salt dough (follow recipe) or air drying clay tempera paint or food coloring materials to decorate sculptures, such as feathers, art wire, toothpicks, smooth small wood shapes, buttons, and rocks paintbrushes  Children will help mix up a batch of salt dough to create animal sculptures. This activity will encourage scientific observation, creativity, imaginative […]
 Kids will love creating these Jackson Pollock-inspired fashion statements.  Read a children’s book about the artist, such as Action Jackson by Jan Greenberg, Sandra Jordan, and Robert Andrew Parker. Gather materials for your shirt project.  cotton t-shirt fabric or acrylic paints squeezable bottles  Fill squeezable bottles with a colorful variety of […]
The idea is that you want the ants to make it over to the picnic. Â How to make the game: I used a circle punch to make the black circles and glued them on to folder to make a path for the ants to take from the start to the finish, which is the […]
 The more children play with modeling materials, the more likely they are to want to help prepare, store, and even clean up — and soon your messy activities won’t seem so messy after all!  Playing with clay and other modeling materials is a tactile experience that benefits children in many ways, but it […]
 2 blue file folders 1 manila file folder Mod Podge (we used the Sparkle kind) blue tissue paper (we used two shades of blue) fish stickers (2 matching sets) glue scissors   First, I cut the manila file folder in half and then cut out the bowl shape. (I traced around an oval […]
pine cones acorn caps other natural materials (acorns, leaves, moss, twigs, bark) pom poms glue shoe box construction paper art supplies • supports fine-motor development • encourages creative play With your child, collect pinecones (or you can purchase them at a nursery), along with leaves, twigs, and other “natural” materials.  To make a pine cone creature, your […]
 All you need is a pipe cleaner, paper plate, glue, and some ears to color and cut out. These were some enlarged clip art ears. Color and cut out your ears. Cut the plate in half. Attach an ear to each half of the plate and attach the plates with the pipe cleaners using […]
 Yellow foam sheet or construction paper (if you use a foam sheet and a marker, the smudge factor will be involved. Fingertips will be black and marker color will spread like wildfire.) Black sharpie or marker Wax paper Googly eye Black pipe cleaner Glue  Cut an uppercase ‘B’ out of the foam sheet […]
