THE NOSTALGIECAT SUMMER KIDS CLUB....

Session 5: ART, CRAFT AND BUBBLES

 

Welcome to the 5th and final Nostalgiecat summer kids club session.

I cant believe that the summer is nearly over, and that this is the last of my summer kids club posts...

...time flies when you are having fun, hey??

There are so many activities from my pinterest board Kids crafts and fun I would have liked to do with Little Miss Moo and her friends...but there just haven't been enough time...why don't you check it out and see if there are any activities you can do with the kids that I might have missed...

Anyway: Monday's session was another messy affair...We made some Plaster handprints, some paper mosaic pencil jars (getting ready for "back to school), we did some bubble painting and had a go at some giant bubble snakes...(I will also tell you how to make a great bubble solution for this)..

...and finally, we made an "Anything goes", giant art banner (which is more about the process than the result...he he!)

Here's what Little Miss Moo and her friends, Caleb, Ellie and Scarlett and me got up to:

We started off with the....

PLASTER 3D HAND PRINTS

YOU WILL NEED:

Square plastic container (big enough to fit your child's hand in)

Play dough

Plaster of Paris

Rolling Pin

Set of rubber stamps (optional)

I prepared the first step of this before the kids arrived, as I know the temptation of play dough is hard to resist for 4 year-olds...  

I rolled out the play dough to about 1" thick, then used the plastic container as a template to cut out a piece that would fit nicely inside it.....trying to get it to sit as flat as possible....

Then when the kids arrived, I got them to press the palm of their hands into the play dough in the container...you may have to help by gently pressing their fingers down, to ensure an even imprint...

Then We spelled out their names with my rubber stamps, and pressed it into the dough at the side of the handprint...

Confession: I forgot when doing this with the kids, that their names must be printed mirrored (as shown above) in order to come out right in the plaster...

The next step is to mix up some plaster...

Unfortunately I was unable to get hold of some proper Plaster of Paris, and used some Wickes "one coat" plaster mix instead....the result being a little more grainy than I would have liked....

 I mixed up the plaster with some water to a "porridge-like" consistency...(you can mix it a little more runny by adding more water, but this will increase the drying time...)

I poured the mixture into the plastic container on top of the play dough hand print, then gently knocked the container against the table top a few times, to "knock out" any air bubbles and level the mix...

 

Then Put the containers aside until the plaster has set and hardened...I had to leave ours over night (...to Little Miss Moo's dismay...) due to the plaster I used, but if you are using Plaster of Paris, it should only take a couple of hours until it is fully hardened....

 ....when you are satisfied the plaster if fully cured, tip the plastic containers upside down on a cloth (to soften the "landing"), and gently push at the back to make the plaster and play dough fall out...

Peel away the play dough to reveal the hand print....

 

Leave the plaster hand prints exposed to the air for a day or two, so that the rest of the moisture in the plaster can evaporate...then you can neaten up the edges with a file and drill a hole, so that the cast can be hung up....

A nice memento to keep forever... 

Next we made some

PAPER MOSAIC PENCIL HOLDERS

YOU WILL NEED:

Empty glass jars

tissue paper/ paper scraps

Craft glue/ mod podge

Scissors

Brushes

Glossy varnish

Washi tape and ribbon (to finish off)

 Depending on the age of the kids, and how comfortable they are using scissors, get them to cut up the tissue paper into bits....I already prepared the tissue and paper scraps before the kids arrived, as not all 4 year olds are great with scissors (The last thing I wanted was cuts, blood and tears...)

Then get the kids gluing and sticking the tissue onto the glass jars....

Kids will do their own thing, but try to encourage them to glue the tissue/paper on as flat as possible....maybe help them flatten the tissue pieces.....and to not use too much glue...

 Ellie and Caleb was very focused....

And Scarlett did a great job covering the jar in tissue....

The finished jars look great: 

Leave them to dry...(the thicker the glue on them the longer this will take)

I didn't get time to do this to Little Miss Moo's friends jars, but I then painted a layer of glossy decoupage varnish on top of the tissue on hers....

