Home About Press Crafts Recipes

Monday, July 30, 2012

Kid Craft: Double-Decker Bus

Any guesses what I made this little double-decker bus out of?  Look close.  It's a candy Tic Tac container!   I found the empty Tic Tac container while cleaning and inspiration hit  > Olympics > London >  Double-decker bus > Tic Tac container > Mini double-decker bus.  Makes perfect sense, right?

Supplies:

Tic Tac container (pictured left) - Peel off all labels and clean with soap and water to get rid of glue residue.

Paint (Red, Black, and White) - I used acrylic painters pens

Painters Tape





1. Take apart the lid and base.  Place tape on box anywhere you want windows or doors.  For inspiration, I recommend an image search for "double-decker buses".  Cover both pieces with red paint and let dry.

2.  Once the red paint is dry, peel away all tape.  If paint leaks through tape, just scrape it off with a toothpick. 

3.  Paint details such as wheels, license plates, etc.

Place lid back on to create a door at the back of the bus.  Now you just need some tiny people to fill it with.  I'm still working on that.  I'm considering paper people or worry people. Maybe I'll just let my kids figure that part out.
  

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Olympic Inspired Printables

Tinyme has the cutest set of Olympic inspired printables available for free.  Along with this bingo game (pictured above) they also have personalized medals, cupcake toppers and much more! These printables would be perfect for an Olympics themed party.  Stop by Tinyme for the free downloads.

Speaking of parties, anyone throwing one for the Summer Olympics?  I might put together an impromptu tea party for the Opening Ceremony. 


Sunday, July 22, 2012

Our Last Week of Camp

We wrapped up our last week of Camp Galileo with Celebrate the Golden Gate. You may remember from my last post that I mentioned Camp Galileo has a different theme each week.  This week my daughter learned about bridge engineering and San Francisco Art. 

In science class my daughter got to build her own suspension bridge (pictured above).  She learned about basic bridge construction and coffer dams.  I suspect she now knows more about bridges than many adults.  One night she was telling me about how bridges are built in water.

This week for camp I was able to stop by early and visit the science class.  This picture was taken at the end of the class when campers talked about their accomplishments.  Science teacher Sarah encouraged them to share about a challenge they faced when building their bridge and how they overcame it.  Quite a few kids shared about their experiences.  I also noticed that Sarah emphasized the Galileo mindset when she talked to the kids.

My daughter showing off her cable car with art teacher Alexis.  

Morgan also made a painting inspired by Wayne Thiebaud's work and the cutest Lombard Street collage while learning about artistic perspective.  I was really impressed with all the projects.  If you read my last post, I mentioned we had trouble finding all our artwork last week.  This time all the artwork was neat and organized in one place and even had a little flyer explaining about the pieces.  To the staff: thank you for listening to my suggestion!

One of the strengths of Camp Galileo is their open communication between parents.  I had mentioned in my last post that at the end of the day I would receive a recap specific to my child.  Besides this, each day I was given a handout that detailed the days activities and what to expect the next day.  I really felt in the loop with the flyers and they helped keep me organized for themed days.

Besides individual projects, there's also group projects that the campers participate in.  This functioning bridge was made by different age groups from 1st graders to 5th graders. 

Overall we had anther great week of camp.  My children are already looking forward to attending next year. 

If you're interested in Camp Galileo, there's still time to sign up.  Visit the main site to see what's available in your area.  They also offer extended care from 8-9AM and 3- 6PM.

Camp Galileo provided a free week of camp for both my children.  All opinions and thoughts are solely mine.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

One Birthday to Rule Them All

 Lord of The Rings Cake by Auntie Susan

Last weekend I hosted a Lord of The Rings(LOTR) birthday party for my son.  I have to say this was one of the more challenging birthday parties I've put together simply because LOTR is not the hot thing right now.  Translation, no toys, no decorations, and no birthday ideas on Pinterest.  That coupled with little time to plan a party required some quick thinking.  

For the invitations I went with a rustic look.  I found a free LOTR font called Ringbearer on Fontspace. I added a wax seal to the invitation like Gandalf does to seal the ring in the envelope.  Since I didn't have a wax seal, I had to get creative.  Instead of a seal I used a cheap metal cross that I placed into the hot wax, then I placed a thimble around it to make a circle shape.  Surprised it worked?  Me too!

Lets talk decorations, 

The birthday banner was made to look like Bilbo Baggins birthday banner.  I used craft paper and acrylics to make the sign. 

If you read the book or saw the movie, then you know Bilbo Baggins had a similar sign posted on his fence.  I printed one up with the font "Party Business" and placed it on the front door.

For the inside of the house, I tried to make it look like Bilbo's house.  I printed out a map of middle earth and framed it with some black card stock.  I found things around my house that looked like something Bilbo would have on his desk.  I also distressed some paper and rolled it up to look like scrolls.   Other decorations included a picture of Rivendell (salvaged from a PEZ box)  which I framed and placed on a side table.  If I had more time, I would have switched out family pictures for prints of Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, etc.

For the outside, I covered a beach cabana with a toy camouflage net.  My logic for this was the hobbit homes were dome shape. Plus, the tent made a nice place for the kids to sit and eat lunch.  I also covered a plastic picnic table/bench with some butcher paper colored to look like wood. 

Pictured above is my version of Shelob's (giant spider) cave.  I covered my son's room with yarn from wall to wall.  The kids had to crawl through it and find the gold rings Shelob was protecting.  This was by far the most popular game of the party. 

