Guest Post: READING CONFETTI ~ Paper Pumpkin

 I'm excited to have another guest host here on Come Together Kids.  After you read about this cute pumpkin craft she's sharing here today, you have to check out Lorie's blog.  She's only been blogging since August, but she has already shared tons of great ideas.  I love how she uses her love of books and her knowledge as a reading specialist to tie together great books with fun activities. Plus, her blog has several tabs with great tips for parents to use when reading with their children ~ so handy!

Hello!  I am so excited to be here!  A great big thank you to Laura for allowing me to do a guest post!  I'm Lorie from Reading Confetti and just recently started blogging.  I'm taking some time off from being a reading specialist and teacher to stay home with my 3 year old son and not-quite-2 year old daughter.  I've taught third through eighth grades and am now focusing my efforts on my preschoolers, so my blog is about making reading fun for kids of ALL ages. The project I'd like to share with you today is a paper pumpkin decoration.

To make your own, you'll need:

• orange and brown paper (Scrapbook paper would also be pretty!)
• a drinking straw, preferably orange  (You could also use string or ribbon knotted at each end, but the straw made it easier for my preschooler to participate.)
• green curling ribbon
• tape, scissors, paper punch

Cut strips from the orange paper and punch a hole in each end.  I didn't even measure the width - just tried to make them roughly the same size.  The important thing is to make sure they are the same length and the hole is approximately in the same spot on each.  This will keep your pumpkin from bulging in some spots.  I had to overlap two holes a little because my punch was slightly smaller than my straw.

Thread one end of each paper strip onto the straw.

Thread the other end onto the other end of the straw.  Add as many strips as you need to make your desired fullness.

Fold the bottom of your straw and secure it with some tape.

Tie a few lengths of green curling ribbon around the top and curl.  Leave two tails uncurled so you can tie them together and use them to hang your decoration.  Put a roll of brown paper around the top of the straw to make your stem.

That's it!  Cute and easy!

To go with our craft, we read The Runaway Pumpkin , an adorable story about a pumpkin that goes rolling down a hill, scattering farm animals along the way.

I hope you and your little (or big) readers have fun with this and I'd love for you to stop by Reading Confetti!

Thanks so much for sharing your cute paper pumpkins, Lorie!  I definitely plan on letting my kids make their own pumpkins with some of the tons of scrapbook paper that I have here at home.  I also love how you used the straw as the base.  I've seen it done with a brad before, but the straw makes it easy for even little ones to do this activity and it gives you the base for your stem ~ so smart!  

And readers, make sure you stop by Reading Confetti to check out all the other great ideas.  Lorie recently shared a fun post with all sorts of Book Inspired Halloween Costumes.that would be so cute for your little readers!

Guest Post: MESS FOR LESS ~ Watercolor Resist

I'm thrilled to have a guest host here today at Come Together Kids.  Because I didn't start this blog until my kids were a bit older, I haven't shared too many ideas geared more for the little ones.  It's not that I didn't do crafts and activities with my kids when they were younger, I was just way too exhausted and overwhelmed to even think about sharing them on a blog! 

Well, that's why I'm so excited to introduce you to Mess for Less.  Like me, Vicky has three children and likes to do inexpensive, yet fun, activities with her family.  However, she blogs about those fun activities while having three-year old TWINS and a toddler!  I know!  Amazing, isn't it?

Here she is with a fun craft that her three-year olds really enjoyed (and I know my "bigger" kids would love too!)

Hi Come Together Kids readers!  I am Vicky from Mess For Less, a blog of kids crafts and activities.  Laura asked if I would share a project with you all and I am so excited to be here!  I have 3 little ones (three year old twins and a twenty month old) and was a teacher before having kids.  I've been lucky to have had lots of great experiences while teaching, and I hope to use some of that inspiration to help my children grow and learn.  I am all about fun, hands-on activities that can be done on a budget.  Most of my projects can be done with items you already have at home.

The project I am going to share with you is one I re-purposed from my teaching days called "Watercolor Tape Resist".  Years ago, when I did this project with elementary-aged kids, I used blue painter's tape.  I would recommend this to you.  I didn't have any blue painters tape the day I wanted to do this, so I improvised and used masking tape.  I figured maybe it would stick a little more but it wouldn't be too bad.  It stuck a lot!  But it wasn't too bad.  If you plan on using these as art, you would want to use the painter's tape for sure.  But for my purposes, the masking tape worked, though it tore the top layer off of some of the paper. Supplies you will need:  white paper (I just used copy paper), tape, watercolor paints, brush and water.  Before the activity, you will want to use your tape to make whatever shapes or designs you wish on the paper.  I started out with a triangle and square and then moved on to some lines, and  finally my favorite, the checkerboard pattern.  Don't worry about being too exact with any of these.  The end result will be cool no matter how straight the lines or perfect the shape.  I promise! 

