Discovery Jars

If your house is anything like mine, you have tons of scrap craft accessories just lying around from ribbon to sequins, all sorts of little pieces without a use. I saw this online and thought, oh perfect! What a great excuse to use up some of those random pieces.

Materials
Bits and pieces of whatever... we used sequins, ribbon, jewels
Jars - we had big glass jars, but small plastic ones would be better
Water
I threw a bunch of pieces of sequins and cut up pieces of ribbon on the desk and let her throw them into the jar. She liked hearing things clank on the bottom.
Next, I let Aubrey pour cups of water into the jar. This was her favorite part! She would've preferred to just do this ALL day.
Once the jar is full of water, glue the lid on and let it dry. Shake it up like you would a snowglobe and watch all the pretty pieces swirl around. This part is better for younger ones... This project would be great for those with toddlers and infants. The toddlers really enjoy making them, where infants (6 months and up) should really enjoy all the swirling colors! Enjoy!

Fun with Yaya and Papa

Aubrey and I got to go visit my parents this week. It was nice to see them, along with two of my brothers! Family time is always so fun in the Anadon house! Aubrey loves her grandparents and got to do some really fun things with them! Her and her Papa got to play with Papa's music! So fun to see music getting passed on to yet another generation :) She loves dancing and singing and touching all the buttons in Papa's studio... unfortunately I didn't make it home with any pictures of this :-/ (how did I botch that one?!)
I did however get some fun pictures of Aubrey and her Yaya making a very sassy doorknob hanger! Yaya is so brave and got out the glitter paints! Aubrey loved getting messy and using something new and interesting! Enjoy the pictures! There's nothing like grandparents :)

Materials
Glitter Glue Pens
Plain foam doorknob hanger
Cutouts to decorate
Yaya shows Aubrey how to use the the glitter glue... helps her write her name and decorate the hanger!
Aubrey feels more comfortable putting on her flowers! But still wants Mama and Yaya to watch! She liked it when we cheered her on :)
The finished product!

Marble Painting with Grayson

I've seen this art project around blog land and thought I'd try it out
with my son. Painting with a marble... It looked fairly easy and not a
whole lot of mess, which made me happy!


Material Needed:
1. Marble(s) duh! :) I found a bag for a dollar at Michaels.
2. Tempura paint
3. Some art paper
4. A small box. I actually picked one up at Michaels while spending
$100's of dollars (Thanks Allie) on arts and crafts for Grayson. They
gave it to me free...the figured I probably more than paid for it.
Thanks Michaels!
5. I also got a large plastic table cloth to put on the ground. We
don't have a "normal" kitchen table to use for stuff like this (It's a
bar table, what were we thinking). We end up sitting on it (the table
cloth not the bar table) and the ground to paint today.
6. Old formula divider (My sister is a genius, I tell you!) to
separate the different color paints.


On to business:
I had to cut (fold really), the paper to fit the box. I also cut slits
on the side, thinking it would be easier for my son to hold on to the
box. He didn't get it and just held on the side of the box. I put a
marble in the box without paint and showed Grayson the ins and outs of
shaking the box. He KIND of got it, but I had to help him along with
this part.

I then dropped the marble into a paint color container, dished it out
and put it in the box and helped G roll it around. Grayson LOVED
seeing the different colors appear! He WOW'd and OOOh'd the whole
time. He got curious and touched the paint, and didn't like the mess
he left on his hands or legs! :) Yes, I've created a baby who LOVES to
be clean! Woo Hoo for me!! :)

Daddy came home just in time for the fun too! Daddy, noticing how hard
it was for G to hold the box and even tilt it to make the marble roll,
came up with the GENIUS idea to put the box on the floor and shake it
back and forth. G finally got it and loved making more marble paint
art all by himself!

Finished Product:
Grayson van Gogh

Recycled Crayons

While visiting family we were lucky enough to get to spend time with lots of Aubrey's cousins. It was a prefect day to do a neat activity that has something for all ages. I immediately thought about the recycled crayons I've been seeing everywhere. Thanks Phoenix, Braydon, Abigail, and Amelia, for helping Aubrey and I with this activity!

