TinkerLab | Creative Experiments for Mini Makers

Printable Postcards for Kids – Download PDF

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

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

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

Shoelace Manifestos

By Rachelle

We were invited by Famous Footwear to participate in their Step Forward campaign, which celebrates creativity, being our best selves, and stepping forward with confidence. I’m a big champion of encouraging self-confidence in kids, and this is a message I can easily stand behind. The TinkerLab philosophy is rooted in giving children voice, supporting their individuality, and encouraging self-expression, so of course I had to look to some kids, which happened to be my own, for direction on this project.

These are the questions that guided us:

How can we encourage children to be their best selves and step forward with confidence?

What do they care about?

What are their dreams?

All sorts of ideas were brewing in my mind, mostly along the lines of painting or stenciling our shoes with brave colors or bold messages, but again, I wanted my kids to take the lead on this one. After all, following a child’s curiosity is a tenet of my philosophy as both a parent and arts educator.

So I posed this question to my girls:

“How can we celebrate our personalities through our shoes?”

And that’s when my 8-year old suggested that we make Shoelace Manifestos.

Ohhhh, I love this idea so much, and it’s so her!

She loves to write affirmations and positive statements in her journals, so we decided to celebrate this.

But how? She suggested square letter beads as a way to create a mini shoelace billboard of our affirmations.

#shoelacemanifesto

man·i·fes·to

/ˌmanəˈfestō/

Noun:a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer. (Merriam-Webster)

This quote by French fashion and shoe designer, Roger Vivier, is a lovely sentiment for this project:

“To wear dreams on one’s feet is to begin to give a reality to one’s dreams.”

Like so many children, my kids love their sneakers, and so we all decided to bead up new shoes from Famous Footwear.

My 8-year old and I both chose classic Chuck Taylors. I haven’t owned a pair of these since college, but oh-how-I-loved-these. It’s so fun to get my feet in these again. Swoon!

My 6-year old fell madly in love with these Roxy Rizzo shoes, and practically wore them into the ground before I had a chance to shoot these photos, but it’s a sign of how much she enjoys them.

They are the cutest and get tons of compliments…especially when clean. 😉

We set up the shoes for inspiration, and filled a bowl with these beads.

I didn’t give the kids any guidance and was curious to see where they would take this. My 6-year old spelled out NEW YORK. I asked her about it later and she told me that she loves New York. Not all the noise, but the tall buildings.

After lacing these up, we took them for a ride on the swing. To give them some air and speed in true New York fashion.

My 8-year old adores reading and came up with this message: I ❤️ READING.

She really does. In fact, after pulling this together, she quietly snuck away and happily curled up with a book.

My initials are RAD, which I love, so I knew I wanted the word RAD on one shoe, and my kids suggested SOUL for the other. They’re into puns and thought it was both meaningful and funny to play with the words soul and sole.

Yes, it’s perfect!

Make a Shoelace Manifesto

If you need a little kick-start, start here:

Ask: What are you curious about?
Try to limit the beads on each shoe to six, although seven could work. “Reading” is seven letters, and barely fit on a size 3 kids’ shoe.
Use these beads. Heads up: Some packages don’t come with even quantities of letters, so it’s best if you can see the beads in person.
Try one of these affirmations, or use these as a point of inspiration:
1. Smart – Cookie
2. Kind – Kid
3. Dream – Big
4. I am – Strong
5. Cre -ative
6. Posi – tive
7. I am – Loved
8. I am – Kind
9. Good – Human
10. I ❤️ – Myself
11. I ❤️ – Soccer
12. I ❤️ – Dance (etc.)
Take a photo of your shoes and tag it with #shoelacemanifesto

Thank you to Famous Footwear for kindly sponsoring this post. All opinions are 100% honest & completely my own.

Journal Sparks Book Review

By Rachelle

Note: This post may contain affiliate links.

It’s not every day that I come across a book that I absolutely swoon over, and today I’m sharing a brand new book that is making my artsy heart sing with delight. This happens to be the book launch day for Journal Sparks (happy birthday, Journal Sparks!!), and you are in for a treat!

If you love art journals and creative prompts, if you’ve followed along with the TinkerSketch challenges, and if you are looking for creative ways to encourage and support creative thinking in your family life, Journal Sparks by Emily Neuburger has got to be added to your cart stat. Emily is the author of the award-winning Show Me a Story, and she has outdone herself with this newest book.

Journal Sparks has a childhood bent to it, but I personally found it full of inspiration and I think you’d be happy to own it as a kid or grown-up. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Let me first share my everlasting love for sketchbooks and journals. Like so many kids, I kept a diary when I was little. I wasn’t religious about it, but the habit of writing out my thoughts and documenting ideas was powerful and helped me through hard times. When I was in high school I discovered Julia Cameron’s famous, ground-breaking book, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. In her book, Cameron encourages you to keep what she calls “morning pages,” or three free-hand pages of stream of conscious writing each day. The process of writing without too much heavy thinking helped me tap into my dreams, and that’s when I started keeping sketchbooks of my ideas, experiments, musings, and even checklists.

