Salad Spinner--Spin Art

Remember Spin Art? You know--squeeze some paint on a spinning piece of paper on a turn table. When the spin table stops, you have a cool modern art piece. Well, I have a low cost-low tech(no batteries needed) version of this fun painting project. Do you have a salad spinner that you don't use? Some kids paint? Some paper? Some scissors? A bowl? A marker/pencil? Well, you are ready to go!

Materials:
Salad Spinner--they are inexpensive if you need to buy one. Once used for crafts, you may not want to use it for salads again.
Paint--washable is the best
Paper--cut into circles the size of the salad spinner. This is good for those who need to practice to tracing and cutting. I also found if you flatten a small paper bowl, it is good for a template.
Paper towels for drying and cleaning.
Spoons and/or droppers to applying paint

Directions:
1. Cut several paper circles to fit spinner. Most kids want to do this more than one time.
2. Place paper in spinner. Do not spin yet.
3. Have child drizzle different colors of paint onto paper.
4. Close spinner. Now, have child spin-spin-spin.
5. Open up and see results.
6. Place art on paper towel to dry.

Making New Crayons Out Of Old Crayons!

What to do with old broken crayons? Make new ones! Great project for a rainy and/or hot day project for any age group. They won't be able to wait to use their new crayons.

Materials:

* Old crayons
* Dixie/bathroom paper cups
* Microwave
* Optional--candy molds, flexible ice cube trays( I have some that come is lots of shapes), muffin tins, paper cups for muffin tins. Also use of freezer.

Directions:

1. Have child select colors he/she wants to use. One dark color with one or more lighter colors.
2. Peel off paper off crayons.
3. Break crayons into small pieces. Little ones will love this!
4. Place broken crayons into Dixie/Bathroom paper cup.
5. Place cup into microwave. Timing of microwaves vary. I set mine for four minutes. If crayons are not melted, I microwave cup for an additional 30 second to one minute. ** Crayon wax is very hot. Please have an adult do this procedure. *** If you have a mold, pour hot wax into mold.
6. Let cup/mold sit for an hour. Or you can place cup/mold in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.
7. Peel cup away from crayon or pop out of mold. Now crayon is ready to use!

Good Indoor Activity--Roller Skating @ The Skate N Fun Zone

Want to take a trip back to your childhood? Need an indoor activity on a hot day for all ages? Go roller skating at the Skate-N-Fun Zone in Manassas, VA. Not only do they have roller skating, there is Laser Tag for Tweens and above and a Fun Indoor Playground for younger children. Did I mention they have all types of games like Skeeball, Air Hockey, and Shoot-The-Hoops as well? At first it looks expensive, but Skate-N-Fun offer many different price packages per day that you will find one to suit your budget. Mommy & Me Skate time on Thursday Mornings and the Fun Pak on Sunday afternoons are a really good deal.

* Laser Zone is $3.00 per person extra unless otherwise stated.
* Play Zone is $4.00 per person extra unless otherwise stated. * It is included on Mommy/Daddy and Me Thursdays.

** There is a Customer Appreciation Day on Sunday, July 11, 2010 from 4:30pm-7:00pm. Admission is free. Skate rental is $4.25.

Craft of the Week--LEI'S

Make Your Own Lei.

Materials:
1. Flower shape cookie cutter or wooden flower shape(I found wooden shapes at Joanne's or Michael's for $.29). You can also find silk lei flowers in party shops and craft stores as well.

2. Straws--any color is fine. For this sample, I used four straws.

3. Yarn, string, cording. Enough to go over head without attachments.

4. Bright colored paper. I used two colors for this project, but one, two, three, or more colors work just as well.

5. Scissors

6. Pencil for tracing.

7. Sharp pencil or single hole punch.

Instructions:

A. Take wooden flower shape and trace about 9 flowers on each paper. (With younger children, an adult should do the tracings and later the cutting of the paper flowers.)
B. Cut out flowers.
C. Cut straws into about 1.5 inches in length. If the straw bends, cut out the expansion part and discard. With four straws, you should end up with 12 cuttings.
D. Punch a hole in the middle of flowers with a sharp pencil or single hole punch.
E. Knot string at one end about 2-3 times. Leave enough string to be about to tie/close lei at the end of the project.
F. Add straw first. Then a flower and so on.
G. Once you have completed lei, tie ends together.

