Recycled Box Puppets

Again, we've been looking at old posts and noticed my collection: 18 Creative Ideas for Making Puppets.  C wanted to make #2 the Box Puppets so that is what we made. There are so many great ideas on this list so please check it out if you need a puppet idea!

Materials Needed:

Small Box (we used a granola bar or fruit snack box)

scissors

glue

colored paper

craft supplies to design (eyes,pipe cleaners....)

First, tape or glue the box shut on the opening. Draw with a marker along the middle of the closed box and lead over to each side and not the bottom. This will be a guideline of where to cut.

Now, carefully cut along the line that you just drew. Open it up and bend the the part that is not cut. Your fingers and thumb will go in the openings created on each side to make the box talk.

Then cover the box with colored construction paper or with any paper you have on hand. We used the box to trace around on construction paper to create the same size paper to glue on the box.

After you have the paper glued on the box, you are ready to add eyes, antenna, hair, or whatever you choose.

Happy puppet making!

Puffy Paint Plastic Lid Sun Catcher

We've made about a zillion sun catchers and this just adds to our list.  I think this will be a favorite among them all. These were made purely by chance and those always seem to be the best projects.  My daughter C had an art kit with puffy paint and there was quite a bit left so we decided to use our always abundant supply of plastic lids to create these wonderful sun catchers.

Materials Needed:

Clear Plastic Lids
  Puffy Paint
String for hanging

You can purchase dimensional puffy paint at amazon.com  or any craft store and is usually labeled as "fabric paint".  We gathered our clear plastic lids on white paper so we could see the paint better on our dark colored table.  Then after this, simply design what you would like on your plastic lids. We chose radial designs or circular designs which go very well with the lid shape.  Next, let the paint dry overnight,  punch holes for string, attach string,  and hang on your window.  Enjoy the Sun and beautiful Art....

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Recycled Junk Robots

Some of my favorite projects are done with recycled junk and this is a new one to add to the list. The idea comes from my daughter's kindergarten teacher. We've been making recycled robots at home too and I wanted to share how to make them.

Materials Needed:
recycled boxes (we mostly used food boxes)
recycled Lids and bottle caps for eyes and buttons
Cardboard tubes
glue or glue gun
aluminum foil
silvery pipe cleaners
anything else you choose

To create a robot, we first gathered some food boxes, cardboard tubes, bottle caps, and lids. We built the robot without gluing to see how it would look.

Next, we covered the boxes and cardboard tubes with aluminum foil to give the robot a cool metal look. We used a glue gun for fast dry time.

Then we glued the pieces and parts together. 

Lastly, we added more bottle caps for decoration and buttons.  For a finishing touch we added silver pipe cleaners and a foil tail to make a Robot Monkey.

This one is a Robot Doggie.

We'll be making more Robot Creatures soon! Such a fun project.


We made these Tin Can Magnetic Robots a couple years ago.  Find out how to make them here.

Wood Scrap Collage

This is a continuation of our Wood Scrap Sculpture post. We had so much fun making our sculptures so we decided to just paint flat wood scraps and practice mixing colors on each wooden shape. Each individual scrap turned out beautiful, but when you put them all together they made some amazing Wood Scrap Collages.

Materials Needed for Wood Scrap Collage:

Wood Scraps

Paint

paint brushes

Glue

Cardboard base

First gather some wood scraps. I've gotten wood scraps from craft stores, home stores, and the Wood Shop Teacher at the High School that I work at too. 

Then we just started painting and mixing colors on the flat pieces of wood. This was a lot of fun and many of these could even stand on their own as beautiful miniature paintings.

Then we started arranging them in different ways to create collages.  

Another way....overlapping.

This was a great activity....painting the scraps, arranging them, and just simply playing/building with them. You can glue them in the end or just leave them as is to arrange and rearrange. Hope we have inspired you to create some colorful scrap wood paintings or collages.

How to Make a Simple Kazoo

I love simple and easy projects made with recycled materials and here is one of them.  We made Kazoos. Find out how below.

All you need to create a simple kazoo is:

A cardboard tube

a small square of wax paper

rubber bands (or elastics)

paint or markers for decorating

First we painted and decorated our cardboard tubes and let them dry.

Next,  put a square of wax paper  over one end and attach it with a rubber band.

Then, hum or sing through the other end! So easy...and fun...

What musical instruments have you made with your kids?

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

Egg Carton Paintings

We are up again for TinkerLab's Challenge.  This time the challenge was to create something with egg cartons.  We were inspired by this, this, and this to paint on egg cartons! C really enjoyed painting on egg cartons and it is a great alternative to painting on plain paper.  I love how these paintings turned out.

Materials Needed:

tempera paint or acrylic paint

paint brushes

egg carton(s) that are paper/cardboard kind

The materials are so simple and everyone should have the ability to create these wonderful paintings.  I did cut 2 egg cartons apart so that my daughter could just paint on the inside of the egg sections.  You could paint to on the top of the egg carton and inside too.  In advance I glued the 2 inside sections to a piece of cardboard so that they would be more stable.

Then we just began painting.  I used a styrofoam egg carton to use as a paint tray while painting the cardboard egg cartons.

I was astonished at how much C enjoyed painting the egg cartons.  We painted the cartons solid first and then added black polka dots.

Beautiful!

C loved this so much she asked to paint on egg cartons again.  It was a good thing that I had quite  collection saved of egg cartons.  On this painting my daughter explored mixing colors and using white to create "tints" or lighter versions of each color. Tints are created by adding white to a color.

Here are both paintings which are proudly being displayed in my daughter's bedroom right now.

Be sure to check out all the other FABULOUS egg carton ideas at Tinkerlab.

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.