Baking Soda Clay

Here's another homemade modeling compound that good for both kids and adult artisans. Compared to the homemade polymer clay I presented a few weeks ago, it's non-elastic when wet and much "softer" when dry---that is, easy to sand smooth or to reshape, to add etchings, and possibly even to carve (I haven't tried). I've used it to make a variety of small items, particularly small bowls and candle holders (shown below in order of finished-ness). It takes paint well but I would finish painted pieces with a coat of varnish.

Sanded nice and smooth!

Materials

• 1 cup corn starch
• 2 cups baking soda
• 1.25 cups cold water
• Non-stick pot
• Wooden spoon
• Med-large bowl (not pictured)
• Damp cloth, lid or plate (not pictured)

Steps

Combine ingredients in pot and stir until smooth.

Cook over low-medium flame, stirring constantly, until the mixture resembles mashed potatoes.

Remove from heat and let cool in a separate container either covered with a damp towel or mostly covered with a plate or lid.

Sculpt. If necessary, use a bit of water to stick bits of dough together. Be careful, though, as the softness of this dough makes it prone to dissolve.

Allow to dry, about 2 days depending on the size and thickness of your finished piece. You can speed up drying in a 150 F oven, cracked open, or a 350 F oven turned off (heat the oven to 350 F and then turn it off).

Until next time --

Enjoy!

Linda/Purty Bird

How to Make Egg Shakers

One of my favorite parts of parenting is inventing strange crafts out of random materials that engage my two kids for the longest amount of time for the least amount of money. The idea for this project came about from broken eggshells. I've been washing and saving eggshells for the last few months to crush and add to my garden as well as to compost. Then I realized that if you keep the two eggs halves they almost fit perfectly back together. Which made me think of the plastic egg shakers that are all the rage during preschool music classes and sing-a-longs. Which made me think what a brilliant idea someone had to make those plastic egg shakers. Which made me think that someone is making a lot of money off of that idea.

And you see how twisted and random my thoughts can be. Sometimes these thoughts turn to something productive, like developing a new hobby (gardening, recycling old clothes into new clothes, composting). Other times... well, let's just say sometimes my time can be better spent sleeping.

Back to the original point of this post, which began with me staring at half broken eggshells and feeling like they could be something more. I loved the way they fit back together after being broken, so I thought we could make real egg shakers minus the plastic. This turned out to be a multi-day process with the drying times factored it, but it was really sort of fun. So here's how to do it.

1. Clean your eggshells thoroughly and lay them out to dry.

2. Fill partially with different dried beans. We used lentils, split peas, and black beans.

3. Apply a thin layer of glue along the rim of the eggshell and fit the other side snugly on top, making sure it matches up perfectly.

4. Let dry for a few hours or overnight.

5. Cut thin strips of newspaper, about .5 inches by 2 inches, for the paper mache. Make a paste from flour and water (boil half a cup of water on the stove and whisk in a heaping tablespoon of flour - simmer lightly for a minute and then let cool). Dip paper in paste or use a paintbrush to apply the paste on the egg and cover the eggs with a few layers of newspaper and paper mache paste.

6. Let dry overnight. (Lay them on the egg cartons and make sure to rotate them so the entire egg dries.)

8. Use poster or acrylic paints to add color to your egg shakers.

9. Do a lesson on color mixing by only starting out with red, yellow, blue and white. Use the egg carton to mix colors (yellow + blue = green, red + blue = purple, red + white = pink, etc). 

10. Paint!

11. Let dry and then let the musicians loose on the shakers! I find the sound of beans on eggshells really soothing and much more pleasant than the plastic variety. Store the egg shakers in the dried out egg carton and also use in food play.

Tutorial: Felt Tic-Tac-Toe Boards

Tic-tac-toe games are no longer the paper and pencil variety of Xs and Os. These days, anybody can spice up the game with a little creativity and some fun loving companions to share it with. Tic-tac-toe is a great first game for kids because it's 1) easy 2) quick and 3) simple to transport. But the game is not only for kids - stay tuned for how you can incorporate tic-tac-toe in your workplace or home!

Materials:

Felt in various colors

Buttons

Yarn

Needle

Instructions:

1. Start out with a square piece of felt in the size board you want. (Mine was 9" x 9".)

2. Cut four strips of contrast felt for the lines, about 1/4" wide and the length of the board.

3. Use a ruler to help place the lines so that your board has nine equal squares. Pin the lines and then hand sew, machine sew, or glue the lines onto the board.

4. Now comes the fun part! Think of a theme for your board and create two different shapes for the pieces. You will need five of each shape.

5. Use scissors to cut the felt into each shape (I doubled up the felt for a sturdier piece). Then embellish each piece with a button and yarn details.

6. Place your finished pieces on the board and get ready to play!

For the kids, create as many different sets of pieces as you want! If your kids are old enough, they can help make their own shapes and designs and embellish them by gluing googly eyes, feathers, or yarn. The pieces can also be used for younger kids as they learn to sort, count, add, and subtract.

For adults, here are some fun ideas about how to use tic-tac-toe to transform a boring or annoying situation to a super fun one:

1. Make a board and keep it at your office. Battle the mid-day blues by challenging your co-workers to a game (loser buys the winner something from the snack machine).

2.Play tic-tac-toe with your spouse/partner/roommate to decide who does the dishes/changes the kid's diaper/responds to child's tantrum/cleans the closet. Also great in determining who chooses the movie for the evening, what toppings to go on pizza, and any other situation where conflict may arise.

