"Gingerman Lylah"

Here is a fun project that we did on Friday. I have said before that one of my favorite things to do with kids is let them paint with Puff paint made from shaving cream and glue. You use equal parts of both ( pretty much--I use more shaving cream most of the time). It is an amazing puff paint because it is fluffy and soft and feels so neat when it dries. Every time I do an art experience with my class I have parents and passers by in the hallway asking what the art is made of. All that to say, you should try it out. You will love it too. It is messy because the kids really get into it ( and it's 1/2 glue), but it washes out of clothes well if you just use glue and shaving cream. If you want color you will have to use food coloring. If you try to use paint you will end up with a form of a not useful, almost silly putty. Here goes... The Gingerbread Kid project. Lylah calls hers Gingerman Lylah. She always leaves out the "bread" part in the middle.

Supplies:
Bowl to mix puff paint and spoon to stir
Shaving Cream
School Glue
Roll of Brown craft paper big enough to trace your child and make clothes if you wish
Scissors
Paint and paint brush
Plastic Pastry bag or a sturdy Zip Top bag to use for piping "icing"


Finished Product!! By the real Gingerman Lylah in her favorite unicorn jammies.
First step: Trace around your willing assistant. I used brown craft paper so that I would have a ready made gingerbread color to start with. I Then used the cut out body to make a pattern for a dress and boots and mittens and hat just like a paper doll.


Step Two: Enlist the help of the willing assistant. Paint the clothing pieces. She wanted to use pink. I love the look it made. It ended up looking like the frosting on those yummy iced animal cookies. I think you could get the same look with any paint as long as you added white to it to make it more icing-ish. Let it dry.

Step four, five, and six: I guess are the most important and I did not take pictures of them. Oops!! Sorry. I am not used to taking the pictures all along the way. I will explain them instead.
4. Glue the pieces of clothing to the body for a permanent paper doll effect.
5. Mix equal parts of shaving cream and glue in a bowl until completely incorporated and then transfer the mixture into a plastic pastry bag without a decorative tip. Snip a tiny snip of the tip of the bag so that you have a small opening that the paint will be piped from.
6. Pipe the paint mixture onto the paper gingerbread kid in a decorative gingerbread fashion. I outlined the whole body and made details for the face and clothing. Let this all dry for several hours and then display! Ta da!! A paper gingerbread kid.
p.s. You can make this project in a variety of ways. I did them with both of my preschool classes this week too. Theirs look a lot more 'kid made' because they are. For the class I made the paint mixture and put it in the piping bags and put a twist tie on the end so the paint wouldn't ooze out. I did NOT trace extra clothes out of paper and have them paint the clothes. All of their decorations were made with glue and construction paper, raisins, and puff paint. You could also use candy (real or stickers) for clothing decoration. Here is a link to the classroom designs. This is a project my two year old class loved as well as my five year old class. My 5's had some pretty fun and funky designs and were really into it. I hope you will try it. Let me know if you do. I would love to see some more ideas for the gingerbread kids and pictures of the fun. Happy Crafting!

Acorn Tops and Felt Glittered Ornaments

Lylah and I have been taking walks and collecting all kinds of fall goodies. My favorites are the acorns and acorn tops. Hers are crab apples, but they don't last very long after they are picked. On our last visit to the park we gathered about 25 acorn tops. She was overjoyed to find them. So was I. We stuffed our pockets full and I made up my mind to make something from them.
Lylah is doing every tradition for the first time this year ( as she does not remember doing it in years past because she was too young to know). So all things Christmas are VERY exciting. I bought her a little tensile tree and we needed decorations that would not break or be dangerous in her room. Enter the acorn tops. I made felt bottoms for the acorn tops and she shook them in clear plastic and silver glitter. Here is my attempt at a tutorial for making the sweet acorns.


1. Gather the acorn tops ( and pine cones too).

2. Have someone who knows how to use power tools drill a small hole in the top of the cap. Yeah, that's my 2 year old pushing the trigger. It's safe...Dad is there. He worked on following directions and red light green light. She was a pro. See the look of determination on her face?!

3. Thread a length of string through the hole and tie a knot. I used some cording because it was sturdy and white and would go with the silver tree.


4. Trace a circle in the circumference you think works best onto the felt pieces.

5. Sew a running stitch around the edge of the felt circle.
6. Stuff the circle and draw up the thread tightly to make a small closed pouch.
7. Hot glue the acorn cap and string to the felt pouch.


8. It should look like this.


9. Use school glue and brush to apply glue to all the surface of the acorn.


10. Drop the acorn into a zip top bag with glitter in it and SHAKE like the dickens. I used clear plastic glitter and silver glitter mixed.

11. When you are done it should look like this.

My willing assistant looked like this.

The tree looked like this. Lylah drew in a breath and exclaimed, " Beautiful and Lovely. Oh Merry Christmas, right?! It's my best ever, EVER, ever, ever, ever!"