Mirror Mirror Castle and {Giveaway}

Are you a fan of Fairy tales? My daughter and I have seen just about every fairy tale movie out there.  If you are fairy tale fan you'll be excited to find out that a fairy tale movie called Mirror Mirror comes out today. (March 30th)  Mirror Mirror is based on the old classic Snow White and The Seven Dwarves. To view a trailer of the movie Mirror Mirror click here. To take a look at the official website for Mirror Mirror click here.

The creators of Mirror Mirror asked me to create a project based on this movie.  I am honored to be a part of this production and love creating projects so I was very excited.  After watching the preview of the movie,  my daughter and I both agreed we should create the Evil Queen's Castle. Here is our result.

To create the castle we naturally thought of using recycled tubes. If you see the picture of the castle below you can see why we chose to use tubes of all kinds.

Materials for the castle:

Tubes (paper towel, tp/loo rolls)

a cardboard base (cereal box, any recycled cardboard)

glue

newspaper

brushes

paint in gold and grey or (black + white + grey)

gold glitter

poly fil stuffing

We began by gathering the tubes and cutting them in different sizes. Also we created other size tubes by rolling up newspaper (you could use any paper)

Then we dipped the tubes in glue and stuck them on the cardboard base. Very much like our Recycled Tube Sculpture.

Then to create the towers on the castle, we used crumpled up newspaper like this and then added a twisted point too. We used glue to attach the twisted point and crumpled newspaper ball. Then we had to let the castle dry for a few hours before painting. C was excited to paint!

After the structure of the castle was dry, we began to paint. We used very light grey for the main color of the castle and gold for the towers.

To give the towers a "special touch" we sprinkled some gold glitter onto the paint.

Lastly, we added some polyfil stuffing with white glue on the cardboard base for snow and some snowflake spangles.  In all the pictures the castle seemed to be covered in snow so I thought this brought the whole castle together.

I'm excited to also be sharing a GIVEAWAY with a prize package that includes:

$25 Fandango gift card

T-shirt

Apple Snow Globe

Lip Balm

Mirror Compact

Tote Bag

Mirror Mirror: The Storybook

For an Entry to the GIVEAWAY:

Leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite fairy tale movie is.

*Also leave your email if I cannot reach you through clicking on your name.

Giveaway ends April 6, 2012, 9pm EST.

Remember Mirror Mirror comes out today March 30th!  Check out the Facebook page for the movie, visit their official website for sneak peeks,  and follow Mirror Mirror on Pinterest for the latest photos and scenes from the movie.

*This post is sponsored by Relativity Media.

Pick and Draw: An Art Game

Recently I was asked to review this cool drawing game: Pick and Draw designed by artist Rich Davis. The game focuses on drawing cool cartoon faces which all kids love to draw (and giggle at). This game can be played by one child or with a whole group depending on how many card sets you have. When I showed my daughter this game she was instantly intrigued and so was my husband (an art teacher).
This game would be great to take on a trip or tuck into a bag for a lengthly waiting room stay.  All you need to supply is some paper and pencils.

To begin the game,  you make 5 stacks of cards face down of: Head shapes,  Eyes, Noses, Mouths, and Hair.  The ears are drawn by using "C" shapes in any size you choose.

Then you have your pencil and paper ready and pick a head shape first. It is suggested to make the head larger than any other part so you can fit the features on the face.

Next, select some eyes and with this it is suggested to create them any size you choose and try to stay with what you chose.

After eyes, select the nose shape, then mouth, and hair.  Between Mouth and Hair draw some  "C" shaped ears.

After you have drawn all the card you are done,  but I can imagine if you want to add color or more details you can.

C really enjoyed this game and I think all kids would.  This game makes drawing fun and less intimidating than looking at pages of a book.

Not only does Rich Davis have this wonderful game, but he also has a blog that you can check out with step by step drawings as well as videos.  Here is his blog: http://www.richdavis1.wordpress.com 

If you want to try out the game Pick and Draw online you can here:http://pickanddraw.com/how/

To purchase the game Pick and Draw you can click here.  The game is only $10.00!!!

Top 5 Process Art Ideas from MaryAnn F. Kohl

What are your Top 5 Favorite Process Based Art Ideas? This is a question I asked MaryAnn F. Kohl in our interview from a few posts back and thought it could stand as a post of it's own.  MaryAnn is the  author of a multitude of children's art books and I consider her an expert on process based Art,  so I thought this was a very suitable question.  ***I've included process based project links after each listing to get you started.

