Make It Monday: Hand Print Turkey

I'm really behind in posting this week. It has been a busy week for all, I'm sure.

But what would Thanksgiving be without a hand print turkey???

 Paint your hand and thumb brown for the turkey's body.

Find a helper to paint stripes on your fingers for feathers. 

Apparently, Alyssa was making a tropical turkey. Hey, they celebrate Thanksgiving in Hawaii too, right?

Gently press your hand on a piece of paper, being careful not to wiggle your fingers around . . . too much. 

After you lift your hand, add the finishing touches to your turkey - a beak, a gobbler, legs, and a googly eye. Allow the paint to dry and proudly display your turkey for all to see.

Along with our tropical friend, we have a meatloaf inspired turkey, complete with ketchup on top. Maybe the poor turkey will get a reprieve from the feast this year. 

Then again, maybe not.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Make It Monday: Hand-Print Fall Tree

Some parts of the country have talked about snow recently. Thankfully, here in Michigan we're still enjoying the bright sunshine glowing on the oranges, reds, and yellows of the trees. I'm glad the rain has finally stopped so we can enjoy the beauty of fall. 

Now it doesn't matter if it does continue to rain though. I have my very own colorful fall trees right in my kitchen.

Let your friend paint your arm and hand brown. Watch out - it tickles!

Press your arm down on a piece of paper. If there are some white spots visible when you lift your arm, simply fill them in with more brown paint. 

After you wash off all that excess cold brown paint, return the favor, and paint your friend. 

Please though, paint just his arm and hand.

 "Hi, Mom! Wanna hug?"

 Embellish your tree by using your finger to add dots of colorful leaves all around.

I had visions of glorious trees sprinkled with the colors of fall. Masterpieces to be hung on the kitchen wall, for sure.

What they painted was far different from what my idea of the pages was. They seemed more interested in painting other accents. Very little leaves were being added.

This was not the plan. These were not the works of art I was excited to see created. 

Or were they?

Jake's picture, on the top, shows the leaves gently floating to the the ground with the slight breeze. There are 2 piles of leaves that the daddy already raked up for the child to play in. The child is jumping off the tree swing into the larger pile. The house is visible in the background.

Alyssa's picture, on the bottom,  shows a huge gust of wind. The leaves are being swept away and blown all around in the chaos. A little red squirrel tries to take shelter from the breeze near the tree.

See, it's all about perspective. Upon closer evaluation, and taking the time to listen to their descriptions, I realized that these were, indeed, art at it's finest. They weren't at all what I envisioned, but that's what makes them true artists. They weren't restrained to paint what I saw, but what they saw, what they felt.  

These little ones of mine are creative and talented and have minds of their own. Who am I to try to stand in their way, making them reform to my way of creating things? 

These pictures are hanging on our kitchen wall. Right where they should be.

Make It Monday: Egg Carton Flowers

It's been rainy and dark and gloomy. Hello, April. We made these flowers to bring some color and cheeriness into the house.

And because it was Monday.

Supplies per Child:
3 cardboard egg cups                                                             Toothpick
3 pieces (4" x 1 ½") of green craft foam                                 Scissors
3 green chenille stems (or brown, if that's all you have!)        Paint/brushes
6 squares (3" x 3") of  colored tissue paper

Directions:

1. Using an empty egg carton, cut out three egg cups and trim them down.

2. Paint the egg cups. Set aside to dry.

3. Cut the green craft foam into footballish shapes.

4. Use scissors to give your leaves more shape by trimming them into an hour glass type shape.

5. Use a toothpick to poke a hole in the center of each leaf.

6. Poke a chenille stem into the hole in the center of the leaf. 

7. When egg cups are dry, use toothpick to poke a hole in the bottom of each egg cup.

8.  Insert the top of the chenille stem into the hole in the egg cup.

9. Insert the top of the chenille stem into the center of the two tissue paper squares. Run the egg cup up to the tissue paper. The tissue paper will tuck inside the egg cup. Bend the end of the chenille into the tissue paper to hold everything in place.

Jacob and Alyssa did everything themselves, except the cutting. Let me tell you, I didn't even want to do the cutting of the leaves. I almost waited until Leighton came home to do it. Yes, I admit it. Freehand cutting is not my thing. I cut. I re-cut. I shaped. It was a long process. By the sixth set of leaves though, I cut, cut, cut, cut and voilà! Leaves!

The kids liked painted with the foam brushes. They helped fill in the texture of the carton. Jacob, of course, painted all 3 of his flowers red. Everything always red. He also painted the insides of them, even though I  tried to convince him that they wouldn't be visible. It made for some messy fingers. Thankful for washable paint! We used the top of the egg carton to hold the paint. Such an economical craft!

Jacob insisted that we sprayed the flowers so they were more realistic and smelly. Zachy especially liked sniffing them. 

See? All this rain has been good for something!

Make It Monday: Hand-Painted Apple Trees

We never got a chance to do a craft yesterday, so we pulled double duty today.

I love all things fall. The feel of the cool, crisp breeze; the sound of the crunching leaves; the taste of apple and pumpkin baked goods; the smell of backyard fires, the warmth of soft, cozy sweaters; the beauty of the changing colors. This weekend we are going to the apple orchard. I am so very excited! It is my favorite family tradition. In honor of that event, the kids painted apple trees today.

  First, we mixed equal parts red and green in order to make brown paint. 

We did add a little yellow too, to lighten it up a bit.

Then, we used a paint brush to paint their hands.

They loved this part because it tickled!

Next, they made the tree trunks.

Time for the green leaves.

Jake said, "Oh, I'm feeling sick. People turn green when they're sick."

We used a blow dryer to speed up the drying process.

Finally, they dipped their fingers in red paint to make the apples.

Alyssa very first apple already fell off the tree.

I helped with the positioning of the trunks, but they did the rest by themselves.

Jake keeps asking, "Is it time to go to the apple orchard yet?"

Apparently, I'm not the only one who's excited!