Growing Up Creative

Eco kids craft – Weatherproof Butterflies Mobile

As promised, here is a tutorial for making paper butterflies that will fly come rain or shine…. there are 2 steps to the process: the first one is folding the butterfly and the second is dipping it in melted wax. This is overall an easy tutorial. I have been making them with groups of kids ages 4-11 for a community art installation called more than 1000 Butterflies currently showing in Ramat Handiv in Israel, you can read more about the installation here.
The reason for dipping the butterflies in wax is to make them water resistant, so they can be hung outdoors. in the process of dipping them in wax, I found how amazing the transformation is. It makes the butterflies durable, yet extremely brittle. It turns the paper translucent, one can freeze a shape, and when the wind blows and the butterfly touch each other ever so gently, they make an extraordinary soothing sound.

^{butterfly art installation, Ramat Hanadiv, Israel, photography Nirit Gur-Karby}

You will need
For the butterflies:

• Recycled/used paper (i have been using old encyclopedias)
• Scissors
• Paper clips

For dipping in wax:

• Wax (you may use candles)
• Oil pastels in a color you like
• Pot
• Foil (to protect cook top and working surface)
•  Tongs

For making a mobile:

• Fishing wire
• Beads

How to


   1. Fold the paper in 2
   2. Draw a curved line on the open end of the paper
   3. Cut along the line (you may rip the edge instead of using scissors)
   4. Open the page flat, now you have a symmetrical shape that looks somewhat like a butterfly.
   5. Fold the paper an accordion fold
   6. Unfold a paper clip (or any other wire you may have) and twist it around the center of the accordion fold, spread the wings, squish the folds close to the center a bit to keep the wings open


Now for the wax -

   1. Melt wax in a pot
   2. protect working surface with foil
   3. Add oil pastels in the color you like
   4. Very carefully dip the butterfly in the wax (make sure there is parental supervision)
   5. Put aside to cool down , you may dip a few times. Try and alternate with different colors

 
After the wax cooled down you may turn the butterflies into mobiles by tying a fishing wire to the butterfly and adding some beads if you like.

^{butterfly art installation, Ramat Hanadiv, Israel, photography Nirit Gur-Karby}

 

How-to make a pop-up rabbit doll for the Chinese New Year

^{Abra kadabra}


For the year of the rabbit we have been making rabbit pop up dolls. Mika is thrilled with the reappearing disappearing rabbit in the hat. And the girls are exited to pop it and hear her giggle.

It is a sewing project, but a very easy one. You may choose to replace the sewing with the glue gun but I hope you won’t.

Lets hop hop to work…..

You will need:

• Toilette paper tube
• Fabric scraps
• Thread and needle
• A long dowel (about 15 inches long)
• 1” wooden bead for the head (you may use a foam ball or some crunched up fabric instead).
• Glue gun
• Construction paper or colorful felt
• Masking tape
• A rabbit template printout

For the hat:

• Cardboard (an empty cereal box is perfect)
• Black construction paper or black felt (I didn’t have either, so I used sharpies)

How to: 

1. Cut out 2 pieces of the rabbit (front and back) and 2 hands 
2. Embroider the eyes and nose
3. Stitch the 2 sides together, right side facing out. Go around the head ignoring the ears. Make sure you leave the bottom part open. 
4. Stitch arms and tail
   
5. Insert the dowel into the bead, if the hole is too small, shave the tip of the dowel with a utility knife to make it fit. If you are using foam, just puncture the foam to insert the dowel. Apply some hot glue so the dowel stays in place.
6. Insert the dowel with a bead into the rabbit, if your head is too large for the bead, tie a bow tie around the neck or stitch the neck a little.
7. Tape the rabbit over the paper roll tube

Now you got your basic pop up doll.  This is when you can choose what you want your rabbit to pop out from. If you choose to have a hat:

1. trace a CD on your card board, trace the toilette paper tube onto the center of the circle and cut out the center about ¼” smaller than the toilette paper tube line. Make small cuts around the inner circle, creating little tabs. Fold the tabs to one direction.
2. Put some tape around the tabs to hold in place.
3. Cover/ paint with black paper or paint.
4. Slip circle on the tube with the tabs facing down. 
5. Cover the toilette paper tube with a black material of your choice.
   ^TADA....

Make sure you bookmark this for Easter….