MaryAnn's answer:  "My favorites change from day to day,  so this is a tough question.  But for today,  here are my Top  5 and I'm going to list them in very general terms so the possibilities are wide open."  Each of these five has a book-full of possibilities:

1. Exploring With Play Dough 

     *Today's favorite: Mixing blobs of colored play dough to make new colors

Rainbow Play Dough from Happy Hooligans

Smooshing Play Clay from MaryAnn F. Kohl, process art and treasures of childhood

2.  Collage With Whatever is on Hand

      *Today's favorite: Art tissue scraps painted onto paper with thinned white glue; and other supplies

            like glue and beads

Tissue Paper Collage from TinkerLab

Watercolor Painting over Tissue Paper Collage from The Artful Parent

3. Wood Scrap Sculpture

       *Today's favorite:  Stack and glue pieces of wood scraps into towers or flat reliefs; paint optional

Wood Scrap Sculpture from Lilla a

W is for Wood Sculptures from Preschool Daze

4.  Painting With Liquid Watercolors or Tempera Paints

      *Today's favorite:  Draw and Color with crayons on white paper and then spray liquid watercolor on

         the drawing                          

Spray And Scrape Drawing from MaryAnn F. Kohl, process art and treasures of childhood

Multi-Sensory Paint! from Not Just Cute

5.  Making Prints With Whatever is On Hand

      *Today's favorite:  Roll Marbles through paint blobs on a paper plate in a pie pan

Marble Painting from The Mother Huddle

Marble Rolling Abstract Art from Laugh, Paint, and Create!

***A full List of MaryAnn F. Kohl Books can be found if you "click here".

10 Different Egg Activities and Experiments from Tinkerlab and The Chocolate Muffin Tree

Last week Tinkerlab and I hosted a week of Egg Experiments and Activities called Egg Week.  For your convenience I have put all 10 of our ideas in one post.  All the activities use "Real" Eggs so be prepared to do some egg shopping soon. We had a lot of enjoyment with these activities and until now I never realized there were so many things you could do with eggs!  "CLICK" the caption below the photo to bring you to the post.

1. Bleeding Tissue Easter Eggs

2. Walking On Raw Eggs

3. Transparent and Bouncy Egg Experiment

4. Make Your Own Egg Tempera Paint

5. Hot Eggs Decorated With Crayons

6. Three Easy Tricks For Blown Out Eggs

7. An Experiment With Egg and Soda

8. Egg Geodes

9. Naturally Decorated Marbled Eggs

10. Vegetable-Dyed Easter Eggs

What ideas will you try?

Please share any activities you do with eggs.

An Experiment With An Egg and Soda

This has been a fun filled Egg Week with TinkerLab.  Hope you've enjoyed all our experiments and activities with eggs.  Be sure to check out all 10 of our ideas from the week if you haven't. We both have ONE MORE IDEA to share! This time we did an Experiment with eggs and different beverages.

For this experiment you'll need:

a white egg

a dark colored soda

a glass

an old toothbrush

***if desired you can choose other beverages to try 

This experiment is so easy peasy.  All you need to do is put a white egg in each glass that you have and pour the beverage  in to cover the egg. 

In our glasses we chose to use apple juice and a dark colored cola.  I asked C what she thought would happen to the eggs.  She thought maybe they would change colors.  We mostly drink apple juice in our household so C wasn't even sure if she wanted anything to do with the cola.

After a couple hours the cola made the white egg light brown.....that fast!

The apple juice made the white egg a light brown too.

A day later the eggs were quite dark so I explained to C how the eggs got stained.  I asked her, "What would happen to your teeth after drinking apple juice if you never brushed your teeth?" My daughter concluded that her teeth would get brown like the eggs.  So I had C take an old toothbrush to see if she could get the eggs clean.

The apple juice came off in brown little chunks.  The dark colored soda had to be really scrubbed. Both were not easy to clean.

Here is the cola submerged egg half cleaned. It makes you really think how important it is to brush your teeth after seeing this.  How would the eggs look after more time? Probably worse.

This experiment is a good lesson in dental health.  I know I will be referring back to this experiment from time to time to remind C about the importance of brushing your teeth.

