Duct Tape Flowers and Inspiration

Have you created with with duct tape before? On my own I have been recently working on creating duct tape flowers and it has been so much fun. Below are some of my first flowers I have worked on.  If you want some creative fun too,  I suggest you try your hand at it.  Here is the amazing video tutorial:  How to Make A Duct Tape Rose that I followed to create my flowers. Here is a tutorial for making a Duct Tape Rose Pen here, instead of using a straw you use a pen for the stem!

There are so many more amazing colors and patterns of duct tape than when I first created a duct tape flower about 10 years ago.  I wanted to buy all the different kinds of duct tape out there and if you check out Duck Tape Brand site here you'll see what I mean. (like a kid in a candy store)  I may incorporate this flower idea and other duct tape projects with my future High School Art Students.  I have always been intrigued by the Duct Tape Clothing that I have seen High School students make for their proms. On the Official Duck Tape Site they showcase a contest called Stuck At Prom in which High School students create Prom costumes with Duct tape and in return they have an opportunity to win scholarship money. How cool is that? Be sure to check out the winners for 2012 here. Here are the first place winners:

While researching Duck tape projects, I also came across this book: Stick It!: 99 DIY Duct Tape Projects by: T.L. Bonaddio, which has great ideas and inspiration for Duct tape creations.  I hope to be posting more duct tape creations in the future.

 

 

What Have You Created With Duct Tape?

Creating Bubble Snakes

This is an activity that has occupied my daughter on and off for the past month.  It is so simple with minimal supplies and so FUN! We were inspired by the post from Come Together Kids: Bubble Snake Maker. (BTW a Fantastic blog for kid fun!)

To create bubble snakes you need:

a plastic water bottle cut off on the bottom

a rubber band

a sock

dish soap 

a little water

Place the sock over the opening of the bottom of the bottle and use a rubber band to fasten it on.

Dip the the sock end into soapy water.  Use more soap than water and start experimenting.  At first it wasn't working, but once the sock had the right amount of soap it seems to work very easily. SO don't give up.....it will work!  As you can see a long bubble snake was formed.

And more.....

And more....

Bubbles are always so much fun.  I think whenever an activity involves bubbles,  it is always a HIT!

More Bubble Fun: Bubble Printing Fun

Glow Sticks + Bath Time = FUN

Want to make bath time more exciting? Add some glow sticks and turn off the lights.  My daughter had a blast taking a bath with glow sticks for a couple nights in a row.

We bought our glow sticks in the party section at Target and they were the best kind I've tried so far and they lasted the longest of any that we have purchased.  They kind of just bobbed around in the water at first.

They were just fun to look at and swish around in the water. My daughter had races with glow sticks and pretended that they were fish too.  All I know is that she had loads of fun! Such a cheap and easy way to add fun to bath time.

The fantastic blog: Growing a Jeweled Rose inspired us to have some glow in the dark fun in the bath!
If you want to have some more glow in the dark fun be sure to check out these posts from Growing a Jeweled Rose:

Glowing Water- Uses and How to Make it

Outer Space Themed Bath

Glowing Bath Treasure Dive

Glowing Bath Play Ideas

Glowing Homemade Bath Paint

Experiment: How to Grow a Potato

Have you ever let a potato grow like this?  As a child I was always fascinated with this and my daughter shares this same fascination.  I keep my bag of potatoes underneath our kitchen sink and this is one that we left to grow.  So all you need to do is find a dark place and place your potato there for about a month or more.  This is a great science lesson and it brings about a lot of curiosity about potatoes and how they grow.

What vegetables or fruit have you made experiments with?

Scooter Decorations with Pipe Cleaners

My daughter decorated her scooter! Totally her idea....

Here's how:

Grab some pipe cleaners.

Start twisting away!

Pretty cool, huh?

More Fun with Pipe Cleaners from 

The Chocolate Muffin Tree:

Pipe Cleaners, Googly Eyes, and Play Dough

Styrofoam Monster Sculptures

Tin Can Magnetic Robots

Decoupage Jewelry Giveaway from Craftprojectideas.com

Does your child enjoy making jewelry and decoupage?  Craftprojectideas.com is providing me with their Jewelry Decoupage Set to give to one lucky reader.  You can buy all of their great Craft supplies and kits at WalMart department stores in the craft section.  We received the Jewelry Decoupage Set recently and it was a great activity to create many projects with my daughter.  We are also going to use some of the competed projects or gifts.  Keep reading to find out how you can win this Decoupage Jewelry Set.

Here are all the materials that this kit provided....with a lot left over.

My daughter began by decoupaging the cut out papers to the heart box.

Using the fun foam brush and decoupage.

After decoupaging, stringing beads to create a necklace. It just happened to match her shirt!

C's finished Decoupage Box and necklaces/jewelry.

Here is your chance to win The Jewelry Decoupage Set:

Go to Craftprojectideas.com and view some of their kits.  Let me know what other kits interest you in the comment section.

Be sure to check out Craftprojectideas for numerous craft ideas (including Basic Techniques, Material of the Month, Rainy Day Projects, Seasonal Projects, and The Teacher's Corner here.

Also, check out their facebook page here.

Winner will be selected July 24, 2012, at 10 pm EST.

Good Luck!

Scratch Through Photos

This is yet another "scratch technique" among "How to Create your own Scratch Art" and "Scratch Through Paintings".  This technique requires having a photo print.  I know you could probably recreate this technique in Photoshop, but I thought it was still worth sharing.

