Rock Star

This past Saturday I attended a baby shower for one of my little cousins. I say little, but of course that is just my perspective. Oh I am getting older and none the wiser. Anyhoo didly doo, it was great to see my cousins. While there my cousin (hmmm, I didn't ask to use her name) S, showed me a cute little rock covered in melted crayon. So cute, so fun and of course cheap and easy.

For this activity you will need to send your kids on a rock hunt. Just about any rock will do. However, a smooth rock looks better.

Place rocks on a baking sheet. Heat rocks in oven until they are hot. I just put them in while the oven was pre-heating to 375 degrees, then removed them when the oven had reached it's goal.
Give each child a piece of wax paper. After giving a lesson on not touching hot things, place the rock on the wax paper and give your little artist some crayons. This is a great way to use you broken crayons.

The crayons will melt as soon as they touch the hot rock. Caution: the rocks stay hot for a long time.

Even Baby Bug (2) was able to color a rock.

My kids had a blast and I hope yours will too. Thank you Cousin S!

By the way, if you do any of the crafts, activities or other idea's be sure to let me know. I would love to see what you have done.

Homemade Bookmark

This is a fun east activity for kids. Your child may want to make a whole bunch of bookmarks to give-a-way to friends for school or even simply gifts to Aunts and Uncles.

You will need:

Paper

Clear Contact Paper

Scissors

Markers, paints, stickers or whatever you can find

You can cut the paper into strips or have your child color the entire paper first then cut into strips. You can also use existing art work.
Color.

Cut 2 pieces of contact paper for the front and back of you bookmark.

Adhere to paper. Smooth out bubbles.

Trim edges. There you have it. A homemade book mark.

You might even want to read books with your child before or after your craft or even take a field trip to the Library.

Without a trace

We are right in the middle of summer. I am sure many of you have already heard I'm bored or have seen the clear signs of little hands having too much time.

My mom had a stack of pictures that she would have us tape to our sliding glass door and we would trace the pictures onto plain typing paper.(oh yeah I said typing!) You can use a coloring book. You may have to help young children remove the pages. Tape the original first to the glass window or door.

Then tape a plain sheet of paper to the window.
Then let your little ones go! After they trace their picture with a pencil or pen, they can color in the rest. My brother and I usually skipped the coloring, but we would trace for at least an hour.

For new visitors to Bloggin' it be sure to check out past posts for activities found on the right side bar in the labels section. There are a couple of gems looming about this blog.

Making my mark

I look forward to Tuesday every week. Why? Because it's Trash to Treasure Tuesday! So for heaven's sakes get on over to Kimms place @ Reinvented and link up. Come on I know you can be just as trashy as the next gal. I am also try out a new one. Diane's second time around Tuesday on her blog A picture is worth a 1000 words.

This will be my last 2x4 post for a while. So enjoy!

I didn't measure the length of the board. Just use a small scrap of 2x4. You can cut a template like I did or just eyeball 10 holes. I used my cricut for the template, the holes are two big. It was just a guide really. I couldn't find the right bit. So, I had to use one that was too big. Did this make me mad? Yes, just a bit. giggle

Stain or paint. Don't worry about getting the paint down in the holes.
For the next part you will need a box of 10 Markers. Note: There should only be one marker manufactured and that is the washable kind. I bought these long before I learned this valuable lesson.

Grab your glue gun and fill each hole a little more than half way. Place marker cap down in the glue as you go. Some of the glue will go up into the hallow of the cap, so be sure to use plenty of glue. Let dry.

Viola! Now your caps won't wander away from you marker.

Wrap this bad boy up with a pad of paper and you have a great gift for a child you adore.

If you have a chance take a look at my previous post. It's a real treat!

Bathroom Artist

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I am sure most Mother's, Dad's, Grandma's and other care givers have those days were they just need a minute. A minute without some little tike pulling at their pant leg begging to be entertained. This is a little activity I have shared with my friends. It fun for the kids and doesn't leave a big mess for Mom to clean up.
All you need is paper(I prefer to use stuff that has print on one side and would other wise be thrown away), tape, watercolors, paint brush and tape. Just tape paper to your shower walls. Dress kid in swimsuit, diaper or do this before their bath. Give them a cup of water, water colors and paintbrush and let them get busy painting a masterpiece. Afterwards quickly clean walls and kids with a splash of water. My kids enjoy this activity for at least 30 minutes. I do not recommend filling the tub up with water.

Art Wall

My kids were starting to bring home so many art projects, that I needed to come up with something to display a good amount of them at the same time. This is my stairwell. I painted 3 strips of 1x2 MDF,varying lengths so that at any point on the stairs my kids would not be able to reach the hanging art. I then hammered in very small nails.

I bought these paper clips, at Target, to hang the art with.