Handprint Crayon Boxes

We are reviewing our colors this week and today I read The Crayon Box That Talked, by Shane DeRolf. The crayons don't get along at the beginning of the story, but after a child draws a picture with them, the crayons realize how special each color is. To go along with this book, my kids made crayon boxes with their handprints. I saw this on Pinterest here, but it only links to a picture. I mixed a little orange paint with the yellow to make it look more like a crayon box and painted the child's palm. Then I added some green paint to the sides. The kids picked four colors for their fingers, which would be the crayons.

When it dried, I added two green lines on each side, just like a box of crayons. However, I kind of wish I didn't do that. I think it looked better without them.

I asked the kids (individually) what their crayons were saying to each other and I wrote it down next to their handprint. I did remind them that our crayons liked each other, just like at the end of the book. And to finish the box off, I added their names in a green oval, just like my inspiration photo.

 This one made me laugh:

If you can't read it, it says, "Purple, I love you so much, I want to swim in purple water with you!" and "I want you to eat plums with me after swimming in all that purple water!" :0)

I hung them up around a sign that said, "The Crayon Box That Talked."

This would also work as a back-to-school activity since crayons and school go hand-in-hand!

Rock Crabs

We are reviewing our colors this week, but to make it more exciting I decided to teach the kids about colorful animals along the way. Today's colors were red and orange, so we learned about Sally Lightfoot Crabs (also called Red Rock Crabs). And what better way to make a Red Rock Crab than with a rock!

Cute, ain't he? I started by painting the kids' hands red and orange. I decided not to do their thumbs. I overlapped the palm prints on the paper.

Then the kids painted rocks.

When everything was dry, I used masking tape to attach red pipe cleaners to the bottom of the rock. I also used scotch tape to attach the pipe cleaners to pincers I had cut from red construction paper.

I cut out the hand prints and helped the kids shape the legs, just by folding the fingerprints up, then down again. We used regular glue dots to attach the rock to the hand prints and mini glue dots to add the wiggle eyes.

Even though there are no other facial features, I still feel like they each have a personality!

I love how they turned out!

Fun Fact: When Sally Lightfoot Crabs come out of hiding to feed, they can move at remarkable speeds (hence the name Lightfoot).

Neon Art

So I got these generic neon post-it notes about a month ago. They didn't work at all. They weren't sticky and I had to tape them up whenever I used them. So I saved them, knowing the kids would have fun using them for an art project. Then I received some neon glitter glue from Craftprojectideas.com and I put the two together.

So I separated the (non)sticky notes into their 4 colors and put out 4 colors of glitter glue. I also put out glue sticks and scissors.

The kids cut up the sticky notes and glued them to a piece of white paper.

Then they added some glitter glue.

That was cool enough, but then in the afternoon I found some neon beads that were stashed away in one of my craft drawers. So I called the kids over 2 at a time to add some beads, if they wished.

They turned out great. Some kids made designs, others made pictures. I love this monster:

And this cute little bug:

And a truck:

This one reminds me of something from Where the Wild Things Are:

The abstract creations were awesome as well:

They all added a lot of color to our room!

Blue B's, Purple Collages, and Rainbow Rice

I decided to lump together our last couple projects that we did for our Color unit last week. They are very simple and didn't seem to need their own post. On Thursday we discussed the color blue and also our letter of the week was B. So I printed out a big B from my computer and traced it onto paper for the kids.

Then I put out three shades of blue paint and different brushes and foam rollers.

The bowl without any brushes was for finger painting. The kids had a great time decorating their B's!

Friday was Violet/Purple day. I found a bunch of random purple things from my craft drawer.

The kids glued whatever they wanted on their paper.

I also made rainbow rice for our sensory tub. I've wanted to color rice for the longest time and this was the perfect time to do it. There are directions out on the web which say to use something like 2 tbsp rubbing alcohol with a few squirts of food coloring and 2 cups of rice. But I never measured. I just poured some alcohol into a big ziploc baggie, added some food coloring and poured in some rice. If it didn't seem to cover it all or if the color wasn't dark enough, I just added more alcohol and coloring. I mixed up the rice just by squishing it around in the bag. I used neon and regular food coloring. Then I dumped the bags out onto cookie sheets that were lined with paper towels so the rice could dry. (I didn't have to drain the bags like I did when I dyed pasta.) I was in love with the vibrant colors!

(My first photo collage!)

I mixed all the pastel colors together first (those from my neon pack) and really liked that combination. It would be great for a spring or Easter project.

Then I added the rest. I could tell immediately that I didn't have enough. When I got to school and dumped it in the sensory tub, it was just a thin layer that barely covered the bottom. But it will do for now and someday I'll make more. I added some little bears that the kids could bury.

Then we used a spinner from our Candy Land Bingo game. Whichever color it landed on was the color of bear they had to find in the rice.

So yes, more rice would have worked better so the kids could dig around a little more. I also put our sand toys in there so the kids could just play.

They really liked that!
So that is the end of our Color week. I hope you got some good ideas!

Yarn Block Stamping

After seeing this cool painting technique at Splish Splash Splatter, I knew I had to try it with my kids.

I took some blocks from our block center and wrapped them in yarn.

I used masking tape to secure the yarn to the blocks.

Because we were learning about green today, I made three shades of green paint. (Although I think using a whole bunch of colors would be best.)

Then the kids just stamped their papers!

I decided to cut their papers kind of funky to give them a little more visual stimulation, and then I framed them on a piece of green paper.

I think they turned out so cool! I will definitely have to try this with more colors someday. I should warn you, though -- the paint was not easy to clean off the blocks. If I do this again, I will use scrap wood from my basement!