Not thinking about my kids' evil mother or 4th of July projects for preschoolers

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So my kids’ mother didn’t show up to get them this morning like she said she would. And once again she has disapeared; no one knows where she is or when she is supposedly coming to get them. And I’m sitting here being steamed at her for letting them down (although they had no idea she was coming).

Then I thought, I’ve gone from being freaked out over nothing last night to being pissed at something I knew would happen today. So I’m not thinking about it. I’m thinking about what 4th of July project I can do with the kids when they wake up from nap.

We’ve already coloured pictures from that neverending colouring book called the internet. (If you have kids who like to colour, don’t buy another colouring book! There are thousands of free-to-print colouring pages on the 'net! Even your favourite characters from Noggin and PBS and VeggieTales!)

Yesterday we made noise makers from paper plates and dried rice.

I have to think about what we can do today. We are out of glue, so our construction paper flags will have to wait.

We have:
Construction paper
Paper plates
Millions of crayons/markers/pencils
A stapler and tape
Paper clips (maybe useful, I dunno?)
Scissors (they’re “teaching scissors” – they have two holes in each handle so that you and the kids both hold them and cut together!)
An empty mayonaise jar
Tacks
Stickers
One really large piece of green poster board

:Think, think, think:

2

Oh…

Plastic spoons
Styrofoam bowls
Plastic Cups…

I had an idea for some “fireworks,” but I don’t know how well it would work. I’d give them some paper plates and let them colour until there was a somewhat deep layer of crayon. Then use the paperclips tp scratch lines out from the center to make a multi-coloured design.

The problem would be getting them to scratch the lines right.

3

If you have some string, you might be able to make “telephones” out of the cups.

Can you believe that in 10th grade, we had to do that in class?

4

How about making pinwheels?

[list=1]
[li]Cut a piece of construction paper into an even square.[/li][li]Using markers, crayons, whatever, decorate both sides of the paper to your heart’s content.[/li][li](The following steps will be done pretty much by you.) Cut the square on a diagonal from each corner, 1/3 of the way to the center. (If you imagine that there’s a big “X” in the paper, from corner to corner, you’re cutting along the legs of the “x” but not all the way through the square.)[/li][li]Fold every other point into the center, and secure with a tack.[/li][li]If you have a bead, put a bead on the back of the pinwheel to provide twirling space.[/li][li]Secure the tack into a wooden dowel or even a sturdy twig from a tree.[/li][/list=1]

Blow and enjoy!

5

Crap. Had you a few cadmium rods we coulda’ made a simple breeder reactor.

Well, with the construction paper, glue, crayons and paper plates you could make masks. Loads of nutty fun, and you’d be surprised the funny, creative and twisted faces children are capable of making.

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You can make some homemade glue by mixing flour and water. That should extend your project possibilities!

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Inky, we did masks last week as part of our Monsters unit. It was fun!

Homemade glue, huh? That sounds like a project for mommy.

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Homemade Play-dough:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups water
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 packet unsweetened Kool-Aid

Mix the dry ingrediants together with a fork in a medium pan. Turn on medium heat and add the water and oil. Stir well, till it comes together into a cohesive mass, about 2-3 minutes. Turn down the heat if it seems to be too hot.
Scoop it out into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag and knead for about 10 minutes. It will still be hot! When it seems cool, let the kids play.
Soak the pan immediately.

This will keep for weeks if you store it in an airtight container.
*It will stick to carpeting, so it’s best to play at the kitchen table.
Cookie cutters are fun with this stuff.
Other ideas for play:
Shoeboxes…let them make garages for Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars, or doll houses. With markers and construction paper, they can cover the boxes and get really creative.

Chalk on black paper makes great fireworks pictures.

Melt broken crayons in cupcake tins to make new round crayons.

Turtles!. With the paper or plastic bowls, they can make a turtle. Invert the bowl, and let them cover it with torn up green tissue paper, (use thinned-out white glue with a paint brush) and then make a head and legs from brown construction paper.

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Forgot some… paper plates make great flowers. They can color them, and add construction paper stems. Cut around the edges to make it wavey or whatever.

Wide popscicle sticks and markers… make bookmarks or people or puppets.

