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.

Vegetable-Dyed Easter Eggs

By Rachelle

Have you ever thought about making vegetable dyed Easter eggs?

I’m trying to make a move away from synthetic food dyes and wanted to use natural, homemade dyes this year. Not only are these colors absolutely healthy for human consumption, but the process of making them is a wonderful lesson in creating art materials from scratch and can help children think critically about how to achieve various colors colors.

As I was cutting the onions and beets I asked my daughter what colors she thought they’d make. I also asked questions like, “If I wanted to make blue dye, what might I make it with?”

She had fun making guesses based on what we had in our kitchen and garden, and also came up with her own wild suggestions such as, “let’s take the skins off the bananas to make yellow dye!”

How to Make Vegetable Dyed Easter Eggs

Supplies

Hard boiled eggs
Skin from one onion, two beets, large handful of spinach, half head of red cabbage
Vinegar
Water
Bowls
Ice cream scooper
Rubber Bands
Stickers
Crayons
Parsley Sprigs
Cheesecloth

Make the dye

I set up four pots of dye:

Pot #1: Onion Skins

Pot #2: Beets

Pot #3: Spinach

Pot #4: Chopped Red Cabbage

Add about 3 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of vinegar to each pot. The vinegar helps the dye set onto the egg.

Cook the dyes for about 30 minutes and then strained the colored water into some bowls.

*Note, you could also experiment with hard-boiling your raw eggs in the dye itself. I’ve heard this works really well.

Three Decorating Techniques

While the dye cooks and cools, this could be a good time to get your eggs ready for dipping.

1. Wrap the Eggs with Rubberbands

We wrapped some eggs with rubber bands. Fine motor skill training for my almost 3-year old!

2. Cover Eggs with Stickers

We covered eggs with spring stickers and office stickers.

3. Color the Eggs with Crayons

And we drew on eggs with crayons. Nothing too crazy. The crayon will resist the dye. White crayon would make for more drama in the end, but my 2-year old had her heart set on blue.

How to Dye Easter Eggs

Some people like to use tongs or whisks to grab their eggs, but our ice cream scooper made for a good egg scooper.

Do you see that barely green water up there? That’s what transpired from cooking our spinach…for thirty minutes! Pale green water. As you can imagine, it didn’t do much to our eggs. Next time I think we’ll try using more spinach…or use green food coloring.

Have you had any success achieving a vibrant green color with natural dyes? I’ve heard that liquid chlorophyl l is the best thing to use for green, but I haven’t tried it personally.

Pale Yellow from Onions

We unwrapped the eggs to reveal the hidden images! This pale yellow color was made by the onion skins. We’ve also made yellow dye from ground turmeric (cooked the same as above), which it works really well.

Grey from Beets

It looks brown here, but the beets made a grey-ish color. Dye seeped into the openings of the bunny sticker, revealing a blotchy silhouette that’s still quite nice. A bunch of these all over an egg would be kind of cool, or a simpler sticker would look nice (scroll down for an example).

I’ve had success making a pale pink from beets, and I’m not quite sure what happened here.

Blue from Red Cabbage

But small stickers like this little butterfly left a clear impression. Lovely.

Brilliant blue came from the red cabbage! To make this egg, we wrapped cheesecloth around parsley sprigs and then dipped it in the cabbage dye. If you have pantyhose, that could work even better.

Hole Reinforcement Stickers on Easter Eggs

I found a new life for a stack of hole-punch reinforcement stickers! Don’t you love this? The grey color came from the beets (sad, because I was hoping for pink, but still beautiful), the egg in the back is a brown egg dipped in red cabbage dye, and the yellow egg is colored by onion skin.

Before tossing the cabbage leaves out, I wrapped them around an egg and popped it in the fridge overnight. Tie-dye egg!

For more ideas on how to make natural dyes, you’ll want to read this updated post: How to Make Natural Dye for Painting and Eggs.

More Egg Dying, Decorating, and Science Ideas

Three Easy Tricks for Blown Out Eggs

Egg Geodes Science Experiment

How to Make a Floating Egg

How to Walk on Raw Eggs. Really.

60 Egg Activities for Kids

Have you colored eggs with natural dye?

If you have, please share a tip, link, or photo!!

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…

And maybe you picked up on the addition of an apron. I love that focused expression.

There’s a leprechaun in my house!