Karina

Windows of Agate

Marvelous Mosaics to Do with Kids

Living in NYC, my children and I are always in awe of the mosaic tiles in subway stations. There are some beautiful ones to look at, and a few of my daughter's favorites include:

81st Street B/C line - American Museum of Natural History Station

N/R Prince Street Station

8th Avenue and 34th Street Station

No matter where you live, there is sure to be creative inspiration for your own mosaic creations. It's a fun (and cheap!) activity to do with your kids and offers lots of wiggle room for creativity and experimentation. And what an assortment of materials you can use for a mosaic! Here are just a few ideas to get you going...

Materials
-Mosaic items, ideas include:

• Colored beans
• Pasta shells that are painted and dried
• Cut or torn pieces of paper (magazines, wrapping paper, catalogs, old photos)
• Buttons
• Colored paperclips
• Small pieces of yarn
• Tissue paper

- Craft glue
- Cardboard (use scraps from mailing boxes, cereal boxes, shoe boxes, etc.)
- Pencil

Directions
Draw an outline of an object on the cardboard with a pencil (start simple - first try doing a large heart, star, or rainbow). Use craft glue to adhere the various objects to the image, using different colors of mosaic items to fill in the image and the background. Experiment with different textures and colors of objects to create interesting art! Once you get the hang of it, try using smaller pieces to do more detailed images.

Karina

Windows of Agate

Tutorial Tuesday: Monster Finger Puppets

Being a mama who loves craftiness, it is one of my greatest pleasures to make toys for my kids. I love hearing my two-year-old daughter Kaela remark, "Mama made dat!"

Yesterday my daughters and I embarked on a felt, thread, button, and yarn extravaganza. It was finger puppet day! Monster finger puppet projects are perfect, small, manageable crafts that can be completed within the small attention span of a toddler.

Suggested Materials:

Felt scraps

Yarn scraps

Buttons

Fabric scraps

Thread

Scissors

Imagination (lots of it!)

My older daughter - who is 2- years-old - is not adept with a needle yet, so she assists me by choosing the colors of thread, felt, and yarn that I'm going to use for the project.

I asked her what she wanted on her puppet, and she said "Hair!" She chose purple yarn with red felt for the body of the puppet, and as I cut the felt she straightened out the cut yarn.

I cut two felt pieces that were 2.5 inches wide by 3 inches tall for the body of the monster. My daughter told me what shapes she wanted on her puppet (circles, triangles, rectangles, squares) and I cut them out from various scrap pieces of felt sewed it on one body piece of felt with a simple running stitch. You can also glue the shapes. We gave this monster a button for eyes, and I sewed that on securely.

After finishing the front of the monster, I sewed the two pieces of felt together along the right edge, then inserted the purple yarn hair in between the top edge of the felt pieces and sewed that securely, then sewed along the left edge. Leave the bottom edge open - that is where it will fit on your little one's finger.

And here is the first finished product!
At that point we were on a roll and made two more monsters. I'm sure we'll add more to the mix over the next few weeks!
May your monster finger puppets be colorful, prosperous, and happy! (Storage tip - egg cartons are perfect for storing finger puppets.)

Karina

Windows of Agate

How to plan a child's tea party

This summer has been especially moist in NJ/NY and trips to the beach have been scarce, but there's a way you can take advantage of a few hours of sun and stay close to home. Throw the kiddies a backyard tea party--all the enjoyment of being outside, but close enough to home if bad weather threatens.

First thing's first: Figure out where to have your party. I live in a two family home but I'm lucky to have a small yard out back. Since we have very little shade I use my pop-up tent to keep the kiddies from getting sunburned. If you have trees, you can dress them up by hanging nettings or garlands. To dress up my tent, I added paper lanterns in bright colors like pink, turquoise, and purple.


Don't stop there with dressing things up. A brightly decorated table will invite everyone to sit and stay awhile. To save money on flowers and avoid pesky bees, make your own centerpiece. I made mine out of tissue paper flowers, but don't be afraid to be creative. A collection of brightly colored teapots or cups could set the mood. A glass cake pedestal filled with treats could also tempt little tummies and provide color.


Since we're talking about treats...what's on the menu? Typical tea fare consists of little sandwiches, scones, and tea. To save time, you can opt to order a finger sandwich platter from your local grocery store like I did or you can make your own finger sandwiches. Check out AllRecipes.com for some great ideas. Sweets don't have to be limited to scones. We had little store-bought cupcakes we decorated with ballerinas and fresh cut fruit.


And tea...the main component of the tea party. Brew your own: herbal, black, or green. Or buy it from the store. To beat the heat, make iced tea served in little tea cups. The kids will get the grown up feeling while drinking something that's refreshing. I found great little teacups that each guest was free to take home as a party favor.


No party would be complete without games or activities. For the little ladies, I laid out foam tiaras and stickers to decorate. Beads were available for making necklaces and bracelets, and paper dolls were colored, cut, and played with. Sidewalk chalk was available for games like hopscotch (boys can play skully) and of course there was pretend play with dolls and paper fans.

At the end of the day, each child enjoyed a new experience. They really got into the idea of playing grown up and we managed to enjoy the sun for a few hours before the clouds rolled in. The key to success with this type of party is to take the basic framework of a tea party and think outside of the box, making it fun and accessible to children of all ages.

Danielle

Collective Elements