I pulled out a handful of these journals for this post – from grad school, collaborative journals with my kids, and recent books. I’m not married to one type of journal, but as you can see I do love spiral bound notebooks with heavy paper that can handle water and paint. Strathmore visual journal is one that I continue to return to over and over again. In the moment, these journals are a safe place to drop inspiration and passing thoughts, and in hindsight they’re treasure-troves of data and ideas for future projects.

This is all to say that I love keeping a visual journal, have been doing this for ages, and I am fully and completely inspired by Emily’s fresh take on this topic. I’ll share just a couple ideas from her book and would encourage you to pick up your own copy as it’s sure to inspire hours upon hours of fun, which could turn into transformative experiences for you, your family, or your students.

Map Your Day

For this prompt, pull out your supplies and document your day with pictures and words. I set up my favorite Kuratake watercolor paints, Canson Mix Media Sketchbook, Micron waterproof pen, a brush, water, and a rag.

This process is somewhat like keeping a daily written diary, but with images and just a few words. Pick the key moments of your day — illustrate them, and add arrows to connect one moment to another.

I’ve never done this before and found the process fun, easy, and enlightening. It didn’t take long, I wasn’t too worried about making it perfect (despite sharing this here with you, the sketchbooks are just for me, after all), and seeing my day in pictures will be a joyful memory of a wonderful day.

Images above (left to right): Journal Sparks prompt, my set-up, close-up of my map, another view of my map

Color Your Mood

This process, again, is fun and easy, and I want to continue the practice over seasons to see how this evolves. The process involves painting small snapshots of your emotions in color. This is a great exercise for anyone who feels like they can’t draw since illustration isn’t a requirement.

How I did it: I cut Canson Watercolor Paper into 3″ squares and then painted the emotion or feelings about the day in colors. One day was spent at Stanford where the school mascot is the Cardinal, and the day was full of energy. This day got a wash of red. Another day was spent in nature: Tall green stripes. I taped the mood squares into a large journal and added a few thoughts about the day. These will be so fun to look back on as brief snapshots in time.

Images above (left to right): Journal Sparks prompt, Emily’s example, close up of my mood colors, close-up of my mood colors

Click over to Amazon to click inside the book (my favorite feature) and learn more.

Order a Copy of Journal Sparks or Look Inside the Book

Famous Inspiring Painting Quotes

By Rachelle

Quotes can uplift us, inspire, and send is in a new direction with just a few simple words of wisdom. As an artist I often look to professional artists for tidbits of inspiration to help me get over a hump or work through a block.

These are a few of my favorite painting quotes from some of my favorite artists through the ages. Feel free to borrow these images to share. If you happen to post to Instagram, tag me at @tinkerlab

Enjoy!

“All you need to paint is a few tools, a little instruction, and a vision in your mind.” Bob Ross

“A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning perfectly plain you end up boring people” Edgar Degas

“If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint.” Edward Hopper

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary” Pablo Picasso

“When you want to make the main color pure and bright, don’t just keep adding bright colors on it. Just make the colors around the spot darker and dull. It will give the scene dramatical effects. I think the life is the same.” Hiroko Sakai

“If you hear a voice within you say you cannot paint, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” Vincent Van Gogh

“I don’t paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.” Frida Kahlo

“The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

No-Cook Play Dough

By Rachelle

I’ve been making this recipe for the best playdough for a few years now without too many changes. After investing in this amazing BPA-free electric kettle, I was wondering if I could make this playdough off the stove top. So I did some experimenting, and low and behold — this recipe can be even easier and still the amazing dough that we all love. Here you go…

Use The Best Playdough Recipe ingredients.

No Stove Play dough recipe

Mix all the dry ingredients from this recipe.
Boil water
Add water and oil to a bowl and mix
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until the dough comes together.

Spring Sink Mat Prints

By Rachelle

Printmaking with kids can be accessible and easy. This simple printmaking activity can be set up for children as young as three, maybe even two if you’re feeling brave!

Supplies:

this list contains affiliate links

Rubbery plastic sink mat
Washable Poster Paint (my favorite brand)
Foam brushes (roller brushes or wide brushes will also work)
Paper (I like sulfite drawing paper)
Palette (Dinner plate covered with foil)

Printmaking with Kids: Easy Sink Mat Printing

I spend a lot of time at the hardware store. And last week I spotted this flower mat — the Blumz Sink Mat! — I love that exclamation point! — It’s an exciting sink mat! — and it looked like something that could be fun to print with!

In honor of Spring’s inevitable arrival (yes, it WILL get warmer) and St. Patty’s Day (I married a “Doorley”, after all), we used green and yellow paint.

I also found a bag of ten foam brushes at the dollar store, so the luck of the Irish was clearly with me. I covered the work space with paper and then my daughter painted the mat with our fresh Spring palette.

And then we added a sheet of paper, pressed it down with the palms of our hands, and pulled our first print.

Ooooooooh!! She loved it, and I thought it came out gorgeous!

We pulled three prints, which frankly was more than I had bargained for, and then the real fun began! If you followed our Jello experiment, you’ll recognize a common thread here…