids get the chance to exercise their glue gun skills (so fun!). Glue guns and kids? Don’t fret – keep reading for details on how to build glue gun confidence.

Supplies

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

Low Heat Glue Gun such as Elmer’s Craft Bond Dual Temp
Pinecones
Small Pom Poms
Ribbon or Yarn

Glue guns and kids? Yes! Glue guns enable kids to bring their 3-D visions to life in a matter of seconds, while avoiding the frustration of waiting for white glue to dry. Just be sure to use a glue gun with a low heat setting like Elmer’s Craft Bond Dual Temp. I really like this glue gun because I can flip the switch to high temp (for my mama super-gluing needs) and safely back to low temp for the kids.

Let’s talk pinecones: If you live somewhere where they’re dropping everywhere like they are here in Northern California, bonus! Your pinecones can be found for free! Our new puppy loves chewing on pine cones – this one did not make it to the crafting table.

However, you may not want those lovely sap-infused, rain-drenched pinecones, and the good news is that they’re easy to find this time of year at craft stores. I found a bag of about 20 pinecones, infused with cinnamon, for just a few dollars. I like the natural rustic look, but for a beautiful holiday ornament, you could start with shimmery gold pinecones like these.

Steps

Clear the table and cover it with paper or a table covering if you don’t want the glue to stick to the table. I’d recommend this step if your table is a precious surface.
Plug in the glue gun.
Set up a bowl or plate of pom poms, a few pine cones, and ribbon.
If your child has never used a glue gun, walk through some safety steps on how to use it: don’t touch the tip and don’t touch the glue immediately after it comes out of the glue gun. Make a practice pinecone together to work out any kinks. Patience is so important with this step, so take your time if you need to.
Invite your child to attach pom poms to the pine cone.
Make a loop of yarn and glue it to the top of the pine cone.
Hang your ornament!

Creativity Corner

Sometimes kids will come up with their own ideas that stretch outside the bounds of what you may have in mind. I love these moments and encourage them as they help children develop their independence and imagination. If your child wants to add sequins or buttons instead of pom poms, or wants to wrap the pine cone in ribbon, go for it! This is a great opportunity for playful crafting.

Glue Gun Crafts with Kids

Scrap Wood Sculptures: Glue Gun Skill Building Activity

Build Found Object Junk Critters

More Ornaments with Kids

Pom Pom Christmas Bauble Ornament. These are so simple – just fill the bauble with pom poms!

Salt Dough Ornaments. These are gorgeous and last for multiple seasons.

Pipe Cleaner (Chenille Stem) Ornaments with beads

Stacked Felt Ornaments that teach sewing basics.

DIY Fabric Ornaments, beginning sewing project.

Thank you Elmer’s for sponsoring this post. All opinions are my own.

Printable Postcards for Kids – Download PDF

By Rachelle 8 Comments

Oh, summer, the season of lazy pool days, sandy beach feet, museum-going, ice-cream eating, popsicle-dripping, hammock-swinging, baseball playing, firefly sighting, and road tripping. Whether you’re taking a local hike or heading out of town, print up a batch of these DIY printable postcards for kids and tuck them in a bag along with a simple travel art kit and a sketchbook for art journaling.

Thank you to Elmer’s for sponsoring this post. I’m a long-time fan of Elmer’s for everything from slime to DIY colored glue. All opinions shared here are my own.

Back to DIY postcards, here’s what you’ll need to make your own batch of homemade correspondence:

Printable Postcard Supplies

This post contains affiliate links

Printable postcards: Download DIY Postcard Printable here
Card Stock paper
Elmer’s Extreme Glue Stick – this glue stick is fantastic for connecting papers that you don’t want to separate.
Scissors
Mark-making tools such as pencil, paint, or paint markers (we used Painters Paint Pens)

Steps for Printable Postcards for Kids

Print postcards on cardstock
Cut out a postcard
Cut out another piece of card stock to match the postcard size.
Glue the postcard to the blank card stock using a heavy duty glue stick. Two pages are necessary, otherwise your card will be flimsy and less postcard-like.
Decorate the blank back with a picture of your travels or uplifting message.
Write your greeting, add an address, stamp, and mail!

Supplies…easy peasy, right?

This step is super important if you want your postcards to feel sturdy enough to mail: Glue a piece of card stock to the back of your postcard with a heavy duty glue stick like Elmer’s Xtreme.

Bring your postcard on your trip, along with art supplies.

We made this a family collaboration– my daughter drew the message and I added color with color-rich Painters paint pens. Read on to see how we finished it off.

We’ve been playing with calligraphy pens lately and picked up the Manuscript Leonardt set (pictured below) for a recent trip. As an aside, I wouldn’t normally recommend an open container of calligraphy ink on a flight (be careful!!), but we had smooth skies and luckily no ink was lost. I added some black ink flourishes.

Once we landed, my littlest added splashes of color with colored pencils, and then our postcard was ready to get shipped off. We’re also using the Progresso Woodless Colored Pencils (such rich colors – amazing! ) and the Koi Watercolor Travel Set (24 colors) (also a travel favorite!).