Enjoy your Dim Sum
Tali

I am linking this post to Craft Schooling Sunday

How to make a summer necklace

This necklace is made of everything I love about summer: going to the beach, and eating melons.

^{(almost due)}

You can make your own summer necklace; this is how I made mine:

You will need:
Shells
melon seeds
ocean color beads
fishing wire
a needle

how to:

get all your materials ready:

• Selects the beads you would like to use

• go to the beach and collect some shells with holes
  

• cut up a melon, clean up the seeds. Rinse them up using a strainer and let them dry on a towel for a couple of days.
  

String the beads and the melon seeds on the fishing wire. Use the needle to poke holes through the seeds (very easy). 

You may randomly select your beads like I did, or make up a pattern.


If you are not into necklaces you may make up a mobile to hang.

I hope to see some of your necklaces in the eco kids craft flickr pool

Have a happy and safe summer.

tali

A Birthday party activity that is also the “goody bag” (for any age)

A couple of weeks ago my little nephew celebrated his 2nd birth day. 
My sis, who is brilliant in birthday activities, had the challenge of entertaining 12 kids ages 2-10, some hungry adults and a couple of babies.

Quiet a challenge, don’t you think?!

Her Idea was to have them draw on plain white t-shirts and let them make their own designs, using Sharpies. The kids were very much engaged in the activity, all of them with no exception - the 2 year old as well as the 10 year old.  The adults were happily munching and talking, and the babies were just there latching on to their mommies. 

How to draw on t-shirts using sharpies

you will need:
White t-shirts (one per child)
Sharpie permanent markers (enough to go around)
A paper insert for the shirt (cardboard or printing paper)

How to:
Insert the paper inside the shirt (so the ink won’t leak to the back side)
Spread some sharpies around
You may pick up a theme to jump-start the kids. If you have a birthday theme you may use that.
Sit back and enjoy watching them all do their thing.

You may also do this as a summer afternoon activity with your kids using an old t-shirt.

Happy birthday Dvir
Thanks Gali for such a great idea.

tali

How to make a Butterfly family collection

I’ve always loved looking at butterflies and insect collections in the Natural History Museums. The patterns and colors are mind-boggling, and a great source of inspiration. I particularly like the moths and beetles collection,but that's a different project.  
This spring we have decided to make our own family collection, pinned up in a display box.
We spent some time studying Zoe’s butterfly poster, looking carefully at the different wing shapes and patterns. We tried picking one favorite, but we have miserably failed to do so. Mostly, we enjoyed working side by side, drawing butterflies from our imagination.
Following is a simple tutorial for making your own family/class or private butterfly collection.

Making the butterflies

You will need:

• Sharpies (of course)
• White Card stock (we have used water color Bristol paper because I like the thickness as well as the texture, and also that was all I had)
• Small scissors
• Pencil
• Any kind of butterfly reference (web, books, posters, etc..)

How to:

1. Spend some time looking at pictures of butterflies, study their patterns, their shapes etc.
2. Draw half a butterfly on your board, fold it in the middle.
3. Cut out your butterfly (younger kids may need some help with cutting)
   
4. Open your butterfly, and color your butterfly creating different patterns
   
   
   
   

Thoughts and variations:

• This is a great project for all age groups. Each will demonstrate different skills and ability, you might need to help the kids accordingly. Zoe really enjoyed making up the butterfly shapes - she became our expert butterfly ‘shaper’.
• The more you study your references, the more you will stay away form the symbolic butterfly (2 back to back B’s).
• We didn’t really plan our box in advance, we drew many different butterflies (it was hard to stop). We didn’t use all of the butterflies for the display box. Having a variety of sizes was effective.

Making the display box:
To cover the box I have followed a tutorial I found via Creative Jewish Mom at Litchi7.
This is the first box I have ever covered with fabric, and I have to admit…it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. If you are a little intimidated with the process, you may paint the box, or cover it with paper. I am sure you will think of a creative alternative. 

You will need:

• A sturdy shallow box such as a shoe box cover
• a piece of corrugated cardboard, foam, or cork in the size of the back of your box.
• Fabric 
• Craft glue
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Sewing pins
• Hot glue

How to:

1. Glue the corrugated cardboard, cork or foam inside the back of your box. Weight it down and set aside to dry. This is so the back of the box is cushioned enough to accept the pins.
   
