Painting Sticks

painted sticks

Last weekend, we had a very cold and wet two days ahead of us. So, I was anticipating a lot of indoor time. To preserve our sanity, I had to think up a few quick projects to keep us busy. A while back, I had had a conversation with one of Arthur’s amazing teachers about how I had wanted to paint sticks with the boys. She too was doing a great series of stick art with the students. One morning they used different colored tape to make stick creations. The next, wire, and then the third day out came the paint.

So, first thing after breakfast this past Saturday morning, we ran into the backyard and collected a bunch of sticks. After bringing them inside, I filled up two paint trays with paint. One tray cool colors, the other warm. Real quick, I talked with the boys about this concept. However, they were ready to paint. Arthur was already pointing out the first stick he wanted.

picking sticks

And off they went.

hard at work

GOL paint 2 GOL paint

ATLpaint 2 ATL paint

boys painting

They had a blast with this and Arthur did not stop until every last one of the sticks was painted.

table paint

finished sticks finished 3

For display, I knew I wanted to put them in glass vases. First, I put them along side what I already had on the dining room table.

table sticks 3 vase of sticks

But, that was a bit too much. I wanted something a bit more simple. I got out some beautiful cuts of wood from a dear friend’s tree that blew over in  one of the many storms that hit us this past winter. I liked this much better.

table sticks 2

table sticks

I have already gotten many compliments on the sticks. Such beauty, and so simple! Try it out.

You Rock Valentine

final 2

Even though Valentine’s Day was a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would share what the boys made for their classes. This was a multi step, multi day project, which was nice, but required some planning. We first spent time collecting smooth, flatish rocks from our local beach. Continue reading

Apple-Print Thank You Cards

My goodness, this last month (two months really) has been extremely busy. We have had birthday parties, hosted Arthur’s birthday, baby showers, bachelorette parties, and hosted my sister’s bridal shower. Those were just some of the events occupying our weekends. Continue reading

Animal Canvases For Father’s Day

With Father’s Day past, I can now show how we spent another busy day(s) making gifts. I had some grand plans for a much larger project (which I will explain later), however, we just plain ran out of time! The first step was to repeat our successful animal stencil project (remember how I mentioned I had plans for something else- well this is it!). Since we had already experimented with watercolors and the dot markers, I knew that the dot markers was the way I wanted to go with this one. Continue reading

Printmaking with Cars and Toys

This morning was a morning. The boys still had lingering coughs so we skipped our usual Wednesday morning playgroup. So, with it raining, once again, we had a day indoors. We played with legos, we built forts, we washed the windows, had snack, we raced cars, we played with play dough, we worked on patterns…and that got me thinking. Wheel patterns, toy patterns – lets paint, lets do some printmaking. While the boys constructed a raceway out of blocks, I set up… Continue reading

A New Outdoor Playscape

My boys love to be outside. I love to be outside. Therefore, we are outside as much as possible. It is a great place to run, jump, explore, and to also learn. Lots of playful learning opportunities! So, we had this ‘dead’ corner in our yard and I so wanted to turn it into a place that fostered creativity, exploration, and play. Continue reading