After a visit to the beach on a windy day, sailboats were in order.

What do you think? Wanna print up a stack and carry them along for impromptu love notes? Of course you do!

I happen to love getting artsy mail, so if you’re looking for someone to send art to, feel free to send one my way at:

Rachelle Doorley

TinkerLab

4000 Middlefield Road, Studio U-5

Palo Alto, CA 94303

If I get a few cards, maybe I’ll even attach photos of your art to this article!

Happy Travels!

How to Make Sun Prints on Fabric

By Rachelle 11 Comments

I’m delighted to introduce you to TinkerLab’s newest contributor, Noreen Greimann, who shares a beautiful article on how to sun print on fabric. I adore this project because it encourages us to spend time in nature and outside, and also uses materials that you probably already have access to.

Growing up, I often lost myself in the natural world spending hours in the garden, the fields and by the river. These special places with all their nooks and crannies became my main source of inspiration for playing, tinkering, writing and drawing.

This hasn’t changed. And now I get to share these moments with my children and watch with amazement how they weave their experiences in nature into their play and creative activities.

Today, I’m excited to show you how to take bits and pieces of nature to create gorgeous sun print fabric that you are going to want to make over and over again.

Supplies

• 100% white cotton fabric
• acrylic craft paint or fabric paint (darker colors recommended)
• paint brushes
• water in a bowl or small bucket
• a flat surface outdoors to work on (e.g. driveway, old cutting board) – no wooden surface
• nature materials: petals, leaves, ferns, blades of grass, flat pebbles, etc.

Directions

Make Paint. Dilute the paint with water at a 1:1 paint to water ratio. You want the paint to be thin enough to flow easily, but to still have enough pigment for bright colors.
Wet the Fabric. Wet the fabric in a bowl of water and squeeze it out until it is no longer dripping. Lay it flat on a mat or other non-porous surface.
Paint the fabric with a big paintbrush. When working with young children it is best to only use one or two colors at a time. Otherwise, the results will be rather muddy looking because little hands often can’t resist mixing all the colors together.
Press the leaves and flowers. As soon as you are done painting, press the leaves and flowers top side down onto the painted fabric, making sure the edges of the leaves and flowers lie flat. The more contact with the fabric, the sharper the lines will be in the end.
Place in the sun. Leave the fabric out in the sun for 1 to 2 hours. If it is really hot, it helps to mist the fabric during the first 30 minutes to an hour.
Remove leaves. When the fabric is completely dry, peel off the leaves and flowers and watch the magical prints appear. Don’t the dandelion leaf prints look like fish?
Set the paint. To set the paint, place the fabric in the dryer on high for 1 hour. I also recommend hand washing the first time as some of the paint may still wash out.

How to use sun print fabrics

The possibilities are truly endless.

Start with a t-shirt or pillowcase and you will have a stunning project in 2 hours.
Fabric pieces can be sewn into simple draw-string bags, which are perfect for holding gems, fairies, acorns, pebbles, seashells and other treasures. The fabrics also make lovely doll pillows and blankets.
Or how about a large bag for carrying books to the library?

Ready to give this a try? I hope you will enjoy this project as much as we do.

Noreen Greimann is a Natural Childhood Advocate who helps parents create a magical childhood for their children through her unique method of combining storytelling with activities. She shares her work and inspires parents on her website Entangled Harmony.

Hand Painted Wrapping Paper for Kids

By Rachelle 1 Comment

There’s nothing quite as precious as a homemade gift, and even more so if it’s wrapped up in hand painted wrapping paper. We used this wrapping paper to wrap homemade soap for Mother’s Day, and you could use this for just about any gift.

This is a fun and practical way to help kids learn about absorbent paper. Following this activity you can experiment with coffee filters, doilies, paper towels, tissues, or coffee filters again.

Ages: 2 and up

Benefits and Skills: Fine motor, experimentation, play, connection, curiosity

Supplies

This list contains affiliate links.

Liquid watercolors
Paintbrushes
Pipette or medicine dropper
Packing Paper to paint on
Paper to cover work surface
Large sheets of newspaper or packing paper for paintings to dry on
Containers for paint – we used baby food jars and an ice cube tray

The Set Up

Cover your work area
Set up tissue paper, paint, pipettes, and brushes.
Invite your child to paint
Once the painting is done, move it to dry on a sheet of newspaper or packing paper. For extra fun, use kitchen tongs to move the work.

Note: You can set all of this up outside or in a large cookie sheet like this if you’re worried about your child squeezing paint all over the table.

Questions to Ask

What will happen if we squeeze paint on this paper?

What colors do you want to paint with?

I wonder what will happen if the blue and yellow paint mix together?

Once your paper is dry, use it to wrap up homemade gifts.

More Homemade Gift Ideas

Homemade Soap

40 Handmade Cards for Kids to Make

Easy Last-minute Homemade Holiday Gifts