Back after a short break. . .

The new grandchild arrived and he's wonderful, so I've been busy. But, no matter how busy you are, there's always time for discovery. Recently I needed to make a "pin the tail on an animal" for our 2 yr. old grand daughter's Birthday. The animal was gray and I didn't have the correct color, but I did have a blue piece of poster board. I decided to do a sun bleach. Poster board is cheap, non-archival paper, so I knew it would bleach in the sun. I made an outline of the animal on a large sheet of paper, cut the animal out and lightly taped the outline down on the poster board. I put it out in the sun for a few hours. Ta-da! When I retrieved the poster board and removed the outline, I had a perfect, gray animal on the bright blue poster board which I went on to enhance with marker and paint.

This is a similar inexpensive and fun craft. Here's an easy way to do a sun bleach:

1. Get a sheet of construction paper and collect some items.

 2. Place the items on the paper and put it in the direct sunlight for several hours. (Use rolled tape pieces to hold the items in place if necessary.)

 3. Remove the items and see how the sun has bleached out the paper all around the items.

4. Outline the items if you wish.




Craft stores sell paper that is light sensitive and this process works faster using specialty paper, but any cheap construction paper will bleach out, so save the money. Try this fun project at home. Have fun!

Hole Punch Dot Fun

Crafting with young children is a lot of fun. Additionally, crafts are a great way to help little ones develop their fine motor skills. A fun, easy, creative and inexpensive craft idea is to make hole-punch dot pictures.

Simply provide a lot of hole-punch dots, glue and paper. (For younger children, put some glue in a jar lid and give them a cotton swab so that they can apply glue with more controlled dots.) [Note: Always cover a work area with newspaper.] Apply glue dots. Shake some hole-punch dots onto the paper and the glue will accept them. Or, ask the child to place hole-punch dots on the dots of glue, one by one.

Here are two examples of dots glued to paper. The one on the left shows glue and dots arranged to form a picture. The one beside it shows dots placed randomly on paper. For more ideas on using hole-punch dots, check out my book, Little Hands--Create! p. 10 "Hole-Punch Magic."(Williamson--an Ideals Publication.)

Now, let's store more dots to use another time. Using scraps of bright-colored paper, allow the child to practice using a hole-punch. Scoop up the punches and keep them for future projects. They can be kept in an envelope. But, why not store them in a way that shows the colors? I keep hole-punch dots in empty mint containers or in empty medicine bottles. (above, right) (I also keep the scraps that have holes in them. They look great in a collage.) Have fun!

Fun with Snipper Critters

At the recent FRA conference, I presented a truncated version of my popular craft/subject coupling in two sessions—one for Pre-K and one for K-2nd. These sessions focused on how you can have students make easy, fun, crafts and integrate them with core disciplines. The idea: Why not combine learning with fun AND creativity? Here are just some of the skill activities we engaged in during the recent "Make and Take."

Snipper Critters (A versatile book waiting for your adaptations.)

 Sure, the over 80 'open-ended' critter patterns alone may be used to create individually designed animals for a lesson or unit.  A few of the critters are shown here. But, just as with all of my 'open-ended' patterns, that's not the end of it. 

Once the animal is cut out, keep an 'outlines file.' (Right) The normal 'throw-away' portion of Snipper Critters isn't trash at all—it is a treasure. Here are some of the uses.

(Left)The outline can be placed on a piece of acetate on the overhead for a brainstorming full-class participation lesson. Or, why not write a poem on the overhead? The helpful critter facts in the back of the book make this even easier for the teacher.

(Right) When students are done using the miniature example in the corner on each critter's page, it makes a delightful mini-puppet. Cut it out. Glue it to a craft stick. Students will be inspired to write their own mini plays for the critters. Or, students may glue an outline (put glue on printed side) to a contrasting piece of paper to make a book cover or poem frame. Several critters may be put together using a brass fastener. 

Here's a fun lesson for you to do that helps with motor skills, visualizing positive and negative space, and discovery.

Attach outline.

Snipper Critter Stenciling

1. Take an outline left over from cutting out a Snipper Critter.

2. Lightly attach the outline to a contrasting piece of paper using small rolled-tape pieces.

Bingo marker the exposed area.

3. Place the prepared stencil on a piece of newspaper to protect work surface.

4. Bingo-marker the exposed area. Allow to dry.

Remove stencil.

5. Once dry, carefully remove the outline stencil.

Some uses:

• Use your stenciled critter as a book cover.
• Write pertinent vocabulary words around the critter.
• On the unpainted area, write facts about the critter. (Elicit student responses.)
• Place an appropriate beginning sound letter on the critter. Look for and cut out (from old magazines) words matching the same beginning sound. Glue them on the space around the critter. 

Critique Group

Yesterday my critique group met. Anyone who is serious about writing should consider being in a critique group. It helps to have the insight of other writers who understand and respect your genre. By meeting regularly, you stay on track, edit your work in a timely fashion, and see your writing from different perspectives.

I'm blessed to be in a small group that really 'clicks.' I came home and couldn't wait to 'tweak' what we'd reviewed in the group. The suggestions and changes may have been small, but they were like the Little Bear's bowl of porridge--they were "just right."

The work I'm having critiqued is a chapter book (approximately for grades 4-6). This is the first one I've written for this age level. While I've finished an edited first draft, it's not really complete. Having several sets of eyes review and critique it has proven to be invaluable. It's coming along nicely. I hope to be able to send it out to a publisher in the next six months.

Busy Weekend

Gulf Fritillary

The weekend was busy--mostly helping to make a Halloween costume.

I visited with two of our grandkids also. That always makes me smile--they're such a blessing. Besides giving my grandson an art lesson, I worked on some paintings and sketches for paintings I hope to complete soon.

It seemed like I was in the kitchen a lot this weekend. I'd found a wonderful recipe for a breakfast bread and I just had to try it. Yummy!

Time in the garden is a weekend must, of course. Summer will soon be over; I want to enjoy the butterflies a while longer. Sometimes I simply walk around in the yard and soak up the beauty of Florida. My favorite "outside place" is my butterfly garden and a meditation bench I have under a nest of trees. Taking pictures of the many kinds of butterflies in our yard has gotten to be a little side hobby.

Clean-Up Day

The fun part of doing conferences is the presentation; the work part is the clean-up. I find myself getting distracted with new ideas and adding to the file for a particular craft/activity. This makes putting things away in a timely manner even more challenging. But, as with all of us "multi-task"folks, it all manages to get done. (It just doesn't always look organized to the outside observer.) A real plus is that each time I put things away, I do discover better ways of storage and while I'm tidying up, it gives me time to reflect on the presentation itself.

Since my craft workshops require so many "throw-away" items, there's a lot of "good junk" to be stored so I'll have enough items on hand for the next large group instruction. (My neighbors know where to get their hands on 100 empty paper towel rolls in a hurry if they need them.)

After

Before

Today, I've managed to clean up the files, store an additional 200 texture squares, put most of the stuff away and rescue the guest room bed that had been buried under boxes. All in all, a good day. Now I'm ready for the next time I need to put on the hat of the "Trash to Treasure Teacher." (I do love 'before' and 'after' pictures.  Don't you?)

Two of My Books

I'm learning more and more each day about this "blogging stuff." (My friend lent me a book that's helping.) So now, it's time for me to add a picture. You know the saying, a picture's "worth a thousand words" and there's no time or interest in writing (or reading) a thousand words. Still, if I'm going to mention my books, I should include some pictures of the books I used at the workshop. Obviously, Snipper Critters is on the left and Little Hands--Create! is on the right.