I gave the kids the taped paper and some watercolors and encouraged them to to paint over the tape.  I tried to explain that when the paint dried we would peel the tape off and see the design underneath, but I am not sure if the girls got that at all.  They just had fun in the whole process of painting on the tape.   A little background for Come Together Kids readers: my twins are total opposites.  "A" is the more of a follow the rules type  while "B" is a free spirit who likes to do her own thing.  As an example,  here is "A" carefully painting over her shapes.  

"B" had lots of fun painting her shapes.  So much fun that she did not want to stop after she was done.  All you can do with "B" is try and encourage her.  If she senses that you do not want her to do something then she will dig in her heels and do it more.  Can any of you relate?  Anyway, I normally never want to shut down my kid's creativity, but "B" kept on painting the same spot on the paper over and over again and I knew that soon a hole would form in the paper.  I asked her if she wanted to paint a new paper but she was adamant and kept working on her shapes. 

If I have learned anything in my three years as "B's" mom it's that sometimes it's better to let her do her own thing in her own time.  After a little longer, she was done painting her shapes.  Here are the results, holes and all. 

I love how you can see the girls' different approaches to art (and possibly life!) in their work.  As they painted their tape lines, you can see that "A" was careful to paint her entire paper while "B" was just interested in painting right over the tape.  

"A" working on her checkerboard pattern. 

I just love the finished "tape resist" artwork!  I mentioned earlier that it was tricky to get the regular masking tape off in spots and I would use painter's tape in the future.  You can't see it in the photos, but in a couple of spots a layer of paper was taken off with the tape.  But you live and learn right? I am going to have so much fun with this in the future.  Think of this project as a jumping off point.  There are so many possibilities about what you can do with this technique.  You can change it up in many ways depending on the age of the child.  I have seen people do their child's name in tape so when they peeled it off they had a pretty name painting.  You can do various shapes, letters, numbers, and patterns depending on what you are teaching and learning.  Experiment! You are only limited by your imagination.  And your lack of painter's tape.  

If you have liked what you've read here, I hope you will come visit us at Mess For Less for more ideas.  We are really friendly and we don't bite.  We'll, OK, my twenty month old sometimes bites.  But only if you try and take her toys away from her.  You wouldn't do that would you? 

Thanks, so much for sharing this fun activity, Vicky!  I'm inspired to do something similar with my kids soon.

And definitely go check out Mess for Less!  Here are just a few of the other cool activities her girls have done...

Fruit Loop Towers

Foam Window Clings

Bubble Wrap Prints

Paint Swatch Scavenger Hunt

I saw THIS awesome idea at Frugal Family Fun Blog a few months ago and thought it was such a cool idea.  

The kids always love picking out paint swatches when we go to Home Depot, so the other day, I grabbed a bunch too.  Then I just punched a hole in each card, attached a few cards with a piece of string and let the kids loose in the backyard to see who could find the best match.

Close match for this berry

This gray matches the latch on the fence gate

Found a match in the sandbox

This dead pine branch is the perfect rust color

Looks like a close match for this patch of dirt

This little leaf might be the winner!

The kids had a blast and we definitely plan on doing it again.  My "big" kids had fun, but it would also be an awesome way to practice colors for even the littlest preschooler.  

I chose earth tones this time because I planned on having them do it outdoors, but bright color swatches would be perfect for a playroom scavenger hunt or autumn hues would be great when the leaves start changing colors.

Five Fun Ideas with Science and Nature

One great thing about Summer break 

is the extra time you have for neat activities and experiments 

that you might not be able to squeeze in during the school year.

While the exact scientific principles 

might sometimes get lost in the fun of the moment, 

the love of discovery and learning 
that you foster in your children lasts forever.

Check out these Five Fun Ideas linked up 

to our Summer Fun Party!

1.  R is for Rocket

{ Preschool Alphabet }

2.  Nature Scavenger Hunt

{ Sun Scholars }

3.  Contact Paper Nature Collage

{ The Chocolate Muffin Tree}

4.  Shadow Play

{ The Chocolate Muffin Tree }

5.  Miniature Terrariums

{ Sun Scholars }

Indoor "Sand"box

Unfortunately, this post isn't going to have any photos to accompany it, but it was such a neat activity for the kids when they were little that I'm going to share it anyway.  I'm pulling it out from the "Way Back When" files in the far corners of my Mommy Brain.  It's perfect for these late winter/early spring months when it's not quite warm enough to play outside every day, but you and the kids have cabin fever and are desperate for some new activities to keep everyone happy and occupied.

SUPPLIES:

* Big bag(s) of dry rice

* large shallow plastic container with a lid (like an underbed storage box)

* large sheet

* variety of containers, cups, funnels, etc.

DIRECTIONS:

So simple, really!  Spread the sheet on your floor.  Put the container in the middle of  the sheet and fill it with rice.   Allow your child to use the little containers, cups, funnels etc. the same way they would in a sandbox.  My kids could sometimes play for ages with the rice ~ pouring it from one container to another, using an empty parmesan cheese container to sprinkle it, making roads for their matchbox cars, etc.  When playtime is over, simply pour any  rice that spilled on the sheet back into the container, put the lid on your box and tuck away for another day. Even if a little bit of rice gets on the carpet or floor, it's easy to vacuum up.