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This is the last (I think!) of my Harvest Festival photos.
These little darlings were made with clothes-pins (duh), and scraps of fabric and yarn. The skirts are simply circles with holes cut out the middle so they can easily be slipped on the clothes-pins.
Yet another craft activity from last week's Harvest Festival :-)
Wheat stalks were soaked in water to make them nice and pliable so that the kids could easily braid them. After the braiding, they just tied them off in a hoop with a pretty bit of golden ribbon. Perfect decoration for our Fall dinner table.
Miss M brings home some interesting treasures from her visits to the farm. Recently it was this Owl Pellet -- an Owl's version of a hair ball. M was very excited to point out all the little bones hidden inside -- probably those of an unfortunate field mouse.
>> Visit KidWings.com for an incredible series of videos and flash animations to learn more about our feathered neighbors.
B scavenged from the recycling bin again, and took out the water box. Perfect for air hockey. He cut goals out of the corners and "borrowed" some of the baby's toys to use as hocky pucks and sticks.
We played five rounds this morning before I'd even had my coffee (what was I thinking to ban TV today??).
Needless to say he won every round :-)
This is a good one for when you need to get a little aggression out and make something pretty.
At the Harvest Festival this past weekend M made a smashed flower print. She was given a bit of cotton fabric, and then told to pick her choice of flowers from a basket overflowing with beautiful blooms. She laid out the flowers on one half of the cloth, and folded the other half over them. Nice & tidy-like.
Now for the fun.
She was handed a hammer & told to pound away.
What fun! I think the result is lovely.
The kids are coming home with the greatest stuff recently. Today B wore this hat all the way home. He's such a ham.
Super easy to recreate at home.
>> To see another take on the same hat click here
Miss M's class went on a field trip to our local art center yesterday, and came home with this lovely amulet that she had made. I think it's great that she's still on her water theme :-)
Each child got to design and make their own and infuse it with special powers. She told me some of the other themes her classmates chose were Power, Inspiration, and Money.
I think we'll have to do a similar project at home using M's origami boxes for the frame... Time to get thinking about Holiday gifts!
After the party we had a ton of glass gems left-over so I figured we'd use them for a new project. I've seen these glass magnets all over the place recently and had wanted to make some of my own.
Since it was close to bed-time, I sent Miss M off to brush her teeth before getting started.
I then had her go through the New York Times Fashion magazine that was on it's way to the recycling bin, and had her pick out the pictures she thought would look nice magnified.
Next we glued the gems to the paper with regular craft glue and left them out to dry over night. In the morning I cut the gems out with nail scissors (the curvy kind so you can easily cut a smooth circle).
We're thinking we can use these for board games like Chess and Checkers, or with our Mancala set. Or with our made up games. They're also fun to just hold and look at. To sort. To give away... Oh yeah, we'll probably also make some magnets :-)
This cake is store-bought. I think if I were ever to try to make something like this it would end up lopsided and drippy.
All the kids ooh'd and ah'd when I brought it out. Who could resist real, live purple orchids on a green cake? Green candles? How decadent!
The only problem was everything in the cake. 80% of the kids didn't like the marzipan. 50% didn't like the chocolate cake. And 90% didn't like the cream filling.
Exactly ONE child at that party thought the cake was delicious!
I was lucky I'd filled them all up on pizza and juice, and there was a mountain of gifts to open.
Miss M's birthday party had an ocean theme this year. In addition to the Snow Globes we had a table set up for beading. Each child got to make a necklace or bracelet (or both). M and I had a great time at the bead shop picking out the prettiest shells and sparkliest beads to coordinate.
One thing that ended up taking more time than I expected was the set-up. I had to string the wire and secure it for each kid before they got started. Next time I'll do this ahead of time.
>> Magic Mountain Gems and Beads has excellent tutorials to get you started.