More printmaking art projects for kids

16 Easy Printmaking Projects for Kids

Abstract Recycled Prints

Styrofoam Prints (from a veggie or meat packing tray)

Cookie Sheet Monoprints

Bubble Prints

30 Valentine Activities for Kids

By Rachelle

This mother-lode of Valentine activities for kids (toddlers, preschoolers, and any other hands-on kids) covers everything from cards to treats. With 30 Valentine activities for kids here, this should keep us all busy until St. Patrick’s Day!

If you’re so inclined to roll up your sleeves and make something for Valentine’s Day, here are thirty Valentine activities for kids to get you started…

Valentine Cards

How to draw cut out a heart for preschool children, TinkerLab

Make a Valentine Card and Envelope from one heart (above), TinkerLab

Deconstructed Valentines: perfect for toddlers!, Tinkerlab

Self-serve Valentines Station, Tinkerlab

Cards from the Heart: Cut heart shapes from your child’s artwork, The Golden Gleam

Stained Glass Valentines: Peephole cards and tissue paper, Creative Family Fun

Valentine Hearts on a Canvas, Red Ted Art

5 ways to make Valentines Cards, Mama Pea Pod

Set up a Valentine Writing Center, Growing Book by Book

Valentine Sewing Cards for Preschool Children, TinkerLab

Easy Valentine Bookmarks: An awesome no-candy Valentine gift idea, TinkerLab

Valentine Gifts

Heart Blotto T-shirt, The Chocolate Muffin Tree (photo above)

How to Make a Heart Doily T-shirt, The Artful Parent

Make a Jar of Hearts for Dad, The Outlaw Mom

DIY Valentine Heart Puzzle, Allyou

Valentine Heart Gift Bag, Nurturestore

Child-sewn Felt Hearts, MamaSmiles

Heart-shaped Birdseed Cakes, Little Wonders’ Days

Heart Mobile, Rainy Day Mum

Homemade Heart Soaps, Sunhats and Wellie Boots

Magazine Tree of Hearts, Putti’s World

Valentine Crafts and Decorations

Valentine’s Day Garland, Kiwi Crate

Heart Snowflakes, Let Kids Create

Child-made String of Hearts Garland, Hands on as we Grow

Owl-shaped Valentine Craft, This Simple Home

Valentine Activities for Kids

Valentine Play Dough Station, Tinkerlab

Valentine Sensory Bin, The Iowa Farmer’s Wife

Lacing Valentine Card, The Outlaw Mom

Valentine’s Art Journal, Mommy Labs

Heart-shaped Pizza: toddler-style, Growing a Jeweled Rose

Valentine’s Day Sensory Box with pink rice, Pink and Green Mama

Simple Word-matching Game, The Homeschool Den

Valentine Treats

Valentine Snack with Toast, cream cheese, and sprinkles. Looks just like a cookie!, Tinkerlab

Sweetheart S’mores with heart marshmallows, graham crackers, peanut butter, and strawberries. A Mom with a Lesson Plan

Stained-glass Cookies: So pretty!, The Outlaw Mom

Delicious Mini Heart Pies, TinkerLab

Frozen Chalk Paint – an Art Provocation

By Rachelle

If you’re fighting against hot weather and could use a creative activity that will get you outdoors, frozen ice chalk is a wonderful way to explore the intersection of art and science with little ones…on a hot day.

How to Make Frozen Chalk Paint

Making up a batch of frozen chalk paint is easy, and you can make it with ingredients that you probably already have at home, which is the best in my opinion. I was inspired by this recipe at Reading Confetti.

This post contains affiliate links.

Supplies: Frozen Chalk Paint

Corn Starch, also known as Corn Flour in the U.K.

Liquid watercolors. I like this brand. The colors are bright and they’re non toxic. India Tree makes a set of natural food coloring that is lovely if you’re looking for something all-natural.

Ice Cube Tray/s. I found this set of 3 trays (stars, flowers, and mixed shapes) that are similar to mine, and a good deal for all three.

Water

Mixing Bowl

Spoon

Instructions: Make Frozen Ice Chalk

Mix 1 part corn starch with 1 part water.
Add food coloring or liquid watercolors until you reach the desired color.
To make multiple colors, mix in smaller bowls or simple add the food coloring directly to the ice cube tray.
Pour into the mold.
Freeze.
Pop out and play.

A quick note about frozen chalk: Food coloring and liquid watercolors, mixed with corn starch, can temporarily stain sidewalks. Ours left a beautiful rainbow on the sidewalk for couple weeks. It looked lovely and we didn’t mind, but it’s something to keep in mind if you have a precious surface that you want to preserve.

