Light Table & Aqua Gems

Everyone knows that toddlers are a whole different creature. Cute and lovable, independent and storming. I needed something new to keep little missy doodle busy. She is 15 mos. old but any preschooler would love to do this. Heck, my 14 year old played around with these for a while. Some people call them aqua gems, some call them water beads.

You find them in the floral section. Caution: Children should be supervised as these shouldn't be eaten. To make the light table, you'll need: 2 clear bowls, 1 strand of white Christmas lights, aqua gems, and a dark space.
Simply place the lights over an inverted bowl. Put the other bowl on top. Fill with aqua gems. Turn out the lights. It's sooo cool!
Little missy doodle put a spin on it. After a little while, she popped up and walked away. I thought, "well, she is done." Nope. She returned with her Sesame Street characters and Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert, and Ernie went for a swim! :)

Library Thank You Card

Little G completed the Summer Reading Program at the local library and received a really nice new book - a board book called "Clap Your Hands" valued at $7.99. I decided that we would rite a thank you note to the library for the book. Here is what I came up with. Little G signed her name!

Fairy Houses

My dear friend Cari sent me a link to Clary Gardens in Coshocton to make fairy houses. We didn't know what to expect and discovered that it was amazing.First, we were allowed to make wreaths for our heads and fairy wands.
Fairy Guides instructed us on how to make our fairy attire.
Look how beautiful the grounds are here.
Tons of people showed up to make fairy houses. Boxes of supplies - bark, twigs, shells, twine, acorns, gourds, etc.
To make your fairy house, you gathered the supplies that you wanted then headed through the woodland wonderland. You could make your house wherever you wanted. It was the perfect setting for this event.
Here are some of the houses.



The Fairy Queen was not there when this picture was taken but she would lead you in a fairy dance if you wanted here in this magical spot.


A lot of the fairies brought their own wings :)
Yes, I am in my 30s, but I still had a lot of fun - I will always be a preschool teacher at heart. Thank you to Clary Gardens and all the wonderful volunteers for putting this program together.

Recycled Rings

Do you know what these are (below)? Yes, they are the things from an orange juice carton! I have tons of them, I mean, tons! See, I don't drink milk, but I drink a lot of orange juice. I go through a carton and a half a week. And I pull off these little rings and chuck them in a basket. I have been saving for a while and needed to come up with an idea for an art class that I am teaching this fall at the community center.
First, I gathered up some supplies - odds&ends, gumball machine toys, iwako erasers, sequins, paper punches, fish tank stones, etc. I punched out some green and blue circles out of cardstock.
First, I glued the cardstock to the "ring" to give it a base.
Then, I added my "gems". This is a giraffe iwako eraser. You can find them all over the place.
This is a bunny that came in a generic Easter game that I found at Kroger on clearance after Easter. I think there were 24 bunnies in the game for a buck or something. I added a pom pom ball for added flare. Bunny's got a big ol' tail!

The dolphin is a Squinkie - they are cheap and the perfect size for this project, The hot pink bear was in a gumball machine. The orange dude is a Bonz, I think that's what they are called. You can get them at Target in a 3 pack by the baseball cards for $1.99.
This astronaut was in a dinky little set. I painted the plastic bubble thing that the Squinkies come in silver and ta-dah! He walks on the moon.
This is my favorite. I took some faux moss and 2 deer paper punches to create this on. The deer paper punch I found at Michael's in the Girl Scout Scrapbook section.
I used this scalloped paper punch to make the base of the the astronaut and frog's lily pad. I got this punch (have you guessed that I spend a lot of time in the scrapbook section of my local craft stores?) at Michael's too but have seen it at JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby.
I punched out 6 scalloped circles and ruffled them to make him look like he's sitting on the lily pad flower. He looked kinda boring just sitting there alone.
This is a fun one! This is a hamster sticker that I found at Target recently. The little hamster actually jiggles around in there when you move it. Funny, huh?
Here are my three favorite. I think kids - even older kids - would love this project. I know a certain 4 year old that will just melt when she sees them. But I was even thinking that this would be a fun girls-night-out project or a teen project.
Here they are - all my fancy jewelry hee hee Look at this bling. I think the preschoolers in my fall class are just going to have a ball with this project!
Happy crafting!
Mel