Photography: ABC Scavenger Hunt

This such a fun activity that I've done with my daughter and my High School Art Students. The assignment is to search for letters in the environment and take pictures of them. This project forces you to be a better observer and to get close when taking pictures, which are great skills to teach a beginning photographer. To make it simple, start with finding letters of your name and maybe move on to the whole alphabet.  Here are some of our letters.

You can also do this project without a camera.  It makes a walk around the neighborhood more fun and interesting!  It also is educational for little ones in reinforcing their alphabet recognition!

Check out more fun that we've had with photography in these posts: 

Photography From A Preschooler

Scratch Through Photos

Making Art On The Scanner

More Photography Posts will be coming your way in future posts so stay tuned!

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?

Fried Pumpkin Seeds

This is a new one for me.  Have you ever fried pumpkin seeds? I've always baked Pumpkin Seeds, but my husband came across a recipe for frying them. They may not be as healthy, but the great thing is that they only take 5 minutes or so.

To fry Pumpkin Seeds,  place the clean Pumpkin Seeds in a about a couple Tablespoons of oil with salt in a frying pan at medium heat.

Then use a spatula to keep moving the seeds around for 5 minutes or until they are somewhat brown.  They are surprisingly delicious! I actually like them better than the baked version.

Of course my favorite part is carving the pumpkins and I had to share some of our pumpkin designs here too:

My design

C's Design

Have a Happy Halloween!

Autumn Treasures Shadow Box

We were inspired by Teach Preschool's Post: Our Nature shadowboxes in preschool to make our Autumn Treasures Shadow Box.  It was so easy to make and it was a neat way to collect natural items..... which all kids love.  Keep reading to find out how to make one!

To make an Autumn Shadow Box you'll need:

a shoe box lid

white glue

natural items

glitter for fun

yarn for hanging

First,  put about a half inch or so of glue (or a little less)  in the lid of a shoe box lid.  Next,  place your natural items in the glue and then sprinkle with a touch of glitter.  Then let dry flat for a day or two.

After about two days this is  the result.  I think it is beautiful....  The glue seals the leaves and other natural items into the box frame and it dries clear.

We added a string/yarn and it was ready to hang!  Such a fun, simple and lovely project.   Hope you enjoy! What a splendid Autumn decoration or for anytime.

Pumpkin Decorating Event

At my High School I had a pumpkin decorating event this past Thursday.  It was part of a much larger event involving High School Students helping younger kids in the community with crafts, games, face painting, hayrides and more. Thanks to Discount School Supply and Craftprojectideas.com for providing some fabulous donations of craft supplies for the pumpkin decorating.  I got to tap into my Elementary Art Teaching days and so did my High School students.  I think they had just as much fun as the younger kids.  Here is just a sampling of some of the pumpkins that were decorated.

Pumpkins waiting to be decorated!

Decorating fun!

The kids loved it! What a great event!

Here are some of the pumpkins my High School Sculpture class carved to decorate for the event.  For some of my students,  this was their first experience carving pumpkins. Really. I'm glad I could provide them with the experience.

Face painting was a HUGE hit!

High School kids joining in on the pumpkin decorating.

Here are all the wonderful supplies and face paint donated from Discount School Supply.  Be sure to check out their page here for all their great products.

Here are some of the Awesome craft donations from Craftprojectideas.com:  Please check out their page here for all their products and great ideas. You can purchase their products at Walmart.

Thanks to all my High School Students, Discount School Supply , and Craftprojectideas.com for making this event a success!