Play Ideas for Frozen Chalk

Place them on a sidewalk and watch them melt
Draw with the chalk
Place different colors near each other and make guesses about what color the melting chalk will turn into as the paint mixes (see photo below)
Offer a stick to push the frozen chalk around with

More Homemade Art Supplies that you can Make

Salt and Flour Paint – Just as it sounds, you will only need salt, flour, and food coloring

Easy Egg Tempera Paint – This gorgeous paint dries with a slight shimmer.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Paint – This may be the most delicious paint recipe ever.

More Art Provocations

If you are looking for more art provocations like this, the Creative Table Project is filled with tons of ideas that you can implement right away.

NAEYC Registration Discount Code

By Rachelle

The NAEYC Annual Conference & Expo is the largest early childhood education conference in the world, where tens of thousands of educators choose from hundreds of presentations and exhibits. This year’s conference will be held November 18-21 in Orlando, FL.

About the NAEYC

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research.

NAEYC Registration Discount Code

Good news for friends of TinkerLab: I have a REGISTRATION DISCOUNT CODE for the 2015 Conference to share with you today.

There are extra discounts if you’re a student, NAEYC member, if you register as a group, or if you register early.

On top of that, you can get an additional 15% discount when you use the code Doorley15 at checkout.

Early bird registrations ends on September 25, 2015

NAEYC for Families

NAEYC is not just for educators! They also has resources for families on child development, music, families today, and help with selecting childcare and preschools.

Engineering Kids | Rube Goldberg Machine

By Rachelle

This project has long been on my to-do list with my kids. We are long-time fans of marble runs (see the resources page for recommendations), and extending our love for rolling balls and ramps into the world of Rube Goldberg was a no-brainer. And triple hurrah for projects that celebrate STEM and STEAM learning. We were on the hunt for easy Rube Goldberg ideas, watched a few videos, and came up with this fun solution that works for young children.

About Rube Goldberg

For the uninitiated, Rube Goldberg was an American Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor, and his work is a classic example of the melding of art and science. Goldberg began his career as an engineer, and later became a cartoonist who drew elaborate illustrations of contraptions made up of pulleys, cups, birds, balloons, and watering cans that were designed to solve a simple task such as opening a window or setting an alarm clock. Interestingly, Goldberg only drew the pictures, and never built any of his inventions. However, these pictures have since served as inspiration for makers and builders who want the challenge of making wild inventions to solve everyday problems.

And apparently, Rube Goldberg is a now an adjective in the dictionary! You can read more about Goldberg here.

Build a Rube Goldberg Machine with Kids

So, are you interested in building a Rube Goldberg-style machine with little kids? This post will give you a few tips and ideas to make your own complicated machine.

Step 1: Get Inspired

First things first, you’ll want to watch some Rube Goldberg contraptions in action to get inspired. My kids and I LOVE this video from OK Go. It’s incredible complicated, but oh-so-amazing, so don’t think for one hot second that you’ll be able to replicate this with little kids.

Step 2: Solve a Problem

Next, come up with a simple problem that you’re trying to solve. For example:

Ring a Bell
Pop a Balloon
Open a Door
Shut a window
Put out a candle

Once you have a problem sorted out (and don’t worry – you can change this later if you want), gather supplies…

Step 3: Gather Supplies

You can print out the following list here.

Collect a bucket-full of supplies and then lay them out so they’re easily seen. These can largely be found in your home or classroom — start with what you have! You will most likely start with some of these basics, and then forage your home or classroom for more supplies as you go. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Things that Roll

Marbles
Balls: Tennis, Baseball, Bowling, etc.
Toy Cars
Dominoes
Skateboard
Roller Skate
Mousetrap

Things that Move

Mousetrap
Dominoes
Toaster
Fan

Ramps

Toy Train Tracks
Marble Runs
Books
Trays
PVC pipe
Plastic tubing
Gutters

Recyclables

Cardboard
Cereal Boxes
Cardboard Rolls
Plastic Water Bottles
Cans
Aluminum Foil

Household Materials

Chopsticks
Popsicle Sticks
Ruler
Wooden Blocks
Bowl
String
Tape
Sand
Pins
Hammer
Balloons
Water
Fan
Vinegar and Baking Soda

Step 4: Build Your Machine!

Once you have the supplies ready, start building. While the OK Go video (and others like it) includes some pretty complex machines and concepts, keep this simple for preschoolers. The basic concept that we’re exploring is that of a chain reaction, so anything that tips something else over (and so one) is what you’re going for. Don’t worry too much about building things like pulleys and levers for young children.

