Monday, August 19, 2013

What's up Chuck?

Hi everyone!  Happy Monday!

This weekend we ventured out to Hoboken to enjoy the lovely, sunny weather.  It felt so nice to get out, stretch our toes, and take in the last couple weeks of summer.  





We're pet-sitting.  Isn't Henry cute?

Sun-worshippers enjoying the day in Hoboken

Heart-attack on a plate....but wow... what a delicious way to go...
Have some bacon, mom!
Bicycle riding with daddy
Even Pink Pig got a chance to enjoy the day.  Can you spot her?

Hope you had a good weekend too!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Make your own Tupperware Spin Art (Method 2)

Today is the last day in our toddler painting series.  Boo hoo.  Sob sob.  There, there, no need to cry.  I'm leaving you with my favorite painting technique of the week.  Now you can make spin art with Tupperware and coins!

Materials:
- Tupperware
- Tempera Paint
- Paper cut to fit inside of plastic container
- Masking Tape
- Clear Tape
- Coins (We used quarters and pennies) 

Directions:
1.   Use clear tape to attach your coins to the bottom of the Tupperware.  (We used quarters first, but then found that we had a nicer result when we added some smaller coins like pennies to the bottom of the pile.)
2.  Tape your paper inside the Tupperware container.
3.  Add drops of paint.
4.  Cover your container and spin it around and around.


That's it! Open up your container and admire your lovely spin art.

(For those of you braver folks with older children, you could also try leaving the lid off.  Then, you could try to drip paint into the container as it spins.  I'm not sure if this would work... but it would be fun to try.  Just make sure to cover your work area to keep everything clean!)




And so ends our Toddler Paint Series.  In case you missed the beginning of the series, you can find other cheap and easy ways to paint with toddlers by clicking the links below:
Have a great weekend!



Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Make Spin Art using Tupperware (Method 1)

One of my clearest childhood memories was attending a birthday party and getting to make spin art t-shirts.  I remember carefully dripping beads of paint onto my shirt and then watching my artwork spin around and around.  Once the spinning stopped, voila!  All my beads of paint spread out and made a lovely sun burst design.

It was magical.

For some reason this particular memory popped into my head this past weekend  I felt inspired to try making our own spin art with Chuck too.

But how would we do it?  We didn't have a spin art machine, or a salad spinner, or a lazy susan. 
I was stumped.  Luckily, clever hubby came up with two ideas to make spin art using materials that we already had at home.   

Materials:
- Tempera paint
- Tupperware
- Paper cut to fit the bottom of your Tupperware
- Yarn
- Packing tape
- Masking tape (optional)

Directions:
1.  Cut a piece of yarn.  Tie it together to make a loop.

2.  Use packing tape to attach the loop to your Tupperware.  Congratulations! You now have a human powered spin art machine.
3.  Place drops of paint into your Tupperware.  (Optional:  You could also tape your piece of paper down into the Tupperware first and then place your drops of paint inside.)

4.  Close the lid and spin your Tupperware around and around. 
 5.  Open your Tupperware to reveal your spin art design.  (We placed a piece of paper over the design to capture the paint.  Alternatively, you could have also just put the paper inside first and then add the paint.)

Really, really easy, right?  The only problem was that our design wasn't really sunburst looking. So clever hubby got to thinking and came up with another solution....

which you'll have to read about tomorrow!
(Can you guess what it is?)

Happy toddler crafting!