When the varnish had dried I helped Little Miss Moo finish hers off by adding some Washi tape and a ribbon...

...She loves her pencil holder, and is getting very excited about having it on her desk when she's doing her homework when back at school....

The next thing I am going to show you is how to make a great

 

BUBBLE MIX

I made this bubble mix the night before, as the longer it gets to set, the better it gets...

YOU WILL NEED:

6 Cups of water

1 Cup of Fairy liquid

4 table spoons of Glycerine

Mix it all together, and leave to set...

We used the bubble mix in our next projects....

PAINTING WITH BUBBLES

YOU WILL NEED:

Several round bowls

The bubble mixture

Watercolour paints/ tempera paints

Straws

Water colour paper

Warning!! This project requires a lot of soapy water....don't make the same mistake I did and use flimsy plastic bowls that easily tips over....heavier pyrex glass bowls are sturdier...

At one point we were literally swimming in soapy water when 3 of the bowls tipped over...

....my kitchen floor has never been so clean!! he he!

Anyway: mix up different colours with the soapy water (a dash of bubble mixture + a dash of water) in separate bowls....really whisk the colours in, until the mix starts frothing....

Then get the kids to blow bubbles (make sure you tell them to blow...not suck) in the bowls...

 Blowing bubbles are always fun....

Then lay the watercolour paper on top of the bubbles...

Here's Ellie, showing how the bubbles has "painted" the paper.... 

We found that it actually worked even better when we scooped the bubbles onto the paper and left until they had popped....repeat with the different colours on the same bit of paper for some beautiful patterns and effects....

Next we took the coloured bubble mixture (what was left, anyway) outside, to try out making some

GIANT BUBBLE SNAKES

 

YOU WILL NEED

Bubble mix in a bowl

Large, empty plastic bottle

Wash cloths

Rubber bands

 Cut off the bottom of the plastic bottles...attach the wash cloths to the bottom of the bottles using the rubber bands....

Let the kids dip the cloth-end of the bottle into the bubble mixture, tell them to take a deep breath and blow.....thousands of little bubbles will form a giant snake....

It may be tricky for little ones to blow, so show them what will happen and they will be amazed!!

 The final activity of this summers nostalgiecat kids club, is a bit of a free-for-all:

THE "ANYTHING GOES" ARTY BANNER

As the title suggests, there are no real rules to this one, all you'll really need is a roll of easel paper and some poster paints...and some imagination!

 

We used our giant bubble-snake makers and coloured bubble mix to paint with bubbles, some branches to use as "paint brushes", and I covered the kids feet with bubble wrap, so they could walk the paint all over the easel paper, that I'd rolled out in the garden...

  

I set out a paint station on a flat cardboard box, with blobs of poster paint on paper plates...but I never expected this to be a tidy activity, and very soon my entire garden patio was a multi-coloured art piece...

I used some bricks to hold down the easel paper, and even they got a paint...

This is definitely more about the process than the result....but oh so much fun!!

We had hand prints, bubble wrapped foot prints, branch marks, bubble painting and a bunch of messy, happy kids .....

The beauty of poster paint is that it washes out easily ...both from clothes (with a little stain remover) and my patio.... although I'm sure my garden will be bubbling at next rain fall with all that soapy water spilled out there...

It will be a nice reminder of this summers Nostalgiecat Kids club!

That's it folks!

I hope you've enjoyed these posts and been inspired to get creative with the kids...

Little Miss Moo and I are off to Norway tomorrow for the rest of the Summer holidays,

and I will be posting from there for the next couple of weeks....

Don't forget to visit my blogpost  a celebration and leave a comment at the bottom of the post to be in with a chance of winning a set of 3 of my lace print plates in the colour glaze of the winners choice!

There is only 3 days to go until the winner will be chosen at random....

The winner will be announced in the evening on Saturday 24th August ....

 Enjoy the rest of your summer folks!

xxx

June