Puffy paint is always a big hit with children. It is fun and different. To save the cost of the small containers at the store, you can make your own puffy paint. The best thing about making your own, besides the lower cost, is the amount you can make for a large group of children like a classroom, girl scout troop or just having friends over to the house.  Start out by collecting bottles that can squeeze out paint, like mustard bottles or used paint bottles that are empty. You can also buy the bottles at the store that have not been used. For some strange reason my children have an aversion to mustard and I know they will not want to use paint from a used mustard bottle.  If you prefer to use a paintbrush to use the puffy paint that would work  also. This paint will dry super shiny and will rise. This will be a hit with the children.

You will need:

Flour

Water

Salt

Food coloring

Mix equal parts of all the materials except the food coloring.  Pour into separate cups. add the desired color of food coloring and mix well. You can then have the children paint with paintbrushes from the cup, or you can our the paint into separate squeezable containers.

This recipe is easy for the children to make their very own paint. Anytime children can make their own craft stuff to use is a great accomplishment.  Another advantage of this easy recipe is that little hands can help even if they stick their curious little fingers in their mouth.  The paint is non-toxic. I have not stored any of this paint, so I will have to update the post when I get the chance to see how well and long this puffy paint will store.  Please feel free to let me know if you figure it out!

You will need:

Paint (red, green and brown)

Paper

Area with paper or plastic art covering to protect flooring

Start with the brown paint and place along child’s arm and thumb. Have them place their arm onto the paper. Make sure you help them lift the arm off of the paper. If not, it could lead to some messy prints. Have the child clean up. Next, use the green paint to put on child’s hands and fingers to make leaves. Again, clean up and place red paint on one thumb to create the apples on the tree. This would be a creative project for the end of the year gift to parents with a child’s poem written about growing like a tree. As always quotes add an inspirational moment to the gift. Younger students can write a sentence such as “Look at me, I am growing like an apple tree!”

If you wanted to include a math project for kindergarten and younger, you could have them make a certain number of apples in the tree. For example, have index cards with numbers written “ten” or numerically written “10,” then the child would make the amount that their card was labeled. It all depends on the child or children. They could have to make an even number of apples to practice the meaning of even and odd in mathematics. The mini-lesson possibilities in art and all day long are endless!

This art project would also relate to Arbor day, seasons, family tree and a beginning of the year art project for the wall. This applies to teachers, child care professionals, home school moms and scout leaders.

I always recommend finding a paint with no gluten in it, as some art supplies contain hidden gluten. This would be for classrooms or parents that have children with celiac disease.

Example:

Write the heading “likes” and “dislikes” on the whiteboard or paper.  Then have the child or children guess what little Miss Picky might like to eat.

SHHH….. Do not tell them what she eats. As they guess, write down their guess in the appropriate column.

For this example, Miss Picky will only eat foods that start with the letter “S.”  But it could be only words with a long o sound, short a sound, two syllables, five letters….you get the point.

The object of the game is to discover the pattern of Miss Picky.

So on with the example:

In the “Likes” column you may see; spaghetti, strawberries, sandwiches, squash.

In the “Dislikes” column you may see jelly, tomatoes, bagels, oranges etc.

*If you have a few more minutes and they have guessed the pattern, allow them to come up and continue the list.

*Artsy people can draw a Little Miss Picky and write the accepted words on her body or dress.  If you are using this in a classroom, laminate Miss Picky and use a dry erase marker each time you play!

If you plan on keeping these, I would organize by color or some other system so you can easily pull out the words you will need. For example, colors could be a code for easy to difficult, or grade levels or the week of the spelling list.  Use what makes sense to you. Happy spelling!

You will need: heavy paper (card stock), scissors, glue and beans.

NO-COOK MODELING DOUGH

2 Cups flour

1 cup salt

water

tempera paint powder

Mix ingredients, adding water to make the dough pliable.  Not too much it will be too sticky.

The dough can air dry to harden or can be baked at 300 degrees for an hour.  The time may depend on the thickness of the creation.

In the younger grades it is fun to read “If You give A Pig A Pancake” and have pancake snacks that day, as well as other literature activities. If you are in a school, please check your policies. As when I taught, we brought the griddle in the class.

One way is to write a letter on the pan let it cook until you see bubbles. Then pour batter over letter to make a “normal” pancake.  The image is in the pancake. Have fun with this, you can make smiley faces etc.  Also, note that you will need to write the mirror image for letters like “L”  or they will be backwards!

Or, just write a large letter to be the pancake itself. A turkey baster works well, but I just used a spoon for mine.

The whole family agrees that this recipe is the best so far.   Hope you and your family or class have a yummy in the tummy pancake experience!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

Preparation:

Sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and 1 1/2 cups of milk; add to flour mixture, stirring only until smooth. Blend in melted butter. If the batter seems too thick to pour, add a little more milk. Cook on a hot, greased griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until bubbly, a little dry around the edges, and lightly browned on the bottom; turn and brown the other side. Recipe for pancakes serves 4.

Many books can be found about grandparents. A few of our favorite picture books are Grandpa’s Teeth, The Song and Dance Man, Grandpa, Grandpa and The Gifts of Being Grand.

A writing and literature activity that can be done at home or school is to read a book and then design your own story using the same theme. We read Grandpa, Grandpa in my multi-age classroom and then each child made there own page. We then put the pages together to make our own class book. At home these pages could be used as a gift for grandmas and grandpas.

Cover Design for Class Book

First Grade Writing

First Grade Illustration

Second Grade Page

Second Grade Writing

Second Grade Illustration