2. Cover the box following this tutorial
   
   
3. Lay down your butterflies, planning the display composition
   
   
4. Place 2 pins through the center of the butterflies. ( I used 2 so the butterflies wont swivel) do it directly on the box, this way you will have all the butterflies pinned down, before you start to glue them one by one.
   
5. Start with the first one, place some hot glue in the pinhole markings, push butterfly all the way to the head of the pins, and poke pins into the back of the box, through the hot glue. The butterflies end up pinned away from the box.
6. Repeat with the rest of the butterflies.

We have added small labels for each butterfly, containing the species name and the name of the person who drew it.




Enjoy.

tali

linked on Craft Schooling Sunday

#06 How-to make over sized flowers made of used plastic bags

This is a fun project to do at home or in a class room. I first tried it during a craft show with some random kids that joined in, and I have to tell you that my best audience were boys with the coolest hair cut, wearing soccer uniform (approximately 10 years of age). They thought it was a great idea to make a flower for their mom. If you don’t have plastic bags to spare, I am sure your friends will, you may also reuse tissue paper.
At home we chose to decorate our bare tree in our backyard. It looks much happier waiting for its leaves to sprout.



You will need:

• used plastic bags (the noisy kind). Each flower requires 10-12 single sheets of nylon (5-6 plastic bags)
• scissors
• pipe cleaner
• string

How to:

1. Flatten all plastic bags, pile them one on top of the other, and smooth them straight.  If you have different size bags, organize them by size.
   
   
2. Trim handles and bottom of bags. You should have the bags as tubes now, stretch them out and keep them flat.
3. Trim sides, so you have single sheets.
   
4. Fold the sheets of nylon stacked on top of each other like an accordion. 
5. Twist the pipe cleaner over the center of the accordion; you may make a small loop at the end of the pipe cleaner so you can tie a string to it. 
6. Trim both ends into either a pointy shape or a curved shape as desired. 
7. Fan out the ends into a butterfly shape.
8. Open up the flower by peeling each layer separately. Do the same on both sides.
9. Fluff the layers of nylon to get a full and puffy flower. Give it a little hair cut if needed.
   
   

Things to think about:

• Depending on the plastic bags you have, you may make nice color combination.
• The flowers are great for outside as well as inside
• An easy and inexpensive solution for a birth day decoration
• If you make them smaller, you may use the pipe cleaner that ties the flowers as the stem. 
• Zoe had to add a touch of perfume to them (she sprayed it on the pipe cleaner).
  
  
   
  

I am looking forward to see your flowers bloom in the flicker shared photo pool, and please, contact me with any question.

I am linking this post to Craft Schooling Sunday

Happy happy spring
tali

#5 Eco kids craft - How-to make a bird's nest

This project is one of my favorites. It was inspired by a poem - a Bird’s Nest, written by the Israeli national author Hayyim Nahman Bialik. This could be a fabulous project to celebrate spring.

In the process of deciding how to make a nest Zoe and I were trying to think of the nature of building one. We have decided that just like the birds we needed to make our nest from bits and pieces of materials we have gathered about. Materials such as lint, leaves, rags, strings etc. And so we did.

Nests are incredible Eco structures. There is a very nice collection of nests at the Harvard Natural History Museum, in Cambridge MA. If you are in the area you should pay a visit. Its right next to the MUST SEE glass flowers exhibit.

This project has 2 parts, the first is making the nest and the second is decorating the eggs to fit within the nest. The nest takes a couple of days to dry depending on the weather, so plan accordingly.
WARNING: This is a messy project, but it is a mess well worth cleaning

Part one:
MAKING THE NEST

You will need:
Gather bits and pieces of material that is around you such as: old t shirts (ripped into strings), leaves, Small branches, lint (could be some from the drier), strings, left over yarn, etc.
1 Balloon per nest
1 Bowl per nest
Scissors
Newspaper to protect your working area
Craft glue (white glue)

Note: you may use cornstarch glue instead of the craft glue, it is Eco friendly and  biodegrade. I have never used it before therefore I cannot tell you much more about it but send you to this link.


How to:

Start by covering your work area
Collect all your bits and pieces for the nest.