Materials
Cookie sheet or baking cups
Crayons
Not pictured is pam and a little blade
First, the kiddos get to pick out their colors. Make sure to use all of your already broken crayons.
Next, use your exacto knife to make the peeling easy... got that little tip from a friend who did this with her daughter for Christmas! Good thing, because it made it sooo much easier. We slit the paper, and the kiddos peeled it off. Perfect!
Everyone got to break the crayons... even little Amelia (7 mos) got to help out with this step. It was a family favorite!
Next, the kids got to decide which colors they wanted to go together and we just threw it all in, as pictured!
Set the oven temperature to 275 and bake these suckers for 10 minutes.... so simple! We let them cool for a couple minutes before putting them into the refrigerator to speed up the process! There you go, neat recycled crayons!

Pom Pom Picture Frame

I went to visit my parents this week, so I'm running a little bit behind on posting our activities. No worries though, we're getting them done even with all this traveling. The pom pom picture frame is a super easy and can be a super cute gift from your little one.

Materials

Picture Frame

Glue

Pom poms

...its that easy

All I did was pour glue into a bowl and showed her how to dip each pom pom onto the glue and press it down on the frame.

We both worked on it until the entire frame was covered. We had to wait a while for the pom poms to dry onto the frame, but once it was dry it turned out really cute!

Chalkboards... To go please!

Aubrey was in a bit of a funk today, and was feeling more like going to bed early than sitting down and doing a project. No fear, I came prepared for such set backs. I do have a few ideas up my sleeve for Aubrey-related projects that I can do when Aubrey just isn't in the mood... the idea is for her to enjoy herself, not to force her to do this with me... So I pulled one of those out today.
I got this idea looking into a similar project. In fact, I was in line at Michaels all set to follow the directions for the pencil box chalkboard when I noticed these little tins used to hold gift cards. I measured them up and sure enough, perfect size to hold pieces of chalk! If you're anything like me, there is limited space while traveling. I thought, "This is just what I need!" Which is how I came up with these to-go chalkboards!

Materials

• Plastic to protect the floor
• gift card tins (I did three to make some extra)
• Chalkboard paint -- Found in your local craft store paint department
• Chalk

I just took the tops of the tins off and put them aside. These ones happened to have really cute designs on the front, so I didn't want to cover them up. Instead, I used the backs and laid them out on the plastic to prepare to spray them.
This project is super simple. I just followed the directions on the back of the can, similar to any spray paint, and covered the bottom and sides of the tins. Easy as that.
I wish I had a final picture for you all, but it will have to come tomorrow. The paint needs 24 hours to dry...boo! Patience is always the lesson here, isn't it. Oh well, be on the look out! I have a feeling they'll be super cute!

Dropper Painting

Yesterday was the first time I worked AND did a project with Aubrey (good thing daddy helped). I didn't think we were going to make it at first, but we did! However, I wasn't able to get it on the blog until just now, sorry! It's going to be a busy year! I needed a quick and easy project, something that would fit in between work, cooking and cleaning. I know I'm not the only busy mom in these parts, so I'm happy to share it with you all!

Materials

• Food coloring, mixed with water (I used neon because it looks so fancy!)
• dropper, I had an extra one I used for meds back in the day, so we used that
• Coffee filters

I was looking for something to mix the food coloring in when I came across this... Aubrey's old formula container. It was perfect for separating paint, but keeping them easy and accessible for tiny toddler hands! When mixing the food coloring, there's no perfect way to do it... just drop in however many drops you want until you see a color you like.
After we mixed the food coloring and water, daddy showed Aubrey how to suck up the color and drip it onto her paper. She LOVED it, but I was worried about the mess...
...because once it was her turn she really enjoyed POURING the color on to her paper! In the end, the mess was worth it. She loved the final product almost more than we did! It turned out beautiful and we are displaying it in the art display hangers she made a few days ago. She really likes pointing at them and saying, "ooOOOoo" Well done baby girl!