Take a look at our machine to get a sense of what’s possible.

Our Rube Goldberg Machine in Action

5 Tips for Success

Success breeds enthusiasm, so keep the steps to a minimum. You can always add more as you go.
Keep your expectations low
Ask your child for ideas and input
Work collaboratively
Aim to have fun

A Note on Failure

As you test and try out different set-ups, you’ll undoubtedly fail a few times. I could have filled a 20 minute video with outtakes from all our misses (the balloon is a good example of that). But this is great news! Failure is an intrinsic piece of the invention process, and without these mistakes we won’t learn how things really work. So embrace failure and celebrate it as part of the learning process.

Next Steps: Full STEAM Ahead

Ask: What other simple problems could we solve?
Ask: What materials could we use?
Ask: Why didn’t that work? How could we fix it or try it again?
Encourage your child to problem solve by seeking out materials and moving objects.

Did you enjoy this project? Join the semi-secret Club TinkerLab on Facebook to swap and share more ideas like this.

More Projects like this one

DIY Paper Tube Marble Run

Fort Building Kit

DIY Water Wall, it’s like a marble run, but with water!

Build an easy light table

Make Gumdrop Sculptures

Activate Learning with STEAM

If you’ve been a loyal TinkerLab fan (thank you! you mean the world to me.) you’ll know that I’m happiest sharing projects that live at the intersection of disciplines. Too often we’re quick to separate science from writing or math from art, but when we seek out ways to make interdisciplinary connections, learning can be more meaningful and novel discoveries can be made.

In that vein, over the next few weeks I’m joining a creative group of engineers, scientists, educators, and artists to launch a new series called STEAM Power, which celebrates interdisciplinary learning with projects that circle around STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) ideas. This week’s theme is REACT, and you can see the other reaction-related ideas here:

Stixplosions | Babble Dabble Do

Smoosh Painting | Meri Cherry

Color Changing Chemistry Clock | Left Brain Craft Brain

Zoom Ball | What Do We Do All Day?

Glowing Hands | All For The Boys

Rainbow Reactions | Lemon Lime Adventures

Colorful Chemical Reaction | Frugal Fun for Boys

STEAM on Pinterest

You might also enjoy following my STEAM + STEM Activities board on Pinterest for more ideas like this.

16 Easy Printmaking Projects for Kids

By Rachelle

Printmaking is one of my very favorite processes to explore with children. Seeing how a texture or pattern repeats itself is full of magic, and a delightful process to witness and experience with kids.

Here are 16 super easy, and very fun printmaking projects that are sure to inspire children (of all ages) to experiment with printing.

Dip nuts and bolts into paint and repeat these cool shapes all over paper: Picklebums

Another household tool to dip into paint is the potato masher: Play Based Learning

Blow a paint + soap mixture with a straw, and you have some gorgeous bubble printing: TinkerLab

Roll ink or paint over a piece of styrofoam from a meat or veggie tray: TinkerLab

Press okra into a stamp pad for beautiful flower prints: The Imagination Tree

Draw onto a paint-covered muffin tin with ear swabs for this fun printmaking exploration: The Artful Parent

Make a stamp wheel with a tape roll and foam stamps: Inner Child Fun

Cover a rolling pin with bubble wrap for this squishy experiment: Handmade Kids Art

Another take on bubble wrap printing: tape it to the end of a tube: Creative Connections for Kids

Make these amazing patterns with recycled container printing: Picklebums

Use a rubber sink mat with a pattern to make these cheerful printed cards: TinkerLab

So easy! Dip toys or blocks into paint for block printing: Kids Activities Blog Sink Mat Prints

Make these cool shapes with bubble wands. Laughing Kids Learn

Corks make for easy to hold handles for these foam sticker-topped stampers: Happy Hooligans

Got Lego? There are so many shapes and sizes to play with: Filth Wizardry

Cut up rubber bands to make plates that can be printed: Kristen’s Blog Life

Join the TinkerLab Community

Get more ideas for raising young inventors and filling your life with creativity by signing up for the weekly TinkerLab newsletter. It’s free and we often send exclusive content and opportunities that are only available to our subscribers.

In case you blinked and missed it, TinkerLab rounds up all the great stuff on the internets on keeping you and your critters creative and wraps it up for you in a tidy newsletter! (And throws in some secret giveaways for good measure!) – Yuliya P., San Francisco, CA

Join our community and you’ll learn:

How to simplify your life and make more room for creativity
How to make hands-on making a part of your everyday life
Easy, actionable ways to raise creative kids