Blow the balloon, and place it in the bowl with the knot facing down (the size of the balloon will determine the size of your nest

Pour some glue into a paper cup/ bowl
Start with the longer strings and t shirt strips you have, dip them into the glue and place on the balloon. You may squeeze some of the glue access off the strings but don’t get rid of too much, this project needs a fair amount of glue.

Keep on going around and around layering all the bits and pieces that you have gathered. If you are adding leaves, make sure you are securing them with another layer of strings on top of them.


When you think you are done set aside to dry. This may take a couple of days.
Once it is dry, pop the balloon.

Part 2:
DECORATING THE EGGS

You will need:
Fresh Eggs
Embroidery Needle
Markers, acrylics (use your preferred medium)

How to:
Empty the eggs first by pocking two holes one at each end of the egg. One hole should be no bigger than a needle’s head, and the other hole can be slightly bigger.

Blow air into the egg through the smaller hole, make sure you have a bowl under the egg, the content off the egg will come out, I promise.
Rinse the eggs, set aside to dry
Decorate the eggs


Place in nest.

We have cushioned our nest with an extra layer of rose petals from our garden.



I hope you will enjoy this as much as we did.
Let me know if you have any questions.

tali

I am linking this post to Craft Schooling Sunday

A tiger hand puppet - a tutorial for the Chinese New Year

One of the things I like the most about blogging, besides talking to my self hoping thinking someone is listening, is all the new things I learn by doing research prior to writing the different posts. I love the challenge of finding a creative way for passing that information on to my kids and to you my friends.
My latest discoveries, and please don’t think I am an idiot, is the Chinese zodiac. I never took the time in actually reading the great stories that came with choosing the 12 animals by the Jade emperor not to mention knowing who those animals were.

A couple of weeks ago Dawn from moms inspire learning asked me to come up with a creative activity to go along with her book recommendation post for the Chinese New Year. so... I started reading… and... discovered a fabulous new world of legends and myths. You should check out her Chinese New Year book recommendation posts, her lists are wonderful.

My first project in celebrating the year of the tiger is:

how to make a TIGER hand puppet:


you will need:

• a cereal box (you will probably get 2 puppets from one box depending on the box size)
• scissors
• tape or stapler
• glue gun (optional)
• 10”x10” red fabric
• needle and thread or a sewing machine
• orange, white black and red oil pastels or tempera paint
• tiger's head template

This is how:

1. flatten out a cereal box, trace template on to the box
   
   
2. Cut the tigers face (younger kids may need help cutting the cereal box)
3. Make 3 creases as shown on the template, the middle crease should be folded 'in' creating a ZigZag shape
4. Paint the tigers face
   
5. Cut additional strips from the cereal box:
   1 strip 1”x5”
   2 strips 1”x6” 
6. Turn one long strip and one smaller strip into 2 loops by placing one end over the other and stapling or taping them. (These rings will be mounted to the back of the tiger mouth and be used as finger placement to control the tiger’s mouth.)
   
   
   
   
7. Tape/ staple the smaller loop under the lower jaw and the bigger loop above the upper jaw (on the back side of the puppet's head)
8. Attach the other short strip vertically between the upper ring and the tigers head; this will keep the head and the top jaw in a 90˚ position.
   
   
   Makimg the sleeve:
   
9. Fold the fabric on itself and stitch along the open edge creating a sleeve, assist your child according to his/ her capabilities
10. Slip the sleeve onto the back of the tiger over the rings. 
11. Attach sleeve to both rings using glue gun, stapler or some tape what ever works best for you.
12. Slip your hand through the sleeve, place thumb in the lower (smaller ring) and the rest of the fingers in the upper rin
    

Zoe turned her puppet from a fierce tiger into a messenger of LOVE by adding some ‘I love U’ notes inside its mouth; trying to combine 2 great celebrations Valentines and the Chinese New Year both just happen to fall on the same day this year - February 14th.

linked with Craft Schooling Sunday

As for my previous post, we are expecting yet another girl (#3), Anat...i am  still waiting for my strawberry cake.

Enjoy

tali

.

Sparks: 008 drawing with straws, a great source of inspiration

Have you ever tried drawing by blowing air through a straw? The process tends to be random and unforeseeable, and the results are almost always surprising and truly inspiring.
After making some of those drawing today, Zoe and her friend Noam tried to find animals and good monsters within their abstract drawings. It was a little bit like finding objects in the clouds. Zoe found a snail and a peacock, Noam found a yellow skinny good monster, and my monster was running I am not sure where too.

^{Zoe's snail}

^{tali's runaway monster}

THE NEXT STEP was to bring their drawing to life by making a doll of their little creature.

^{Noam's yellow skinny good monster he calls Bubi}

This is how:

STEP 1
Making the drawing
You will need:
Plain paper
Straw
Liquid paint, water color. we have been using liquid paint form discount school supply, which is highly recommended for anything. the colors are brilliant, and they are washable. this is the link.

How to:

• Drip a small amount of paint onto the paper (a large amount doesn’t work so well)
• Using the straw, blow air towards the paint and make it spread. Add more paint as necessary, you may use different colors.

• Set aside to try.
• Try few more drawings while you wait. (Be aware… this is addictive
• Stare at your drawing try and find shapes such as animals and other creatures from your imagination

• Use a pencil to outline your creature. 
• Add some details such as eyes, nails, nose, fingers etc.

You may stop here and never go to the next step. But I really hope you do CONTINUE.

STEP 2:
Making your doll
You will need:
Some scraps of fabric (you may use old T shirts, dad’s old neck ties, etc)
Buttons and other embellishments such as yarn, feathers, etc.
Needle and thread (we used embroidery thread. it is very colorful and doesn’t get tangled so much)
Sewing pins
Synthetic acrylic filling (you may use fabric scraps as an alternative)
Background music

How to:

• Select the fabric you would like to work with
• Draw the outline of your creature-doll onto a piece of paper
• Cut around the paper 
• Pin the paper onto your desired fabric, cut 2 pieces back and front.
• Place 2 sides of fabric right side out
• Pin around the doll.
• Stitch around the perimeter of the doll. The kids chose to have the stitch visible as part of the character of the doll and purposely chose different colors of thread.
  
  
  
• Go all around the doll, leaving a couple of inches opening for the filling.
• Fill up the doll with either acrylic filling or some rags. make sure you get all the corners.
• Pin the opening 
• Close up with some thread.
• Add details such as eyes, mouth etc.

^{Noam's 1st sewing project ever}

• Show off at school or on growing up creative flicker group

Thoughts Variations:

The kids had a great time doing this project. the drawing part was a blast, and could be done on any rainy/ snowy day.

The second part of making the doll is a little bit more time consuming and could be a little intimidating for some parents to attempt. if that is the case with you, dont be afraid and just try it, keep in mind the great value in the process of taking a drawing, a fantasy and turning it into reality. and email me of any questions you may have.

over all it took Noam about 2 hours from start to finish (he was determined), Zoe is still working on hers.

After making the straw drawing, the kids may want to exchange and find objects and creatures in each others drawings, and use each others drawings as the base for their doll.

tali.

The Giving Tree

I volunteer in Zoe’s class room every so often, (she is already in first grade...oh my… time flies….). This week we have created the classroom ‘Giving Tree’, inspired by an old time favorite The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

 
You will need:

Empty water or soda bottles from your recycling bin (or your neighbor’s bin) could be a variety of sizes
Copy paper cut in half
Drawing tools
Clear tape
Permanent markers (sharpies) or stickers
A sharp knife and a pair of scissors
String
A tree (not too tall)

How to:

• Pre-cut the base of the bottles using a knife or scissors, then rinse and dry the bottles if needed.
• Get the kids together and introduce what you will be doing today. They always like to know in advance, it keeps them more attentive while you read the story.
• Read the story out loud. I usually raise questions, followed by short discussions on various segments of the book
• Follow the story with a discussion; ask the children to talk about the different things they gave to others that made them feel happy inside. 
• Ask the children to draw some of those things. (I also gave them an option of drawing something from the story.)
  
  
  ^{I am featured in Zoe's drawing (I have this green shirt I guess I wear too often...)}
  

• Insert each drawing, facing out, into a separate bottle. Secure the drawing with clear tape. 
• Let the children decorate the outside of the bottles with sharpies and stickers if they’d like to. 
• After all the bottles are done, go to the yard and locate the tree you wish to turn into a giving tree. Take a string, and then tie one end to a branch and the other end to a bottle cap. The bottle will protect the drawing from the winter weather. Try and hang the bottles in different heights but low enough for the kids to look at.
  
  

“And the tree was happy...”


tali