"Tinkervember"

Anyone who knows me well understands that I am not a winter person.  At all.  And November is my least favorite month of the entire year.   (Well, next to January!)  It gets cold, it's gray, and the darkness envelopes us before dinner is served.  It's depressing.  I thrive on light and being outside.  So the rapid retreat indoors feels almost suffocating.   So I told the kids that mommy needs extra hugs and kisses now that it's dark, and I proactively have tried to concentrate on some exciting new things for us to learn inside.  I've dubbed it "Tinkervember"  Which sounds a little like fairies will come visit us,  but it explains our focus.  For the entire month of November, we will tinker and make.  Guided by the concepts that drive STEAM education, we will experiment to tie in as many elements as we can, and as time allows.  If you have any questions about what STEAM education is, my friends over at STEAM can explain!  Now, my kiddos are maker masters.  As soon as Q drops his school bag, he runs to the pantry where we keep our art supplies to create his latest idea.  Recently, we've had to convince him that he cannot create a real live friend out of salt and water.  "But we have salt in our bodies!"  And explaining that fabricated cardboard lens cannot actually be a spy camera was misery last week.  R spends a lot of time creating art.  And enjoys building.  But I would like to entice her to build more....So here is where I will attempt to push all my kids out of their (and my!) comfort zones in an effort to learn more.  Girls need more STEAM and I've planned some activities that interest my little guys, but I have some that may tickle and intrigue R.  Fingers crossed.  In this post, I will explain how I set up our space for tinkering.

First, we painted a pegboard LAVENDER!  I included the bin organizer with the PASTELS to  draw my girlie in!  I made the glue gun, stapler, scissors, etc available to them.  Putting the little guy scissors down low.   I hooked on an old cafe rod, zip-tied some yogurt cups, and plastic baskets and we were in business!  Our maker space has never been so neat!  This really helped our little organizers find the places things need to go!  I have included a short list of suggested items to start your maker space.  

Next, I attacked the tinker drawers.  This week the kids wanted to experiment with magnets.  So I included 2 builder drawers, a drawer for just magnet boards, one for experimenting, and one with specific activities they can do independently.  Considering the little buddy, I made sure to include some appropriate builders for him.  (Also, the magnets we use in these kits are stored up high.  Extreme caution should be carried out when dealing with tiny magnets and little guys!)

The other drawers contain different types of builders.  Toilet paper tubes hole-punched with skinny dowels, kid k'nex, Dado squares, Zolo builers, and the all-too-wonderful-thought-it-must-be-Christmas-morning-JUNK DRAWER!  (But more about that later!)

Some things to add to your "Tinkering" area:

Textiles:  cotton balls, felt squares, fabric scraps, ribbon, string, yarn, roving wool, burlap

Tools:  mini hammer, stapler, low-heat glue gun, paper puncher, scissors, screwdrivers, paint brushes

Hardware: nuts and washers, nails, paper clips, brass clips, duct tape, masking tape, washi tape, white glue

Loose parts: wood scraps, craft sticks, elastic bands, lids, plastic bottles, cardboard scraps, scraps from electronics including circuit boards, wires, wine corks, clothes pins, push pins, sea glass, mosaic tiles, flat marbles

Art materials:  watercolors, markers, stickers, crayons, stamps, collage papers, sequins, jewels

The Junk Drawer!!

Let me tell you!  The junk drawer was the single most popular area in the lab.  Every house has a drawer, box or bin full of old stuff no one knows what to do with!  Well, here you can reuse all of that stuff and create something new and cool with old unwanted toys and broken materials from around the house.  A little tape, ribbon, glue and you have a cool new creation!  The kids love visualizing something new and cool with the stuff or just playing and returning the item when done.

Preserving Leaves:  3 Ways We Have Done It!

The first method was fun for the kids but took some time.  

Over the past three years of leaf collecting,  we have played with the preservation of leaves in various ways.  I'll give you a run down of how it went, and maybe you can learn from our mistakes and try what you feel would be most appropriate. 

 First Method:  Painting and Modge Podging

 1.  We used Crayola Washable Glitter Paint to first paint the leaves.
 2.  We let them dry and then gave them a generous coat of Modge Podge on both sides.  Once dry, these leaves were sparkly and tough.  We used them  for various things this year too.  So they LAST.  My kids were really into painting at the time we did this, so the extensive painting on of color and Modge wasn't a big deal.  But it takes some TIME!

Second Method:  Plaster Impressions

  This next one is actually a leaf impression.  However, the leaves are so perfectly replicated it can be considered a preservation!

First, we used Plaster of Paris.  We slowly mixed in water in a disposable container until the plaster was the texture of melted ice cream.

Next, we worked fast to carefully press down on the leaf so that it just sits slightly into the plaster, but still on top.

Once dry, we carefully bent the plastic container and lifted it out.  We pulled the leaves off and sealed the impression with Modge Podge.  In hindsight, a spray-on acrylic would have been better.

Pros:  Fast results, cool effect, beautiful
Cons:  Breakable, Leaf pieces stuck, Hard for little kids to do alone.

 Wax-Dipped Leaves

This is in an electric skillet filled with about an inch of water. 

After the wax melts, I'm able to take it out of the skillet and the kiddies can carefully dip their chosen leaves.

 The Last technique we did this week as part of our Autumn Countdown.   I found it here. Wax-Dipped Leaves  Good old Martha Stewart!  I was sure to use quality beeswax in a neutral color so the actual color of the leaves we were dipping would show through.

The wax dries in no time and they are ready to be hung.  We used natural twine and old Mason Jar caps for the top ring.

This was my favorite activity!  It was fast, effective, and easy for the kids to accomplish independently.

R enjoyed moving her composition around the ring to balance the leaves.

THE coolest Leaf Impressions Ever!

The kiddies love tin foil.  I have to put a lock on the drawer that holds the foil just to reserve enough for wrapping food and BBQ.  Earlier last month we tried this cool "stained glass" art piece by hot gluing a piece of cardboard and then wrapping it in foil.

We used colored sharpie markers to color the sections to create a metallic look.

The end result had brilliant colors and neat texture.

So this time we decided to rub a layer of tin foil over found leaves.

I spray painted them black.

Once the paint was dry, we gently rubbed some steal wool on the designs to bring out the texture.

Pretty cool, right?

Apple and Leaf Fall Stamping

When my countdown-obsessed first grader discovered that I had put together a count down while he was away on a sleep over, he was so excited and wanted to get started right away.  Even though it was approaching dinner time, I said, "Sure"  And then helped him read the description written on the first post it note card.  "Fall Stamp Banner"  it read.  "Blah!  That sounds boring!" and he charged off to find what the others were doing.  However, he was back later and he brought his minions with him.  And this is what we did for our day 5 activity.

We cut open apples and talked about how they are formed.  from the blossom and where the blossom ins now.  And then we cut the apple in a different way and "found the flower" was hiding inside this whole time!

We painted the fruit the color we chose.  Pushed the painted fruit on the burlap, and voila!

I found some pre-cut burlap sheets from Michaels.  They were pricy but I did use my 1/2 off coupon.  And so easy!

We tried leaves too.  They were also cool.

Then hung them on the clothesline to dry.

We like them drying there!  We think they'll stay! In the end Mr. Q's comment was, "This actually turned out to be fun.  Not boring at all."  Score one for mommy!!

Colorful Fall Leaves

First, we went outside and did some observations.  I snuggled little guy as I carried him around and we pointed out the colors we were seeing.  We found some leaves we liked.  He enjoyed picking them for me.  

This is countdown day 6.  I decided this morning to set up for the activity before picking up Princess R from preschool.  I knew time would be limited as I am taxi mom on Monday!   As I was putting out the materials Special K became intrigued and wanted to play RIGHT NOW!  Who could blame him?  New stuff.  Looks colorful...  And I did this whole look at Special K toddler boy, and then looked back at the materials and thought,  "This project won't work for him.  How can I make it so that he can do this independently?"  So I abandoned the plan I had and I thought back in my brain that had this image of a post from Pinterest or a blog or who-the-heck-knows where.  My mind is a cesspool of crafty educational junk.  And I remembered this project.  And so we proceeded to do it.  Right then and there.  And it was so appropriate.  And it was such a special time for both of us.  I'm so glad I was flexible in changing the plan to fit the interests/needs of my guy because as it turns out, it was an activity that was approached with zeal throughout the day by my entire brood.  Including the high school-er who was eager to play with the color mixing!

We brought his collection inside and chose the perfect one that he liked most.  I traced the shape with a pencil and cut out several layers of coffee filters to create many sassafras leaf shapes.

We then took small amounts of liquid watercolor and squeezed the color onto each shape.  The results were immediately rewarding!

The way the colors mix together is both unexpected and beautiful.  

How to Create a Holiday Countdown

We've done count downs for numerous things.  Count down to Kindergarten, countdown to Spring, Count down to Valentine's Day and the all important Count down to Christmas.  My second son is obsessed with countdowns.  He's a paradox of rigid and creative, and loves the spark of fun the ideas on countdowns provide.  And enjoys the goal of getting somewhere in the count.  So he's requested countdowns for everything.  I can't always follow through, of course.  That would be insanity!  One time I joked, "How about a countdown to going to bed!  Or a countdown to poop time?"  He didn't catch the sarcasm.  He just starting thinking about how that could work, and what types of activities could lead up to having to take a sh*t?  I created this monster, I know.  Little did I realize how this would grow when I started my first countdown back years ago.  I was pregnant with my fourth child, we were in middle of a big move, and I needed activities to direct the kids into something structured.  Behold:  the Christmas countdown!  I do see advantages of doing this.

Our original Christmas countdown back in 2011.  Rolled wrapping paper with activity descriptions on each one.

• It provides a daily structured activity.  Automatically building in some family time together.  Keep this in mind.  Plan involved activities to fall on days you know you will be more available.  Like weekends, or less busy week days.
• It gives the family something to look forward to every day.
• Allows a lesson in patience.  "Wow!  That countdown activity was fun!  Let's do another one!  RIGHT NOW!"  Um.  No.  
• Helps younger children with developing a sense of time and space.  My kids have a better concept of the differences between a day, a week, and a month now.
• Number sense and recognition, if you are using numbers.
• You can prepare a lot of the daily activities in advance, and store them for later.  All of your ideas are already prepared on the countdown, so even if the materials aren't prepared in advance, it's easier to plan ahead and gather supplies.  I tend to do prep work all at once when I actually have time and then just gather the supplies that same day.  Saves me a lot of time!
• You can include specific skills or activities you want your children to focus on in the countdown.  Incorporating learning objectives in a fun way is a sneaky way to focus on those skills!    

So today I am working on a Halloween/Fall countdown.  Albeit a little behind schedule.  I'll describe the process I go through to create and execute the countdown here.

First, I go online and do my searches.  I use many of my favorite blogs as well as Pinterest.  Things to consider when looking things up:

• Events in your area that may be of interest.
• crafts
• food/cooking projects
• consider literature connections, incorporating STEAM objectives
• I look for projects that use simple, quality materials, not kits
• Incorporate nature whenever possible!

  

Gather the materials.  I'm stringing the cardstock but clothespins work great.  I cut cardstock into eighths and then stuck printed numbers on each. 

Consider your calendar and busy days!  I planned involved projects and field trips for school days off and weekends.  Monday and Tuesdays are our busy days so I wanted to make sure that quick activities were put on those days.

I used Post It notes to label the activities on the back side of the cards.  That way I can use the same cards next year or switch activities last minute or add more easily.

Post It notes also allow me to schedule multiple related activities for the same day.

I used simple twine I picked up in Target's dollar bin to string the cards

We have stick on hooks on our fire place for just such a thing!

And we're ready to rock and roll!