Mystery Characters

This is another great activity for mostly open-ended creativity!

Glue pairs of googly eyes randomly on paper (we used card stock & gave the glue time to dry)

 

Hand the kids drawing supplies (you could even give them collage materials!) & instruct them to draw characters (animals, monsters, people// whatever they want!) around the eyes.

 

Younger kids can tell you a story about their drawings, older kids can write a story & read it to you, or even act it out!

A Box of Craft Sticks

We recently picked up a box of 1,000 craft sticks (or popsicle sticks, to some) at a major craft store chain. They were priced at $5.99 & we had a 40% off coupon to burn.... so I tossed them into the cart with the thought that open-ended play/creativity is my favorite kind of things for the kids to do and they rarely use things for it's intended purpose anyhow!

Let me tell you,  I gave the Herdlings this box of sticks, tacky glue, collage materials & washable tempera paints & it has kept them busy for hours!

We made hanging picture frames & garden stakes

 The learning aspect: Planning, measuring, symmetry, sequence

We made treasure keepers (boxes with lids)

 

The learning aspect: Planning, measuring, symmetry, height, volume, following directions/sequence

And we have made plenty of abstract sculptures.

 The learning aspect: vocabulary, art, following their own creative thoughts.

This has proven to be one of the most favored activities among all of my kids!

Who would have thought?!

Lettuce Rose Prints

 This is a really fun activity to do with any age!

We buy bulk bags of Romaine Hearts at the members club warehouse and a dinner with side salad easily leaves us with three lettuce stumps. When you look at the freshly cut end of the stump, you will likely notice that it resembles a rose!

This got my creative gears turning! What a great way to use the scraps from our salad! It's virtually no fail and the best part is that you simply cut off the painted surface for a fresh start with a new color!!

You will need a lettuce stump, paint of your choice (we have used acrylic, tempera and finger paints. I bet it would work with stamp pads too), paint brushes, a cutting board & sharp knife.

Brush paint on or pour a little paint onto wax paper or foil & let the little ones "stamp" with the lettuce stump

Let them choose the placement for their "rose" on the paper & press their painted stump onto the paper

TA-DA!

Give it a try after your next salad! You can expand on this idea by using different fruits and veggies and exploring the effects they create!