 Sparkler Candles

By the end of the party I felt like. . .  well I think Bilbo said it best, "Why I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over to much bread."

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Galileo Rocks


Last week my son attended Camp Galileo located in the Bay Area, CA.  If you've been following the blog, then you know I have been writing a four part review series about the camp.  You can find previous posts here and here.

One unique aspect of Camp Galileo is that each week has a specific theme with the curriculum tailored specifically to that subject.  This years' themes included, Galileo Olympics, Galileo Rocks, Leonardo's Apprentice and Celebrating the Golden Gate.  My son chose to attend the Galileo Rocks camp which focused on the art and science of music.

Above is an art piece my son created using Kandinsky's abstract as inspiration.  My son told me that they pretended they were music conductors while painting and that the lines represent the tone of the music.  He also created a collage inspired by Romare Bearden's The Block.  Unfortunately I didn't get to see this piece because he couldn't find it in the class room when it was time to bring home his artwork.  This is a small thing, but it would have been nice if all the artwork was organized by each child instead of randomly dispersed. 

Evan with Josh (Science Instructor) - The guitars in the photo were made by the campers as part of the science curriculum.  They tested how pitch and tone were affected by string type, tension and placement.

If you read my previous posts, then you might know that the main goal of Camp Galileo is to create innovators through what they call the Innovation Approach.  I was really curious to see how this would play out at camp.  After the first day of camp, I asked my son about one of the science projects.  Evan said casually, "oh yeah, they taught us to test out different ways to make sounds to see what works and what doesn't."   And I don't know why I was a little surprised by his words but I thought, they are teaching him to be an innovator, good!
 
 Besides art and science projects, the campers also participated in outdoor activities and games.  One day the theme was water play. 

 
The camp had the area set up with different water stations for the kids to play.  Pictured above was the water limbo station.  They also had areas where the kids could pour water over their team leaders which appeared to be very popular. All the staff was upbeat and interacting with the children.


 Evan with his Team Leader Kendrice

Speaking of the staff, what an awesome group of people .  Every day when we arrived to sign in we were greeted by an energetic staff.  I noticed after the second day many of them would greet my son by his first name even before he had his name tag on.  At the end of the day, the teachers were still upbeat and friendly.  When I would sign my son out, Kendrice would tell me some of the highlights of Evan's day.  They were always specific to him.  This was something I really appreciated because it told me she was engaged with my child.

Overall, I really liked Camp Galileo.  The staff was great, the curriculum was top notch and most importantly my son liked it.  He liked it so much that he was voluntarily telling me all about it.  He even sang a song he learned at camp to us at the dinner table!  You'll have to trust me on this when I say that is a big deal.  Usually I have to ask lots of questions to get anything out of him.

Look for my post next week when I talk about my daughter's camp adventures with Celebrating the Golden Gate.


Thursday, July 12, 2012

Knitting Doll


Have you ever heard of a knitting doll before?  Basically it's a painted long spool with four prongs on top (pictured above).  It has to be one of the cutest knitting toys I've ever seen.  With just some yarn, a knitting needle and the doll you can make a knit cord.

I bought one for my daughter with the intention of using it as a special summer activity for just the two of us to do.  I wasn't sure how it would go since she's only six but she had no problem knitting with the doll. 

Above is a picture of how the yarn is wound onto the knitting doll.  The knit cord comes out the bottom as you knit.

 
Here's what the cord looks like when it's finished.   My daughter has been using it to make hair accessories and bracelets for her dolls.

I purchased my doll at Cost Plus World Market but you can find them online too.  I also found an easy tutorial at Crafty Pod for making your own.  It's not actually a doll but it does the same thing.  Click here for the knitting spool tutorial.  If you really wanted to get creative, I bet you could find some kind of long spool at the craft store and paint it like a doll. 

Do you like to spool knit?  What do you make with the cord?  Please share.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

On Safari

I never tire of California; you can do just about anything here including go on a Safari.  My family and I took a mini vacation to Safari West located in Santa Rosa, CA.  It's not a zoo but a wild life preserve that covers 400 acres of land with more that 400 exotic animals.  Below are a few pictures from our adventures.

Pictured above is the jeep we rode in for our tour.  We even got to sit on the top bench  part of the time.

I was about seven feet away from this giraffe when I took the photo.  There were no fences between us.  We were sitting on the top bench so I was practically eye level with him.  The giraffes were one of my favorite parts of the tour.  They have the sweetest eyes.


 
That bar on the right hand side of the picture is part of the jeep.  That's how close we were to these zebras during the tour. 

Another animal we saw on the tour. At the moment, the species name escapes me.  Any zoologists out there who want to help me out?   Update - Above is a picture of a Bongo from the antelope species.  Thanks Corvus!

The African tent we stayed in. The walls are canvas but as you can see there are wood floors.  There's also a standard bathroom with plumbing (thank goodness).  I kind of felt like I was staying overnight at the zoo in this tent. It was even noisy like a zoo at night which is part of the fun.  Some of the tents overlooked the giraffes. 

Here's the inside of our tent.  That's my husband sitting on the bed reading.  I thought the tents were very charming with all the nature details.

Speaking of details, here's a picture of the bathroom vanity.  I'm told that the owner (Peter Lang) of Safari West makes a lot of the wood furniture for the tents. 

I wish I could share all my photos with you but I suspect I've already gone a little overboard. 

Zakka Life has moved to a new site!

Click here to visit the new site.