Summer Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympics, London is coming, Friday, 27 July 2012!
So I preparing Gabriel early with circular art. I thought it would resemble the well-known Olympic-linking-circles:

Materials:
piece of paper
paint
Paper tube

Dip the tube in the paint then "stamp" onto the paper.

Yes, that easy!And so fun, so pretty.

The Official Olympic Flag
From About.com
Created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1914, the Olympic flag contains five interconnected rings on a white background. The five rings symbolize the five significant continents and are interconnected to symbolize the friendship to be gained from these international competitions. The rings, from left to right, are blue, yellow, black, green, and red. The colors were chosen because at least one of them appeared on the flag of every country in the world. The Olympic flag was first flown during the 1920 Olympic Games.


And then read about the History of the Olympic Torch, Flame, and Relay!

I also took this as a time to teach Gabriel about the Special Olympics. The NJ Special Olympics had its opening ceremonies this past Friday, 6/8/12. 

<3 Lishie & Gabriel

Visit my Food Blog: DeLish

 

Championship Countdown

Gnomes on a Log

Do you love garden gnomes as much as we do? I thought so! Well now that we have been outside so much in this beautiful weather, those little guys are popping up everywhere to welcome us. Gabriel & I created & painted four cuties sitting on a log to keep inside our home. It was so easy & fun!

And they are "playable"... They come off the "log" & are their own little figurines.

Materials:

1. 2 paper towel tubes
2. 1 piece of paper
3. paint
4. scissors
5. school glue

Cut one of the paper towel tubes into four equal pieces. On the other tube, trace four circles uses the end of one of the tube pieces (the bottom of a to be gnome). Carefully cut out these traced circles- you have the "seats" for the four gnomes. 

Take the piece of paper & cut out four circles for the "hats". Turn them into cone shapes & glue one onto each of the four "gnome" pieces. Cut out four "faces" out of the same paper & decorate them. 

Paint your gnomes & the log; allow to dry. Glue the paper faces onto the gnomes. Seat the four little guys in their log & play! 

<3 Lishie & Gabriel

Visit my Food Blog: DeLish

Tubes in Space...

Tubes in Space

Gabriel is still on a space kick so this is a recent craft I've had prepped & put aside for  a good day. The astronaut template is from a site called DLTK's Growing Together site. It's great! I've gotten other ideas/print outs from this site too (see Elmo tube below!)

Astronaut 

We printed the non-colored astronaut & Gabriel colored it. Then, hand-over-hand, I assisted with the cutting out & gluing of the pieces. We then embellished with extra bits of cast off tinfoil I had kept for this purpose (pieces too little to wrap anything in) & a star sticker.

Then we created a rocket with a paper towel tube. I keep all of my paper towel tubes for crafts. This is simply a red sheet of construction paper glued onto the tube then embellished with star stickers. The point/top is a circle turned into a cone, covered in tinfoil. The bottom "feet" of the rocket are triangle-shape bits of the tinfoil. The background of Space is a black foam square with Dover Publications GLOW-IN-THE-DARK (how cool?)stickers adhered to it!Gabriel had a great time with his space set :) 

Here's the Elmo he & I did when G was about 8 months old:

Elmo

<3 Lishie & Gabriel

Visit my Food Blog: DeLish

Re-Purpose

Yeah, I kind of re-purpose everything, or try to... So much so that when I ask my hubby not to toss something, he says, "What are you going to make with it?" Ha... Re-purposing, or up-cycling is good all around... for the environment, to save money & for the recipient. Here are some re-purposed, up-cycled goodies for Gabriel:

Dish washing soap bottle for Bubbles

Gabriel LOVES bubbles. Anytime is a bubble time with us... inside or outside... I carry a little bottle in my bag at all times! Sesame Street had a Bubble Fest Episode. Part of it was the scienec of finding the right homemade mixture to create the perfect bubbles... This is what they came up with:

Bubble Formula=1/2 cup of dishwashing liquid & 4 cups of warm water
I fill the plastic dish soap bottle then refill a couple of little bottles, here & there.

Produce Holder as Sand Mold

Which one is the re-purposed item? I bet you can tell but does it really matter to your child? Those plastic containers make great sand toys once they are washed with warm, soapy water. This blue one originally housed button mushrooms.

 Paper Towel Tube Robot

I do a lot of crafts with paper towel tubes so I always save them. This one was for a sniffly, sick G... it took 3 paper towel rolls & string & a hole punch...

 Priceless

<3 Lishie & Gabriel

Visit my Food Blog: DeLish