Ribbon and Bead Necklace for First Birthday Invites

I saw a child wearing a ribbon necklace with large, multi-faceted crystal looking beads. It was beautiful, and I wanted to replicate the look.

I was able to make the necklace for under five dollars and maybe ten minutes of my time. The beads are from Hobby Lobby (use a coupon or wait for a sale) and the ribbon I already had on hand.

I had my daughter wear the necklace while I snapped some photos to use on her first birthday invites. here's an outtake. Gotta love the drool!

and here's the invite

How to Draw a Pineapple: A Step by Step Guide for Kids

We recently discovered step by step drawing guide books for children. The books illustrate how to draw simple objects in a series of three to six sequential boxes or steps. I wasn't sure my barely five year old was old enough, but I was wrong. She LOVES them!

The step by step boxes really help her identify shapes within a picture by breaking down a drawing project into small manageable steps. In the later steps, its also good for detail recognition and noticing change. If she gets stuck I ask, what's different between this box and the last?

Our most recent art club venture was a mother's day gift involving a sharpie drawn pineapple and tissue paper paint. All the how-to-draw books we own depict animals or cartoon characters, so I've begun attempting my own versions for the inanimate objects we draw. 

How to Draw a Pineapple: A Step by Step Guide for Kids

(Our project was a mothers day gift, but you could easily omit the text in the final step.)

Here are the kids' results. Both artists are five years old. 

Stay tuned to see what we did with the pineapples next!

Fun with Foamies

A few weekends ago, my daughter and I sat side by side in our newly established art room each working on our own creative pursuits. It was awesome. For my 4.5 year old, it was a fun with foamies sort of day. She completed two activities with the peel and stick foam shapes, and was engaged for a long time as I worked on my own projects.

The first activity was filling a rectangle grid labeled with the numbers 1-8 with the corresponding number of foam shapes. Count, peel, stick. Easy peasy.

For the second activity, I drew six curved rainbow lines and asked my daughter to place matching colored foamies on top of the rainbow lines. I was surprised by how long she stayed engaged with this craft. She loved it! She put a great amount of effort making her picture just right.

Tire Swing Meets Rocking Horse

 

We visited a different pumpkin patch than usual this year and they had the coolest tire swings! The tire swings were formed into the shape of a horse. All the kids (and even some of the adults) had a blast rocking and riding the tire swing horses.

I did a quick google search and discovered that the horse shaped tire swings can be DIY'ed from a single tire, cut and turned inside out. All you need is an old tire, some sharp shears and a lot of strength. Here is a link to one of the DIY Pony Tire Swing Tutorials I found online.

Now, who wants to make me one? :-)