danyelle recommends Rainy Day Book of Things to Make and Do

We are 11 days into our summer vacation, and while my kids enjoy being outside, they have already had plenty of inside hours to fill.  I found Rainy Day Book of Things to Make and Do while browsing through kids' craft books in March, and I knew it would be perfect for summer days (rainy or not).

The book is organized into 8 sections ("Fun and Games," "Top Toys," "Rad Room," "Great Gifts," "Dazzling Decorations," "Cool Cards and Papercrafts," "Funky Fashions," and "Awesome Accessories") and includes a variety of projects (twig letters, pebble pets, paper plate animals, and pop-up cards)  Step-by-step instructions are clearly written, easy to follow, and include plenty of pictures.  Whether you are gluing, stitching, or painting, most of the projects require easy-to-find supplies, many of which we already had on hand.  Templates are included, making it easy for those of us who need to trace.  Although the title says the projects are "for kids aged 3-10," younger children will need significant help from adults.  The projects were just right for my seven- to ten-year-old children to complete with little assistance.

Here are a few of our projects.

Checker boards for our road trip in June.

Bandanna-covered journals that we are going to use for our summer poem books.

Stain glass butterflies decorate our back door.

We have more projects that we want to try this summer (notice the flags stuck in our book).  I just hope summer lasts a long time.

The Rainy Day Book of Things To Make and Do: More than 50 Creative Crafting Projects for Kids Aged 3-10
by Catherine Woram and Claire Youngs
published by Ryland Peters & Small
August 2012
recommended for ages 6 and up

Playing with Story

I recently discovered Show Me a Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children's Storytelling by Emily K. Neuburger.  (Thanks to Anna Lewis for the recommendation in her blog post on I.N.K.) My copy now has a colorful array of post-it flags marking pages I want to return to.  The author includes clear instructions for making story disks, story stones, traveling puppet theaters, story blocks, and other craft projects that encourage creativity.  She also includes ideas for sparking imaginations and telling stories.  Most of the projects can be completed with supplies that are inexpensive and easy-to-find.  We decided to use fall break to make some story mats--all it took was some canvas, paint, fabric scraps, and imagination.  Let's make some stories!

Time for Picture Books

Well . . . I left town for a few days, and when I returned, I ran straight into the Thanksgiving holiday which pleasantly gobbled up my time, so I didn't write about as many picture books as I had originally planned this month.  Today I'll share a few pictures of the clocks we made this year.  I made them for my kids, but they turned out so well that I kept one for my workroom.

Sand a pre-cut clock face purchased from your local craft store, then cut a page from a picture book  and use a spray adhesive to attach it to the clock face.  [Tip: Make sure the spray adhesive goes to the edges of the picture and press the edges firmly to ensure there are no gaps.]  Spread a drop cloth or plastic sheet over your work surface and place the clock face up on wooden blocks or some other support so the clock does not touch the drop cloth.  [Tip: Be careful not to block the hole in the center of the clock face.  A used masking tape ring will work well as a support.] Pour high-gloss EnviroTex Lite over the clock face after stirring the resin and hardener according to the directions.  Breathing slowly over the surface immediately after you pour the EnviroTex Lite will help remove bubbles from the surface.  Place a large plastic container over your clock to let it dry without getting dust on the surface.  After the clock is dry, sand the drips from the back of the clock, insert a clockwork and hands from your local craft store.  Voila!

Poetry -- A Summer Tradition

It all started many years ago on my oldest son’s last day of first grade when he brought home a collection of poems that his class had memorized during the year.  He was so adorable reciting, “Thumbs in the thumb-place, Fingers all together!” and “Paddle once, Paddle twice, Paddle chicken soup with rice” that I decided to spend more time with the poetry he had learned by having him illustrate each poem.  We used paint, glitter, fabric, stickers, colored paper, and colored pencils to illustrate those poems, and I found that as we did, we came to love them even more.  Over the years my children and I have repeated this activity -- gathering poems and trying to find creative ways to express how they make us feel (particularly challenging for non-artist me) -- and in the process, we have increased our appreciation of the poetry.  We have read, memorized, and illustrated poems by Judith Viorst, X.J. Kennedy, Emily Dickenson, Aileen Fisher, Eve Merriam, Carl Sandburg, Marchette Chute, Bobbi Katz, and many others.

My oldest is now at college, but my younger children enjoyed gathering and illustrating poems this summer.  Here are just a few of the pictures they made to illustrate the poems we love:

"Umbrellas" by Barbara Juster Esbensen

We cut index cards into pieces and glued the pieces onto a separate piece of paper.  Then the kids placed a blank sheet of paper on top of the index-card covered page and colored over it with crayon.  They cut their colorful umbrellas from the colored sheets.

"The Chorus" by Eileen Sheridan

The word bubbles are embossed with musical notes.  The bird bodies are cut from scrapbook paper, and the kids used colored pencil to draw the detail.

"Bees" by Jack Prelutsky

Each child made bees from their yellow-inked fingerprints.  The detail was added with color pencil.  This picture was fun to make and super easy.  I especially liked seeing all the personality my kids put into "every bee that ever was."

"Silvery" by Dennis Lee

I lightly taped a piece of cardstock in a flat box, and let the children roll paint-covered marbles across the page to create "dreams".  We then glued a moon cut from mirrorboard to each picture.

I just wish summer could have lasted longer.