*** For another project using this same process for tweens or teens, make several strings. Do not tie together as a lei. Door hangers/dividers are great project for them. Just tape the strings to the top of a door frame for an instant divider.

Tally Ho Movie Theater's Summer Movie Listing--$1.00

Yes, Regal movie theaters at Countryside and Brambleton offer free summer kid movies during the summer. Gets very crowded with all the daycare centers and day camps. They offer movies two days a week starting at 10am. A good alternative is the Tally Ho Movie Theater in Leesburg, VA. Movies are only $1. For those who get up a little later in the morning, movies start at 11am and offered three days a week--Tue/Wed/Thurs. Looking for a first run movie for a great price. The Tally Ho offers $3 Thursdays! Any movie--Any Time--$3! Here is the 2010 Summer kid movie listing:

EVERY TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY AT 11AM - ALL SEATS ONLY $1

* CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (PG) (June 22-24)
* MONSTERS VS. ALIENS (PG) (June 29-July 1)
* HORTON HEARS A WHO (G) (July 6-8)
* NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN (PG) (July 13-15)
* MUPPET MOVIE (G) (July 20-22)
* ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS (PG) (July 27-29)
* HOTEL FOR DOGS (PG) (Aug 3-5)
* TALE OF DESPEREAUX (G) (Aug 10-12)
* MADAGASCAR 2 (PG) (Aug 17-19)
* ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL (PG) (Aug 24-26)
* HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (PG) (Aug 31-Sep 2)

Project of the Week--Faux Leather Vase

Here is a project I did as a kid in a day camp in the late 1970's/early 1980's-Faux Leather Vase. I am amazed that many of the kids from an after school program or my own have not heard of or done this project before. Really easy project for the 7 and above crowd. Younger children can do this too but under supervision because of the shoe polish.

What you need:

1-bottle or jar (glass or plastic). I have used old/cleaned beer bottles, mayo/spaghetti sauce jars, mason jars, soda/water bottles (with labels removed)

Masking tape

Old style shoe polish in a tin/not a bottle.(You can find the shoe polish tins in any shoe dept. It runs about $2.75 at Wal-Mart. Believe me a little goes a very long way. I have seen three colors. Choose your favorite color. In this project, I am working with brown.)

Paper towels and/or soft polishing cloth

Directions:
1. Tear small pieces of masking tape and place pieces at various places and directions on bottle until bottle is covered. Make sure the tape pieces overlap. Don't place to many pieces of tape in one place. This will make your project clumpy and will not work with polish later.

2. Once bottle is covered with tape. Go over bottle and make sure all tape end pieces are laying flat.

3. Open up shoe polish tin. Take cloth or paper towel and rub polish in a circle about 3 times. Now gentle polish bottle in small circles until bottle is covered. Repeat this process until bottle is polished.

4. Let dry. Polish is not wet or very messy, but it can get on hands and furniture. I would suggest that you use newspaper or scrap paper on project work area. Have young children wear an old shirt over their clothes.

Craft of the Week--Nature Walk Memory Saver

Very easy project for toddlers to tweens. If you are at a national, state, regional, or even your local playground, nature walks are fun, exciting, and (scary) educational. Here is a great way to keep the memory of a great walk and keep your child's nature treasures for years to come.

1. While on a walk, have child bring a small bag for their treasures. This project is best with flat object such as leaves, thin flowers, pine needles, etc.
2. Roll out an 8 1/2 by 11 inch piece of contact or laminate paper. Fold in half to achieve a crease. Open laminate to full page. Peel away paper from the laminate.
3. Have child arrange their treasures on 1/2 side of the laminate paper.
4. Once arranged, fold empty side of contact/laminate paper over the treasure arrangement. Press out air bubbles. If needed, lay a large heavy book or flat object on laminate.
5. You can cut the corners for rounded look.
6. Makes for great book marks with the use of a hole punch and ribbon.