Paint rocks for paperweights for gifts. Paint them and roll them in glitter while the paint is still wet.

Shaving cream and fingerpaint. The shaving cream evaporates, and the paint left behind is amazing.

Kinderart
EduPuppy
Two good preschool sites. Have fun.

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Here’s a site with some cool July 4th projects:

Family Fun.

Sheri

11

Thanks, I will definitely try some of these when the kids get back.

Yeah, their mom finally showed up. She had called yesterday to say she wasn’t coming because of the rain, and wanted to come get them this morning. I told her we would be at church so to come by around 3 (after their nap). 3 comes and goes. 4. 5. At 5:30 she calls to say she’s down the block (thanks for the warning :rolleyes:). I had less than a minute to get their shoes on and give them their backpacks before she was knocking on the door.

But… being happy… if she brings them home on time I will be able to do one more 4th of July project before we do fireworks with our friends. :slight_smile:

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Bad smileys! Bad, bad smileys!

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Paper plates? Then you’ve got prime flying saucer material! Glue a couple together, draw on some engines and some windows showing the “gray” aliens piloting it, then toss them around like frisbees. You can even set up some micro machines and pretend you’re going to abduct them for fiendish alien experiments! Fun for the whole family! :wink:
Ranchoth

14

I don’t know if this is what you were thinking, but have them color the plates with the colorful crayons, then cover the color with a thick layer of black crayon. Then scratching off the black will reveal the color and it will be cool.

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Oh, Zyada, that would work so much better than the way we did it!! We did thick layers of everything, and when I scratched it all came off. And the kids got bored of colouring before we could get it thick enough.

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Cessandra

The home made glue idea was for you to make in a pinch when you needed it for kiddie projects. I can’t imagine the kids would find it too exciting to make blah bland ol’ glue.

Melanie

17

Oh, no, I meant it would be something for me to do. Ya know, I’m the mommy, it’s a mommy project, see? :wink:

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Cessandra - You sound like an awesome mom!

I love to do this kind of thing with my kids, too. Actually my 2, my best friends 2, my other best friends 1, and a neighbor kid. Now that they are 11 and older its getting harder to find projects that are fun and maybe a little educational :wink: . Last week we made solar hotdog cookers out of oatmeal cans and tin foil. It was a blast.

Summer is the time for watermelon! Use some of those paper plates to make watermelon slices. Cut them in half, color the outside edge the green rind and the center the red fruit. Dont forget the seeds!

Play dough was always a winner around here before everybody got so ‘mature’ :rolleyes: . Since you seem to want projects that produce a finished item, you might try this cornstarch clay. You can bake it (sloooowly in a low oven) or let it air dry and it doesn’t warp or bubble like salt clay sometimes does. I love this clay for projects for all seasons: it makes great Christmas ornaments too. When dry it can also be painted.

Cornstarch Clay
Sift to gether 1 cup of cornstarch and 2 cups of baking soda. Gradually stir in 1 1/2 cups of water, careful to press out lumps. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until the mixture resembles mashed potatoes. Turn out on to a counter and knead until smooth. Use cornstarch if needed to keep it from sticking.

One of my favorite little kid projects is shrinky-dinks. Styrofoam will shrink when baked in a very low oven. I used to save all my foam meat trays for them, and the kids love them.

Homemade Shrinky-Dinks!
Wash your trays really well and let them dry. Then let the kiddos draw and color something on them, or if they are too young you can draw something and let the kids color it in. The image needs to be pretty big because the dinks will shrink to about 1/5 the original size. Cut the ‘dinks’ out but leave a ‘tag’ of blank foam to poke a staw sized hole in for hanging. You can also skip the hole and glue a magnet to the back when they are baked for nifty handmade fridge magnets. Place the dinks on a cookie sheet an put them in the oven (set really low). Now you have to watch them. They will curl and flop around a bit, but then slowly flatten back out. When they get flat, pull them out and let them cool. Be careful with them after baking, because they are kinda fragile and will break.

Hope that helps,
bunnymom

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Oh, I think I’ll make magnets from those shrinkydinks. The kids LOVE magnets. And yeah, we do like to have a “finished product” that we can show daddy when he gets home. :slight_smile: