The school I work at is having a Halloween door decorating contest, so of course, my first thought was to get the kids involved! They loved making these Q-tip skeleton hands and the white painted ghosts. The contest begins soon and whoever gets the most votes will win a class set of books and a pizza party! Wish us luck!!!
Materials:
Yellow & Black Butcher Block Paper (or construction paper)
Orange, White& Black Construction Paper
Q-tips
White Paint
Green Tissue Paper
Elmer's Glue
Black Paint Pen
I made the skeleton hands the day before I assembled the door because they require a good amount of Elmer's glue that needs to dry overnight. Allow the kids to trace their hand on a half sheet of black construction paper, some may need extra help with this, but encourage them to try. Use a pencil on the black construction paper so you can see the outline. Then, allow the kids to coat the hand, generously, with Elmer's glue. Use Q-tips of various sizes and let the kids assemble the 'bones' on their hand. Pre-cut several Q-tips ahead of time; I kept some whole and cut some into halves and thirds. You can account for about 6-7 Q-tips per child.
To make the ghosts, I just taped large sheets of black butcher block paper to the tables and allowed the kids to use white paint to fill in ghost shapes I drew on the paper. Drawing a ghost shape is easy, it's basically a sheet with waves on the bottom :) These turned out great and I let the kids sprinkle some ghost shimmer (glitter) onto the wet paint. They really shine on the door and the kids love them. I added the faces once they dried with a black paint pen. I'll let each child bring one home when we take them down, as well as the skeleton hand that I labeled so each child can bring their own home!
As for the rest of the door, I googled an image search for a 'haunted house' and drew the shape onto a black piece of construction paper with a regular pencil. I then cut out the windows and doors and taped it to the door and added a yellow moon shape behind it, also in construction paper. The hill was made the same way. The yellow butcher paper covers two thirds of the door and the green tissue paper, crinkled up, covers the bottom third. The graves were made out of white construction paper, sharpie and a gray crayon. The pumpkins were drawn with sharpie on an orange piece on construction paper and a green piece or curled gift ribbon was taped behind them. I added the graves, then the kid's skeleton hands on top of the graves...They took a few pieces of rolled up tape each but they are staying up :) I hope you enjoyed my Halloween door!!! I'm so excited to see if we win the pizza party, I might just buy pizza for my kids anyway...they helped and they deserve it! Happy Halloween!
My kiddos loved making these bubble wrap turtles to go along with our swamp unit. They require a bit of up front cutting, but the kids love assembling the parts and the bubble wrap technique is pretty cool.
Materials:
White, green, blue and yellow construction paper
Googlie Eyes (two per turtle)
Glue
Bubble wrap
Green paint
Paintbrush
Cut the white construction paper into a shell shape, the green construction paper into four legs and one tail and the yellow paper into a the shape of a head. Use about a 10"x6" piece of bubble wrap, bubble side up, and let your child paint the bubbles 'turtle' green with a paintbrush. Then, push the white turtle shell into the bubbles and peel it away, leaving it looking like a turtle shell! Now, glue the shell to a blue piece of construction paper, as well as the other turtle 'parts.' Finally, let them glue on their goolie eyes. Voila! You have a turtle! I used this as part of the Swap unit in my 3-year old class. My kids really enjoyed learning about turtles so I decided to add this project :) I always like to watch several kids do the same project, it's always interesting how different they turn out even when they have the same supplies. Art is so great for kids and they really enjoy it! Happy Turtle Shell making, everyone!!! :)
My son LOVES Thomas the Train right now and any other mom experiencing this stage of childhood is also experiencing the cost. Thomas is adorable. I have to admit they are pretty durable but they are pricey! We have found several pieces at the thrift store that I was able to clean but whenever we splurge and buy any new piece my stomach turns a little bit. However, we can create many awesome Thomas accessories at home! Check it out!
Materials:
Shoebox
Paint (red, brown and green)
Large, flat tipped paintbrush
Trains (of any sort)
Scissors
First, I cut the two 'tunnel' holes into either side of the upside down shoe box. You can cut them into any shape, but I made ours rounded becuase it was easier not to have to make a sharp corner turn with the scissors. Now, paint your tunnel however you want to. You could just let your child paint all over with no pattern, or if they're old enough (my almost 3 year old did this) you can show them a new kind of painting technique. We used modified stippling technique. To achieve this, dab the end of a flat paintbrush against the outside of the shoebox over and over. I showed my little guy that if you dipped the brush in brown then red that it would give it a shadow effect. He got it and our bricks turned out really great! Then, he decided we needed trees on the outside of the tunnel. Easy Peasy. Just use the same stippling technique as you did with the bricks, but with green paint. After the tunnel has dried you are ready to play! Just set the tunnel over your Thomas tracks (or any train or truck or car for that matter) and enjoy the hours of entertainment! We have already made an egg carton tunnel and a paper towel roll castle (posts coming soon) all using recycled materials! Happy Tunnel Making!!!