On You Tube there is an experiment with a dark colored soda in which they left the egg for one year...365 days. Take a look at the video here and you may think twice about drinking colas or at least it will encourage you to brush your teeth.  The shell of an egg contains calcium, sodium, and phosphorus....and after 365 days the shell disintegrated.

What other beverages/liquids would you try this experiment with?(please share your results)

***Be sure to hop on over to TinkerLab to find out what cool experiment Rachelle has in store for you today.

Let us know how you enjoyed Egg Week and our 10 Easter Egg Activities. Will you try any of these ideas?

Bleeding Tissue Easter Eggs

Walking on Raw Eggs

The Transparent and Bouncy Egg Experiment

Make Your Own Egg Tempera Paint

Naturally Decorated Marbled Eggs

Three Easy Tricks for Blown-Out Eggs

Egg Geodes

Hot Easter Eggs Decorated With Crayons

When you get a chance please share with us the FUN (or not so much fun) that you've had with any of these Egg Activities.

Hot Easter Eggs Decorated With Crayons

Just in case you haven't heard.... I am teaming up with Rachelle from Tinkerlab for Egg Week. We are both presenting a different egg idea each day of the week so there will be a total of 10 ideas by the tomorrow.  Be sure to check out her post for Beautiful Egg Geodes here.  We created Hot Easter Eggs With Crayons similar to the popular Hot Rocks with crayons.  Here is a  sampling of how they turned out.

To create Hot EasterEggs you'll need:

hard boiled white eggs that are still warm

crayons (we used peeled crayons if you wanted to use the side of the crayon)

*tip for peeling crayons: (soak in water first and they will so easy to peel)

paper towels

an egg carton for a holder or bottle caps to hold wet eggs

First hard boil some eggs.  My daughter is even fascinated with hard boiled eggs. (actually raw eggs, plastic eggs...any egg.)  This could be an experiment of its own in showing how the inside of an egg becomes a solid when cooked.  Let the eggs cool a bit, but not that much.  Have your crayons ready.  Place the egg on either a paper towel, a bottle cap, or in the egg tray sideways and begin coloring.  The trick is to hold the crayon on the egg so that it will melt on to the egg.

Here are our eggs resting sideways on the egg carton. This seemed to work well.  You don't want to turn the egg on the paper towel or a lot of the crayon will rub off....which is kind of a cool effect too. NOTE: Be careful with hot eggs and young children because they may get burned. What you may think is warm could be very HOT to them.

Here is one of our eggs. Beautiful.

And another.

A few more.  I think I enjoyed this more than C, but that is okay.  I'm sure other kids out there will have FUN!  I never tried this before and definitely liked the results.

What do you think?

Be sure to check out TinkerLab and their egg-citing egg activity: Egg Geodes for today here.  Also, be sure to check out all of our other experiments from the beginning of the week:

Bleeding Tissue Easter Eggs

Walking on Raw Eggs

The Transparent and Bouncy Egg Experiment

Make Your Own Egg Tempera Paint

Naturally Decorated Marbled Eggs

Three Easy Tricks for Blown-Out Eggs

*Check back tomorrow for 2 more Egg Ideas to finish off the week!

Naturally Decorated Eggs:Marbled Technique

This is day three of our Egg Week Eggstravaganza with Rachelle at TinkerLab.  Last year Rachelle and I both shared 2 Ideas for Decorating Eggs Naturally.  It was such a success that we are posting it again. Be sure to check out the full details of my Naturally Decorated Eggs: Marbled Technique here.  Tinkerlab's  Gorgeous Vegetable-Dyed Easter Eggs can be found here.

To begin the process, we first gathered  a "raw egg", some materials such as red onion skins, yellow onion skins, blueberries, spaghetti noodles, barley, rice, and more! We placed all this in a piece of cotton fabric and wrapped it up like a little gift.  Pretty strange, huh?

And look at the Fabulous results.  I learned this technique from my third grade teacher and still remember it many years later.... If you are the least bit interested of the rest of the process please check out my post here from last year. You will not be disappointed!

**To find out more about my Naturally Decorated Eggs: Marbled Technique click here.

**And be sure to check out TinkerLab's Vegetable-Dyed Easter Eggs. Click here to find out the details.
**Also, Have you ever wanted to know how to blow out eggs?
TinkerLab shares 3 Easy Tips For Blown Out Eggs here.

***Four More Egg Activities coming your way so stay tuned!***