Together Tuesday: Forever Sand Castles

As the summer season draws to a close, fashion some forever sand castles to keep a bit of summer all year round.

Mix up a batch of sand dough … you will need a good amount of playground sand or beach sand and some white glue. Mix the white glue into a bowl of sand, only a tablespoon at a time, until you get a moldable consistency. You can add a little flour to the mixture if it is still too sticky. Work on waxed paper for ease of drying and moving your sculptures later on. Work the sand mixture into sand castle shapes and allow them to dry thoroughly. Add small shells and/or other accents before the sand mixture dries for added fun.

(From Earth*School: Under the Sea, all rights reserved. Copyright Earth*School/Bonnie Vontz 2004 - 2010)

Together Tuesday: Magic Mud

Magic mud is another favorite activity here – but very messy!! Pour a box of corn starch into a large Tupperware or similar bowl. Add 1 cup of water. Mix it up with your hands – it will be at the same time a liquid and a solid. When you try to pick it up it will act as a solid but once you get it in your hands it will run out of your fingers like a liquid. On one side of the container, add a few drops of blue food coloring or kool aid mix and mix. On the other side, add a few drops of yellow food coloring or kool aid mix and mix. Then play with the magic mud (also called oobleck) and watch it slowly turn to green. Play with colors by using different colors of kool aid or food coloring.

Together Tuesday: Lemon Ice Dough

This sparkling lemon ice dough is sure to please any play dough enthusiast! It has diamond dust to make it sparkle like ice, as well as a pleasing lemon scent and color. A great way to spice up a hot summer afternoon!


Ingredients: 3 c flour 3 c water
1 ½ c salt 2 T oil
1 T cream of tarter 2 packets lemonade Kool Aid
Yellow food coloring for more color, if desired
Diamond dust (sparkly iridescent glitter)

Directions:
1. Mix the kool aid into the water.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan over medium-low to medium heat until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and becomes hard to stir.
3. Remove from heat and knead (let cool enough to touch) on a floured surface until the dough is a nice consistency.
4. Store in an airtight container.

(From Earth*School: Rainbow of Colors, all rights reserved. Copyright Earth*School/Bonnie Vontz 2004 - 2010)

Together Tuesday: Jellyfish Flyers

Jellyfish flyers


For this activity you will need 2 circles of clear contact paper, some string, a hole punch and various colors of tissue paper. Cut some of the tissue paper into strips to use as the jelly fish tentacles; tear the rest into small pieces to decorate the jelly fish body. Remove the backing from one of the contact paper circles. Attach the tentacles to the bottom half of the circle. Use the torn tissue paper pieces to decorate the rest of the jelly fish’s body. Cover with the other tissue paper circle. Punch a hole in the top and thread the string though, tying tightly. Bring your jelly fish flyer outside or out to the beach to fly like a kite!



(From Earth*School: Under the Sea, all rights reserved. Copyright Earth*School/Bonnie Vontz 2004 - 2010)

Together Tuesday: May Flowers

It's May and all those April showers should be bringing some beautiful May flowers right about now! And with Mother's Day right around the corner, create some paper flowers with your little ones that will last forever!

You will need:

construction paper in bright colors and green
your child
a pencil
thin dowel rods or chopsticks
green paint
florists tape (or you can use regular tape)
scissors

Start off by having your child paint the chopsticks or dowel rods green for stems. Set aside to dry.
Next, trace your child's hand multiple times on brightly colored paper and cut out the hand shapes. Have your child arrange the hand shapes together to form a flower (bottoms of palms touching, fingers out for the petals). Once the stems are dry, use florists or regular tape to attach the flower to the stem. You can tape the petals together, then tape the stem to the underside of the flower, or you can tape the petals together, punch a hole and stick the stem through the hole and secure with tape.
Cut some leaf shapes from green paper and secure those to the sides of the stems.
Make lots and give a bouquet to grandma or to put in a vase for your dining room table!

Together Tuesday: *Egg*straordinary Art

It’s that time of year again – egg dyeing time! Sure, you can go out and buy those prepackaged kits to dye your eggs, and those can be tons of fun, but you probably already have so many items in your home already to use!
Food coloring or kool aid – add some vinegar to a cup of water, then add kool aid mix or food coloring (gel or liquid) and dye your eggs with that
Stickers – Adorn dyed or white eggs with stickers to create miniature works of art
Yarn – spread glue on a white or dyed egg and wrap lengths of colorful yarn around
Stamps – use stamps and ink to decorate one of a kind eggs
Crayons – melt crayons in muffin tins in your oven on a low temp. Use an old paintbrush to paint the wax onto the eggs in designs. You can then dye the eggs and the dye will only take where there is no wax, creating a marbled look.

* From Earth*School "Spring Fling"
Copyright 2004 - 2010

Together Tuesday

It's a cloudy day here in CT today. We get lots and lots of rain in April, and this activity is always a lot of fun. We will be pulling out the paints and paper next time we have some rain drops :)

* Rain painting
Let those April showers do your painting for you! Drop small amounts of paint onto a large sheet of fingerpaint paper or freezer paper. Place the paper outside in a gentle rain and watch as the raindrops ht the paint, splattering it. Watch the water droplets pooling then dispersing, taking the colors with them. Bring your paper inside to dry. Don’t leave it out too long or all of the paint will be washed away!