To Create a "Scratch Through Photo" you'll need:

A photo print

a bowl of warm water

a nail or wooden stick (a nail worked best)

To create your scratch through photo, first place your photo in a bowl of warm water for about a minute or longer.

Then take the photo out and lay it on a paper towel to absorb the moisture.  Get your scratching tools ready. The nail worked best for us.

Now start scratching away. It leaves a yellowish or orangish mark.  I found the photos that worked the best were darker.  When we tried scratching on white areas it didn't seem to work.

I thought this technique was kind of fun and it would be a great way to bring some energy to an old print you might just be throwing away.

What Do You Think?

BabbaBox Review

Have you heard of BabbaBox?  I never did until just recently and I was pleasantly surprised! BabbaBox is a subscription based activity box for kids ages 3-6 that comes to your child each month.  If you are a busy parent (aren't we all?),  BabbaBoxes are a great solution to bring meaningful activities to your children without having to get all the materials or plan out the activities...everything you need comes in the box.

BabbaCo sent my daughter a BabbaBox  and we have been enjoying all the activities the past couple weeks from  The Sun, Moon, and Stars Box.  Each box contains activities that relate to Create (art projects), Explore (outdoor world),  Storytelling (books), and Connect (downloadable programs).

Under the "Create" activities we made a Moon Nightlight (so cool!) and experienced making sun prints and learning about constellations.

Under "Explore" we observed the Moon with these cute little binoculars and recorded the phases on a chart. We've always observed the moon, but it was great to reinforce this and understand why the moon changes.

Under "Storytelling" we received this wonderful book "Twinkle, Star of The Week" by: Paul Nicholls that goes wonderful with the theme and in reinforcing lots of of Science about the sun, moon, and stars.  You can also download activities to go along with the book.  BTW....My daughter absolutely loved this book!

Under "Connect" we were able to download different learning activities to our IPad....how cool is that?  I love how BabbaCo has involved technology into their activity box.

If you are looking for activities that are fun, educational, and help you to spend quality time with your kids, then a BabbBox Subscription is a great solution.  You can try out one BabbaBox for $29.99 or you can sign up for a yearly subscription for $299.99 and you get 2 boxes free. To order your BabbaBoxes you can go to the BabbaCo. Website. Either way check out this video below to find out more details.

If BabbaBoxes are not in your budget and you know your child would love something like this,  put it on their gift list!

Legos and Magna Tiles: Small World Play

Magna Tiles continue to be the #1 Building toy in our household.  If you've been following me you would know how much we enjoy these fabulous toys!  Check out my previous posts about Magna Tiles: Magnificent Magna-Tiles  and Marbles and Magna Tiles.  Again,  they are quite pricey, but worth every penny! You will not regret buying these.  The coolest thing is that they are magnetic blocks and they create awesome geometric structures.  They encourage loads of creativity too!  My daughter received these Tiles when she was a 3 year old and she is 6 now and has been playing with them the past week almost every day.  One way she loves playing with them is in combination with her Legos.  She builds structures with Magna Tiles and uses her Legos for the small world play.  Check out some of the pictures.

Lego people relaxing in the Magna-Tile structures.

Vehicles and towers.

A lot going on in each successive room. Flowers, beds, and a horse. 

Such serious play going on.....I LOVE this!

Here is my daughter at age 3 and her Magna Tile tower!

Do your children combine toys like this?

 Please share.

Making Colorful Clean Mud

Have you ever played with Clean Mud? I've always wanted to make Clean Mud (can't believe I didn't do this until now!) and finally did with the neighborhood kids and my daughter. They all loved it.  It was such a fun process and great sensory experience.  It also contains simple materials I think you'll have right at home: Ivory Soap + Toilet Paper + Water.  I got the recipe here at earthkids.com.  Keep reading to find out the details of this super cool sensory play experience.

To create Clean Mud you'll need:

3 Bars of Ivory Soap 

1 to 2 rolls of toilet paper

Hot water (not  scalding)

Liquid Watercolors or Food Colors

large bowl or container

To make the Clean Mud, first you grate the Ivory Soap. They all wanted to help with this step. Then you can start tearing up the toilet paper.

We were kind of grating and putting the toilet paper in at the same time to keep everyone busy.  After adding the toilet paper and grated Ivory soap, we added the water little by little.  The instructions said it should feel like Whipped Topping. I thought it was much squishier and thicker than that.

 Next, start combining it all together.  Here is my daughter and her friend squishing it all together. They just loved this part.

They kept squishing it back and forth.  Lot of smiles and giggling!

Back and forth. So fun!

The cool thing about Clean Mud is that it is very moldable too.  Here is a "Clean Mud Mountain"!

Also, it is quite fun to poke with fingertips.  We didn't even add any tools or containers....they had so much fun just playing without other materials

 

They all suggested mixing color into it and I thought that was brilliant idea! I put liquid watercolor (you could use food color)  and Clean Mud in individual plastic bags so they could all mix their own color. This reminded me of our Paint Mixing In Bags.  Since the Clean Mud was in bags they could take it home to show their parents.....yay!

With the rest of the Clean Mud we added a bunch of colors.

This is my Heart Creation that I made. It kind of gave a rainbow effect! I liked molding the Mud into things because I always want to make everything into a sculpture.  Either way it was a successful sensory play experience and I sure hope you give it a try. Let me know if you try it.

More Clean Mud Inspiration:

Sparkle Soap Mud from The Imagination Tree

Clean Mud via the Microwave from Child Central Station

Clean Mud Experience for Young Children from
Let The Children Play

Clean Mud Sculptures from Craftberry Bush

Clean Mud is a fun (and messy) art project from
The Artful Parent